JP2006090710A - Navigation system and navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the latest and detailed lane information on a map image plane. <P>SOLUTION: If a user selects the acquisition of lane information from a service center 18 at the point of starting route guidance, a control circuit 2 uploads guidance route information to the service center 18 by using a mobile phone 17. Based on the route information, the service center 18 reads lane information on respective roads along a guidance route shown by means of link numbers and connection information from a database storing the latest lane information on respective nationwide roads to download the lane information to a navigation device 1. When the lane information is downloaded from the service center 18, the control circuit 2 displays the lane information on the map image plane being displayed on a display device 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a navigation system and a navigation device, and more particularly to a navigation system and a navigation device that can display a guide route obtained by a route search operation from a departure point to a destination point on a map screen.

As a prior art, a system has been proposed in which guidance route information is uploaded to a service center and facility information along the guidance route is acquired from a navigation device that calculates a route by setting a departure point and a destination point ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

Further, a system has been proposed that displays recommended lanes on approach roads when turning an intersection based on road lane information held by a navigation device (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2003-121176 A JP 2003-337037 A

However, the conventional navigation apparatus has a limited amount of data because the capacity of the data recording medium is limited, and can store all the lane information of each road in the country on the data recording medium. There was a problem that the detailed lane display could not be performed because there was no, or the lane display was limited to only the main road.

Further, since the road lane information stored in the data recording medium is outdated, there is a problem that the latest lane display cannot be performed unless it is frequently updated.

The purpose of the present invention is to focus on the fact that only the latest and detailed lane information required by the user need be in a timely manner, and download the lane information of each road along the guide route by data communication with the service center. An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system that can be displayed in the same manner.

Another object of the present invention is to upload guide route information to the service center, download lane information of each road along the guide route from the service center, and display the lane information on the map screen. It is to provide a navigation device.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

In order to achieve the above object, the navigation system according to claim 1 is a navigation system capable of displaying a guide route obtained by a route search operation from a departure point to a destination point on a map screen.
A service center having a database storing the lane information of each road, and the service center which can communicate data with the service center and can specify the guide route set based on the route search result. And a navigation device that downloads and displays lane information of each road along the guide route from the service center. According to the navigation system of the first aspect, the lane information of each road along the guide route can be downloaded and displayed by data communication with the service center. Lane display is possible. In addition, since it is not necessary to store detailed road lane information in the data recording medium of the navigation device, the capacity of the data recording medium can be reduced.

The navigation system according to claim 2 is characterized in that in the navigation system according to claim 1, the guide route information includes a link number for identifying a road and connection information from the road to the road when an intersection is turned. To do. According to the navigation system of claim 2, since the guide route information uploaded to the service center includes the link number for identifying the road and the connection information from the road to the road when making an intersection, It is possible to provide a recommended lane on each road along the road to the user.

The navigation system according to claim 3 is the navigation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the service center turns at an intersection based on connection information from a road to a road when the intersection is turned. Calculating from which lane of which road to go to which lane of which road, generating recommended lane information, and including the recommended lane information in the lane information and transmitting the lane information to the navigation device. And According to the navigation system of the third aspect, since the service center calculates the recommended lane information and sends it to the navigation device in the lane information, the load on the navigation device when displaying the recommended lane is reduced. Will be. Also, because the recommended lane information of the calculation result is included in the lane information and transmitted, the data amount of the lane information can be reduced compared to the case where the information that is the basis for calculating the recommended lane information is included in the lane information and transmitted. It is possible to reduce communication load and communication cost.

The navigation system according to claim 4 is the navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the navigation device can be connected to a mobile communication terminal, and data between the service center and the navigation system. Communication is performed via the mobile communication terminal. According to the navigation system of the fourth aspect, the mobile communication terminal is used to upload the guide route information to the service center or download the lane information from the service center. Without any modification, the guide route information can be uploaded to the service center and the lane information can be downloaded from the service center while moving.

The navigation device according to claim 5 includes means for connecting to a service center at the start of route guidance, and guide route information for specifying a guide route set based on a route search result after connecting to the service center. Means for uploading to the service center, and means for downloading and displaying lane information of each road along the guide route from the service center. According to the navigation device of the fifth aspect, the guide route information capable of specifying the guide route is uploaded to the service center, and the lane information of each road along the guide route is downloaded. Detailed lane display is possible. In addition, since it is not necessary to store detailed road lane information in the data recording medium of the navigation device, the capacity of the data recording medium can be reduced.

The navigation device according to claim 6 is the navigation device according to claim 5, wherein only the means for connecting to the service center is selected to acquire lane information from the service center. It is characterized by connecting. According to the navigation device of the sixth aspect, since the connection with the service center is performed only when the user needs it, the data communication with the service center is performed even when the user does not need it, and the communication cost is increased. It is possible to prevent inconveniences such as increase.

The navigation device according to claim 7 is the navigation device according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the guide route information includes a link number for identifying a road, and connection information from a road to a road when turning at an intersection. It is characterized by including. According to the navigation device of the sixth aspect, since the guide route information uploaded to the service center includes the link number for specifying the road and the connection information from the road to the road when turning at the intersection, the guide route includes It is possible to provide the user with recommended lane information on each road along the road.

The navigation device according to claim 8 is the navigation device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein a mobile communication terminal is connectable, and data communication with the service center is performed by the mobile device. It is performed through a communication terminal. According to the navigation device of claim 6, since the mobile communication terminal is used for uploading the guide route information to the service center or downloading the lane information of each road from the service center, Without stopping, the guide route information can be uploaded to the service center and the lane information can be downloaded from the service center while moving.

The lane information of each road along the guide route can be downloaded and displayed by data communication with the service center, so that the latest and detailed lane display can be made for each road in the country.

Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle navigation system will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The navigation system according to the first embodiment includes an in-vehicle navigation device 1, a service center 18, a mobile phone base station 19, a network 20, and a VICS (Vehicle Information & Communication System) station 21. Is configured.

The navigation device 1 includes a control circuit 2 having a function of controlling navigation operations, a position detector 3, a map data input device 4, an external memory 5, a display device 6, an operation switch group 7, and an audio output. Remote control sensor (hereinafter abbreviated as remote control sensor) 12 for detecting signals from device 8, mobile phone interface unit 9, VICS transmission / reception unit 10, and remote control terminal (hereinafter abbreviated as remote control terminal) 11 Etc. are connected.

The control circuit 2 is configured as a microcomputer, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an I / O (Input / Output) interface, and a bus connecting them. Etc. (both not shown). Among these, the ROM stores a car navigation program and the like, and the RAM temporarily stores processing data at the time of program execution, road data acquired from the map data input device 4, map data, and the like. .

Here, in addition to the basic function of executing the map matching process for positioning the current location of the vehicle on the map screen, the control circuit 2 provides a location such as a destination location or a transit location via the operation switch group 7 or the remote control terminal 11. When data is input, the route search operation from the current point to the destination point is performed based on the point data using, for example, the Dijkstra method, and the guide route set based on the route search result is displayed on the map screen. Well-known support functions such as a route calculation function for displaying (including a so-called route search function) and a route guidance function for performing various guides by voice or display based on the guide route obtained by this function are provided. Yes.

In addition, the control circuit 2 includes a well-known telephone number search function, postal code search function, search function using a unique code, 50 sound search function, genre search function, nearest road search function, destination point Various support functions such as a registration function, an information display function for displaying a sightseeing area and a recommended drive course, and a point registration function are set. However, as a function directly related to the gist of the present invention, a route is provided. A lane information acquisition function for acquiring lane information (lane position, link form, etc.) of each road along the guide route obtained by the calculation function from the service center 18 is set.

The position detector 3 includes a geomagnetic sensor 13 for detecting an absolute azimuth, a gyroscope 14 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a distance sensor 15 for detecting a travel distance of a vehicle, and a GPS (Global Positioning System). The GPS receiver 16 that receives a signal from the satellite for satellite use is a part that calculates the current position of the vehicle on which the navigation device 1 is mounted. Since the position detector 3 has detection errors of different properties, the position detector 3 performs highly accurate position detection while interpolating the detection errors with each other, but calculates the current position with the required detection accuracy. It is not necessary to have all the components if possible. Further, the position detector 3 may be configured by combining a rotation sensor for a steering wheel, a wheel sensor for detecting rotation of each tire, and the like.

The map data input device 4 reads data from a large-capacity data recording medium (not shown) such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) or a DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk-Read Only Memory). Is for. In this case, the data recording medium includes map data for map display, road data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, route guidance, intersection data composed of detailed data of intersections, and background layer data. In addition to the place name data for displaying background data, place names, and the like, various data such as road name data in which road names are arranged in the order of 50 notes are stored.

The external memory 5 is configured by a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory card. For example, the external memory 5 stores program software for supporting data recording media of other standards, and stores and recalls specific data. It is provided for the purpose.

The display device 6 includes a color liquid crystal display, for example, and is installed near the driver's seat of the vehicle in order to display a map screen. On the screen of the display device 6, a vehicle current position mark input from the position detector 3, map data input from the map data input device 4, and additional data such as a guide route to be displayed on the map screen are displayed. A menu icon for setting route guidance, performing guidance during route guidance, and switching the screen is displayed on the screen.

The operation switch group 7 includes mechanical switches arranged around the display device 6, touch switches formed on the color liquid crystal display of the display device 6, and the like. The control circuit 2 inputs operation inputs such as various data and setting items. Is provided to give to. The remote control sensor 12 is also provided as an operation input means, and receives an operation input from the remote control terminal 11 and gives it to the control circuit 2.

The voice output device 8 includes a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and is for generating an arbitrary voice output according to voice information from the control circuit 2.

The mobile phone interface unit 9 is provided to perform data communication and voice communication through the mobile phone 17 in a state where the mobile phone 17 (corresponding to a mobile communication terminal) is connected. Note that the mobile phone interface unit 9 is not limited to a wired interface connected by a cable or the like, and the mobile phone 17 has a short-range wireless communication function such as an infrared communication function, Bluetooth, or a wireless local area network (LAN). In some cases, it may be a wireless interface.

The VICS transmission / reception unit 10 includes a VICS sensor unit, FM (Frequency Modulation) multiplex broadcast receiver (none of which is shown), and the like, for example, an optical / radio wave beacon received from the VICS station 21 by the VICS sensor unit. And a configuration for providing the control circuit 2 with an information signal from FM multiplex broadcast received by the FM multiplex broadcast receiver, and also having a function of transmitting vehicle information to the outside if necessary. It has become.

The service center 18 is connected to the mobile phone base station 19 via the network 20 and is configured to allow data communication from the navigation device 1 through the mobile phone 17. The service center 18 is constructed with a database in which the latest lane information of each road in the country is stored, and the lane information in the database is read and returned in response to a request from the navigation device 1. It has become.

FIG. 2 is a data structure diagram showing an example of road lane information stored in the database of the service center 18. As shown in FIG. 2, the road information of one road (link) includes a link number (road number), a start node number, an end node number, the number of lanes, and detailed information on each lane. Is stored. Each lane detailed information includes information such as a traveling direction, whether or not to enter, whether or not to change lanes, whether or not construction is performed, whether or not to enter an ETC (Electric Toll Collection), and the like. The intersection information of one intersection (node) stores a node number (intersection number), latitude and longitude, the number of intersection links, and the number of intersection links corresponding to the number of intersection links. The lane change point may or may not be an intersection (node), but may be given a node number.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control operation executed in the control circuit 2 on the navigation device 1 side in order to acquire lane information. Note that the flowchart of FIG. 3 is simplified to the extent that the gist of the present invention can be grasped, and actually the control content is more complicated or the control content is different from the illustrated one.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a screen example in which recommended lanes are displayed on the display device 6. Here, an example is shown in which recommended lanes are displayed in a divided screen prior to passing an expressway intersection.

Next, the operation of the navigation system according to the first embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4. Here, an example of acquiring lane information by data communication between the mobile phone 17 and the service center 18 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the navigation device 1, after the user designates a departure point and a destination point using the operation switch group 7 or the remote control terminal 11 and performs a route search operation, the control circuit 2 performs the searched guide route (guide route) ) The route guidance is started using the guidance route set by the user from within (step S101). The departure point may be automatically set using the current point output from the position detector 3.

When the control circuit 2 starts route guidance for the guidance route (step S101), the user selects whether or not to acquire lane information of each road along the guidance route through the operation switch group 7 or the remote control terminal 11. (Step S102). Such a selection operation is performed, for example, in a state where a menu screen for designating selection / non-selection of lane information is displayed on the display device 6.

When the user does not select to acquire lane information from the service center 18 (No in step S102), the control circuit 2 displays the guidance route information on the guidance device on the display device 6 and also provides voice guidance with the voice output device. 8 for route guidance (step S111). In this case, the lane information is not displayed or is displayed within the range of the lane information stored in the data recording medium.

When the user selects to acquire lane information from the service center 18 (Yes in step S102), the control circuit 2 determines uploading of the guide route information to the service center 18 and uses the mobile phone 17 to perform service. A call is made to the center 18 to request connection (step S103).

When a call from the mobile phone 17 reaches the service center 18 via the mobile phone base station 19 and the network 20, the control circuit 2 performs connection processing such as establishment of a connection with the service center 18 through the mobile phone 17. (Step S104).

If the connection to the service center 18 is not successful (No in step S105), the control circuit 2 indicates that the connection to the service center 18 has failed through one or both of the display device 6 and the audio output device 8. A message notifying that the selection operation for acquiring lane information needs to be performed again is output (step S106), and the control is returned to step S104.

On the other hand, if the connection to the service center 18 is successful (Yes in step S105), the control circuit 2 transmits guide route information that can specify the guide route to the service center 18 (step S107). The guide route information uploaded to the service center 18 includes a link number for specifying each road (link) along the guide route, and connection information from the road (link) to the road (link) when turning an intersection (node). And are included. As a result, the service center 18 can accurately specify the guidance route during the route guidance operation in the navigation device 1.

When the service center 18 receives the guide route information upload, the service center 18 obtains information on each road along the guide route indicated by the link number and the connection information from the database storing the latest lane information of each road nationwide based on the guide route information. Read lane information, calculate the number of lanes, lane increase points and lane decrease points of the road with the corresponding link number, and when turning an intersection, you should exit from which lane on which road and go to which lane on which road Further, at the lane decrease point and the lane increase point, it is calculated which lane should be advanced to generate recommended lane information (step S108). When determining recommended lanes, consider changing lanes early in consideration of traffic congestion.

After calculating the recommended lane information of all roads along the guide route, the service center 18 transmits lane information (including recommended lane information) of all roads along the guide route to the navigation device 1 (step S109). When the lane information (including recommended lane information) of all roads along the guide route has a large capacity and cannot be transmitted at a time, the service center 18 lane information (recommended lane information) of roads within a certain distance from the current location of the vehicle. May be extracted and transmitted. As a transmission method of the lane information, the link number, the number of lanes, the recommended lane position to travel, the distance from the previous intersection, and the like can be transmitted as data or transmitted as a map image.

The control circuit 2 performs an operation of receiving lane information transmitted from the service center 18, and determines whether or not the lane information of all roads along the guide route has been successfully received (step S110).

If the acquired lane information is abnormal or insufficient (No in step S110), the control circuit 2 returns control to step S109.

If the lane information of all the roads along the guide route is normally received (Yes in step S110), the control circuit 2 displays the recommended lane position on the map screen being displayed on the display device 6, or the audio output device. The voice guidance is output to 8 (step S111). For example, the recommended lane position is displayed by displaying an icon of recommended lane information at a corresponding position in the map screen displayed on the display device 6 as illustrated in FIG. When the selection operation is performed, more specific contents (lane number, recommended lane position, etc.) of the recommended lane information are displayed in a multi-window.

As described above, according to the navigation device 1 according to the first embodiment, the route search result is obtained from the service center 18 in which the database storing the lane information (lane position, link form, etc.) of each road in the country is constructed. When acquiring the lane information of each road along the guide route set based on the data communication, the guide route information of each road along the guide route, that is, the guide route information that can uniquely identify the guide route Since it is configured to upload to the service center 18, as in the past, an actual guide route set in the navigation device 1, and a guide route recognized by the service center 18 based on the uploaded guide route information, As a result, in the navigation device 1, the service center 18 sends the above plan. It will be able to get the latest and detailed lane information for each road along the route.

In addition, since data communication with the service center 18 can be performed by using the mobile phone 17 connected through the mobile phone interface unit 9, the hardware configuration can be prevented from becoming complicated.

In the first embodiment, the mobile phone 17 is used as a communication means with the service center 18, but another mobile communication terminal such as a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) or a wireless LAN terminal may be used. Good. Alternatively, a dedicated in-vehicle data communication module (Data Communication Module: DCM) that does not use a mobile phone may be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the vehicle approaches the VICS station 21 using the VICS transmission / reception unit 10, the control circuit 2 removes the network 20, the VICS station 21, and the VICS transmission / reception unit 10 from the service center 18. The lane information may be automatically downloaded via the route information to update the route information in the navigation device 1 to the latest one. Further, an external communication network such as ETC may be used.

The present invention can be applied not only to a vehicle navigation system but also to a navigation system carried by an individual.

As described above, the first embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, this is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be obtained without departing from the scope of the claims. Various modifications or extensions based on them are possible.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation system which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the data structure of the lane information accumulate | stored in the database of the service center in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the navigation system according to the first embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation apparatus 2 Control circuit 3 Position detector 4 Map data input device 5 External memory 6 Display apparatus 7 Operation switch group 8 Audio | voice output apparatus 9 Mobile phone interface part 10 VICS transmission / reception unit 11 Remote control terminal 12 Remote control sensor 13 Geomagnetic sensor 14 Gyro Scope 15 Distance sensor 16 GPS receiver 17 Mobile phone (mobile communication terminal)
18 Service Center 19 Mobile Phone Base Station 20 Network 21 VICS Station

Claims (8)

In the navigation system that can display the guidance route obtained by the route search operation from the departure point to the destination point on the map screen,
A service center having a database storing lane information for each road;
Each road along the guide route is uploaded from the service center by uploading guide route information capable of data communication with the service center and specifying the guide route set based on the route search result to the service center. And a navigation device that downloads and displays the lane information. The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the guide route information includes a link number for specifying a road and connection information from the road to the road when turning at an intersection. Based on the road-to-road connection information when turning around the intersection, the service center calculates from which lane on which road to go to which lane on which road. The navigation system according to claim 2, wherein recommended lane information is generated, and the recommended lane information is included in the lane information and transmitted to the navigation device. 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is connectable to a mobile communication terminal, and performs data communication with the service center via the mobile communication terminal. The navigation system described in. Means for connecting to the service center at the start of route guidance;
Means for uploading guide route information capable of specifying a guide route set based on a route search result to the service center after connection to the service center;
Means for downloading and displaying lane information of each road along the guidance route from the service center. 6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the means for connecting to the service center connects to the service center only when acquisition of lane information from the service center is selected. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the guide route information includes a link number for specifying a road and connection information from the road to the road when turning at an intersection. 8. The navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a mobile communication terminal is connectable, and data communication with the service center is performed via the mobile communication terminal. .

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