JP4330065B2 - Navigation device, method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation technology, that is, a navigation device, a method, and a program in which search for point information is improved in, for example, a navigation device mounted on a moving vehicle.

  In recent years, with the generalization of automobiles and the development of information processing technology, navigation devices typified by in-vehicle use are rapidly spreading. The navigation device uses the road map data prepared in advance, displays the current position sequentially detected by GPS, etc. on the surrounding map, calculates the optimum guidance route to the destination specified by the user, and the direction of travel Is guided and guided by screen display or voice synthesis (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

By the way, in the navigation apparatus as described above, a destination can be determined by determining a point to be visited on the map or by searching for a point to be visited by an address, name or genre. When searching for a point by such a search, select the desired item from the list that has a hierarchical structure from the higher concept to the lower concept, and when you reach the lowest level, select By displaying the point on the map as a search result, the destination can be specified as the destination.
JP 2003-207346 A

  However, in the conventional technique as described above, every time a search is performed, an operation of selecting from the list must be performed until reaching the lowest layer. For this reason, the larger the database, the more the number of hierarchies until reaching the lowest layer is inconvenient. In particular, in areas that you have visited for the first time, useful information specific to the area, such as information on tourism, nearby convenience stores, gas stations, etc., is useful. When searching for detailed information, it is necessary to find a deep hierarchy as viewed from the upper hierarchy, which is troublesome.

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to display an optimal search list corresponding to a user's visit history to facilitate acquisition of point information. In other words, a navigation apparatus, method and program are provided.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a navigation device for searching and guiding a route from a starting point to a designated destination based on road map data prepared in advance using a computer or an electronic circuit. , A point information storage unit that stores point information regarding points on the map, a current position detection unit that detects a current position, a visit history creation unit that creates a visit history to the point based on the current position, A visit history determination unit that determines a visit history of the current position, a spot information search unit that searches for the spot information, and a list that is used for a search by the spot information search unit . create a list of hierarchical structure according to the presence or absence of the access history of the current position, a list creation section that creates, based on the point information, by the list creating portion Characterized in that it has a list display section for displaying a list that is, a.

The invention of claim 4 captures the invention of claim 1 from the viewpoint of a method, and a computer or an electronic circuit searches for a route from a starting point to a designated destination based on road map data prepared in advance. And a navigation method for guiding and guiding, wherein the computer or the electronic circuit stores point information relating to a point on a map, a step of detecting a current position, and a visit history to the point based on the current position. A step of creating, a step of determining a visit history of the current location, a step of searching for the location information, and a step of determining a visit history of the current location as a list used for searching the location information. step wherein a list of hierarchical structure according to the presence or absence of the visiting history of the current position, created on the basis of the location information When, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: displaying the list.

The invention of claim 7, which captures the invention of claim 1 and 5 in terms of a computer program, by controlling the computer, based on the road map data comprising advance, a destination designated by the departure point In the navigation program for searching and guiding the route to the computer, the computer stores point information regarding the point on the map, detects the current position, and creates a visit history to the point based on the current position. The visit history of the current position determined in the process of determining the visit history of the current position , searching the spot information, and determining the visit history of the current position as a list used for searching the spot information. A list of hierarchical structures according to presence / absence is created based on the location information, and the list is displayed. To.

  In the inventions of claims 1, 3, and 5 as described above, the presence / absence of a visit for each point is stored as a visit history, and in the case of a point that has never been visited by the user, the displayed point information is searched. Since the contents of the list used for the information can be information corresponding to the area, for example, information such as tourist information, it is easy to obtain the optimum point information.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, when there is no visit history, a list display control unit that preferentially displays a hierarchy specific to a region to which the current position belongs on the list display unit. It is characterized by having.

  The invention of claim 4 captures the invention of claim 2 from the viewpoint of the method. In the navigation method of claim 3, the computer or the electronic circuit detects the current position when the visit history is not found. The method includes a step of preferentially displaying a hierarchy specific to the area to which the user belongs.

  The invention of claim 6 captures the inventions of claims 2 and 4 from the viewpoint of a computer program. In the navigation program of claim 5, when the visit history does not exist by controlling the computer. , A hierarchy peculiar to the area to which the current position belongs is preferentially displayed.

  In the inventions of claims 2, 4, and 6 as described above, when the user first visits a certain area, the list of hierarchies peculiar to the area is preferentially displayed, so that the number of selections from the list is reduced. , For those who do n’t know the area, you can immediately provide the information you want most.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to provide a navigation technology, that is, a navigation device, a method, and a program that make it easy to acquire point information by displaying an optimal search list according to a user's visit history. Can do.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. In addition, although this embodiment is realizable by controlling the computer provided with the peripheral device by the program, the implementation | achievement aspect of the hardware and program in this case can be variously changed. In addition to the navigation apparatus and method, the present invention can be grasped as a program as described above and a computer-readable storage medium storing such a program. Therefore, in the following description, virtual circuit blocks that realize the functions of the present invention and the present embodiment are used.

[1. Constitution〕
[1-1. overall structure〕
First, the navigation device (hereinafter referred to as “this device”) according to the present embodiment is, as a general rule, when a user first visits a certain area, the information that the user wants most is not for the user who does not know that area. To the list of the upper hierarchy as much as possible, so that the number of selections from the list is reduced and the point information can be easily obtained, and the following elements shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 1 are provided. Yes.

  That is, the absolute position / orientation detection unit 1 calculates the absolute position coordinates and direction on the ground surface with respect to the current position of the automobile (referred to as the own vehicle) on which the apparatus is mounted, that is, the own vehicle position. This is a part for receiving GPS radio waves transmitted from GPS satellites with an antenna or a receiver. The relative orientation detection unit 2 is a part for detecting the relative orientation of the host vehicle using a gyro or the like. Moreover, the vehicle speed detection part 3 is a part which calculates the speed of the own vehicle by processing the vehicle speed pulse obtained from a motor vehicle.

  The main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 are parts that serve as a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus. The memory group M is various memories necessary for the operation of the apparatus. For example, the ROM 5 for storing programs is accessed by the main CPU when the apparatus is activated. A main program is loaded into a dynamic RAM (DRAM) 6 that provides a work area and the like. The SRAM (static RAM) 7 is a storage means for acquiring and storing various settings such as the current position, destination and route, information included in the map data, and visit history and list information created based on the information. Yes, the battery is backed up while the main power is off, and the memory contents are provided when the battery is turned on, but can be replaced by other storage means such as a flash memory or a hard disk drive. A display VRAM (video RAM) 8 stores bitmap data of an image to be displayed on the display unit 10.

  The display unit 10 is a part for displaying various information such as a map, an operation menu, a search list, and point information on a liquid crystal display screen (not shown), and is preferably used in combination with speech synthesis. The input unit 11 is a part for a user to input information such as a command from a switch or the like, and includes a touch sensor function, a remote control unit, an infrared transmission / reception unit, and the like, but is configured integrally with the display unit 10 as a touch panel. It is desirable. The user interface unit 9 is a user interface that connects the display unit 10 and the input unit 11 to the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 using an I / O control circuit, a device driver, or the like.

  The HDD control unit 12 is a means for reading various data such as a navigation program recorded in a hard disk (mass storage device) from a database, and stores road map data representing a network structure of a road or a road section in advance. The The road map data includes various pieces of point information related to points on the map, and this point information is acquired and used in this apparatus, as will be described later. For location information, for example, search for location name, location genre (eating, staying, etc.), location type (gas station, restaurant, etc.), address, phone number, location to which the location belongs (prefecture, municipality, etc.) Contains data for lists. Note that the CD-ROM control unit, the DVD-ROM control unit, and the like may use data read from the CD-ROM and DVD-ROM.

  The FM multiplex reception and processing unit 13 is a part that receives FM broadcast waves and extracts desired data such as traffic information of the VICS service from the broadcast waves. The traffic information includes traffic jam information. The optical / beacon reception and processing unit 14 is a part that receives and processes information such as identification information of each beacon and traffic information of the VICS service from an optical beacon or a radio wave beacon installed on a roadside.

[1-2. Role of main CPU and its peripheral circuits]
Further, the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 are configured to realize the roles as the following parts shown in FIG. 1 by the action of the program as described above. That is, the current position detection unit 40 is means for sequentially calculating the own vehicle position, and specifically, is configured to calculate the own vehicle position by combining GPS navigation positioning and autonomous navigation positioning. .

  Here, in GPS navigation positioning, the current position is calculated using information obtained by the absolute position / orientation detection unit 1 based on radio waves from an artificial satellite. In the autonomous navigation positioning, the current position is calculated using information obtained from the relative bearing detection unit 2 and the vehicle speed detection unit 3 based on the geomagnetism and the speed of the host vehicle.

  The destination designation unit 41 is means for receiving designation of a destination, that is, input by facility search from a database in which the road map data is recorded or cursor designation on a map. The visit history creation unit 42 is a means for creating a visit history indicating whether or not a visit has been made based on the current location and location information. The visit history determination unit 43 is means for determining a visit history of the current location. In this device, whether the current location is a visited region or not is whether or not the point in the visit history and the current point match the prefecture, municipality, etc. (obtained from the map database or point information) to which each belongs. Judgment by. However, the determination of whether or not a visit has been made may be based on a point instead of a region. The list creation unit 44 is means for creating a point information search list. The list display control unit 45 is a means for controlling the hierarchy displayed in a list according to the presence / absence of a visit history of the current location. The point information search unit 46 is a means for searching for point information selected from the list.

  The route setting unit 47 calculates a route from the current position detected by the current position detecting unit 40 to the destination specified by the destination specifying unit 41 based on the road map data, and as a result It is a means for setting the obtained route. Further, the map display unit 48 three-dimensionally displays the vehicle position on the surrounding map and at least a part of the route on the display unit 10 based on the calculated vehicle position and the road map data. The guidance control unit 49 is a means for displaying in another form, and is a means for controlling the guidance guidance by determining elements to be displayed and blinking emphasis of the route or using combined speech. That is, the current position detection unit 40, the route setting unit 47, the map display unit 48, and the guidance control unit 49 are connected to the designated destination based on the road map data read from the HDD control unit 12. It constitutes navigation means for searching for routes and guiding them.

[2. Action)
An example of the search process according to the present embodiment as described above will be described. As an outline, when a search request is input from the input unit 11, the current position detection unit 40 determines the current region, and the visit history determination unit 43 stores information (created / updated by the visit history creation unit 42). The list creation unit 44 creates a search list corresponding to the visit history and the previous state, and the list is displayed on the display unit 10 according to an instruction from the list display control unit 45. When the input unit 11 makes a selection from the displayed list, the point information search unit 46 acquires the point information from the HDD control unit 12 or the like, and this is displayed on the display unit 10.

  Details of the processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. That is, after a search request is received from the input unit 11, first, in step 1, the location name of the vehicle position is acquired. When it is desired to switch the search contents for each prefecture, the name of the prefecture is extracted. When the search is switched on a municipal basis, the name of the municipality is extracted. Also, if you want to switch by the area that divides the prefecture into multiple areas (for example, in Fukushima prefecture, it is divided into Hamadori area, Nakadori area, and Aizu area), prepare table data of municipalities and affiliation areas. Determine which region your current location is.

  After acquiring the spot name, the process proceeds to step 2 to determine whether the spot name held in step 4 is the same as the previous process. If they are the same, it is determined that they are in the same area as at the time of the previous processing, and the process proceeds to Step 3. If they are different, it is determined that they have moved to a different area since the previous processing, and the process proceeds to Step 4. In step 3, the information indicating which search list held in step 9 was displayed when the previous process was performed is referred to. If a regional list is displayed, go to step 7. If a normal list is displayed, Go to step 8. In step 4, the current location name is stored in the memory and used as the determination material in step 2 when a search request is received again.

  In step 5, it is determined whether or not the user has visited the area before by comparing with the visit history. If the visit history does not exist, it is determined that the region has not been visited, and if the current region name exists in the visit history, it is determined that the user has visited before. Transition to Step 8. In step 6, the current location name is stored in the visit history and used as the judgment material in step 5. In step 7, a search list created for each region is created and displayed. In step 8, a normal search list is created and displayed. In step 9, when a search request is made again in the current region, information indicating whether the region-specific list or the normal list is displayed in this processing in order to display the same list as the currently displayed list. Keep it. This is a judgment material in Step 3.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the normal search list is a list used for general search, for example, search by name, search by phone number, search by address, search by genre, search from around the current location, It has a hierarchical structure with the top layer being searched from the surrounding area, etc. When any item is selected, a list of subordinate concepts is displayed sequentially. As shown in FIG. 4, the search list created for each region is a list that is most suitable for a user who has visited the region for the first time, such as tourist information about the region, a nearby gas station, a nearby convenience store, a nearby restaurant, It has a hierarchical structure with the facility guidance in case of trouble as the top layer, and this top layer list is preferentially displayed. When any item is selected, a list of subordinate concepts is sequentially displayed in the same manner as a general list. Note that an item for displaying the normal search list may be included in the regional search list.

  An example in which the present embodiment as described above is applied to a specific route will be described with reference to FIG. That is, FIG. 5 shows the difference in processing when traveling in a place divided into three regions P, Q, and R by the boundary line. First, suppose that it advances along the arrow in the place where the boundary line was drawn like FIG. Circles represent points where the vehicle was traveling when a search request was received from the operation unit in FIG. If a search request is received after entering Q from area P at point 1, it is determined that area Q has been entered for the first time, and a special search list for area Q is displayed. In addition, the region Q is added to the visit history. Similarly to point 1, point 2 enters region R for the first time, so a search list for region R is displayed, and region R is added to the visit history. At point 3, since the area does not change from that at 2, the search list for area R displayed at the time of processing 2 is displayed. At point 4, the region has moved from region R to region Q, but since the region Q is registered in the history information during processing at point 1, a normal list is displayed.

[3. effect〕
According to the present embodiment as described above, the presence / absence of a visit to each point is stored as history information, and in the case of an area where the user has not visited, a list used for searching the displayed point information Since a special search list corresponding to the area can be obtained instead of the normal list, information necessary for the user can be easily obtained.

  In particular, by displaying a list of hierarchies specific to the area preferentially, the number of selections from the list can be reduced, and information that is most desired for users who do not know the area can be provided immediately. For example, in the first region, tourist information, reputable shops, convenience stores, gas stations, etc. are likely to be useful, so if you put these at the top level of the search, you can easily operate Searchable.

[4. Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment, Other embodiments which are illustrated below are included. That is, the items of the list specific to the region are not limited to the above. For example, a facility having a peripheral toilet, a peripheral fast food restaurant, and the like may be set as items. Further, the items of the list may be set freely by the user. For example, you may enable it to search preferentially the store where specific dishes, such as Japanese food, are provided, and the gas station which can use a specific card. The level of the regional division is not limited to that exemplified in the above embodiment.

  Furthermore, the present invention can be applied not only to a so-called onboard type in which navigation data is placed in a vehicle, but also to a so-called offboard type navigation system that can receive provision of the latest data via a wireless communication network. is there. In this case, a server outside the vehicle connected via the communication network can perform all or part of the above processing, and the processing result is reduced by the in-vehicle computer to acquire the processing result. be able to. In addition, this invention is not limited to vehicle-mounted use, It is applicable also to another moving means and portable navigation.

The functional block diagram which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the normal search list | wrist in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the search list according to area in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of a regional boundary line and driving | running | working in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Absolute position and direction detection part 2 ... Relative direction detection part 3 ... Vehicle speed detection part 4 ... Main CPU and its peripheral circuit 5 ... ROM
6 ... DRAM
7 ... SRAM
8 ... VRAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... User interface part 10 ... Display part 11 ... Input part 12 ... HDD control part 13 ... FM multiplex reception and processing part 14 ... Light / beacon reception and processing part 40 ... Current position detection part 41 ... Destination designation part 42 ... Visit History creation unit 43 ... Visit history determination unit 44 ... List creation unit 45 ... List display control unit 46 ... Location information search unit 47 ... Route setting unit 48 ... Map display unit 49 ... Guidance control unit M ... Memory group

Claims (9)

In a navigation device for searching and guiding a route from a starting point to a designated destination based on road map data prepared in advance using a computer or an electronic circuit,
A point information storage unit for storing point information regarding points on the map;
A current position detector for detecting the current position;
A visit history creation unit for creating a visit history to the point based on the current position;
A visit history determination unit for determining a visit history of the current position;
A point information search unit for searching for the point information;
A list creation unit that creates a list having a hierarchical structure according to the presence or absence of the visit history at the current position determined by the visit history determination unit as a list used for the search by the location information search unit based on the location information When,
A navigation device comprising: a list display unit that displays a list created by the list creation unit.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a list display control unit that preferentially displays a hierarchy specific to an area to which the current position belongs in the absence of the visit history. 3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the list item in the hierarchy specific to the area to which the current position belongs is peripheral facility information selected by a user setting. In a navigation method in which a computer or an electronic circuit searches and guides a route from a departure place to a designated destination based on road map data prepared in advance.
The computer or electronic circuit is
Storing point information about points on the map;
Detecting the current position;
Creating a visit history to the location based on the current location;
Determining a visit history of the current location;
Retrieving the point information;
Based on the point information, a list having a hierarchical structure corresponding to the presence / absence of the visit history of the current position determined in the step of determining the visit history of the current position is created as a list used for searching the point information And steps to
And a step of displaying the list. The computer or electronic circuit is
5. The navigation method according to claim 4 , further comprising the step of preferentially displaying a hierarchy unique to the area to which the current position belongs when there is no visit history. 6. The navigation method according to claim 5, wherein the list item in the hierarchy specific to the area to which the current position belongs is peripheral facility information selected by a user setting. In a navigation program that searches and guides a route from a departure place to a designated destination based on road map data prepared in advance by controlling a computer,
In the computer,
Store point information about points on the map,
Detect the current position,
Based on the current location, the visit history to the point is created,
The visit history of the current position is determined,
Search the point information,
Based on the point information, a list having a hierarchical structure corresponding to the presence / absence of the visit history of the current position determined in the process of determining the visit history of the current position is generated as a list used for searching the point information. ,
A navigation program for displaying the list. By controlling the computer,
8. The navigation program according to claim 7, wherein when there is no visit history, a hierarchy unique to the area to which the current position belongs is preferentially displayed. 9. The navigation program according to claim 8, wherein the list item in the hierarchy specific to the area to which the current position belongs is peripheral facility information selected by user settings.

Images