JP2001194162A - Information providing system and method for navigation device, and storage medium storing computer program for realizing information providing system for navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information providing system and method for a navigation device capable of retrieving the navigation device data desired by the user from various data and providing it to the user. SOLUTION: An external computer 20 accessing the information providing system 10 can transmit the navigation device data including the names, types and positions of facilities or the like. The information providing system 10 registers the received navigation device data in a navigation database 24. The external computer 20 can also download the desired data by retrieving the navigation database 24 according to keyword or type. The user stores the downloaded data in a storage medium such as a memory card and uses it in the navigation device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing system for a navigation device, and more particularly to a system which is built on a server computer connected to a computer network such as the Internet and provides data for the navigation device via the computer network. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vehicle navigation device,
Map data is read from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and displayed on a monitor screen. In addition to road data, map data includes various stores, restaurants,
Includes facility data such as public facilities and office buildings.
Since a recording medium on which such map data is recorded is provided by a manufacturer of the navigation device or the like, usable data is limited to those selected by the manufacturer. In addition, since data recorded on a recording medium is updated only about once a year, it is difficult to use the latest data of a recently opened store or the like in a navigation device.

On the other hand, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-319
Japanese Patent Publication No. 300 discloses that a navigation device is provided with a function as a client computer that wirelessly accesses the Internet and downloads data from a WWW server. According to such a configuration, the administrator of the WWW server frequently updates the data, so that the latest data can be used in the navigation device.

[0004]

However, in general, information provided from a WWW server is prepared by a server administrator, so that a user cannot use desired data as navigation information. For example, if a user is interested in a restaurant known in a magazine or the like and desires to display the location on a navigation device, the desire cannot be realized unless the restaurant is registered in a WWW server. Also, since the data that can be prepared by the server administrator is limited, WWW
The diversity of data that can be registered in the server is not enough.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a navigation device information providing system capable of retrieving navigation device data desired by a user from various types of data and providing the data to the user. It is an object to provide an information providing method for a navigation device.

[0006]

The above object is achieved by the present invention.
As described in the above, an information providing system for a navigation device constructed by a server computer that can be accessed from an external computer via a computer network, and transmits data on various facilities and their locations transmitted from the accessing external computer. Data registration means for receiving at least the navigation device data and registering the received navigation device data in a database; and receiving data request information transmitted from an external computer which has accessed the data, based on the received data request information. And a search data transmitting means for transmitting the searched data to an external computer which has transmitted the data request information. Is accomplished by use the information providing system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for providing navigation information by a server computer accessible from an external computer via a computer network, wherein the method comprises the steps of: Receiving navigation device data including at least data on various facilities and their locations; registering the received navigation device data in a database constructed in advance; and transmitting data transmitted from an external computer that has accessed the data. Receiving the request information; retrieving data from the database based on the received data request information; and transmitting the retrieved data to an external computer that transmitted the data request information. Tsu and up also achieved by the navigation system for information providing method comprising.

According to the first and third aspects of the present invention, the navigation device data transmitted from the external computer accessing the server computer is registered in the database in the server computer. For this reason, the database includes a wide variety of data provided by many users. Further, the server computer transmits data retrieved from the database based on the data request information from the external computer to the external computer. Therefore, the user of the external computer can download desired data from a database including various types of data and use the data as navigation information. In the present invention, the "data relating to various facilities and their locations" correspond to, for example, facility names, facility genres, facility addresses, facility latitude and longitude, and the like. Also, in the “data request information”, for example,
A keyword name for performing a keyword search on the database and a genre name for performing a genre search correspond to the keyword.

In this case, as set forth in claim 2, in the navigation device information providing system according to claim 1, the data registration unit stores data for identifying a provider of the navigation device data. Means for registering in the database together with the data for use and identifying the user of the external computer that has accessed, and receiving the data deletion request information transmitted from the external computer that has accessed, the identified user and the data provider Means for deleting, from the database, navigation device data corresponding to the received data deletion request information among the matching navigation device data may be further provided.

Further, as described in claim 4, claim 3
In the information providing method for a navigation device described in the step of registering in the database, the data for identifying the provider of the navigation device data is registered in the database together with the navigation device data, and the external computer Identifying a user, receiving data deletion request information transmitted from an external computer that has accessed, and receiving the received data deletion request among navigation device data in which the identified user and the data provider match. Deleting the navigation device data corresponding to the information from the database.

The invention according to claims 5 and 6 is:
The present invention relates to a recording medium recording a program for realizing the information providing system for a navigation device according to claims 1 and 2 by a server computer.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an information providing system for a navigation device (hereinafter abbreviated as an information providing system) 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The information providing system 10 is a computer system having a communication interface, a large-capacity data storage device, and the like. The central processing unit 12 reads a program recorded in a storage unit such as a hard disk device 14 and executes data processing according to the program. By doing so, various functions are realized.

A number of external computers 20 are connected to the information providing system 10 via the Internet 18. FIG. 1 shows one of the external computers 20.
Only shows. The information providing system 10 is connected to an external computer 20 accessed via the Internet 18 and, for example, an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).
l) By performing data communication according to the protocol such as
Functions as a WW server. That is, the information providing system 10 responds to a request from the external computer 20 by:
Screen configuration data composed of document data described in a digital document description language such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is transmitted to the external computer 20. The screen configuration data and the data serving as a template thereof are stored in the hard disk device 14.

HTML transmitted by the information providing system 10
Ancillary data such as an image can be attached to the document data. Further, each component such as a text, a figure, and a photograph included in the document data can be associated with other document data. When the text or the like to which the association is set is clicked on the external computer 20, the information providing system 10 reads the associated document data from the hard disk device 14 and transmits the document data to the external computer 20.

Further, the document data or its constituent elements include C
An association with a processing program described in a programming language such as GI (Common Gateway Interface) can be set. Then, the information providing system 10
When transmitting screen configuration data including an entry field for entering a predetermined item or a selection button for selecting a predetermined item to the external computer 20, the associated processing program is entered in the external computer 20. Based on the returned input information, processing such as database search and data registration, which will be described later, is appropriately executed.

The information providing system 10 is provided with a unique URL, and the URL is printed on various advertising media such as magazines or registered in a search engine, so that an unspecified number of URLs are provided. The user can access the information providing system 10 from the external computer 20 by knowing the URL of the information providing system 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing system 10 includes a navigation database 24. The navigation database 24 records navigation device data provided by the user via the external computer 20. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the navigation database 24. As shown in FIG. 2, the navigation database has rows (rows) and columns (columns).
It is a tabular database consisting of In the navigation database 24, "data ID", "registration date", "facility name", "facility genre", "address",
Nine columns represented by "telephone number", "description", "position", and "image data file name" are provided, and each row corresponds to one record. Data stored in the columns “facility name”, “facility genre”, “address”, “telephone number”, “description”, “location”, and “image data file name” are supplied by the user. The contents of the data stored in each column are as follows.

“Data ID”: identification code of each record “Registration date”: registration date of each record in navigation database 24 “facility name”: name of facility “facility genre”: restaurant, theater, hospital, shopping center —Genre name of facility such as “Address”: Address of facility “Phone number”: Phone number of facility “Description”: Description, comment, and other supplementary information about facility “Location”: Latitude and longitude of facility location "Image data file name": Name of an image data file storing image data (for example, external photo data) related to the facility

In the system according to the present embodiment, an unspecified number of users can access the information providing system 1 from the external computer 20.
By accessing 0, it is possible to register various types of data for a navigation device in the navigation database 24, search for desired data from the navigation database 24, and download it to the external computer 20. . Then, the user who downloads the desired data,
For example, CD-RW, semiconductor memory card, DVD-RA
By recording it on a writable portable recording medium such as M, which is compatible with the navigation device, it can be used as navigation information. The “user” in the present system includes, in addition to the user of the navigation device that intends to download and use the data for the navigation device, for example, a facility manager who wants to include the facility managed by himself / herself in the navigation information. Etc. are also included.

Hereinafter, the operation of the information providing system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. The following processing by the information providing system 10 is realized by the central processing unit 12 reading and executing a computer program stored in the hard disk device 14 in advance. In addition, this computer program is, for example, CD-R
The information may be recorded on a recording medium such as an OM, a floppy disk, a DVD-ROM, or a semiconductor memory, and may be installed on the hard disk 14 from the recording medium.

A user starts a browser on any of the external computers 20 and sends a UR of the information providing system 10.
It is assumed that the user has accessed the information providing system 10 by inputting L or the like. In response to this access, the information providing system 10 transmits screen configuration data of the initial screen to the external computer 20.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the initial screen. As shown in FIG. 3, the initial screen includes a title image 100, a "data registration" button 106, and a "data search" button 10.
8 is displayed. The user clicks a “data registration” button 106 or a “data search” button 108 depending on whether to perform data registration or search. When the “data registration” button 106 is clicked on the initial screen, the information providing system 10
Transmits the screen configuration data of the data registration screen to the external computer 20.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the data registration screen. As shown in FIG. 4, the data registration screen includes a facility name input field 1
10, facility genre input field 112, address input field 114,
Phone number input field 116, latitude / longitude input field 117, comment input field 118, image data file name input field 12
0, a “register” button 122 and a “reset” button 124 are displayed. In the image data file name input field 120, a file name in which image data relating to the facility to be registered is stored is input. That is,
The user records an image data file in the external computer 20 in advance by, for example, taking a photograph of the facility with a digital camera or taking in a photograph published in a magazine or the like with a scanner. Then, in the image data file name input field 120, the file name of the image data file is input.

When the "reset" button 124 is clicked on the data registration screen, the data entered in each input field is reset. On the other hand, when the “registration” button 122 is clicked after data is entered in each of the input fields, in response to this, the information providing system 10 causes the data registration program associated with the data registration screen (hereinafter, referred to as a data registration screen) (Referred to as a data registration program).

The data registration program receives the data entered in each of the input fields and sends the data to the navigation database 2.
4 to perform data registration. The data registration program first determines whether or not data is entered in each input field. As a result, if data is not entered in some of the input fields, screen configuration data of a screen prompting re-input of data is transmitted to the external computer 20. On the other hand, when data is entered in all the input fields, a new data ID is generated. Then, each data input on the data registration screen is registered as a new record in the navigation database 24 together with the current date and the generated data ID. At the same time, the image data having the file name entered in the image data file name input field 120 is uploaded to the information providing system 10. When the data registration is completed, the screen configuration data of the screen indicating the completion of the data registration is transmitted to the external computer 20.

The image data file name input field 120
If no data has been entered in, it may be determined that there is no image data corresponding to the facility. Alternatively, when there is no image data corresponding to the facility, a specific character string indicating that fact may be entered in the image data file name input field 120.

As for the data format and size of the image data to be uploaded to the information providing system 10, the user may prepare image data of a predetermined data format and size. The data may be automatically converted into a standard data format and size on the side.

The user can display the latitude / longitude of the facility, for example, by pointing to a latitude / longitude display function of a commercially available navigation device (when a user points to a certain point on a map displayed on a display device, the latitude / longitude of the point is displayed). The function can be easily known by using the function of displaying. However, a database indicating the relationship between the address and the latitude / longitude is built in the information providing system 10 in advance, and if there is no input in the latitude / longitude input field 117, the database is referred to to determine the latitude / longitude. The longitude may be obtained.

On the other hand, when the “data search” button 108 is clicked on the initial screen shown in FIG. 3, the information providing system 10 transmits screen configuration data of the data search screen to the external computer 20.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the data search screen. As shown in FIG. 5, the data search screen displays a keyword input field 130, a logical child selection radio button 132, a "search" button 134, a region designation area 136, and a genre designation area 138.

When a plurality of keywords separated by spaces or commas are entered in the keyword input box 130, a logical child selection radio button 132 specifies whether to perform an AND operation or an OR operation on these keywords. It is for. That is, the logical child selection radio button 13
When "AND" is selected in 2, data including all of the plurality of keywords is searched, and when "OR" is selected, data including at least one of the plurality of keywords is searched. The logical child selection radio button 13
Instead of providing two, a plurality of keywords may be input in the keyword input field 130 by connecting them with a logical element “AND” or “OR”.

When a “search” button 134 is clicked after a keyword is entered in the keyword input field 130, the information providing system 10 responds to this by clicking on the “search” button 134. Program (hereinafter referred to as keyword search program)
Is executed. The area designation area 136 and the genre designation area 138 will be described later.

The keyword search program receives the entry data in the keyword input field 130 and the selected state of the logical child selection radio button 132, and executes a process for searching the navigation database 24 with a keyword. That is, the keyword search program first determines whether the keyword entered in the keyword input field 130 is included in any of the columns “facility name”, “genre”, “address”, and “description” in the navigation database 24. A search is made to determine whether or not a record includes the keyword in at least one of these columns.
Then, screen configuration data of a search result display screen for displaying the extracted records is generated, and the external computer 20 generates the screen configuration data.
Send to As described above, the keyword input field 13
When a plurality of keywords are entered in 0, if "AND" is selected by the logical child selection radio button 132, a record including all the keywords is extracted.
If "R" is selected, a record including at least one keyword is extracted.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a search result display screen.
As shown in FIG. 6, the search result display screen includes a list display area 140, a "select all" button 142, a "clear all" button 144, a "download" button 146, a keyword input field 148, a logical child selection radio button 150, And a “refine search” button 152 are displayed.

In the list display area 140, the contents of the columns "facility name", "genre", "address", "telephone number", and "description" of the record extracted by the keyword search as described above are displayed in a table. Is done. A check box 154 is displayed at the beginning of each row of the list table, and a “details” button 156 is displayed at the end. The check box 154 is for the user to select a record to be downloaded, and is unchecked in the initial state. Then, every time each check box 154 is clicked, a non-check /
The check state is reversed. "Select all" button 1
When the button 42 is clicked, the check boxes 154 of all the extracted records are checked, and when the “Clear all” button 144 is clicked, the check boxes 154 of all the extracted records are unchecked. .

When any one of the "details" buttons 156 is clicked, the information providing system 10 responds to this by clicking on the screen structure of the explanatory note display screen that displays the contents of the column "explanatory note" of the corresponding record. Data is generated and transmitted to the external computer 20. As a result, the user can read the description, comment, and the like of the facility to know the details of the facility.

When the “download” button 146 is clicked, the information providing system 1 responds to the click.
0 indicates the columns “facility name”, “facility genre”,
"Address", "Phone number", "Description", and "Location"
Is transmitted to the external computer 20 in a predetermined format. When the data transmission is completed, the information providing system 10 transmits screen configuration data of a transmission completion display screen indicating the completion of the data transmission to the external computer 10. Then, “O” included in the transmission completion display screen is displayed.
In response to clicking the “K” button, the screen configuration data of the initial screen is transmitted to the external computer 10.

When the user wants to further narrow down the extracted records by keyword search, a new keyword is entered in the keyword input field 148, and "AND" or "OR" is selected by the logical child selection radio button 150. Then, a “refine search” button 152 is clicked. In this case, a keyword search is performed on the record displayed in the list display area 140 in the same manner as when the “search” button 134 is clicked, and the screen configuration data of the new search result display screen is displayed on the external computer 20. Sent to

In the data search screen shown in FIG. 5, "Hokkaido", "Tohoku", "Kanto"
And the like, and category items according to facility genres such as "eat", "watch", "play", and "shopping" are displayed in the genre designation area 138. . When any one of the category items is clicked, the information providing system 10 executes a program for searching for a record corresponding to the clicked category item (hereinafter, referred to as a category search program). For example, when the category item "Kanto" is clicked, subdivided category items such as "Tokyo" and "Kanagawa" are displayed, and when the category item "eat" is clicked, Further, each category item may be hierarchized by displaying subdivided category items such as “Japanese food” and “French cuisine”.

When the category item of the area designation area 136 is clicked, the category search program
The record in the column “address” corresponding to the clicked area name is searched for and extracted. When the category item in the genre designation area 138 is clicked, a record corresponding to the category is searched and extracted based on the contents of the columns “facility genre” and “description”. Then, FIG. 6 showing the extracted records
Then, the same screen configuration data of the search result display screen is generated and transmitted to the external computer 20. Thereafter, as described above, the user can select and download desired data from the extracted records.

As described above, the user who accesses the information providing system 10 from the external computer 20 can search and download a desired record from the navigation database 24. Then, the downloaded data is stored in a semiconductor memory card, CD-R, C
It can be recorded on a writable portable recording medium such as a D-RW or a DVD-RAM.

Next, the configuration of a navigation device capable of reading downloaded data from a recording medium and using it as navigation information will be described. In the following description, it is assumed that map data for navigation is provided from a manufacturer by a CD-ROM, and that data downloaded from the system is recorded on a semiconductor memory card.

FIG. 7 is a system configuration diagram of the navigation device. As shown in FIG. 7, the navigation device
Navigation control unit 200, CD-ROM drive device 202, memory card reader 204, position recognition unit 20
6 and a display device 208.

The position recognizing unit 206 is provided with the GPS antenna 21
0 receives the GPS signal received from the artificial satellite, recognizes the current position (latitude and longitude) of the vehicle, and supplies the recognition information to the navigation control unit 200. The navigation control unit 200 reads map data recorded on a CD-ROM via the CD-ROM drive device 202 and reads data recorded on the semiconductor memory via the memory card reader 204.

FIG. 8 shows an example of map data recorded on a CD-ROM. FIG. 8 shows the display device 2
08 shows one screen of map data. As shown in FIG. 8, the map data is divided into rectangular blocks, and one screen displays, for example, 3 × 3 nine blocks of map data. The navigation control unit 200 controls the display device 208 according to the operation mode of the navigation device.
9 blocks are selected so that a block including a point to be displayed (current position of the vehicle in the normal operation mode) is displayed at the center of the screen, and map data of these blocks is read from the CD-ROM.

Further, the navigation control unit 200 determines whether or not the facility included in each data is included in the currently displayed block based on the value of “latitude / longitude” of each data read from the memory card. I do. If the facility is included in the currently displayed block, map data in which the facility is added to the map data of the block is generated and displayed on the display device 208. FIG. 9 shows an example of map data obtained by adding facilities as described above to the map data shown in FIG.

When a detail display function (a function of displaying detailed information about a facility on the screen) of the navigation device is activated, or when a facility is clicked on the screen, a description about the facility is displayed. Is displayed, and image data is read from the image data file specified by the "image data file name" and displayed on the screen.

As described above, in the navigation device, the data downloaded from the information providing system 10 can be used in addition to the map data recorded on the CD-ROM.

As described above, according to the information providing system of the present embodiment, each user retrieves and extracts desired data from data provided by an unspecified number of users, and uses the data with the navigation device. can do. For this reason, much more various data can be used as the navigation information as compared with the case where the manufacturer unilaterally provides the navigation data as before.

In the above embodiment, the user
You may make it possible to delete the data registered by itself.
This can be achieved as follows. In other words, on the initial screen, while displaying the "data deletion" button,
A user ID is given to a user who accesses for the first time, and a user ID is given to a user who accesses again.
Prompt. The navigation database 24 is provided with a column for storing the user ID of the user who has registered the data, and also registers the user ID of the data provider when registering the data. When the "delete data" button is clicked, only the record including the user ID of the user is displayed as a record that can be deleted, and a record arbitrarily selected from the displayed records can be deleted. As a result, each user can delete only the data registered by himself without erroneously deleting the data registered by another person.

In the above-described embodiment, the medium for supplying the map data from the manufacturer and the medium for recording the data downloaded from the information providing system 10 are described as being different from each other. The manufacturer may provide the navigation data by using a recordable or rewritable recording medium such as a CD-RW or a DVD-RAM, and additionally record the downloaded data on this recording medium.

The navigation device may have a function as a client computer that can be wirelessly connected to the computer network 18 so that data can be directly downloaded from the information providing system 10 to the navigation device.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A database built on the server computer can include a wide variety of data provided by many users. Then, the user of the external computer can download desired data from the database including such various kinds of data and use it as navigation information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a navigation database.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an initial screen transmitted to an external computer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data registration screen transmitted to an external computer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data search screen transmitted to an external computer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result display screen transmitted to an external computer.

FIG. 7 is a system configuration diagram of a navigation device corresponding to the navigation data information providing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of map data recorded on a CD-ROM.

9 is a diagram showing map data obtained by adding facilities included in the downloaded data to the map data shown in FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Information providing system for navigation device 14 Storage device 18 Internet 20 External computer 24 Navigation database

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information providing system for a navigation device constructed by a server computer accessible from an external computer via a computer network, wherein data relating to various facilities and their locations transmitted from the accessing external computer is provided. Data registration means for receiving at least the navigation device data and registering the received navigation device data in a database; receiving the data request information transmitted from the external computer which has accessed the data, and based on the received data request information A navigation system comprising: data search means for searching data from the database; and search data transmission means for transmitting the searched data to an external computer that has transmitted the data request information. Information providing system for the optional device. 2. The data registering means registers data for identifying a provider of navigation device data in the database together with the navigation device data, and identifies a user of the external computer who has accessed the data. Receiving the data deletion request information transmitted from the external computer that has accessed, among the navigation device data in which the identified user and the data provider match, for the navigation device according to the received data deletion request information And means for deleting data from the database.
The information providing system for a navigation device according to the above. 3. A method for providing navigation information by a server computer accessible from an external computer via a computer network, the navigation including at least data on various facilities and their locations transmitted from the external computer that has accessed the computer. Receiving the device data; registering the received navigation device data in a pre-established database; receiving data request information transmitted from an external computer that has accessed the device; and receiving the received data request information. Retrieving data from the database based on the data request; and transmitting the retrieved data to an external computer that has transmitted the data request information. Deployment system for information providing method. 4. The step of registering in the database, the step of registering data for identifying a provider of navigation device data together with the navigation device data in the database, and identifying the user of the external computer who has accessed the data. Receiving the data deletion request information transmitted from the external computer that has accessed the navigation; and performing navigation according to the received data deletion request information among the navigation device data in which the identified user and the data provider match. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of: deleting device data from the database. 5. A recording medium for recording a program for implementing an information providing system for a navigation device by a server computer accessible from an external computer via a computer network, the recording medium being transmitted from the external computer that has accessed the computer. A procedure for receiving navigation apparatus data including at least data on various facilities and their locations; a procedure for registering the received navigation apparatus data in a database constructed in advance; and data request information transmitted from an external computer that has accessed the apparatus. Receiving the data request information, searching for data from the database based on the received data request information, and transmitting the searched data to an external computer that has transmitted the data request information. A recording medium recording a program for implementing the serial server computer. 6. The step of registering in the database,
Registering data for identifying a provider of navigation device data in the database together with the navigation device data; the program further comprises a procedure for identifying a user of the external computer that has accessed the external computer; Receiving the data deletion request information transmitted from, and, from the database, the navigation device data corresponding to the received data deletion request information among the navigation device data in which the identified user and the data provider match. 6. The recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the server computer executes the step of deleting.