JP2008058100A - Vehicle-mounted apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle-mounted system 10 which preferentially deletes locational information having a low requirement in the case where the total amount of data of locational information stored in a memory has exceeded a prescribed value. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicle-mounted system 10 in a first embodiment deletes POI data at the locations farthest from a prescribed location in the case where the total amount of data of downloaded POI data has exceeded a threshold value. The vehicle-mounted system 10 in a second embodiment deletes POI data that has never been displayed and the POI data farthest from the prescribed location among POI data in which a prescribed or longer time has elapsed since the last time at which it was displayed in the case where the total amount of data of downloaded POI data has exceeded the threshold value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology which is mounted on a vehicle and acquires and displays point information (POI: Point Of Interest) from an information distribution center.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an in-vehicle terminal device that downloads and displays POI information related to a store or facility from a center server. Some in-vehicle devices having a navigation function or the like are equipped with a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

JP 2005-339279 A

  By the way, when the POI information is acquired through a pay communication line, a cost may be incurred every time the POI information is acquired. In addition, when downloading POI information using wireless communication, for example, when the vehicle is running, it may take time to download data or correct data may not be received due to fluctuations in received radio waves, etc. There is.

  Therefore, it is conceivable that the POI information that has been successfully downloaded once is stored in the storage device, and the POI information already downloaded in the storage device is reused when the same POI information is displayed next time. However, even if the capacity is large, the capacity of the storage device mounted on the in-vehicle device is limited, so if the total amount of downloaded POI information increases, the stored POI information Some need to be deleted. For example, it may be possible to delete the POI information with the oldest downloaded date in order.

  However, for example, when a person living in Kanto travels to Kyushu by car, the POI information downloaded at the destination is downloaded unless he / she goes back to Kanto and travels to Kyushu immediately. Even if the date is not so old, it may become unnecessary data. On the other hand, there is POI information that can be browsed many times even if the downloaded date is old. Therefore, if the date and time of download are simply deleted from the oldest, there is a case where necessary data is deleted even though unnecessary data remains.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to preferentially delete POI information that is less necessary.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the in-vehicle device of the present invention deletes POI data at a position farthest from a predetermined position when the total data amount of the downloaded point information exceeds a threshold value.

  Further, the present invention is, for example, an in-vehicle device that is mounted on a vehicle and acquires and displays point information from the information distribution center, and includes point information acquisition means for acquiring point information from the information distribution center, and point information acquisition means And the amount of data stored in the point information storage means is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold. In this case, a vehicle-mounted device is provided that includes a deletion unit that deletes the point information of a point farthest from the predetermined point from the point information storage unit.

  In addition, the in-vehicle device of the present invention is the point information that has never been displayed when the total data amount of the downloaded point information exceeds the threshold value, and the point information that has been displayed for the last time or more at the last date and time. The point information farthest from the predetermined position is deleted.

  Further, the present invention is, for example, an in-vehicle device that is mounted on a vehicle and acquires and displays point information from the information distribution center, and includes point information acquisition means for acquiring point information from the information distribution center, and point information acquisition means Point information storage means for storing the point information acquired by the above in correspondence with the coordinates of the point indicated by each point information, and the display date and time indicating the date and time when each point information was last displayed, In response to the instruction, the point information stored in the point information storage unit is displayed, and the display unit updates the display date and time of the displayed point information with the displayed date and time, and the data stored in the point information storage unit When the amount exceeds a predetermined threshold, point information that has never been displayed and a display date and time that is a predetermined time or more before the current date and time are associated with each other. Among that location information, to provide a vehicle-mounted device, characterized in that it comprises a deletion means for deleting from the point information storing unit point information of the furthest away from the predetermined point.

  According to the in-vehicle apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to preferentially delete point information that is less necessary when the total amount of point information stored in the memory exceeds a predetermined value.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle system 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The in-vehicle system 10 is mounted on a vehicle and includes a sensor 11, an input device 12, a display device 13, an antenna 14, and an in-vehicle device 20. The in-vehicle device 20 includes a current position calculation unit 21, a map data storage unit 22, a deletion unit 23, a POI data storage unit 24, a POI data acquisition unit 25, a wireless communication unit 26, and a display unit 27.

  As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the map data storage unit 22 stores information about links as mesh information 220 for each predetermined map area. Each mesh information 220 includes a mesh ID 221 that identifies each mesh and link information 222 that is information about links in the mesh.

  Each link information 222 includes a link ID 223 for identifying each link, a link start node 224, a link end node 225, a link road type 226, a link length 227, and other links connected to the link start node. A start connection link 228 that is identification information of the link, an end connection link 229 that is identification information of another link connected to the end node of the link, and the like are included.

  The sensor 11 is, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, an orientation sensor, a distance sensor, etc., and measures a GPS signal transmitted from a geodetic satellite, a traveling direction of the vehicle, a moving distance of the vehicle, and the like, and obtains measurement information. The current position calculation unit 21 is supplied.

  Based on the measurement signal from the sensor 11, the current position calculation unit 21 calculates the current position of the vehicle each time the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle system 10 moves, for example, by a predetermined distance, and acquires the deletion unit 23 or POI data. In response to a request from the unit 25, information indicating the calculated current position is provided.

  More specifically, for example, the current position calculation unit 21 calculates the relative displacement of the vehicle based on the measurement signal acquired from the sensor 11 every elapse of a predetermined time (for example, 100 ms), and exceeds a predetermined distance (for example, 2 m). For each vehicle current position and candidate point calculated in the previous map match process, the predetermined distance is set to the current position and candidate point with respect to the direction of travel direction of the vehicle acquired from the sensor 11. By adding to, dead reckoning processing is performed in which the current position and the position of each candidate point are moved to generate a virtual current position.

  The current position calculation unit 21 receives information indicating the dead reckoning position from the current position of the vehicle calculated in the previous map match process in response to a request from the deletion unit 23 or the POI data acquisition unit 25. This is provided to the data acquisition unit 25.

  Each time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance (for example, 20 m), the current position calculation unit 21 calculates a virtual current position for each vehicle current position and candidate point calculated last time, and for each calculated virtual current position. Referring to the map data storage unit 22, the candidate points are arranged on the links within a predetermined range from the virtual current position. Then, the current position calculation unit 21 calculates the reliability of the candidate points arranged on the link, for example, determines the candidate point with the highest reliability as the current position of the vehicle, and indicates the determined current position of the vehicle. Information is provided to the deletion unit 23 or the POI data acquisition unit 25 in response to a request from the deletion unit 23 or the POI data acquisition unit 25.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the POI data storage unit 24 includes POI data 241, which is point information (POI: Point Of Interest) acquired from the information distribution center by the POI data acquisition unit 25, a category 242 of the point information, The coordinates 243 (for example, latitude and longitude) of the spot corresponding to the information indicated by the spot information and the expiration date 244 of the spot information are stored in association with the ID 240 for identifying the spot information.

  The point information (hereinafter referred to as POI data) includes information on stores or facilities, information on surrounding events, and the like, and is managed by the information distribution center. In response to a request from the in-vehicle system 10, the information distribution center Is provided to the in-vehicle system 10.

  In the present embodiment, data stored in the map data storage unit 22 and the POI data storage unit 24 are stored in one HDD (Hard Disk Drive). As another example, the data in the map data storage unit 22 may be recorded on a portable recording medium such as a CDROM. The data stored in the map data storage unit 22 and the POI data storage unit 24 may be stored in two or more HDDs (Hard Disk Drives).

  The wireless communication unit 26 performs wireless communication with an information distribution center that manages POI data via the antenna 14 and the nearest wireless relay station. The wireless communication unit 26 performs wireless communication with the nearest wireless relay station by a wireless communication method such as wireless LAN, PHS (Personal Handyphone System), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), or WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). Do.

  In the present embodiment, the in-vehicle device 20 includes the wireless communication unit 26. However, as another example, the in-vehicle device 20 wirelessly communicates with the information distribution center via another wireless communication device such as a mobile phone. You may do it.

  The POI data acquisition unit 25 acquires the current position of the vehicle from the current position calculation unit 21 when a POI data category is designated by the user via the input device 12 such as a keypad or a touch panel. And then. The POI data acquisition unit 25 determines whether or not POI data included in a category designated by the user and within a predetermined range from the current position of the vehicle exists in the POI data storage unit 24.

  When all the POI data included in the category specified by the user and within the predetermined range from the current position of the vehicle exists in the POI data storage unit 24, the deletion unit 23 stores the POI data included in the specified category. The list is sent to the display unit 27.

  On the other hand, when at least a part of POI data included in the specified category and within a predetermined range from the current position of the vehicle does not exist in the POI data storage unit 24, the deletion unit 23 transmits the insufficient POI data to the wireless A request is made to the information distribution center via the communication unit 26. The POI data acquisition unit 25 acquires the insufficient POI data from the information distribution center, and stores the acquired POI data in the POI data storage unit 24. Then, the POI data acquisition unit 25 sends a list of POI data included in the category designated by the user to the display unit 27.

  When POI data is designated by the user via the input device 12, the designated POI data is acquired from the POI data storage unit 24 and sent to the display unit 27. In addition, when the POI data acquisition unit 25 acquires POI data from the information distribution center and stores it in the POI data storage unit 24, the POI data acquisition unit 25 notifies the deletion unit 23 to that effect.

  When the display unit 27 receives POI data or a list of POI data from the POI data acquisition unit 25, the display unit 27 displays the received POI data or POI data list on a display device 13 such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).

  When the deletion unit 23 is notified by the POI data acquisition unit 25 that the POI data is newly stored in the POI data storage unit 24, the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is determined in advance. It is determined whether or not it is equal to or more than the threshold value. In the present embodiment, the in-vehicle device 20 stores the data in the POI data storage unit 24 in the HDD, and allocates 1 gigabyte as a POI data storage area. In the present embodiment, the threshold used by the deletion unit 23 is set to 800 megabytes.

  If the threshold value is too low, the POI data deletion process is frequently started, and the processing load on the in-vehicle device 20 may increase. If the threshold value is too high, the POI data storage area is allowed. In some cases, the POI data deletion process is started after the capacity is exceeded. Also, the deletion unit 23 of the present embodiment compares the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 with the threshold value every time the POI data download by the POI data acquisition unit 25 is completed, and performs the deletion process. It is determined whether or not to execute. Therefore, for example, the threshold value is preferably a capacity obtained by subtracting the maximum amount of data that can be acquired by one download of POI data from the capacity allowed as an area for storing POI data.

  When the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than the threshold, the deletion unit 23 acquires information indicating the current position of the vehicle from the current position calculation unit 21. Then, the deletion unit 23 refers to the POI data storage unit 24 and deletes the POI data corresponding to the position farthest from the current position of the vehicle. If the total data amount of the POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 does not become less than the threshold even when the POI data corresponding to the position farthest from the current position of the vehicle is deleted, the deletion unit 23 sets the position far from the current position of the vehicle. The POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is deleted until the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 becomes less than the threshold in order from the POI data corresponding to.

  The deletion unit 23 monitors the expiration date of the POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 and executes a process of deleting POI data whose expiration date has passed from the POI data storage unit 24.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the in-vehicle device 20 in the first embodiment. When the POI data acquired from the information distribution center is stored in the POI data storage unit 24, the in-vehicle device 20 starts the processing shown in this flowchart.

  First, the deletion unit 23 refers to the POI data storage unit 24 and determines whether or not the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than a threshold (S100). When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is less than the threshold (S100: No), the in-vehicle device 20 ends the process shown in this flowchart.

  When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than the threshold (S100: Yes), the deletion unit 23 acquires the current position of the vehicle calculated by the current position calculation unit 21. (S101). Then, the deletion unit 23 refers to the coordinates of each POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 and calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the coordinates corresponding to each POI data for each POI data. (S102).

  Next, the deletion unit 23 deletes the POI data at the furthest coordinate from the current position of the vehicle (S103), and whether or not the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is less than the threshold value. Is determined (S104). When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is less than the threshold (S104: Yes), the in-vehicle device 20 ends the process shown in this flowchart.

  When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is greater than or equal to the threshold (S104: No), the deletion unit 23 deletes the POI data at the next furthest coordinate from the current position of the vehicle ( S105), the process shown in step S104 is executed.

  The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the in-vehicle system 10 of the present invention, when the total amount of POI data stored in the storage device exceeds the threshold value, POI data with low necessity is given priority. Can be deleted.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of the in-vehicle system 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The in-vehicle system 10 is mounted on a vehicle and includes a sensor 11, an input device 12, a display device 13, an antenna 14, and an in-vehicle device 20. The in-vehicle device 20 includes a current position calculation unit 21, a map data storage unit 22, a deletion unit 23, a POI data storage unit 24, a POI data acquisition unit 25, a wireless communication unit 26, and a display unit 27. Except for the points described below, in FIG. 5, the components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 have the same or similar functions as those in FIG.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the POI data storage unit 24 further stores a display date and time 245 that is the date and time when the POI data 241 was last displayed by the display unit 27 in association with the ID 240. For example, NULL data is stored for the display date and time corresponding to POI data that has never been displayed.

  When the display unit 27 receives POI data from the POI data acquisition unit 25, the display unit 27 displays the received POI data on the display device 13, and displays the display date and time of the displayed POI data in the POI data storage unit 24. Update with the date and time.

  When the deletion unit 23 is notified by the POI data acquisition unit 25 that the POI data is newly stored in the POI data storage unit 24, the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is determined in advance. It is determined whether or not it is equal to or greater than the threshold value. If the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than the threshold, the deletion unit 23 refers to the POI data storage unit 24, and has not been displayed once. POI data whose display date and time is a predetermined time (for example, 10 days) or more before is extracted from the POI data storage unit 24.

  Then, the deletion unit 23 acquires information indicating the current position of the vehicle from the current position calculation unit 21, and deletes POI data corresponding to a position farthest from the current position of the vehicle in the extracted POI data. If the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 does not become less than the threshold even if the POI data corresponding to the position farthest from the current position of the vehicle is deleted, the deletion unit 23 selects the POI data in the extracted POI data. The POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is deleted in order from the POI data corresponding to the position far from the current position of the vehicle until the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 becomes less than the threshold.

  Note that POI data that has never been displayed even though the total amount of POI data in the POI data storage unit 24 is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and POI data whose display date and time is more than a predetermined time ago Is not present in the POI data storage unit 24, the deletion unit 23 notifies, for example, an error indicating that the free space is insufficient and prompts the user to manually delete the POI data.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the in-vehicle device 20 in the second embodiment. When the POI data acquired from the information distribution center is stored in the POI data storage unit 24, the in-vehicle device 20 starts the processing shown in this flowchart.

  First, the deletion unit 23 refers to the POI data storage unit 24 to determine whether or not the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than a threshold (S200). When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is less than the threshold (S200: No), the in-vehicle device 20 ends the process shown in the flowchart.

  When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or larger than the threshold (S200: Yes), the deletion unit 23 has never been displayed with reference to the POI data storage unit 24. POI data and POI data whose display date and time is a predetermined time or more before are extracted from the POI data storage unit 24 (S201).

  Next, the deletion unit 23 acquires the current position of the vehicle calculated by the current position calculation unit 21 (S202). Then, the deletion unit 23 refers to the respective coordinates of the POI data extracted in step S201, and calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the coordinates corresponding to the extracted POI data. The POI data is calculated (S203).

  Next, the deletion unit 23 deletes the POI data at the coordinates farthest from the current position of the vehicle in the extracted POI data (S204), and the total POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is deleted. It is determined whether or not the data amount is less than the threshold (S205). When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is less than the threshold (S205: Yes), the in-vehicle device 20 ends the process shown in this flowchart.

  When the total amount of POI data stored in the POI data storage unit 24 is equal to or greater than the threshold (S205: No), the deletion unit 23 coordinates the next POI data farthest from the current position of the vehicle. The POI data is deleted (S206), and the process shown in step S205 is executed.

  The second embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the deletion unit 23 deletes the POI data farthest from the current position of the vehicle, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the deletion unit 23 may delete POI data farthest from a predetermined point. The predetermined point is, for example, the user's home position.

  In the above-described embodiment, the deletion unit 23 deletes the POI data one by one based on the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the coordinates indicated by the respective POI data, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, the POI data storage unit 24 stores each POI data in association with a mesh ID including the POI data, and the deletion unit 23 calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the mesh including the POI data. It is also possible to calculate and delete POI data included in the mesh farthest from the current position of the vehicle.

  In the second embodiment described above, the deletion unit 23 has the coordinates of the furthest coordinates from the current position of the vehicle among POI data that has never been displayed and POI data whose display date and time is more than a predetermined time ago. Although the POI data has been deleted, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the POI data storage unit 24 stores the number of display times in association with each POI data, and the deletion unit 23 stores the current vehicle information in the POI data having a display number of times equal to or less than a predetermined number (for example, 3 times). You may make it delete the POI data of the coordinate farthest from a position.

It is a system configuration figure showing the composition of in-vehicle system 10 concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure stored in the map data storage part. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure stored in the POI data storage part 24 in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted apparatus 20 in 1st Embodiment. It is a system configuration figure showing the composition of in-vehicle system 10 concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure stored in the POI data storage part 24 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted apparatus 20 in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... In-vehicle system, 11 ... Sensor, 12 ... Input device, 13 ... Display device, 14 ... Antenna, 20 ... In-vehicle device, 21 ... Current position calculation part, 22・ ・ ・ Map data storage unit, 220 ... mesh information, 221 ... mesh ID, 222 ... link information, 223 ... link ID, 224 ... start node, 225 ... end node, 226 ... road type, 227 ... link length, 228 ... start connection link, 229 ... end connection link, 23 ... deletion part, 24 ... POI data storage part, 240 ... ID, 241 ... POI data, 242 ... category, 243 ... coordinates, 244 ... expiration date, 245 ... display date and time, 25 ... POI data acquisition unit, 26 ... wireless communication 27, display

Claims (4)

An in-vehicle device that is mounted on a vehicle and acquires and displays point information from an information distribution center,
Point information acquisition means for acquiring point information from the information distribution center;
Spot information storage means for storing the spot information acquired by the spot information acquisition means in association with the coordinates of the spot indicated by each spot information;
A deletion unit that deletes point information of a point farthest from a predetermined point from the point information storage unit when the amount of data stored in the point information storage unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value. In-vehicle device characterized by the above. An in-vehicle device that is mounted on a vehicle and acquires and displays point information from an information distribution center,
Point information acquisition means for acquiring point information from the information distribution center;
Point information storage means for storing the spot information acquired by the spot information acquisition means in association with the coordinates of the spot indicated by each spot information and the display date and time indicating the date and time when each spot information was last displayed When,
In accordance with an instruction from the user, the display unit displays the point information stored in the point information storage unit, and updates the display date and time of the displayed point information with the displayed date and time;
When the amount of data stored in the point information storage means exceeds a predetermined threshold, the point information that has never been displayed and the display date and time that is more than a predetermined time before the current date and time correspond An in-vehicle apparatus comprising: deletion means for deleting point information of a point farthest from a predetermined point among the attached point information from the point information storage means. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2,
The vehicle-mounted device, wherein the predetermined point is a current position of a vehicle on which the vehicle-mounted device is mounted. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2,
The in-vehicle device, wherein the predetermined point is a home position of a user registered in advance.

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