JP2000171263A - Vehicle navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] A navigation apparatus displays a lane pattern of a guidance intersection only when necessary. A navigation ECU (14) displays map data on a display device (18) and displays a recommended route to a destination on the display device (18). If the lane pattern at the guidance intersection matches the predetermined reference pattern, the driver does not display the lane pattern as it can be determined with common sense, and if it does not match the reference pattern, displays the lane pattern and gives the driver Present. When traveling straight through the guidance intersection, the lane pattern is displayed superimposed on the map data, and when turning right or left, the lane pattern is displayed in the enlarged view of the intersection.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus for a vehicle, and more particularly to a technique for presenting a lane pattern at an intersection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a navigation device having a function of presenting lane data at an intersection to a driver when the vehicle has reached a position just before the intersection.

[0003] For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-129889 discloses a system in which a driver is notified by voice of a lane to be driven when an intersection requiring a lane change is reached.

[0004]

However, in such a system in which such an instruction is given for each of the passing intersections, there is a problem that the driver feels troublesome. That is, for example, when the vehicle travels on a standard one-lane two-lane road (the left lane is a lane that can make a straight line and a left turn, and the right lane is a lane that can only go straight) and reaches a predetermined distance before the intersection, the navigation device According to the calculated recommended route, when it is necessary to make a left turn at the intersection, it is usually easy to know that the driver should drive in the left lane to make a left turn. You do not need to be instructed to drive in the left lane. In the conventional navigation device instruction method, the lane instruction which is considered unnecessary for the driver is also performed. Therefore, the driver feels such annoying instruction, and as a result, the driver is informed of the truly necessary instruction reliably. There was a problem that was difficult to do.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and has as its object to provide an apparatus capable of presenting information about lanes (lane patterns) to a driver only at an intersection considered to be truly necessary. Is to do.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a navigation system for a vehicle for displaying map data and presenting a recommended route to a destination to a driver for guidance. Storage means for storing a reference lane pattern, and control means for presenting the lane pattern at the intersection when the lane pattern at the intersection on the route is other than the reference lane pattern. The reference lane pattern is a pattern that can be determined by the driver with common sense, and can be presented only when it is a lane pattern other than the reference lane pattern. Traveling becomes possible.

In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the control means displays the lane pattern in an enlarged view near the intersection when the recommended route is a right / left turn route at the intersection. When the recommended route is a straight route at the intersection, the lane pattern is displayed in the map data. When an enlarged view near the intersection is displayed when making a right or left turn, by displaying the lane pattern in this enlarged view, the driver can easily visually recognize the lane pattern, and can run smoothly.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. The overall configuration is almost the same as a conventional navigation device.

[0010] The current position detecting device 10 is a GPS or DGP.
S, a vehicle speed sensor, a direction sensor, and the like. The current position of the vehicle is detected and output to a navigation ECU (electronic control unit: abbreviated as navigation ECU) 14.

The operating device 12 is used to designate a destination, a waypoint, or a format or scroll of display data, and input data is supplied to the navigation ECU 14. The operation device 12 can be configured by a touch switch displayed on a display device 18 described later.

The map data storage device 16 stores map data (map data for display and map data for route search) necessary for the navigation function, and is composed of a CD-ROM, a DVD or the like. The map data is appropriately supplied to the navigation ECU 14 in response to a request from the navigation ECU 14.

The navigation ECU 14 reads the map data around the current position from the map data storage device 16 and displays it on the display device 18, calculates the route (recommended route) from the current position to the destination, and obtains the obtained recommendation. The route is appropriately displayed on the display device 18 to guide the driver. Navigation ECU 14
Can be specifically constituted by a microcomputer. Note that the display device 18 is made of a CRT or a liquid crystal, and a speaker may be provided in addition to the display device 18 so that the recommended route can be presented by voice via the speaker.

In such a configuration, when the vehicle arrives a predetermined distance before a guidance intersection (an intersection at which the driver should go straight or turn left or right to guide the vehicle along the recommended route), the navigation ECU 14 sets the intersection at a predetermined distance. It is automatically determined whether or not the lane pattern is to be displayed on the display device 18, and the lane pattern is displayed on the display device 18 when it is deemed necessary. The determination as to whether or not to display the lane pattern is made based on a reference lane pattern (hereinafter, referred to as a default value) stored in advance in a memory in the navigation ECU 14 and a lane pattern at the intersection (the lane pattern at the intersection is a map data storage device). 16 can be read out), and when the lane pattern at the intersection is other than the default value, it is determined that it is truly necessary and displayed.
Here, the reference lane pattern (default value) is such that a normal driver can easily understand the traveling direction of the lane, for example, in two lanes on one side, a left lane is a straight ahead and a left turn lane, and a right lane is a straight ahead lane. Means a standard lane pattern, which will be described in detail later.

2 to 5 show processing flowcharts of the navigation ECU 14. First, in FIG. 2, it is determined whether or not a route (recommended route) is being guided (S1). If the route is being guided, a manual lane display switch (S / W) is displayed on the display device 18 (S2). ). This switch is operated when it is desired to always display the lane pattern at the intersection. When the switch is considered to be unnecessary by operating this switch (that is, when the lane pattern at the intersection becomes the reference lane pattern) ), The lane pattern can be displayed.
The processing when this switch is operated will be described with reference to FIG. 5, and FIGS. 2 to 4 show the processing when this switch is not operated.

Next, the navigation ECU 14 determines whether or not an intersection exists a predetermined distance away from the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection device 10, that is, whether or not a guidance intersection exists (S3). . When there is no intersection, the process returns to S1 again. When there is an intersection, it is further determined whether or not the guidance route (recommended route) is straight ahead at the intersection (S4). In this determination, when turning right or left at an intersection, the navigation ECU 14 superimposes the map data on the display device 18 and displays an enlarged view of the intersection. Is to determine whether or not to display a lane pattern.

FIG. 3 shows a process when the guide route is not straight ahead in S4, that is, when the recommended route at the guide intersection is a right turn or a left turn. First, the lane data (lane pattern) of the intersection is compared with a default value stored in a memory in advance to determine whether the lane data of the intersection is equal to the default value. This determination is for determining whether or not it is really necessary to display the lane pattern, and examples of the default values are shown in FIGS.

FIG. 6 shows a case where the left and right lanes are straight lanes on a two-lane road. Since both lanes can only drive straight ahead (turn right and left are prohibited), the driver does not get lost. Note that, at such an intersection, the recommended route is, of course, a straight route.

FIG. 7 shows a case in which a left lane is a lane that can go straight and turn left and a right lane is a lane that can go straight and turn right on a two-lane road on one side. When turning left at an intersection, the driver enters the left lane in a common sense, and enters the right lane when turning right. However, the lane pattern shown in FIG. 7 matches such a common sense pattern. The driver does not get lost.

FIG. 8 shows a case in which the left lane is a lane where the vehicle can turn straight and can turn left and the right lane is a straight lane on a two-lane road. When making a left turn at an intersection, the driver generally enters the left lane, but the lane pattern shown in FIG. 8 conforms to such common sense, so that the driver does not get lost.

FIG. 9 shows a case in which a left lane is a straight lane and a right lane is a lane which can turn straight and turn right on a two-lane road. When making a right turn at an intersection, the driver commonly enters the right lane, but the lane pattern shown in FIG. 9 conforms to such common sense, so that the driver does not get lost.

FIG. 10 shows a case in which the left lane is a straight lane and the center lane and the right lane are straight lanes on a three-lane road. When making a left turn at an intersection, the driver generally enters the leftmost lane, and when traveling straight ahead, enters the central lane. However, the lane pattern shown in FIG. The driver does not get lost because it matches.

FIG. 11 shows a case where a left lane is a straight lane, a central lane is a straight lane, and a right lane is a lane that can turn straight and right on a three-lane road. When making a left turn at an intersection, the driver enters the leftmost lane in a common sense, enters the middle lane in a common sense when going straight, and uses the rightmost in a common sense when turning right. Entering the lane, Figure 1
Since the lane pattern 1 conforms to such common sense, the driver does not get lost.

FIG. 12 shows a case in which a left lane and a central lane are straight lanes and a right lane is a right turn lane on a three-lane road. When making a right turn at an intersection, the driver generally enters the rightmost lane, but since the lane pattern in FIG. 12 matches such common sense, the driver does not get lost. Note that it is needless to say that the recommended route also becomes a right turn or a straight line because a left turn cannot be made at such an intersection.

FIG. 13 shows a case in which a left lane is a straight lane and a left turn lane, a center lane is a straight lane, and a right lane is a right turn lane. When making a left turn at an intersection, the driver enters the leftmost lane in a common sense, enters the middle lane in a common sense when going straight, and uses the rightmost in a common sense when turning right. Although the vehicle enters the lane, the driver does not get lost because the lane pattern in FIG. 13 matches such common sense.

FIG. 14 shows four lanes on each side (first, second, left,
In the third and fourth roads, the first lane is a left-turn lane, the second lane and the third lane are straight-ahead lanes, and the fourth lane is a right-turn lane. Also in this case, the driver agrees with the common sense that the driver enters the left lane when turning left at an intersection, enters the center lane when traveling straight, and enters the rightmost lane when turning right. Therefore, the driver does not get lost without any special instructions.

As described above, FIGS. 6 to 14 are lane patterns that can be determined with common sense, and the lane data (lane pattern) at the intersection is the same as any of the default values shown in FIGS. 6 to 14. Includes S5 in FIG.
Is determined as YES, and the lane pattern is not displayed (S6). On the other hand, if the lane data (lane pattern) of the intersection is not the same as any of the default values in FIGS. 6 to 14, a beep sound indicating that the lane pattern is to be displayed is sounded (S7), and The lane pattern of the intersection is displayed (S8). Note that the enlarged view is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the intersection when turning right or left at the intersection.
The guidance route (recommended route) is presented by superimposing an arrow on the enlarged view. In the present embodiment, by further displaying the lane pattern on the enlarged view displayed when turning left or right, it is possible to travel more smoothly along the guide route at the intersection. The lane pattern is continuously displayed until the vehicle passes through the guidance intersection. After the vehicle passes through the guidance intersection, the display of the enlarged view is erased and the lane pattern is also erased (S9, S1).
0).

FIG. 15 shows an enlarged view and an example of a lane pattern displayed on the map data. In the figure, a mark 100 indicated by four opposing triangles indicates a guidance intersection, map data is displayed on the left side of the display device 18, and an enlarged view 200 of the guidance intersection is displayed on the right side. The arrow in the enlarged view is a guidance route (recommended route), and in this figure, is a route that turns left at the guidance intersection. And the lane pattern 300 of the guidance intersection is displayed in the enlarged view 200. As the lane pattern 300, in addition to displaying the traveling directions of all the lanes, it is also preferable to display only the lanes necessary to travel along the guide route (in this case, the left turn lane) as shown in the figure. .
In FIG. 15, the lane pattern at the guidance intersection is, for example, a three-lane road on one side where the left and center lanes are left-turn lanes and the right lane is straight ahead and right-turn lanes (in this case, the default values described above do not match. Display is required).

On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows processing when it is determined in S4 that the guidance route is straight ahead. In the figure, the lane data (lane pattern) at the guidance intersection is compared with a default value (S11), and the lane pattern is not displayed if the default value is matched (S12), as in S5 of FIG. When the lane data does not match the default value, for example, when the lane pattern at the guidance intersection is a three-lane road on one side as shown in FIG. 16, the left lane is straight and left turn lane, the center lane is right turn lane, and the right lane is straight lane , After the beep sound is emitted (S13), the lane pattern of the guidance intersection is displayed on the map (S14). When the vehicle is going straight ahead at an intersection, the navigation ECU 14 does not display the enlarged intersection, so that the lane pattern is also superimposed on the map data. The lane pattern is continuously displayed until the vehicle passes through the guidance intersection.
5) The display is erased (S16). When displaying the lane pattern, in addition to displaying all the lane patterns at the guidance intersection, it is also preferable to display only the lane necessary to travel along the guidance route (in this case, the straight lane). is there.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a lane pattern displayed on the map data. Since the enlarged view is not displayed as described above when going straight ahead at the guidance intersection, the lane pattern 300 is superimposed on the map data. The lane pattern 300 is a lane pattern corresponding to FIG. 16, and shows a left lane and a right lane that can go straight.

The case where the lane pattern is displayed only when it is deemed necessary is described above. However, since the lane pattern at the guidance intersection coincides with the default value, it is essentially unnecessary to display the lane pattern. When there is traffic congestion, it may be better to display the lane pattern, such as when it is desired to check the lane pattern and avoid an empty lane. In such a case, the driver can display the information by operating the manual lane switch.

FIG. 5 shows the processing when the driver operates the manual lane display switch. When the manual lane display switch is turned on (S17), the navigation EC
U14 determines whether or not the guidance route is straight ahead (S18),
In the case of going straight, a beep sound is emitted (S19), and then the lane pattern of the guidance intersection is displayed on the map (S20).
That is, the lane pattern of the guidance intersection is displayed uniformly without comparing with the default value. The display is continued until the vehicle passes the guidance intersection (S21, S22). If the guidance route is a right turn or a left turn, a beep is sounded similarly (S23), and then a lane pattern is displayed on the enlarged view (S24). Also at this time, it is displayed uniformly without comparing with the default value. The display of the lane pattern is continued until the vehicle passes the guidance intersection (S25, S26).
As a result, the lane pattern can be displayed each time the driver desires, and the vehicle can run smoothly.

In the present embodiment, a beep is sounded when a lane pattern is displayed. However, this is not essential, and the lane pattern may be displayed without notice.

In the present embodiment, the lane pattern is displayed on the display device 18 so as to be presented to the driver.
The form of presentation is not limited to display, but may be any form, and it is also possible to notify by voice from a speaker such as "the left lane is a left turn lane."

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the lane pattern of the intersection is presented to the driver only when it is really necessary, so that the driver can obtain the information on the lane without feeling bothersome. It is possible to travel smoothly along the recommended route.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart (part 1) of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart (part 2) of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart (part 3) of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart (part 4) of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram (part 2) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram (part 3) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram (part 4) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view (5) of a reference lane pattern (default value) of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram (part 6) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram (part 7) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view (8) of a reference lane pattern (default value) of the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram (No. 9) illustrating a reference lane pattern (default value) according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of a lane pattern displayed in the enlarged view.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a lane pattern at a guidance intersection.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a lane pattern displayed on map data.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 current position detection device, 12 operation device, 14 navigation ECU, 16 map data storage device, 18 display device.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page F term (reference) 2C032 HB06 HC24 HC26 HD07 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB09 AB13 AC02 AC04 AC08 AC13 AC14 AC18 5H180 AA01 BB13 EE01 FF04 FF05 FF22 FF24 FF25 FF27 FF32 FF33 9A001 DD11 JJ33 JJ33

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle navigation device for displaying map data and presenting a recommended route to a destination to a driver to guide the driver, a storage means for storing a reference lane pattern, and a lane pattern at an intersection on a course. Control means for presenting a lane pattern at the intersection when is other than the reference lane pattern. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays the lane pattern in an enlarged view near the intersection when the recommended route is a right / left turn route at the intersection. The vehicle navigation device, wherein the lane pattern is displayed in the map data when the recommended route is a straight-ahead route.