JP2009058309A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily correct a matching position to a correct road, when a road with which a vehicle position is matched is different from a road along which the vehicle is actually traveling. <P>SOLUTION: The navigation device 1 includes a vehicle information detection means 19 for detecting vehicle information including vehicle speed; a comparative information acquisition means 20 for acquiring either or both of vehicle speed information and brake information from the vehicle information detection means 19, and further acquiring other information; and a matching correction discrimination means 18. The matching correction discrimination means 18 discriminates correction of the matching position by using comparative information acquired by the comparative information acquisition means 20, and when determined that the matching position is wrong, a matching control means 15 corrects the matching position. When the discrimination is impossible, a message for confirming or correcting the matching position is displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention specifies a current position, displays the current position on a map or a guide route, and notifies a user, and in particular, displays a current position measured by a positioning means that is used in a vehicle and is displayed by matching processing. This relates to a navigation device. Based on the result of comparing and determining the link attribute information of the matched road and the comparison information such as the vehicle state information or road traffic information actually obtained from the vehicle, the vehicle is actually The present invention relates to a navigation device in which a matching position is corrected for a road link that is running or a notification that prompts confirmation of an actual road is performed.

  Conventionally, when driving on a road such as a car, the current position is obtained until the destination is reached, and the current position is displayed on the display screen together with the road map, so that the user can reach the destination without getting lost. A vehicle-mounted navigation device is known.

  A GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation system using an artificial satellite is known for measuring the current position. This is to identify the current position by receiving radio waves from a plurality of artificial satellites orbiting the earth and performing arithmetic processing on the received data.

  The current position specified by the GPS is compared with the map data stored in the map storage means or the like of the navigation device. For example, a matching process is performed on the road closest to the current position, and this position is used as the current position subjected to the matching process. Displayed on the display screen. Thereby, even when there is a slight error in GPS positioning, it is possible to correct the current location on the road and display without a sense of incongruity.

  In addition, as a navigation device, a route search from the departure point specified by the user to the destination is performed, the guide route is displayed on the display screen, and the current position measured is compared with this guide route and the matching process is performed. There is also.

  Various matching processing techniques have been proposed. For example, the following Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-68437) discloses an invention of a navigation device that specifies a correction position with a cursor. The navigation device disclosed in Patent Document 1 can prevent a significant error that occurs when a user sets a position of a vehicle or corrects a measured position.

  This navigation device has a current position correction mode. When the current position correction mode is set, the error range obtained from the GPS receiver is displayed on the map data, and the user moves the cursor by operating the input device. And correct the position of the vehicle. At this time, the control unit is configured to control so that the correction is permitted if the coordinates indicated by the cursor are within the error range, and the correction is not permitted if the coordinates are outside the error range.

Further, in the following Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-233578), if there is a road whose current position is matched and a road whose traveling locus is similar, it is based on the speed limit of each road. An invention of a vehicle position correcting method is disclosed in which the traveling speed of a vehicle is compared and the matching position is corrected on a road with a small difference.
JP-A-9-68437 (FIG. 1, paragraphs [0030] to [0032]) JP-A-4-233578 (Summary, FIG. 3, paragraphs [0016], [0017])

  In general, in the vicinity of expressways, there are many road structures in which a general road that runs close to the expressway is added due to the installation of an interchange. Speed limits are set for highways and ordinary roads, and the difference is large. Therefore, when the matching positions are different, it is possible to determine whether the vehicle is traveling on an expressway or a general road by comparing the actual traveling speed of the vehicle with the speed limit of the road.

  The vehicle position correction method disclosed in Patent Document 2 is a method for estimating and matching a road where the difference between the speed of the vehicle and the speed limit of the road is small as a road on which the vehicle is actually traveling. Thus, the present invention can be effectively applied when the highway and the general road are close to each other.

  However, this method is based on the premise that the vehicle travels according to the legal speed (limit speed) set on the road, and the vehicle is not traveling at the limit speed regardless of whether it is intentional or not. However, the above-mentioned estimation does not hold, and there is a problem that it is not possible to correctly match the road on which the vehicle is actually traveling.

  The state where the vehicle cannot travel on the road at a speed close to the speed limit can occur for various reasons. For example, not only when the driver intentionally travels beyond the speed limit, but also a situation where the vehicle can travel only at a speed much slower than the speed limit due to traffic jams is a phenomenon that often occurs. In addition, there are cases where there is no choice but to drive below the speed limit due to weather conditions.

  That is, there is a problem that it is impossible to discriminate the road on which the vehicle actually travels by using a single parameter called the speed limit of the road as in Patent Document 1, and cannot be applied practically. It was.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application identifies the speed limit from the link attribute of the road where the vehicle position is matched, and this speed limit and the vehicle state actually obtained from the vehicle Based on the result of comparing and comparing information or comparison information such as road traffic information, the matching position is corrected to the road link on which the vehicle is actually traveling, or a notification is made to prompt confirmation of the actual traveling road If this is the case, the present invention has been completed by conceiving that the above problems can be solved.

  That is, the present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when the road where the vehicle position is matched and the road where the vehicle actually travels are different, the matching position can be easily corrected to the correct road. An object of the present invention is to provide such a navigation device.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
On the map image displayed on the display means, current position detection means for detecting the current position, route search means for searching for a route from the designated departure place to the destination, display means for displaying a map image In a navigation device comprising display control means for displaying a guide route and a current position mark, and matching control means for matching the current position,
The navigation device further detects vehicle information including vehicle speed and brake information, acquires the vehicle information from the vehicle information detection unit, and acquires other information from other than the vehicle information detection unit. Comparison control information acquisition means and matching correctness determination means,
The matching correctness determination means determines whether the matching position is correct using the vehicle information acquired by the comparison information acquisition means and the other information.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is
The other information is a road speed limit acquired from the link attribute information of the road, and the matching correctness determination means uses the speed limit acquired by the comparison information acquisition means and the vehicle information to determine whether the matching position is correct or incorrect. When the current matching position and the road link on which the vehicle is actually traveling are different and it is determined that there is an error in the matching position, the matching control means is configured so that the vehicle actually travels the matching position. The display control means corrects the display position of the current position mark displayed on the display means based on the matching position corrected by the matching control means.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is
In addition to the road speed limit, the other information includes traffic jam information indicating a traffic jam situation on the road.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is
The other information includes weather information in addition to the road speed limit.

The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is
When the correctness / incorrectness of the matching position cannot be determined by the matching correctness determination means, a message for prompting confirmation of a road that is currently traveling, or a message that prompts confirmation of a road that is currently traveling and a candidate road to be matched are selected. Selection information is displayed.

  In the invention according to claim 1, the navigation device detects vehicle information including vehicle information including vehicle speed and brake information, acquires the vehicle information from the vehicle information detection unit, and the vehicle information detection unit. Comparison information acquisition means for acquiring other information from other than the above, and matching correctness determination means, the matching correctness determination means uses the vehicle information and the other information acquired by the comparison information acquisition means To determine the correctness of the matching position.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the other information is a road speed limit acquired from the link attribute information of the road, and the matching correctness determination means includes the speed limit acquired by the comparison information acquisition means. When the correctness of the matching position is determined using the vehicle information, the current matching position is different from the road link on which the vehicle is actually traveling, and it is determined that there is an error in the matching position, the matching control means, The matching position is corrected to the road on which the vehicle is actually traveling, and the display control means corrects the display position of the current position mark displayed on the display means based on the matching position corrected by the matching control means. According to such a configuration, the speed limit of the road where the current position of the vehicle is matched and the actual speed obtained from the vehicle. In addition to vehicle information such as road speed, other comparison information such as road traffic information is compared and determined to determine the correctness of matching. Therefore, the correctness of matching is determined rather than simply comparing the speed limit with the actual speed. Can be done accurately.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 3, the other information includes traffic jam information indicating a traffic jam condition in addition to the speed limit of the road, and in the invention according to claim 4, the other information is the speed limit of the road. In addition to weather information.

  According to such a configuration, it is determined that the actual traveling speed is slower than the speed limit due to traffic congestion on the road, and that the actual traveling speed is slower than the speed limit due to weather conditions. This makes it possible to determine the correctness of matching more accurately.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 5, when the correctness / incorrectness of the matching position cannot be determined by the matching correctness determination means, a message prompting confirmation of the road currently being traveled or a message prompting confirmation of the road being traveled and the matching Selection information for selecting candidate roads to be displayed is displayed.

  According to such a configuration, when the correctness of matching cannot be determined by the matching correctness means, a message including selection information for selecting a candidate road to be matched is displayed, so that the user of the navigation device can actually travel. Confirmation of the road can be prompted, and when the matched road is not an actual traveling road, the user can easily make corrections.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings.

  However, the embodiments shown below exemplify a navigation device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and are not intended to specify the present invention for this navigation device. The present invention is equally applicable to navigation devices of other embodiments included in the scope.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 1 may be of a type that is not only used for in-vehicle use by being mounted on a dashboard of a vehicle such as an automobile, but may be of a type that can be removed from the vehicle and carried by the user. The navigation device 1 includes a control unit 10, a current position detection unit 11, a map storage unit 12, a route search unit 13, a display control unit 14, a matching control unit 15, an input unit 16, a display unit 17, a matching correctness / incorrectness determination unit 18, a vehicle Information detection means 19 and comparison information acquisition means 20 are provided.

  The control means 10 is composed of a processor including a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM, and controls the operation of each part of the navigation device 1 according to a control program recorded in the RAM and ROM.

  The current position detection means 11 is composed of, for example, a GPS receiver and receives radio waves including time information from a plurality of GPS satellites orbiting the earth, and calculates current position information based on the received radio waves. is there.

  Further, the current position detection means 11 may use a distance sensor or an orientation sensor. In this case, the travel distance and travel direction of the vehicle are detected, and the current position is obtained by adding these values to the reference position. This current position detection method, when combined with GPS reception, is effective in tunnels where GPS radio waves cannot be received or in high-rise buildings where errors are likely to occur.

  The map storage means 12 stores road node data including road node data and road link data in which nodes such as intersections and branch points of roads are nodes and links between the nodes are links. The road node data includes road node numbers, position coordinates, the number of connection links, intersection names, and the like. The road link data includes the number of road nodes as starting and ending points, road type, link length (link cost), required time, number of lanes, road width, and the like. Further, data such as bridges, tunnels, railroad crossings, and toll gates are added to the road link data as link attributes. The road type is information including an expressway, a toll road, a national road, a prefectural road, and the like.

  The map storage means 12 further stores background data including facility data including water system data such as coastline, lake and river shape, administrative boundary data, facility location, shape, and name.

  In addition to the road data and background data, the map storage means 12 may include map image data stored in a vector format in order to display the map image in an easily viewable manner.

  These road data, background data and map image data are extracted from the map storage means 12 by the display control means 14 when the navigation apparatus 1 is used, and a map of a predetermined range including the current position of the navigation apparatus 1 is extracted. Is displayed on the display unit 17 in a superimposed manner.

  When the departure place or destination is designated by the user, the route search means 13 refers to the road data stored in the map storage means 12, searches for the optimum route from the departure place to the destination, and guide route data. Is to create. The search for the optimum route is performed by using various methods such as Dijkstra's method to link and nodes from the road node corresponding to the current position or the starting point designated by the user to the road node corresponding to the destination designated by the user. Search, accumulate link length (link cost) and required time, etc., provide the route with the shortest total link length or total required time as a guide route, and provide road nodes and links belonging to the route as guide route data Is.

  The display control means 14 displays a predetermined range of road data, background data, map, etc. when displaying the current position on the map, when performing route guidance, and when the user specifies a predetermined position and scale. Display means for selecting image data and overlaying an icon indicating the current position (current position mark: own vehicle position mark), an image indicating the trajectory or guidance route of the traveling road, and various guidance explanation images. 17 is displayed.

  As will be described in detail later, the matching control means 15 displays the current position displayed on the display means 17 on the road when the current position detected by the current position detection means 11 slightly deviates from the traveling road. Thus, the corrected matching position is obtained, and this makes it possible to perform a display without a sense of incongruity to the user.

  The input means 16 is for a user to specify a departure point and a destination, and to input support for switching a display screen, which will be described later, and includes a key, a button, a touch panel, and the like.

  The display unit 17 is for displaying the display data selected by the display control unit 14 so that the user can visually recognize the display unit 17 and includes a liquid crystal display or the like. The display unit 17 may function as an input unit. In this case, selection input is performed when the user touches an icon displayed on the screen.

  The matching control means 15 corrects the current position when the current position detected by the current position detection means 11 is considered to be off the road. For example, when the current position calculated by the current position detecting unit 11 is not on the road, the correction is performed based on the current position information to identify the nearest road or guide route from the current position. This is done by making a perpendicular to those roads or routes and setting the intersection as the current position after matching, that is, the matching position.

  In addition to the above matching process, when traveling on a road in a predetermined direction, the current position detected immediately before is on the road, and the current position detected this time is a predetermined angle from the road If the current position is deviated within this range, matching can be performed by correcting the current position by the amount of the deviated angular difference.

  As described above, the matching process corrects the positioning error by the GPS receiver. However, in a place where the road is approaching, the matching process is not necessarily performed correctly on the road on which the vehicle is actually traveling. (The current position mark is not always displayed). FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a matching result when a road is approaching. Such an example is often seen in a place where a general road is provided in parallel with the expressway around the interchange.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the highway HW and the general road RD are close to each other, there is an error in the current position, and as a result of matching processing by the above method, the current position mark 2a (solid triangle) is the highway. Although displayed on the HW, the actual vehicle may be traveling on a general road as the current position 2b (dotted triangle) may occur. In FIG. 2, the symbol IC indicates an interchange (entrance / exit) between the general road RD and the highway HW.

  In the navigation device 1 according to the present invention, when such an event occurs, in order to correct the matching position on the road on which the vehicle is actually traveling, a plurality of pieces of comparison information are acquired and the correctness of the matching process is acquired. Is determined. The comparison information includes the actual vehicle speed, the number of brakes within a predetermined time, the speed limit of the currently matched comparison road, traffic jam information, and weather information. In general, correctness of matching is determined.

  The vehicle information detection means 19 is for detecting the behavior of the vehicle such as an acceleration sensor or a steering angle sensor. The comparison information acquisition means 20 is information such as the vehicle speed and the number of brakes from the detection result of the vehicle information detection means 19. And the speed limit information of each road is acquired from the attribute information (link attribute information such as the link type) of the comparison road (the highway HW and the general road RD in FIG. 2). Moreover, the comparison information acquisition means 20 acquires the traffic information of the comparison road and the weather information of the area including the current position by communication means (not shown).

  The matching correctness determination means 18 comprehensively determines the correctness of the matching position by using the plurality of comparison reference information acquired by the comparison reference information acquisition means 20. In the case of FIG. 2, since the current position is matched on the highway HW, the speed limit of the road is generally 80 km / hour. If the speed of the vehicle is near the speed limit, it can be estimated that the vehicle is traveling on the highway HW.

  However, if the vehicle speed is significantly below the speed limit, it cannot be determined that the vehicle is not traveling on the highway HW. For example, when the highway HW is congested ahead of the current position, the vehicle may be able to travel only below the speed limit. Therefore, if there is no traffic jam information and the vehicle has traveled for a certain period of time below the speed limit of the highway HW, the vehicle is actually matched with the highway HW even though it is traveling on the general road RD. (Matching is incorrect).

  In addition to the state where there is no traffic jam information on the highway, the number of brakes operated within a certain time is also added to the comparison, so that the vehicle is not traveling on the highway HW and is traveling on a general road Furthermore, it can discriminate | determine correctly. This is because the brake is not frequently operated as long as it can travel smoothly on the highway HW. Further, by adding the weather to the comparison, it can be determined that the vehicle cannot travel at the speed limit due to rain or the like.

  In such a case, when the matching correctness determination means 18 detects a matching error, the matching control means 15 corrects the matching position on the general road RD, and the display control means 14 corrects the display position of the current position mark.

  By the way, in the case as described above, the matching correctness determination means 18 can correctly determine the correctness of the matching result. For example, if there is traffic jam information on both the highway HW and the general road RD, even if the road speed limit, traffic jam information, and actual vehicle traveling speed are comprehensively determined, the vehicle actually I can't tell if I'm driving.

  In such a case, the matching correctness determination means 18 outputs an indistinguishable result, and the display control means 14 confirms the matching position on the display means 17 (whether the road on which the vehicle is actually traveling is matched). A message for requesting confirmation) or a message for requesting confirmation and correction (if incorrect) of the matching position by selecting one of the comparative control roads (matching candidate roads).

  3 and 4 are views showing examples of display screens displaying such messages. This message screen is a message screen that is displayed when the matching correctness determination means 18 is unable to determine the matching correctness in the matching result shown in FIG.

  That is, FIG. 3 shows an example in which a message for requesting confirmation is displayed simply because the current position display may be incorrect. In this case, if the matching position is correct, the “OK or YES” button may be operated, and if the matching position is incorrect, the “NG or NO” button may be operated to correct the display to the correct current position. In this case, a message that prompts the user to operate the “OK” button if the current position is correct, or the “NG” button if the current position is incorrect may be added.

  FIG. 4 blinks the current position displays 2a and 2b on the comparison road, and displays a message for selecting an accurate current position (the road on which the vehicle actually travels) in addition to the message of FIG. It is an example. By configuring the message in this way, even if there are more than three matching candidate roads to be compared, for example, touch the mark on the road that is actually running among the blinking current position marks in the message. If the current position mark touched is changed and set as the actual current position mark, matching correction can be made to the correct road.

  Next, the processing procedure of the navigation apparatus 1 described above will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. A route search request is made in the process of step S101, the route search means 13 of the navigation device 1 executes a route search in step S102, and a map, a guide route, a current position mark, etc. are displayed on the display means 17 in the process of step S103. Route guidance starts.

  The current position detection means 11 measures the current position in the process of step S104. This current position measurement is generally performed periodically at regular time intervals, and the progress of the vehicle on the guide route is displayed. When the current position is determined, a matching process is performed in the process of step S105.

  Then, the comparison reference information acquisition unit 20 acquires the various comparison information described above from each source in the process of step S106. Next, in the processing of step S107, the matching correctness determination means 18 comprehensively processes the various comparison reference information acquired by the comparison reference information acquisition means 20, and determines whether the matching position is correct or incorrect. The details of this determination method are as described above.

  In the matching correct / incorrect determination process of step S107, if the matching position can be determined to be correct, the process proceeds to step S111. If the matching position is determined to be incorrect, the process proceeds to step S110, and the matching control means corrects the correct road. Correct the matching position (position mark).

  On the other hand, in the matching correctness determination process of step S107, when the matching correctness determination means 18 cannot determine the correctness of the matching result (distinguishable), the process proceeds to step S108, and the display control means 14 A position confirmation message (see FIGS. 3 and 4) is displayed on the display means 17.

  Then, the navigation device 1 detects a matching position confirmation or correction instruction performed by the user by a predetermined button operation or selection operation using the input unit 16 in the process of step S109. When the correction is instructed, the process of step S110 is performed. The matching position is corrected at. If a correction instruction is not detected or a confirmation operation is detected, the process proceeds to step S111.

  In the process of step S111, it is determined whether or not the current position has arrived at the destination. If it is determined that the current position has arrived at the destination, the process ends. If it is determined that the vehicle has not arrived at the destination, the process returns to the positioning process of the current position in step S104.

  As described above in detail, according to the navigation device 1 according to the present invention, in addition to the vehicle speed information such as the speed limit of the road where the current position of the vehicle is matched and the travel speed actually obtained from the vehicle. Since the comparison is made with other comparison information such as road traffic information to determine the correctness of the matching, the correctness of the matching can be determined more accurately than simply comparing the speed limit with the actual speed.

  In addition, when the correctness of matching cannot be determined, a message including selection information for selecting candidate roads to be matched can be displayed to prompt the navigation device user to confirm the actual driving road. When the road being matched is not an actual traveling road, the user can easily make corrections.

The block diagram of the navigation apparatus concerning the Example of this invention is shown. It is a figure which shows the example of the road where the highway and the general road are provided in parallel. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the confirmation message of a matching position. It is a figure which shows another example of the display screen of the confirmation message of a matching position. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the navigation apparatus concerning the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: Navigation device 10: Control means 11: Current position detection means 12: Map storage means 13: Route search means 14: Display control means 15: Matching control means 16: Input means 17: Display means 18: Matching correctness determination means 19: Vehicle information detection means 20: Comparison information acquisition means 2a, 2b: Current position mark (manching position)

Claims (5)

On the map image displayed on the display means, current position detection means for detecting the current position, route search means for searching for a route from the designated departure place to the destination, display means for displaying a map image In a navigation device comprising display control means for displaying a guide route and a current position mark, and matching control means for matching the current position,
The navigation device further detects vehicle information including vehicle speed and brake information, acquires the vehicle information from the vehicle information detection unit, and acquires other information from other than the vehicle information detection unit. Comparison control information acquisition means and matching correctness determination means,
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the matching correctness determination means determines the correctness of the matching position using the vehicle information acquired by the comparison information acquisition means and the other information.   The other information is a road speed limit acquired from the link attribute information of the road, and the matching correctness determination means uses the speed limit acquired by the comparison information acquisition means and the vehicle information to determine whether the matching position is correct or incorrect. When the current matching position and the road link on which the vehicle is actually traveling are different and it is determined that there is an error in the matching position, the matching control means is configured so that the vehicle actually travels the matching position. The display control means corrects the display position of the current position mark displayed on the display means based on the matching position corrected by the matching control means. The navigation device described.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other information includes traffic jam information indicating a traffic jam status in addition to the speed limit of the road.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other information includes weather information in addition to the speed limit of the road.   When the correctness / incorrectness of the matching position cannot be determined by the matching correctness determination means, a message for prompting confirmation of a road that is currently traveling, or a message that prompts confirmation of a road that is currently traveling and a candidate road to be matched are selected. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein selection information is displayed.

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