JP2002116040A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that it is difficult to display a map of a destination and much attention needs to be paid during operation, since the desired point is frequently overreached at a fast scrolling speed, when the destination, etc., is retrieved by scrolling a map image using a joy stick, etc. SOLUTION: A facility name is inputted and then the place, where the facilities are present is retrieved and stored in a retrieval result memory part 53. Then a user scrolls the map picture and then the scrolling direction is detected; and a display facility retrieval part 55 retrieves a point which is present in the scrolling direction among point stored in the retrieval result memory. A scroll scale setting part 56 computes the distance from a currently displayed point to a point to be displayed next and computes and sets a scale of the map enabling high-speed scrolling, according to the distance. A scroll drawing indication part 57 scrolls the map according to the result and stops scrolling the map, when the point is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device which enables a user to easily select and set a desired point when setting a destination or a stopover in the navigation device. The present invention relates to a navigation device having a function of scrolling a map at a high speed in order to display a designated candidate point on a map.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a vehicle navigation system, a CD-ROM storing map data for drawing a map and facility information data for retrieving facilities and the like,
A map / information storage medium such as a DVD-ROM;
A playback device that reads data from an information storage medium, a display device that displays a map, etc., a self-contained navigation device such as a distance sensor or a gyro, and a vehicle position detection that detects the current position of the vehicle and the azimuth of the traveling direction using a GPS receiver or the like The map data including the current position of the vehicle is read from the map / information storage medium, a map image around the vehicle position is drawn on the screen of the display device based on the map data, and the vehicle position mark is displayed. The display is superimposed on the screen and the map image is scrolled according to the movement of the vehicle, or the map image is fixed on the screen and the vehicle position mark is moved, so that the vehicle is currently traveling where You can see at a glance.

[0003] Maps such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
The map data stored in the information storage device is divided into longitude and latitude widths of appropriate sizes according to various scale levels, and roads and the like are set as a coordinate set of nodes represented by longitude and latitude. It is remembered. A road is composed of a connection of two or more nodes, and the map data displays a road layer including a road list, a node table, an intersection configuration node list, and the like, and roads, buildings, facilities, parks, rivers, and the like on a map screen. Data such as background layers and the like, and information data for displaying characters and map symbols such as administrative division names such as municipal names, road names, intersection names, and facility names.

[0004] The navigation device also has a route guidance function for enabling a user to easily travel to a desired destination without making a mistake on a road. According to this route guidance function, when the map information is used to specify the departure point to the destination and, if necessary, the stopover, the route, time, distance,
Automatically search for the most appropriate route taking into account conditions such as fees,
The searched route is stored as a guidance route, and during driving, the guidance route is displayed on the map image in a different color from the other routes and displayed thicker, or the vehicle changes the route on the guidance route. When approaching an intersection to be approached within a certain distance, the user can enlarge the intersection, draw an arrow or the like indicating the direction in which the course should be changed, display it on the screen, or give voice guidance to turn left or right. To guide you to your destination.

[0005] In specifying the destination or the transit point, when a user specifies a place by a place name or the like, the navigation device is attached to, for example, a CD-R.
Utilizing search information owned by a data recording medium such as an OM, the latitude and longitude data of the point is fetched, and a specified point is designated and registered.

When specifying and registering such a point,
Conventionally, various means have been adopted.For example, data in which place names are listed in order from a wide area to a narrow area are stored in a storage medium in advance, and a user can obtain a name from a prefecture in the same manner as a normal address display. A direct address input method is also used in which the location is specified by inputting using a keyboard or the like on the screen in order, and the corresponding location data on the map is searched from a data recording medium and registered as a designated location. I have.

To use data in which the above-mentioned place names are listed in order from a wide area to a narrow area, a place name on a wide area such as a prefecture is displayed on a screen display unit, and one of them is used. When the user selects, the name of the place on the narrow side that is developed at that point is displayed, and the user selects one of them, and the user repeats the operation of selecting one of them, so that the user can see the point displayed on the screen There is also used an address list display selection method in which point names are sequentially selected based on a name list, and finally a predetermined point is designated and registered.

In addition, when designating a point, for example, a map including the current position is displayed on the screen, and the user displays a map of an appropriate scale, scrolls the map, searches for a desired point, and further enlarges the display. For example, a map scrolling method for designating and registering a point by instructing a desired point with a cursor is performed.

[0009] Further, the data recording medium includes public facilities such as stations and city halls, road facilities such as intersections and interchanges, etc., and facility names such as landmark buildings, convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants, etc. Are recorded in association with each other, and a facility name search method is also used in which a user inputs a facility name to specify a location where the facility or the like exists.

At this time, in addition to performing a search for directly setting the facility as described above as a destination, when it is known that a point desired to be set as a destination or the like is close to a specific facility. In addition, a search is made for the facility serving as a landmark, and an original desired point is searched therefrom.

In recent years, the spread of DVD-ROMs has made it possible to record enormous data.
A telephone number input method of storing point data corresponding to telephone numbers nationwide and specifying and registering a specific house or building by inputting a telephone number has also been adopted.

[0012]

Various methods such as those described above are used to set a predetermined point such as a destination or a transit point. Since it is necessary to input the place name to be used using a keyboard or the like that displays on the screen, the operation must be performed by inputting each character one by one, which is troublesome, and especially, the user is used to such an operation. It is difficult to use for those who do not.

The address list display selection method is effective when the point to be designated is known as a system such as a prefecture, a city, a town, a street or an address, but is not known. Cannot use this method. In the use of ordinary navigation devices, there are many cases in which such a system is known in many cases, and thus this method is not very useful.

In the above-described map scrolling method, it is good to know in advance what location the point is on the map. Must be repeated many times to find the point, which takes a lot of time and is extremely difficult. Further, when searching for a large number of points by the map scrolling method, it is necessary to perform the above-described operation for each point, which is more troublesome.

Furthermore, in recent years, the data processing speed of the navigation device has been improved, so that the scrolling speed of the map has been improved. For example, when the map of the portion indicated by the cursor is scrolled with the joystick, the joystick is only slightly tilted. Because the map scrolls fast, your eyes can't keep up, and the stop operation doesn't keep up,
In many cases, the map is scrolled back and forth, for example, when the target point is overdone and when returning to the original position, it is overdone again. In order to prevent this, a user needs much attention to finely adjust the operation amount of the joystick, and this navigation device is mounted on a vehicle, and it is difficult for the driver to operate the joystick while traveling.

In the facility name search method, when the point to be designated is a public facility, a landmark-like building, a facility, or the like, a specific point can be designated immediately. This can easily be specified if the location is near. However, this method is difficult to use when you do not know what characteristic facilities are near the point you are specifying, and for example, convenience stores, gas stations,
In chains and stores such as fast food and restaurants, there are many candidates even if the name of the facility is input, and it is difficult to select one of them.

In the above-mentioned telephone number input method,
This is extremely effective because when a user knows the telephone number of a designated point, the user can input a specific point in one shot simply by inputting the telephone number. However, if the telephone number associated with the point to be designated or the telephone number of a facility near the point to be designated is not known, it cannot be used naturally.

As described above, although there have been proposed various systems for specifying and registering a specific point, each system has advantages and disadvantages, and there is no system that satisfies all of them. The actual situation is that any of the methods that can be performed is considered to be the most appropriate method and arbitrarily selected and used.

In particular, in the facility name search method among the above methods, as described above, where is a particular store or facility among chain stores and facilities such as convenience stores, gas stations, fast foods, restaurants, etc. When searching for a location, there are many candidates even if the search is performed by entering the name of the store or facility.For example, simply displaying the candidates in a list will result in any of the candidates at the desired point of the user. It is very difficult to tell if there is. Therefore, each point is displayed on a map based on the result obtained by the facility name search method as described above, and the point obtained by the search is displayed by scrolling the map using the map scroll method. Then, it is conceivable to use a method that combines a facility name search method and a map scroll method in which a point considered appropriate in that state is selected.

When a desired point is searched by such a method, it is conceivable to display the point together with the current position on one screen in order to clarify the positional relationship between the point obtained as a result of the search and the current point. On the other hand, if the point obtained as a result of the search is distant, the scale of the map is too large to be difficult to see. In particular, to display a map that includes multiple points obtained as a result of a search, and includes all these points,
In addition, it must be displayed on a large-scale map.

When there are a plurality of points obtained as a result of the search as described above, if one map including each candidate point is displayed one by one, the map of one point is displayed, and then the map is scrolled. When displaying the next candidate point, if the scale of the map is too small, much more time is required even if the processing speed of the navigation device is further improved.

However, each time the scroll is performed, the scale of the map is increased and scrolling is performed in a state where a wide area map is displayed. When a map including a desired point is displayed, the portion is enlarged and displayed. It is extremely troublesome to perform an operation of confirming whether the point is a desired point, and it may take much time.

Further, when displaying a plurality of candidate points obtained as a result of the search in order from the map displaying the current point,
For example, initially skip to the first point closest to the current location and display a map centered on that point at the same scale, then the second point closest to the first of the remaining points By repeating the operation of skipping to a point and displaying a map centered on the point in the same manner, a skip display method of automatically displaying the maps of all the candidate points at an appropriate scale can be considered. In addition, for example, a skip display method in which a map of all the candidate points is skip-displayed in the order in which the plurality of candidate points are searched from the map displaying the current point is also conceivable.

However, the map displayed as described above is skipped and displayed irrespective of the user's will, such as a point close to the point displayed on the screen, or a search order. Therefore, for example, the point that the user is going to set as the destination should be at least to the north of the current point or at least to the south of the current point. As a result, even when the direction is guessed, it is displayed irrespective of the direction. As a result, it takes a lot of time to display a desired point, and an appropriate search cannot be performed.

Accordingly, the present invention eliminates the drawback that when scrolling the map to search for a desired point, the scrolling is too much difficult to display the map of the desired point, and the operation requires much attention. A main object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device capable of scrolling and displaying a map of a point obtained as a result of performing a search by inputting destination information such as a facility name. I have.

[0026]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a facility name search section for inputting a facility name and other information to search for a place where the facility is located, and the facility name search section. A search result memory unit that stores data searched by the user, a scroll direction detection unit that detects a user's scroll operation direction of the map, and a search result memory unit that exists in the scroll direction from among data stored in the search result memory unit. A display facility search unit for searching for a facility close to the point currently displayed on the screen; and a scroll drawing instruction unit for performing a process of displaying a map including the facility searched by the display facility search unit. This is a featured navigation device. .

In another aspect, a scroll scale for setting a scale for scrolling according to a distance between a facility displayed on the screen obtained by the display facility search unit and a point currently displayed on the screen. A scale setting unit, and a display map area detection unit that detects whether or not the facility searched by the display facility search unit is present on the map being scrolled and displayed, wherein the scroll drawing instruction unit includes the scroll scale. Scrolling the map at the scale set by the setting unit, and performing processing to stop scrolling when the display map area detection unit detects that the facility is present in the map being scrolled and displayed. The navigation device described above.

In another aspect, the navigation device outputs a sound corresponding to a time until a next screen is displayed based on data of the scroll scale setting unit. .

In another aspect, the scroll drawing instructing section performs a skip display process from a currently displayed map screen to a map screen of a predetermined scale including a facility searched by the display facility searching section. The navigation device is characterized in that:

In another aspect, the scroll drawing instructing unit has a function of returning from a map screen after scroll display to an original map screen by a user's selection instruction. Things.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing main functional blocks in the control device portion of the navigation device according to the present invention and their mutual relations. The navigation control device 10 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 is provided with a GPS receiver 12 in the same manner as the conventional one, and processes a signal from a satellite received by an antenna 11 to obtain own vehicle position data and store the data. The information is stored in the unit 13. On the other hand, a signal from a self-contained navigation sensor 16 composed of an angle sensor 14 provided in the vehicle and detecting a traveling direction of the vehicle and a distance sensor 15 is input to a vehicle position / azimuth calculation unit 17, and the position data from the self-contained navigation sensor is obtained. It has gained.

The vehicle position signal generation unit 18 stores the vehicle position data by GPS in the data storage unit 13 into the vehicle position data.
Correction is made with the position data in the azimuth detecting unit 17 to obtain accurate vehicle position data. The vehicle position signal obtained by the vehicle position signal generator 18 is output to various functional units in the navigation control device 10 to be described later via the vehicle position data line 19 and is used by each unit.

Remote control 4 attached to navigation device
0, the user's operation signals from the touch panel 41 provided on the display and other various operation switches 42
It is input to the operation signal input unit 43. The signal is transmitted via the operation signal data line 39 to the navigation control device 1.
It is output to various functional units within 0 and is used as a user's instruction signal. In addition, various instruction voices of the operator from the microphone 44 are recognized by the voice recognition unit 45, and as the operation signal input unit 43, the operation signal data line 3
9 and is used as an instruction signal for various functional units described later.

Based on the vehicle position data and the operation signal, the ROM read control unit 21 operates the operation signal data line 3
9 or the vehicle position data line 19
A large amount of map data, address data, facility information data, etc., from a map / information storage device 20 such as a DVD-ROM or a CD-ROM based on the vehicle position signal from Store in 22. Various data in the information / map buffer 22 are transmitted to the navigation controller 1 via the information / map data line 26.
It is output to various functional units within 0 and used for various purposes described later.

By inputting such various data, the navigation control device 10 can perform various operations with various functional parts provided therein. For example, in the guidance route calculation unit 30, a vehicle position data line is provided. The current position data is inputted from 19, and a destination and a waypoint are specified from the operation signal data line 39 or a search result determination unit 59 of the destination search unit 50, which will be described later. , Calculate the optimal guidance route by performing various cost calculations. The result is stored in the guidance route memory 31,
The guidance route output unit 33 creates data for guiding the guidance route in various forms. Among them, the image data is output to the image synthesizing section 27, and is superimposed on the map, and the
Can be displayed.

In the intersection guidance output section 32, based on the vehicle position from the vehicle position signal generation section 18, the map data from the information / map data line 26, the guidance route information from the guidance route memory 31, etc. It is determined whether or not the current position of the vehicle has reached the vicinity of a left / right turn intersection on the guidance route, and when it has reached the vicinity, an intersection guide map is created and output to the image synthesis unit 27 and output to the voice synthesis unit 61. Then, the voice of the intersection guidance is output from the speaker 63 via the voice output unit 62. In addition, in this intersection guidance output part 32,
Not only the above-mentioned guidance at the intersection, but also guidance as to the entrance and exit of an interchange, guidance for which there is no right / left intersection for a while, etc. are appropriately performed.

In the map drawing section 25, based on map data of a predetermined scale in the map memory 23, for example, a bird's-eye view display, a 3D display, etc., from the operation signal input section 43 input via the display method specifying section 24 In accordance with the designation, a predetermined map is calculated and created based on the vehicle position, and further, related information data such as place name information data and facility names are superimposed on the map as necessary and displayed, and image synthesis is performed as a map image. Output to the unit 27. In addition, the image of the various mark generation units 34 and the operation screen generation unit 35 are also input to the image synthesis unit 27 as necessary.
Synthesize and display.

The navigation control device 10 of the present invention includes a map scroll search unit 50 as a destination search unit, which will be described later, for setting a guidance route in the navigation device. In addition, in the illustrated embodiment, in addition to those illustrated as destination search means,
Further, various means, such as a conventionally used address searching means and a telephone number searching means, can be added separately.

The map scroll search unit 50 shown in FIG. 1 includes a facility name input unit 51 for inputting a facility name such as "Seven-Eleven" input by the user by operating a remote controller or a touch panel. Input via line 39. Note that, at this time, this may be input by voice from a microphone, and the data may be input via the voice recognition unit 45. Further, in addition to the map scroll search unit shown as the destination search means, various means such as conventionally used address search means and telephone number search means can be additionally provided.

The facility name search section 52 outputs the signal to the ROM read control section 21 via the operation signal data line 39 based on the facility name input in this manner,
The user accesses the map storage device 20 to search for the relevant facility, and inputs the search result via the information / map data line 26. At this time, the number of facilities obtained as a result of the search is displayed as appropriate on the screen to inform the user. For example, when the searched facility name is "Seven-Eleven" as described above, an extremely large number of corresponding facilities are displayed. In such a case, in such a case, the user may further input an area name such as “Nagoya City” into the input section 51 of the facility name or the like, and narrow the range appropriately. It can be so. If it is known that a very large number of facilities exist from the beginning as described above, it is necessary to input the area name in addition to the facility name to the facility name etc. input unit 51 from the beginning of the search to perform the search. Is preferred.

The facility name search section 52 stores the search results obtained in this manner in the search result memory section 53. At this time, the corresponding facility obtained as described above is stored together with data on a map corresponding to the point of the facility. This data is appropriately read and used by a display facility search unit 55 described later. Note that the above facility name etc. input unit 51, facility name search unit 52, and search result memory unit 53
It is almost the same as the facility name search function conventionally used, and many navigation devices already have this function. In the illustrated embodiment, a map scroll search function according to the present invention will be described. For this reason, this functional part is extracted and shown in the map scroll search unit 50.

On the other hand, the map scroll search section 50 includes a scroll direction detecting section 54, and when a user operates a joystick or the like to scroll the map screen,
The scroll direction is detected by detecting the operation direction. This data is output to the scroll drawing instructing section 57, and the map drawing section 25 performs scroll display of the map according to the scale set by the scroll scale setting section 56 described later.

The data of the scroll direction detecting section 54 is also output to the display facility search section 55, and the display facility search section 5
In 5, based on the data of the scroll direction and the data of the point currently displayed on the screen by the display map area detection unit 58, the closest facility existing in the scroll direction from the currently displayed point is retrieved. Search from the data of. Based on the search result, the distance to the next facility to be displayed by scrolling is calculated and output to the scroll scale setting unit 56.

In the scroll scale setting section 56,
Based on this distance data, the scale of the map when scrolling is set. In this setting, for example, when the distance to the facility to be displayed next is long, a map with a large scale is set according to the distance, and when the distance is short, a map with a small scale is set according to the distance. Note that, as described above, the small-scale map set when the distance to the next facility is short does not need to be smaller than the scale of the currently displayed map. In this way, even when the distance from the currently displayed point to the next displayed point is long, the larger the distance, the larger the scale of the map when scrolling is automatically set. Search points can be displayed.

The scale of the map at the time of scrolling set at this time can be set in various modes. For example, the scale of the map is increased as the distance from the current display point is increased, and the scale is gradually increased as the point of the facility to be displayed is approached. It may be made smaller and returned to the original scale. When the scroll speed is particularly increased, a map of a scale including the current display point and a point to be displayed next is displayed at the start of scrolling, and a map including the point to be displayed next is displayed at the original scale. It is also possible to skip to the next display point from the currently displayed map and display the map. When such a skipping function is selected, the scroll scale setting unit does not need to particularly perform the operation.

The data of the scroll scale setting section 56 is output to the scroll drawing instructing section 57, and the map currently displayed is displayed in accordance with the scroll direction input to the scroll direction detecting section 54 and the scale of the designated map. It instructs the map drawing unit 25 to scroll.

When the scale for scrolling is set in the scroll scale setting section 56, the data is converted to the next screen display time calculation section 5 in the illustrated embodiment.
9 is output. In the next screen display time calculation unit 59, the next screen display time is calculated based on the distance from the currently displayed point to the next displayed point, the scale of the map to be scrolled, and the map scrolling capability of the navigation control device. Is calculated until the point is displayed, and this is output to the next screen display audio output unit 60.

If the time is long, that is, if the time until the map of the next point is displayed by scrolling is long, the next screen display sound output unit 60 outputs a sound with a high pitch, for example, and outputs a short sound. At times, the user is provided with an indication of how much the next point is displayed by outputting a sound with a low pitch. The sound set by the sound output unit 60 is transmitted to the sound synthesis unit 6.
1. Output from the speaker 63 via the audio output unit 62.

Note that the sound at this time can be output in various forms if the user is a guide. For example, "Daru, ma, sa, n, ga, ko, ro, n" When the time to display the map at the next location is long, this word is output slowly, and the map at the next location is displayed and scrolling stops. At the same time, the last "da" voice is set to be uttered, and conversely, if the time is short, the voice is output earlier, so that when the last "da" voice is uttered, the next point Can be set so that the map is displayed and scrolling is stopped.

With such various modes of audio output,
Even when the scroll is long, the user can almost predict the time at which the scroll will be completed from the beginning, and can provide a navigation device that is easy to use without being annoying. In order to provide the user with guidance corresponding to the time required for scrolling, various means such as displaying a bar graph such as a processing time display of a personal computer in addition to the above-described audio output are used. Can be adopted.

The display map area detecting section 58 detects the scroll drawing state of the map in the map drawing section 25 performed by the instruction of the scroll drawing instruction section 57 as described above, and indicates which area is currently scrolling. Is detected. Thereby, the map including the point of the search facility to be displayed next is drawn in the map drawing section 25 based on the data of the point of the search facility to be displayed next in the display facility search section 55 previously input. When it is detected that the scrolling is performed, the signal is output to the scroll drawing instructing section 57 to stop the scrolling.

The navigation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention constituted by the functional blocks as described above can operate according to the operation flow as shown in FIG. 2, for example. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to search examples of the map scroll shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

In the map scroll search processing of the above embodiment, a map of the current position is first displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 2 to prepare for the next scroll operation (step S).
1). Next, a facility name such as "Seven-Eleven" is input as described above (step S2). This input is
The user operates the Japanese syllabary input key on the remote control, or operates the Japanese syllabary keyboard displayed on the screen, and touches it in the form of a touch panel or inputs the word “Seven-Eleven” by voice Thus, the input operation of the facility to be searched can be performed by various means such as selecting from the facility name list displayed on the screen. At this time, by further inputting an area name such as “Nagoya City”, the search range can be narrowed down.

Next, a search is executed according to the search conditions as described above (step S3). This search is performed by the facility name search unit 52 in FIG. 1, and when the amount of the facilities as the search result is too large, further narrowing is performed as necessary as described above. This search result is stored in the search result memory unit 53 in FIG.
4). This search result memory unit 53 is stored together with the position data on the map for each point obtained by the search.

After such a search, a scroll operation by a user's operation is performed in order to display the point obtained as a result of the search on a map (step S5). This scrolling is performed by operating the joystick of the remote controller or operating the up, down, left, and right cursor operation keys as in the related art. The scroll operation direction in this operation is performed by the scroll direction detection unit 54 in FIG. 1 (step S6). Based on the detection of the operation direction, the display facility search unit 55 of FIG. 1 searches for the closest facility from the data in the search result memory unit 53 among the facilities existing in that direction (step S7).

As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the current position is within the range of the screen display frame located substantially in the center of the figure, the result of a search performed under the condition of a predetermined area range by the facility search of “Seven-Eleven” If six Seven-Eleven facilities in the figure are searched, Seven-Eleven when the user tilts the joystick to the right will be searched. When the joystick is tilted to the left, the nearest Seven-Eleven located on the left side of the figure at the current position is searched. If the joystick is tilted to the left when the current location is 7-Eleven, 7-Eleven will be searched, and when the current location is 7-Eleven, when the joystick is tilted to the upper left in the figure, as indicated by the broken arrow in the figure Will be searched for.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of searching for the closest facility existing in the scroll operation direction has been described. However, when there are many other searched points, for example, a search is performed on the screen displayed next. The facility search may be performed so as to display a map of a range in which a plurality of predetermined facilities such as two, three, or the like are entered.

Based on the search result, the first function of the scroll scale setting unit 56 of FIG. 1 calculates the distance from the currently displayed point to the searched adjacent facility (step S8). After that, the second function of the scroll scale setting unit 56 calculates the scale of the scroll map according to the calculated distance (step S9). In this setting, for example, when the distance to the facility to be displayed next is long, a map with a large scale is set according to the distance, and when the distance is short, a map with a small scale is set according to the distance. In this way, even when the distance from the currently displayed point to the next displayed point is long, the farther the distance is, the larger the scale of the map when scrolling is set. Can be displayed. The scroll drawing of the map is performed according to the setting of the scale (step S1).
0). In the example shown in FIG. 3 as well, when the user operates the joystick in the direction of the 7-Eleven point searched as described above, the 7-Eleven present in that direction is displayed regardless of the degree to which the joystick is tilted. The map scrolls at high speed.

In this scrolling process, it is determined whether or not the search facility is displayed on the screen (step S1).
1) If it is not displayed yet, return to step S10 to continue scrolling. When it is determined that the search facility is displayed on the screen, a process of stopping scrolling is performed, whereby the scrolling is automatically stopped (step S12). At this time, a map is displayed at a predetermined scale, such as the scale of the map at the time of scrolling to the scale at the start of scrolling, where the search point is displayed at substantially the center of the screen (step S13). Further, when a screen on which a plurality of search facilities are displayed is displayed as described above, the screen is displayed on a map of a scale corresponding to the screen.

The user looks at the map of the point where the search facility is displayed as described above, and determines whether or not the point is a desired point (step S14).
When it is determined that the point is not the desired point, the process returns to step S5, and the user performs another scroll operation, and the same operation is repeated thereafter. Step S14
When it is determined that the facility displayed on the screen is a point desired by the user, an operation such as pressing a registration key is performed, and a process of registering this point as a destination based on the operation is performed (step S15). .

As a result of the above processing, for example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, a seven-eleven by operating the joystick from the current position to the left in the figure is searched.
A high-speed scroll is performed at that point, a map of that point is displayed, and when the user sees this, it is determined that it is not the desired point, and the joystick is moved to the left again, thinking that it is on the left side in the figure Seven-Eleven to be defeated is searched. At this time, the user is reminded that the desired point is located on the lower left side of the figure from the current position, and it is known that the scroll operation up to now is incorrect, so let's scroll from the point to the desired point. Then, it is often not clear whether the desired point is, for example, on the lower left side, directly below, or on the lower right side. In such a case, it is more efficient to return to the current position screen display and start over again. In such a case, by pressing the reset key or the like, the display is skipped back to the current position screen as shown by the dashed line in the figure. Is preferred.

As described above, when it is determined that the facility displayed on the screen is not the desired one, it is possible to return to the first current position map screen again by pressing the reset key or the like. By performing the facility search as described above continuously, it gradually moves away from the current location, and when it is considered that the user has departed from the direction of the originally desired facility, the screen returns to the current location screen and returns to the destination. Can be easily searched again in a different direction.

At this time, when the point that the user is trying to search is a house near the facility as described above and the facility is not a direct destination but a nearby point is the destination, Pressing the enter key in this state of the map cancels the map scroll search that performs the above functions, performs a normal search by scrolling the map, and presses the registration key at that point when the desired point is found Is performed, and a process of registering the point as a destination can be performed based on that. After the destination is registered in this way, the operation flow ends (step S16).

In the operation flow shown in FIG. 2, the operations in the next screen display time calculation section 59 and the next screen display audio output section 60 in FIG. 1 are omitted, but this function is performed in step 9 in FIG. After performing the map scale calculation for use, the display time of the next screen is calculated in parallel with the map drawing processing by scrolling, and the output processing of the next screen display sound is performed based on the calculation result.

In the above embodiment, the facility name of the convenience store "Seven-Eleven" is entered when entering the facility name and the like. However, other public facilities such as a gas station, a restaurant, a fire department, and other road facilities such as bridges and tunnels. For example, it is possible to perform a search by inputting various facility names, and to set a high-speed scroll display of a point existing in the scroll direction based on the search result.

[0066]

According to the present invention, a facility name search unit for inputting a facility name and other information to search for a place where the facility is located, and a search result memory for storing data searched by the facility name search unit Unit, a scroll direction detection unit that detects a scroll operation direction of the map by the user, and a data that is located in the scroll direction and is close to a point currently displayed on the screen from data stored in the search result memory unit. A navigation device, comprising: a display facility search unit that searches for a facility; and a scroll drawing instruction unit that performs a process of displaying a map including the facility searched by the display facility search unit. When searching the desired point by scrolling the map due to the high processing speed of the navigation device, etc., the scrolling goes too far and the map of the desired point is not displayed. It is possible to eliminate the indicated hard drawback, it is possible to scrolling the map of the desired point to a number of attention without. In addition, every time the displayed map is scrolled, an operation of manually changing the scale of the map and increasing the scroll speed becomes unnecessary, and the user can easily and quickly scroll to a desired point.

A scroll scale setting unit for setting a scale at the time of scrolling according to a distance between a facility displayed on the screen obtained by the display facility search unit and a point currently displayed on the screen; A display map area detection unit that detects whether or not the facility searched by the display facility search unit is present on the map being scrolled and displayed, and in the scroll drawing instruction unit, the display map area detection unit is set by the scroll scale setting unit. Scrolling the map at a reduced scale, and performing a process of stopping scrolling when the display map area detection unit detects that the facility is present in the scrolled map. In addition, in addition to the above-described effects, the state of the map on the way can be known by looking at the screen being scrolled and displayed. Map of points becomes easy determination of whether or not desired.

Further, in the above navigation apparatus, a sound corresponding to the time until the next screen is displayed is output based on the data of the scroll scale setting section. It is possible to easily determine how long it takes for the next map to be displayed by a simple scroll, and to eliminate anxiety during the scroll processing.

The scroll drawing instructing section performs a skip display process from a currently displayed map screen to a map screen of a predetermined scale including the facility searched by the display facility searching section. In the navigation device, the next map screen can be displayed at a very high speed by the user's scroll operation.

Further, the scroll drawing instructing section has a function of returning to the original map screen from the map screen after scroll display by a user's selection instruction. When it is considered that the user is moving away from the original desired point while repeating the above-described scrolling from the map display of the point, the user can immediately return to the map screen of the original point and restart the scrolling. An easy navigation device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing functional blocks of an embodiment of the present invention and their interrelationships.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a search example of a map scroll in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 19 vehicle position data line 20 information map storage device 25 map drawing unit 26 information / map data line 27 image synthesis unit 28 image display device 30 guidance route calculation unit 39 operation signal data line 50 map scroll search unit 51 facility name input unit 52 Facility name search unit 53 Search result memory unit 54 Scroll direction detection unit 55 Display facility search unit 56 Scroll scale setting unit 57 Scroll drawing instruction unit 58 Display map area detection unit 59 Next screen display time calculation unit 60 Next screen audio output unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A facility name search unit for inputting a facility name and other information to search for a point where the facility is located, a search result memory unit for storing data searched by the facility name search unit, A scroll direction detecting unit for detecting a scroll operation direction of a map by a user, and searching for a facility existing in the scroll direction and adjacent to a point currently displayed on the screen from data stored in the search result memory unit. A navigation device comprising: a display facility search unit; and a scroll drawing instruction unit that performs a process of displaying a map including a facility searched by the display facility search unit. 2. A scroll scale setting unit that sets a scale at the time of scrolling according to a distance between a facility displayed on the screen obtained by the display facility search unit and a point currently displayed on the screen, A display map area detection unit that detects whether or not the facility searched by the display facility search unit is present on the map being scrolled and displayed, wherein the scroll drawing instruction unit sets the scroll scale setting unit. 2. A process of scrolling a map at a reduced scale, and performing a process of stopping scrolling when the display map area detection unit detects that the facility is present in a scrolled map.
A navigation device as described. 3. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein a sound corresponding to a time until a next screen is displayed is output based on the data of the scroll scale setting unit. 4. The scroll drawing instruction unit performs a skip display process from a currently displayed map screen to a map screen of a predetermined scale including a facility searched by the display facility search unit. Item 4. The navigation device according to item 1. 5. The scroll drawing instructing section has a function of returning from a map screen after scrolling display to an original map screen by a user's selection instruction.
A navigation device as described.