JPH11118502A - Onboard navigator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an onboard navigator which can know whether a general road exists under a superhigh way. SOLUTION: When a user pushes the specified button of an operation part 2, a navigator main body 10 ignores superhigh way plotting data, out of the superhigh way plotting data and general road plotting data which are recorded in a CD-ROM 1, plots a map image, and displays it on a display unit 7. The navigator main body 10 receives traffic information transmitted from the outside of a vehicle with a traffic information receiver 4, and does not display the information concerning the superhigh way, when the superhigh way is not displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle navigation device for searching for an optimal guide route to a destination and guiding a vehicle to the destination along the guide route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An on-vehicle navigation device includes a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM in which map data is recorded, a display device such as a liquid crystal display, and a vehicle such as a gyro, a GPS and a mileage sensor. It has a vehicle movement detection device that detects the current position and current direction, reads map data including the current position of the vehicle from the map data storage device, and displays a map image around the vehicle position on the display screen based on the map data. While drawing, the vehicle position mark (location) is superimposed on the map image and displayed, and the map image is scrolled according to the movement of the vehicle, or the vehicle position mark is moved by fixing the map image on the screen. , So you can see at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling.

[0003] In addition, usually, a car navigation system is equipped with a route guidance function that allows a user to easily travel to a desired destination without making a mistake on a road. According to this route guidance function, the lowest cost route from the starting point to the destination using the map data is automatically searched by performing a simulation calculation such as the horizontal search method or the Dijkstra method, and the searched route is guided. The route is stored as a route, and during driving, the guidance route is drawn on the map image in a different color from the other roads and displayed thicker, or displayed on the screen, or a certain distance to the intersection where the vehicle should change the route on the guidance route When the vehicle approaches, the user is guided to the destination by displaying an arrow indicating the course at an intersection where the course on the map image should be changed.

The cost is a value obtained by multiplying a constant according to a road width, a road type (such as a general road or an expressway), a right turn, a left turn, and the like based on the distance, a predicted traveling time of the vehicle, and the like. , The degree of appropriateness as a guidance route is quantified. Even if there are two routes having the same distance, the cost may be different by specifying, for example, whether or not to use a toll road, whether to prioritize the traveling distance or traveling time, or the like. Become.

A map stored in a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM has a longitude width of an appropriate size according to a scale level such as 1/12500, 1/25000, 1/50000, and 1/100000. Roads and the like are stored as a coordinate set of vertices (nodes) represented by longitude and latitude. A road is formed by connecting two or more nodes, and a portion connecting the two nodes is called a road link. The map data includes (1) a road layer including a road list, a node table, an intersection configuration node list, and the like; (2) a background layer for displaying roads, buildings, facilities, parks, rivers, and the like on a map screen; (3) Administrative division names such as municipalities,
It is composed of a character / symbol layer for displaying characters such as road names, intersection names and building names, and map symbols.

[0006]

By the way, in an urban area, an expressway is sometimes arranged above a general road. In this case, in the conventional navigation device, the roads are drawn in the order stored in the map data, so that the ordinary roads are usually hidden behind the expressways and become invisible. Therefore, even if the user looks at the map image displayed on the display screen, the user does not know whether or not there is a general road under the highway.

[0007] For example, assume that the map shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display screen. Here, 30 is a vehicle position mark indicating the current position and the traveling direction of the vehicle, 40 is a mark indicating the position of the destination, a thick line indicates an expressway, and a thin line indicates a general road. In this case, when there is a general road under the highway as shown in FIG. 6, the vehicle can go from the point A to the destination 40 through the point B. However, as shown in FIG. 7, when there is no general road under the expressway, the user cannot go to the destination 40 from the point A without passing through the points C and D.
In the conventional navigation device, if the vehicle does not reach point A, the user cannot determine what route to take next.

In recent years, traffic information (congestion information, accident information, traffic regulation information, etc.) sent from outside the vehicle by FM multiplex broadcasting, optical beacon, radio wave beacon, or the like has been received, and the latest traffic information has been displayed on a display. Navigation devices for displaying are in practical use. In this type of navigation device, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, an arrow indicating a congested point is displayed so as to be superimposed on a map image. However, when the expressway and the general road are parallel, the user may not be able to determine whether the expressway is congested or the general road below the expressway is congested. For example,
When the expressway is congested, it is possible to arrive at the destination 40 in a short time by passing a general road under the expressway from the point A to the point B. However, as shown in FIG. When the general road between the two is congested, it is possible to arrive at the destination 40 earlier from the point A via the points E and F.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an on-vehicle navigation device capable of knowing whether or not there is a general road under an expressway. Another object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle navigation device that can accurately determine which road the traffic information relates to when a highway and a general road are parallel to each other. is there.

[0010]

The above objects are achieved by a map data storing means for storing map data including expressway drawing data and general road drawing data; a vehicle position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle; Using map data,
Control means for displaying a map image around the current position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detection means on a display, wherein the control means hides an expressway in response to a user operation and displays the map image. The problem is solved by a vehicle-mounted navigation device characterized by drawing.

In the present invention, an expressway includes a toll road. Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described. In the present invention, when the user performs a predetermined operation, the control unit hides the highway when drawing the map image on the display. That is,
The map data storage unit includes expressway drawing data for drawing a highway and general road drawing data for drawing a general road. When a user performs a predetermined operation, the control unit The map image is drawn on the display ignoring the road drawing data. Thereby, the general road hidden by the expressway is displayed, and it is possible to know on the screen whether or not there is a general road under the expressway.

In addition, while hiding the highway,
If the information on the expressway is not displayed among the traffic information received by the traffic information receiving means, for example, when congestion occurs on the expressway, the congestion information is not displayed,
When the traffic congestion occurs on the general road, the traffic congestion information remains displayed even if the highway is not displayed, so that it is possible to know whether the congestion location is on the highway or the general road.

Furthermore, if the highway is hidden for a certain period of time in response to the user's predetermined operation, and then the highway is displayed, there is no need to return the highway from the non-display state to the display state. And the operability is improved.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM: the same applies hereinafter) storing map data.
The ROM 1 stores a road layer, a background layer, and a character / symbol layer. Reference numeral 2 denotes an operation unit provided with various operation buttons and the like for operating the navigation device body 10 described later.

3 is a traffic information receiver for receiving traffic information transmitted from outside the vehicle via FM multiplex broadcasting, an optical beacon, a radio beacon, or the like, and 4 is a GPS receiver for receiving a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite. It is a GPS receiver that detects the longitude and latitude of the current position of the vehicle. Reference numeral 5 denotes a self-contained navigation sensor. The self-contained navigation sensor 5 includes an angle sensor 5a such as a gyro for detecting a rotation angle of the vehicle, and a traveling distance sensor 5b for generating a pulse at every constant traveling distance. Reference numeral 7 denotes a liquid crystal display device, and the navigation device body 10 displays an operation menu screen on the display device 7, a map around the current position of the vehicle, a guidance route from the departure point to the destination, a vehicle position mark, The traffic information and other guidance information received by the traffic information receiving unit 3 are displayed as appropriate. Reference numeral 8 denotes a speaker, and the navigation device main body 10 transmits various kinds of guidance information by voice through the speaker 8.

The operation unit 2 may be constituted by a remote controller, for example, so that a user can select a menu item on the screen or move a cursor at hand. The operation unit 2 may be configured by a touch panel attached to the front of the display device 7, and the user may operate the navigation device body 10 by touching the screen.

The navigation apparatus main body 10 comprises the following. Reference numeral 11 denotes a buffer memory for temporarily storing map data read from the CD-ROM 1. 12 is an interface connected to the operation unit 2,
An interface 13 is connected to the traffic information receiver 3, an interface 14 is connected to the GPS receiver 4, and an interface 15 is connected to the self-contained navigation sensor 5. Reference numeral 17 denotes a control unit.
The current position of the vehicle is detected based on information input from the interfaces 14 and 15, map data of a predetermined area is read from the CD-ROM 1 to the buffer memory 11, and traffic information received by the traffic information receiver 3 is displayed. The optimum guidance route from the departure point to the destination is displayed on the device 7 or under the set search conditions.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a map drawing unit for generating a map image using the map data stored in the buffer memory 11. Reference numeral 20 denotes a guidance route storage unit that stores the guidance route searched by the control unit 17, and reference numeral 21 denotes a guidance route drawing unit that draws the guidance route. In the guidance route storage unit 20, all nodes of the guidance route searched by the control unit 17 are recorded from the departure place to the destination. When displaying the map, the guidance route storage unit 21 reads the guidance route information (node sequence) from the guidance route storage unit 20 and draws the guidance route in a color and line width different from those of other roads.

Reference numeral 19 denotes an operation screen / mark generation unit for generating various operation screens (menu screens) and various marks such as a vehicle position mark and a cursor according to the operation situation. Reference numeral 22 denotes an audio output unit. A plurality of voice messages are recorded in the voice output unit 22 in advance, and a predetermined voice message is output to the speaker 8 according to a signal from the control unit 17.

Reference numeral 23 denotes an image synthesizing unit.
The operation screen / mark generation unit 19 is added to the map image drawn by
Mark, operation screen, and guidance route drawing unit 21 generated by
Are superimposed on the guidance route drawn in the above step and displayed on the display device 7. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a background layer (map drawing data) in the map data recorded on the CD-ROM 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the background layer is composed of a plurality of background data records, and a series of data for drawing a figure is recorded in each background data record. This series of data indicates a type 1 indicating whether a figure to be drawn is a line or a polygon, a road or a boundary line, and, in the case of a road, an expressway or a general road ("expressway" or "general road"). Type 2, color code 1 indicating the color of the line, color code 2 indicating the color inside the polygon in the case of a polygon, and line code indicating the pattern code of the line (or indicating the code of the fill pattern in the case of a polygon) Texture code), the number of element points indicating the total number of elements representing the shape of the figure, and element data indicating the position of each element. Based on these data, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a map image, that is, a road (expressway and general road), a boundary line, a green area, and the like are drawn.

In the on-vehicle navigation device of the present embodiment configured as described above, the control unit 17
The current position of the vehicle is detected from the GPS signal received by the receiver 4 and the signal input from the self-contained navigation sensor 5, and the CD-
The map data of the area including the current position of the vehicle is read from the ROM 1 to the buffer memory 11. The map drawing unit 18 generates a map image using the map data read into the buffer memory 11 and displays the map image around the vehicle on the display device 7.

The control unit 17 controls the operation screen / mark generation unit 19 to display the vehicle position mark on the map image displayed on the display device 7 so as to be superimposed on the map image. Move marks and scroll map images. Further, the control unit 17 specifies, for example, a location where traffic congestion has occurred based on the traffic information received via the traffic information receiver 3, and a mark indicating traffic congestion generated by the operation screen / mark generation unit 19 ( Arrow) is superimposed on the map image and displayed.

Further, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to set a destination, the control unit 17 sets the current position of the vehicle as a departure point, and reads out map data from the departure point to the destination into the buffer memory 11. In the road layer of the map data, roads are represented as a set of nodes, and positions (longitude, latitude) and the like of each node are recorded. Control unit 1
7 uses the road layer to search for a route with the lowest cost from the departure point to the destination by performing a simulation calculation such as a horizontal search method or a Dijkstra method, and to use the search result as guidance route information as a guidance route. The information is stored in the information storage unit 20. Then, the guide route is drawn on the map image displayed on the display device 7 with a line type different from that of the other roads, guide information is output as appropriate as the vehicle moves, and the vehicle is guided along the guide route to the destination. I do.

The operation of the on-vehicle navigation device according to this embodiment at the time of switching the expressway display will be described below. When the user presses a predetermined button of the operation unit 2, the control unit 17 controls the operation screen / mark generation unit 19 to display the highway display switching menu shown in FIG. 4 on the screen of the display device 7. In the initial state, the non-display of the expressway is “NO”, and the highway is left in the initial state or “NO”.
When the highway display switching menu is terminated after selecting the, the map image is created using the map data read from the CD-ROM 1 as in the conventional case. This allows
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, both a general road and an expressway are displayed on the map image. Note that reference numeral 30 denotes a vehicle position mark indicating the current position and the traveling direction of the vehicle, reference numeral 40 denotes a mark indicating the position of the destination, a thick line indicates an expressway, and a thin line indicates a general road.

On the other hand, when the user selects non-display (“YES”) in the highway display switching menu shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 17 determines the road type (type) in the background layer of the map data read from the CD-ROM 1. 2) The map image is generated by ignoring the data of the background data record that is “highway”. As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a map image from which the expressway has been deleted is displayed. In this case, the control unit 17 does not display the information on the expressway among the traffic information received by the traffic information receiver 3 on the display device 7.

The present embodiment has the following effects. For example, it is assumed that the map image shown in FIG. 5 is displayed when the highway display switching is set to “NO” and used. In this case, the user does not know whether there is a general road under the highway. However, in the navigation device according to the present embodiment, when the highway display switching is set to “YES”, the display of the highway is erased and displayed, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. In the case of the display as shown in FIG. 6, it can be understood that the destination 40 can be reached in a short time by passing from the point A to the point B, and when the display is as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the destination 40 cannot be reached without passing through.

For example, it is assumed that the map image shown in FIG. 8 is displayed when the highway display switching is set to “NO” and used. In this figure, arrows indicate places where congestion occurs. In this case, the user cannot determine whether the expressway is congested or the general road is congested. However, in the navigation device according to the present embodiment, when the expressway display switching is set to “YES”, the expressway is not displayed and the traffic information on the expressway is not displayed. The map image is displayed as shown in FIG. 6, and the arrow indicating the traffic congestion on the highway is not displayed. In addition, when there is traffic congestion on a general road, a map image is displayed as shown in FIG. 9, so that the user can avoid the traffic congestion point and go from the point A to the destination 40 via the points E and F. Can be.

As described above, the on-vehicle navigation device according to the present embodiment can switch between display and non-display of the highway, so that when the vehicle is traveling on a general road, the user can select an optimal route. It can be easily determined. In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the expressway switching menu shown in FIG. 4 is displayed to switch between display and non-display of the expressway. The display / non-display of the expressway may be switched without displaying the road switching menu. In this case, when the highway is not displayed, it is preferable to display a message or the like indicating that the highway is not displayed at a corner of the screen.

When the user presses a predetermined button on the operation unit 2, the expressway may be hidden for a certain period of time, and then a map image on which the expressway is displayed may be displayed. This eliminates the need to return the expressway from the non-display state to the display state, thereby improving operability. Furthermore,
A voice recognition device is built in the navigation device body 10,
For example, when the user utters “Expressway display selection” by voice, the control unit 17 of the navigation device main body 10 outputs a voice message “Do you want to hide the highway?” A highway display switching menu may be displayed, and if the user answers "yes" or "yes", the highway may be hidden as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG.

[0030]

As described above, according to the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention, since the control means for hiding the highway in response to the operation of the user is provided, the general road hidden by the highway can be removed. It is possible to display on the screen whether or not there is a general road under the expressway.

In addition to hiding the expressway,
If the information on the expressway is not displayed among the traffic information received by the traffic information receiving means, for example, when the congestion occurs on the expressway, the congestion information is not displayed,
When the traffic congestion occurs on the general road, the traffic congestion information remains displayed even if the highway is not displayed, so that it is possible to know whether the congestion location is on the highway or the general road.

Furthermore, if the expressway is hidden for a certain period of time in response to the predetermined operation of the user and then the expressway is displayed, there is no need to return from the non-display state of the expressway to the display state. And the operability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a background layer in map data recorded on a CD-ROM.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map image drawn using a background layer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a highway display switching menu.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a map image on which an expressway is displayed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map image in which a highway is not displayed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of a map image in which an expressway is not displayed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map image on which congestion information is displayed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of a map image on which traffic congestion information is displayed, and shows a map image in which an expressway is not displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CD-ROM 2 Operation part 3 Traffic information receiver 4 GPS receiver 5 Self-contained navigation sensor 7 Display device 10 Navigation apparatus main body 11 Buffer memory 12-15 Interface 17 Control part 18 Map drawing part 19 Operation screen / mark generation part 20 Guidance Route storage unit 21 Guide route drawing unit 23 Image synthesis unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Map data storage means for storing map data including expressway drawing data and general road drawing data; vehicle position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle; and vehicle position using the map data. Control means for displaying a map image around the current position of the vehicle detected by the detection means on a display, wherein the control means draws the map image by hiding an expressway in response to a user operation. An in-vehicle navigation device characterized by the following. 2. A traffic information receiving unit for receiving traffic information sent from outside the vehicle, wherein the control unit draws the map image while hiding an expressway according to a user operation, The on-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein information related to an expressway is hidden from the traffic information received by the traffic information receiving means. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the control unit draws a map image in which a highway is not displayed in response to an operation of the user, and then draws a map image in which the highway is displayed after a predetermined time has elapsed. An in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1.