JP5510233B2 - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation system that can extract appropriate route information and provide it to a user based on a travel history database that accumulates and stores data of travel histories actually traveled by a large number of vehicles.

  Car navigation devices installed in automobiles generally calculate the location function that detects the current position of the vehicle and displays it on the screen of the display device on a road map, and the recommended route to the destination specified by the user. And a route guidance function for guiding the route by display or voice. At this time, generally, in the route search, a well-known Dijkstra method is used, and a route having the minimum cost (the travel distance is shortest or can be reached in the shortest time) is required from the departure point to the destination. .

  By the way, in recent years, in a hybrid vehicle using both a gasoline engine and an electric motor, the past driving history in the host vehicle is stored, and when the route to the destination is set, the route from the departure place to the destination is set. Is divided into small sections, a road speed pattern is estimated for each small section from the road data and the driving history, and a motor and engine driving schedule for driving with good fuel efficiency is set from the estimated traveling speed pattern. Such a technique is considered (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In this case, as a method of dividing the route from the departure place to the destination into small sections, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228561, division at an intersection where start and stop are predicted is performed. On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, by dividing a small section at a portion where traveling is stable without acceleration (start) or deceleration (stop), the condition (running state) at the joint of the front and rear small sections is made uniform. It has been proposed to

JP 2000-333305 A JP-A-2005-91112

  In Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above, the route from the starting point to the destination is divided into small sections, and the optimum travel (minimum fuel consumption) is independently performed for each small section from the travel history data. The method is sought and presented. However, in such a case where the route is divided into small sections and the optimum traveling method is obtained in each small section, even if the optimum traveling method can be presented for each small section, it is possible to get from the current location to the destination. When viewed as a series of routes, a combination of a plurality of traveling histories may result in a traveling method such as a joint. For this reason, it is not always possible to present an optimal traveling method for the entire route, such as sudden acceleration or deceleration required at the joints between sections.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to extract appropriate route information based on data of a travel history when performing route guidance to a destination. An object of the present invention is to provide a car navigation system that can provide appropriate route information to a user.

In order to achieve the above object, a car navigation system according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle and includes a location function for detecting the current position of the host vehicle and a route guidance function for guiding a route to a specified destination. A travel history database for accumulating and storing travel history data including travel trajectory and speed information on the travel trajectory, and a current location of the vehicle and a destination specified by the user. And extracting means for searching the travel history database to extract appropriate route information in the travel history data, the extraction means changing the current position of the vehicle over time in with and is configured to continue to sequentially search the appropriate routing information for a set of consecutive travel route to a destination In addition, the travel history data includes information on speed, acceleration, and brake in each section obtained by dividing the travel locus for each unit distance, and the extraction unit includes the information for each movement of the unit distance of the vehicle. The present invention is characterized in that an optimum travel history is searched for a series of continuous travel routes from the travel destination to the travel destination (invention of claim 1).

  Here, when it is desired to drive the vehicle from a certain point (current position) toward a predetermined destination, the user (driver), for example, a local person can reach the destination even if it is the first road to run. There are cases in which a route (so-called back road) that can be reached in a short time is known, or another person (vehicle) can travel very efficiently without stopping at the signalized intersection. In such a case, it is possible to perform appropriate travel in the same manner by performing travel that reproduces the travel history (including those of other people) that have been traveled appropriately in the past with the host vehicle.

According to the above configuration, appropriate route information from the current position of the vehicle to the destination is retrieved and extracted from a large number of travel history data accumulated and stored in the travel history database. In the navigation on-vehicle device, the extracted appropriate route can be guided to the user, and as a result, it is possible to perform good driving such that an appropriate driving history is reproduced. The travel history database stores and stores information on travel histories in which many vehicles actually traveled, including other people's driving histories. By searching for appropriate travel histories, it is possible to obtain objective and It is possible to provide sufficiently reliable route information. At this time, the extraction means sequentially searches for suitable route information as the vehicle's current position changes, so even if the vehicle moves, a series of continuous routes from the current position to the destination at that time Therefore, it is possible to always extract and update an appropriate one type of travel history from the current position.
In addition, the travel history data includes information on speed, acceleration, and brake in each section obtained by dividing the travel locus for each unit distance, and the extraction means is provided for each movement of the unit distance of the vehicle. The optimum travel history is searched for a series of continuous travel routes from the travel destination to the travel destination. As a result, the extraction means searches for the optimal travel history every time the vehicle moves a unit distance, and can always extract and update an appropriate travel history. The unit distance is preferably a very short distance that does not exceed the road width at the intersection, for example, several meters.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, when route guidance to the destination is performed, suitable route information is extracted based on the data of the travel history, and the route is divided into a plurality of sections and optimal for each section. Unlike a combination of extracting a driving history and combining them, a series of appropriate route information to the destination can always be extracted, and appropriate route information regarding the entire route can be provided to the user. The route information in the present invention includes at least information on which route the vehicle travels in addition to information on which route the vehicle travels.

In addition, in the present invention, the travel time to the destination is the shortest, the number of stops is the least, the change in acceleration is the smallest, the average speed is the largest, the travel distance is the least, the fuel consumption is the least, Among the six driving conditions, there is provided specifying means for specifying at least one driving condition as a driving condition that the user wants to prioritize, and the extraction means is prioritized with respect to the driving condition based on the specification of the specifying means. It may be configured to search for appropriate route information by assigning a rank (invention of claim 2 ). According to this, it is possible to search and extract route information corresponding to the specified travel condition, and to provide route information desired by the user. In addition, it can present as an option which a user can designate by combining a part among said six driving conditions suitably.

In the present invention, the travel history data includes travel environment data such as the actual travel time zone, day of the week, weather, vehicle type, etc., and the extraction means takes the travel environment data into account. Further, it can be configured to search for suitable route information from the travel history suitable for the current travel environment (invention of claim 3 ). According to this, it is possible to extract optimum route information for each specific time zone, day of the week, weather, and vehicle type by accumulating a travel history corresponding to the travel environment.

In the present invention, the travel locus data in the travel history data can be data expressed by an absolute position (invention of claim 4 ). According to this, the versatility of the travel history data is enhanced, and it is not limited to the on-vehicle navigation device of a specific manufacturer, for example, regardless of the form or type of road map data, It is possible to use the data of the running track widely.

The block diagram which shows one Example of this invention and shows the structure of a car navigation system roughly The figure which shows the specific example in the case of selecting a driving history The flowchart which shows the process sequence regarding the route information which a travel history control part performs. Sequence diagram showing the flow of processing in the system The figure which shows the example of a display when the route which should drive is changed Figure showing an example of the travel condition selection screen The figure which shows a mode that a run locus is divided, and the figure which shows the data structure of a run history (b)

  Hereinafter, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of a car navigation system 1 according to the present embodiment. The car navigation system 1 includes a navigation vehicle-mounted device (navigation device) 2 mounted on a vehicle and an information service center (route guidance center) 3. In this embodiment, the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 is configured by mutually connecting three modules (units), that is, a navigation main body unit 4, a map database 5, and a current location measuring unit 6.

  The navigation main body 4 includes a control device mainly composed of a computer (CPU), a display device (LCD) with a touch panel, and the like, and performs a general navigation process such as route calculation, route guidance, and map display. 7 is provided. Further, the navigation main body unit 4 includes various setting units 8 for the user to perform various settings such as destination setting and travel condition setting described later, and a communication unit 9 that performs wireless communication with the outside (the information service center 3). It has. As the communication unit 9, various devices such as a mobile phone, a DSRC, and a wireless LAN can be adopted. The various setting units 8 include a touch panel provided on the screen 8a (see FIGS. 5 and 6) of the display device.

  In this case, the navigation main body 4 (navigation unit 7) realizes a route guidance function for guiding a recommended route to the designated destination. This route guidance is based on route information (route information and speed information) to be described later, and the route (route) on the road map is displayed on the screen 8a of the display device in a color different from other roads, for example. This is done by displaying the recommended speed. In addition, guidance voice output by the voice output device is also used in combination. At this time, when the user sets a destination, the navigation unit 7 calculates a route and sets it as an initial route. Thereafter, as will be described later, processing such as setting (selection) and switching of route information (information for reproducing an appropriate traveling state in the traveling history) based on the traveling history data is performed.

  The map database 5 stores, for example, road map data all over Japan and facility data such as various facilities and stores that accompany it. The road map data is given as link data in which a road on a map is divided into a plurality of parts using intersections as nodes and the parts between the nodes are defined as links. This link data includes data such as link-specific link ID (identifier), link length, link start point, end point (node) position data (longitude, latitude), angle (direction) data, road width, road type, etc. Consists of. Data for reproducing (drawing) the road map on the screen 8a of the display device is also included.

  The current location measurement unit 6 includes a GPS positioning unit 10 that measures the absolute position of the vehicle based on reception of radio waves from a GPS satellite, an orientation sensor and an acceleration sensor mounted on the vehicle, a vehicle speed (distance) sensor, and the like. A dead reckoning navigation unit 11 that obtains a travel locus (relative position) of the vehicle from the signal, and a map matching unit 12 that specifies the current position of the vehicle on the road using map information and the like are provided. Thus, a location function for detecting (positioning) the current position of the host vehicle is realized. Further, the current location positioning unit 6 includes a navigation information acquisition unit 13 that acquires information such as a destination and a route set in the navigation main body unit 4, and a travel history control unit 14 that controls processing related to travel history data. Yes.

  Further, the travel history control unit 14 includes a travel history acquisition unit 15, a travel history switching unit 16, a travel history recording unit 17, and a travel history transmission unit 18 in detail. As will be described in detail later, the travel history acquisition unit 15 communicates with the information service center 3 via the navigation main body unit 4 (communication unit 9) and transmits the travel conditions. A travel history (route information) is received. The travel history switching unit 16 provides the travel history (route information) acquired by the travel history acquisition unit 15 to the navigation main body unit 4 (navigation unit 7). The traveling history recording unit 17 stores the traveling history of the host vehicle, and the traveling history transmitting unit 18 transmits the traveling history data of the host vehicle to the information service center 3.

  For the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 configured as described above, the information service center 3 includes a communication unit 19 and a microcomputer (CPU) capable of wireless communication with the navigation main body unit 4 (communication unit 9). And a control unit 20 that controls the whole, a travel history database 21, and a map database 22. As will be described later, the control unit 20 functions as an extraction unit. The travel history database 21 stores and stores data of travel histories that a large number of vehicles have actually traveled. The travel history data includes information on a travel locus of the vehicle and a speed change in the travel locus.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7A, the travel history data includes the sections obtained by dividing the travel locus R for each unit distance (for example, 5 m) (in the example of FIG. 7A, the sections (1) to (1)). Information on speed, acceleration, and brake in the section (4)) is included. In the present embodiment, the travel history data includes travel environment data including time zone (time) information actually traveled. Other driving environment days may include day of the week, weather, vehicle type, and the like. Further, unlike the map data (link ID), the travel locus data is data represented by an absolute position (latitude, longitude).

  More specifically, as shown in the data structure (one record) in FIG. 7B, the start point coordinates, start point passage time (time zone), intermediate coordinate sequence, end point coordinates (next record and If omitted, omitted), end point passage time (not included if overlapped with the next record), section distance (not required if constant), average speed in section, maximum speed in section, minimum speed in section, maximum in section Includes acceleration (acceleration), intra-section maximization speed (deceleration), and route number. In addition, since the data of the travel locus is data expressed by the absolute position, the versatility of the travel history data is enhanced. For example, the road map data format is not limited to the navigation on-vehicle device 2 of a specific manufacturer. Regardless of the type or type, the data of the travel locus can be widely used for the navigation on-vehicle device of each manufacturer.

  Now, as will be described in the following explanation of the action (flow chart explanation), when the user (driver) of the vehicle wants to execute the route guidance function, the various setting parts 8 of the navigation body part 4 specify the destination. Perform the operation. Then, the navigation main body unit 4 provides information on the current position data of the vehicle, the destination (set route information) data, and the driving condition data, which will be described later, via the communication unit 9. The data is transmitted to the service center 3 (communication unit 19).

  In the information service center 3, upon receiving data from the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2, the control unit 20 searches the travel history database 21 based on the current position, the destination, and the travel conditions of the vehicle, and travel history data. The appropriate route information is extracted. The route information includes at least information on the speed at which the route travels in addition to the information on the travel route to the destination. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control unit 20 of the information service center 3 functions as an extraction unit. At this time, the control unit 20 is configured to sequentially search for appropriate route information regarding a series of continuous travel routes to the destination as the current position of the vehicle changes with time.

In the present embodiment, the travel condition that the user wants to prioritize in obtaining the route information can be set in advance on the travel condition selection screen (see FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 6, the running conditions at this time include, for example, the shortest running time, the fewest number of stops, the least change in acceleration, and the average speed for a series of continuous running routes to the destination. but the largest, the travel distance is the least, the fuel consumption smallest (in FIG. 6 not shown), there are six. By operating the various setting units 8 on the travel condition selection screen, the user can set whether or not to consider each of the travel conditions, and if there are a plurality of conditions to be considered, can give a desired priority to the conditions. it can. Accordingly, the various setting units 8 function as designation means.

  When searching for the travel history data, the control unit 20 first selects a travel history that is close to the current time from the travel history including the current position and the destination, and then sets the travel Narrow down by condition. In this case, when there are a plurality of search results under a traveling condition with a high priority, the traveling history is selected using the following condition. If it is still not possible to determine a single driving history, for example, the driving date / time, the latest driving frequency, the highest frequency recorded in the history, the one that does not violate traffic regulations, the one that was found first You should do it.

  The information service center 3 transmits the extracted route information to the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 (navigation main body 4) via the communication unit 19. In the on-vehicle navigation device 2, the route information is acquired by the travel history acquisition unit 15, and route guidance is performed based on the route information. At this time, when the searched travel history (route information) changes with the change of the current position, the travel history switching unit 16 sequentially updates the route information. In the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2, the actual travel history of the host vehicle up to the destination is recorded in the travel history recording unit 17, and after the arrival at the destination, the travel history transmission unit 18 stores the data of the travel history. It is transmitted to the information service center 3 and stored in the travel history database 21.

  Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure related to a travel history (route information) executed on the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 side (mainly the travel history control unit 14). Further, the sequence diagram of FIG. 4 is a data communication processing procedure between the travel history acquisition unit 15, the navigation main body unit 4, and the information service center 3 (and a travel history search process flowchart in the control unit 20 of the information service center 3). ).

  When the user (vehicle driver) wants the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 to execute route guidance to the destination, the user operates the various setting units 8 of the navigation main body 4 to specify the destination. Instruct the execution of route guidance. Then, the navigation unit 7 obtains an initial route from the current position to the destination and starts guidance. At the time of this route guidance, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, appropriate route information is acquired from the information service center 3 based on the search of the travel history data. Here, a specific example is a case where “minimize the number of stops” is set as the travel condition.

  First, in FIG. 3, in step S <b> 1, the navigation information acquisition unit 13 performs a process of acquiring the current route set in the navigation unit 7. In step S2, it is determined whether there is a route. If there is no route (No), the process returns to step S1, and if there is a route (Yes), the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the travel history acquisition unit 15 executes a process of acquiring a travel history (currently most suitable route information). This process is performed between the travel history acquisition unit 15 (travel history control unit 14), the navigation main body unit 4, and the information service center 3 according to the procedure shown in the sequence diagram of FIG.

  That is, first, the current route information is transmitted from the travel history acquisition unit 15 to the navigation main unit 4 (P1), and the navigation main unit 4 stores the current position of the vehicle, the current route information, and the travel condition data set by the user. Is transmitted to the information service center 3 by the communication unit 9 (P2). Then, the travel history search process is executed in the information service center 3 (control unit 20) (P3). The travel history search process is performed according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  When the search process is started, first, conditions for searching the travel history database 21 are set in step S11. At this time, the current position of the vehicle, the travel time of the current position, the travel conditions specified by the user, and the position of the destination are set as the search keys. In step S12, the travel history database 21 is searched according to the above conditions.

  Specifically, the travel time (time zone) close to the current time is selected from the travel history data for a series of continuous travel routes including the current position of the vehicle and the destination. In consideration of the travel time, a condition of day of the week (whether it is a holiday or a weekday) may be added. Further, narrowing down is performed according to the travel conditions specified by the user. When there are a plurality of search results based on the driving condition with the higher priority, the search is performed based on the driving condition with the next highest priority. In this way, one travel history is selected (confirmed).

  If a corresponding travel history is found (Yes in step S13), the retrieved one travel history data is confirmed in step S14. When the travel history search process (P3) is completed in this way, the selected (confirmed) travel history data is transmitted from the information service center 3 to the navigation main body 4 as appropriate route information (P4). Further, the data is input from the navigation body 4 to the travel history acquisition unit 15 (P5).

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 3, when the selected travel history data (route information) is input (step S4), the current route information is updated by the travel history switching unit 16 in the next step S5. The travel history data (route information) is switched to and the route information is output to the navigation main body 4 (navigation unit 7) (step S6). Thus, in the navigation main body 4 (navigation unit 7), route guidance is executed based on the route information obtained from the travel history switching unit 16. At this time, when a new route is set (changed), for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a display indicating that the route has been changed is displayed on the screen 8a of the display device.

  In step S <b> 7, the travel history storage unit 17 stores travel history data that the vehicle has actually traveled. As described above, as shown in FIG. 7B, the travel history data is recorded for each section obtained by dividing the travel locus R for each unit distance (for example, 5 m). In step S8, it is determined whether the destination has been reached. When the vehicle arrives at the destination (Yes in step S8), in step S9, a data transmission process is performed by the travel history transmitting unit 18, and the travel history data recorded so far is stored in the navigation main unit. 4 (step S10), and the process ends. The travel history data is further transmitted to the information service center 3 and stored in the travel history database 21.

  On the other hand, if the vehicle has not yet arrived at the destination in step S8 (No), the process returns to step S1 and the processes of steps S1 to S7 described above are repeated. As a result, as the current position of the vehicle changes with time, the travel history data is sequentially searched. In this case, an optimum travel history can be searched for every movement of the vehicle for a unit distance (for example, travel of 5 m). As a result, the travel history data selected so far is not always adopted as it is even if the current position changes, and the search result (selected travel history) may change. As described above, in this embodiment, the travel history (route information) is updated as the current position of the vehicle moves.

  A specific example will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example in which “the least number of stops” is set as a traveling condition when traveling from a certain departure point S to a destination G. In FIG. 2, the stop position in the travel history data is indicated by a black triangle. Now, when the current position of the vehicle is the point A, it is assumed that the travel history 1 and the travel history 2 are searched as the travel history including the current position (point A) and the destination G. In this case, if the remaining number of stops until the destination G is counted, the travel history 1 is 4 times and the travel history 2 is 5 times, so at this point, the travel history 1 is selected as appropriate route information. The

  When the current position moves to point B, the travel history 1 and the travel history 2 are also searched as travel histories including the current position (point B) and the destination G. At (point B), the remaining number of stops until the destination G is 3 in the travel history 1 and 2 in the travel history 2. Accordingly, the travel history 2 is selected as appropriate route information.

  Further, when the current position reaches the point C, the travel history 1, the travel history 2, and the travel history 3 are searched as travel histories including the current position (point C) and the destination G. Comparing the remaining number of stops up to the destination G, it is 1 in the travel history 1, 1 in the travel history 2, and 0 in the travel history 3. Accordingly, at this point, the travel history 3 is selected as appropriate route information and is switched (updated).

  As described above, when a vehicle moves, an appropriate one type of travel history from the current position is always extracted and updated for a series of continuous routes from the current position to the destination G at that time. I can go. In the example of FIG. 2, as a result, route information such as a combination of three travel histories is obtained, and optimal route information is obtained so that the number of stops from the departure point S to the destination G is two times. It is provided, and the user can perform the optimum driving according to it.

  As described above, according to the car navigation system 1 of the present embodiment, when the navigation vehicle-mounted device 2 performs route guidance to the destination, the information service center 3 searches the travel history database 21 to obtain appropriate route information. In the extraction, with the change of the current position of the vehicle over time, it is configured to sequentially search for appropriate route information regarding a series of continuous travel routes to the destination. As a result, unlike a conventional route that divides a route into a plurality of sections and extracts an optimum traveling history for each section and combines them, a series of appropriate route information to the destination can always be extracted. Thus, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that it is possible to provide the user with appropriate route information regarding the entire route.

In the above embodiment, when the travel history database is searched, the travel time zone is considered. However, the current weather (sunny, rain, snow, etc.) is considered, or the type of vehicle (large car or small car). )) May be considered. Also, the driving conditions specified by the user may be selected by appropriately combining some of the six driving conditions, or may be selected from other driving conditions. In addition, as a hardware configuration of the car navigation system, for example, the entire navigation vehicle-mounted device may be configured as one unit, and various changes can be made to the display form on the screen of the display device, etc. The present invention can be implemented with appropriate modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

  In the drawings, 1 is a car navigation system, 2 is an on-vehicle navigation device, 3 is an information service center, 4 is a navigation main body, 6 is a current location unit, 8 is various setting units (designating means), 9 is a communication unit, 13 is A navigation information acquisition unit, 14 is a travel history control unit, 15 is a travel history acquisition unit, 16 is a travel history switching unit, 17 is a travel history recording unit, 18 is a travel history transmission unit, 19 is a communication unit, and 20 is a control unit ( (Extracting means) 21 indicates a travel history database.

Claims (4)

A vehicle-mounted navigation device equipped with a location function for detecting the current position of the host vehicle and a route guidance function for guiding a route to a specified destination;
A travel history database for accumulating and storing data of travel history including travel trajectory and speed information on the travel trajectory on which a number of vehicles actually traveled;
A car navigation system comprising: extraction means for searching the travel history database and extracting appropriate route information in the travel history data based on a current position of the vehicle and a destination specified by a user;
The extraction means is configured to sequentially search for appropriate route information related to a series of continuous travel routes to a destination in accordance with a change in the current position of the vehicle over time.
The travel history data includes information on speed, acceleration, and brake in each section obtained by dividing the travel locus for each unit distance.
The car navigation system characterized in that the extraction means searches for an optimum travel history for a series of continuous travel routes from the vehicle to the destination to travel for each movement of the unit distance of the vehicle. Out of the six driving conditions to the destination, the shortest running time, the fewest number of stops, the least change in acceleration, the highest average speed, the shortest running distance, and the lowest fuel consumption , Comprising a designation means for designating at least one or more driving conditions as driving conditions that the user wants to prioritize,
The car navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the extraction unit searches for suitable route information by assigning a priority order regarding the travel condition based on designation by the designation unit . The travel history data includes travel environment data such as the actual time zone, day of the week, weather, vehicle type, etc.
3. The car navigation system according to claim 1 , wherein the extraction unit searches for suitable route information from a travel history suitable for a current travel environment in consideration of the data of the travel environment. . The car navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the travel locus data in the travel history data is data expressed by an absolute position .

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