JPH11295083A - Navigator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display previously photographed image data on a desired spot with precision when the spot becomes closer by the image reading method of the car navigator. SOLUTION: The timing point of the start of a proper image process for image display is found from current position data obtained from a current position detecting means 101, vehicle speed data obtained from a vehicle speed detecting means 102, and the amount of image data obtained from an image data amount detecting means 106 by using a display process time arithmetic means 110 and an arrival time arithmetic means 109. Consequently, the image display is completed at a point before a point that the user desires.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car navigation apparatus capable of displaying a position on a map and a photographed image in association with each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, GPS (Global Position) is used.
A car navigation device using an ionizing system or self-contained navigation has become widespread. In order to effectively exert the navigation function in car navigation, it is effective to display an actual image of a desired point. For example, when approaching a desired point while traveling by car, if an image of the actual point is displayed, effective navigation can be performed for a driver and a passenger of the car.

An image processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-139906 outputs photographed image data and map image data indicating the photographing location in association with each other, and also outputs photographed image data of the point photographed in advance. Can be output when approaching the point.

[0004]

The photographed image data is generally stored in a storage means such as a RAM or a ROM. However, in order to reduce the data amount, JPEG (Joint Photo) is used.
In many cases, the image is stored using a compression method of a still image such as an image expert group.

In order to display a still image on a display device,
The compressed image data must be read from the storage means, subjected to image processing, and returned to the image data before compression for display. This processing requires some processing time. The processing time increases as the amount of image data increases. Therefore, in order to accurately display captured image data of a desired location that has been captured in advance when approaching the location, display processing must be started at an appropriate time in consideration of the amount of image data and processing time. Must. Otherwise, the display of the image data at that point may be completed after passing through the point desired by the driver, and effective navigation for the driver or the passenger may not be performed.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a car navigation device capable of displaying, with high accuracy, photographed image data of a desired position of the user which has been photographed in advance in a method of reading an image in the car navigation device when approaching the position. The purpose is to do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, an appropriate image reading timing is obtained from the data size of the image data, the speed of the vehicle and the position data, and the position on the map and the photographed image are displayed in association with each other. Is a car navigation device.

[0008] With this configuration, it is possible to realize a car navigation device capable of displaying, with high accuracy, photographed image data of a desired point which has been photographed in advance when the user approaches the point.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an appropriate image reading timing is obtained from a data size of image data, a vehicle speed and position data, and a position on a map and a photographed image are displayed in association with each other. It is a car navigation device that can be used.

[0010] With this configuration, it is possible to accurately display the photographed image data of the desired point when the user approaches the point, and to perform effective navigation for the driver and the passenger.

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

Reference numeral 101 denotes a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle based on the position information sequentially transmitted from the communication satellite. 102 is a vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the current speed of the vehicle, using a vehicle speed sensor or the like. Reference numeral 103 denotes an operation unit for operating the car navigation device.
Reference numeral 4 denotes map data reading means for reading map data from a CD-ROM containing map data.
A D-ROM drive is used.

Reference numeral 105 denotes image data storage means for storing image data, which is constituted by a rewritable RAM. Reference numeral 106 denotes an image data amount detection unit for detecting the amount of image data stored in the image data storage unit 105.
5, the data amount of each image data can be detected.

Reference numeral 107 denotes an image processing means. As described above, since the image data has a large data amount, it is often stored in the storage means using a still image compression method such as JPEG in order to reduce the data amount. When stored, it is impossible to display the original image with the data as it is. Therefore, the image processing means 107 performs a function of returning the compressed image data to the image data before compression. Reference numeral 108 denotes an image processing work data storage unit for temporarily storing data being processed by the image processing unit 107 for returning the compressed image data to the image data before compression. It is composed of a rewritable RAM. Reference numeral 109 denotes an arrival time calculating means, which reaches from the current position to a point where image data is to be displayed based on the current vehicle speed sent from the vehicle speed detecting means 102 and the current position data sent from the current position detecting means 101. Calculate time.

Reference numeral 110 denotes a display processing time calculating means for calculating the time until the display is completed based on the data amount of the display target image data in the image data storage means 105 detected by the image data amount detecting means 106. Reference numeral 111 denotes an image display control unit that controls display of the image display unit. Reference numeral 112 denotes an image display unit, which includes a liquid crystal display device and a CRT.
Reference numeral 113 denotes a program storage unit that stores an operation program of the apparatus, and is configured by a ROM. Reference numeral 114 denotes a CPU of a central processing unit that performs overall control of the apparatus.

The actual operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
First, a route setting process is performed to set the start position and the stop position of the navigation operation. The route setting process sets a start position and a stop position and indicates an optimal route to the user. An embodiment of the route setting process will be described below.

The CPU 114 is a map data reading means 1
04 is instructed to read map data. Further, the read data is transferred to the image display means 112 to display a map. The user refers to the map displayed on the image display unit 112 and uses the operation unit 103 to
Display the map you want. The CPU 114 gives a command to the map data reading means 104 to read the map data in response to the command input from the operation unit 103, and causes the image display means 112 to display the map data. When the desired map is displayed on the image display unit 112, the user sets a start position and a stop position for performing navigation using the operation unit 103.

FIG. 3A is a display example of a route setting of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3A, a message "Please set the start position" is displayed until the user sets the start position. At the same time, an arrow-shaped cursor that is moved by the operation unit 103 is also displayed on the screen. The user moves the arrow-shaped cursor using the operation unit 103 while viewing the image display unit 112, and sets a desired start position. After setting the start position, ● is displayed at that point. Then, a message "Please set the stop position" is displayed.

Similarly, the stop position is set. When the stop position is set, a circle is displayed at that point, the optimal route is indicated by a dotted line, and if the user's approval is obtained from the operation unit 103, the message "Route setting is completed. Has been displayed. "
The route setting process ends.

Next, the image data registration processing (step 202 in FIG. 2) is started. FIG. 3B is a display example at the time of image registration of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3B, a message “Please read the registered image and set the registration position.” Is displayed.
The user is prompted by the image data storage unit 105 to read out the image data to be registered. The user uses the operation unit 103 to display the image desired to be registered on the image display unit 112, moves the arrow cursor to the registration position, and registers the image. When the image registration from the user is completed, a mark is displayed at the registered position, and a message “Image registration position setting is completed.” Is displayed. In addition, a command is issued to the image data amount detecting means 106 to detect the data amount of the registered image. Then, the display processing time for displaying the image is calculated using the display processing time calculation means 110.

Thus, the setting is completed. Thereafter, the user actually drives the car and enters a navigation operation. Here, the navigation operation means that the current position information 101 sequentially detected from the communication satellite is detected by the current position detection means 101, the data is analyzed by the CPU 114, and the current position information is displayed on the map displayed on the image display means 112. Marking position.

Depending on the point at which the image desired to be displayed is actually read during the navigation operation, the operation is performed from the point where the following relational expression holds.

(Image display position-current position) ÷ vehicle speed + margin time = K × image data amount The vehicle speed of the first term on the left side is an average value within a certain unit time. The margin time in the second term is a margin time in which the image display is completed and the user can sufficiently recognize the image. K (size) of the first term on the right side
Represents the display processing time per unit data amount.

That is, the CPU 114 calculates the arrival time to the image display position using the current position data sent from the current position detection means 101 and the vehicle speed data sent from the vehicle speed detection means 102 using the arrival time calculation means 109. The value on the left side of the relational expression is compared with the value on the right side of the relational expression indicating the display processing time of the display image.
Assuming that the left side of the above relational expression is A and the right side is B, a state where A> B is awaiting the start of the display processing (steps 202 and 203 in FIG. 2). Image processing is executed when the vehicle approaches the image registration position and the left side becomes the right side (step 20).
4, 205). The CPU 114 reads out image data to be displayed from the image data storage unit 105 and performs image processing using the image processing unit 107 so that the image data can be displayed on the image display unit.

The displayable image data having undergone the image processing is transferred to the image display means 112, and the image is gradually displayed. The CPU 114 monitors the completion of the display processing (step 206), waits for the display processing to be completed, and holds the image display output so that the image display output is held.
Control.

FIG. 4 is a display example of an actual image during a navigation operation of the car navigation device in one embodiment of the present invention. That is, the image data storage means 10
The display of the image is completed at a point X before the point desired by the user by obtaining an appropriate timing point for starting the image processing based on the data amount of the image data to be read stored in 5 and the vehicle speed of the vehicle. As a result, the user can recognize the image with plenty of time, so that effective navigation can be performed.

Since the image display is not required when the car passes the image reading point, the image output is stopped after an appropriate time after passing the image display point.

The absolute value of the current (image display position-current position) is | disn |, and the previous measured value is | d
isn-1 | then | disn |> | disn-1 |
When it becomes, it means that the car is moving away from the image display position, and the CPU 114 monitors this (step 208), and if this is true, advances the time count by one (step 209). Then, an appropriate time is determined and the count value is monitored to be counted up (step 210). If the count value is counted up, the image display control means 111 is controlled so as to stop outputting the image.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately display photographed image data of a desired point when the user approaches the point, and perform effective navigation for a driver or a passenger. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a display example of a route setting of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3B is a display example of image registration of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a display example of an actual image during a navigation operation of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Current position detection means 102 Vehicle speed detection means 103 Operation part 104 Map data reading means 105 Image data storage means 106 Image data amount detection means 107 Image processing means 108 Image processing work data storage means 109 Arrival time calculation means 110 Display processing time calculation Means 111 Image display control means 112 Image display means 113 Program storage means 114 CPU

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image readout timing is obtained from a data size of image data and speed and position data of a vehicle.
A car navigation device for displaying a position on a map in association with a photographed image.