JP2008190919A - Navigation system and navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To designate a desired spot as a registration spot; to retrieve peripheral information included in map data based on position information thereof; to extract peripheral information including an inputted character string; and to edit character information by using the data. <P>SOLUTION: This navigation system 10 is equipped with map data including various name data such as a place name or a road name as peripheral information, a control means 11 including a peripheral information retrieval means and a character string information edition means, and a character string input means 14. When editing desired character string information by using a designated spot as a registration point, the peripheral information retrieval means retrieves peripheral information in an area having a prescribed range in the map data based on position information of the designated spot, and the character string information edition means extracts various name data of peripheral information including the character string on reference to the extracted peripheral information based on the character string inputted by the character string input means 14, and edits the character information by using the extracted various name data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication type or in-vehicle type navigation system or navigation device for inputting a name of a registration point and registering a destination, a passing point, and the like. In particular, the present invention relates to an arbitrary on a map displayed on a display means. Specify the location by specifying the location, etc., edit the location name and location memo to extract the specified surrounding text data from the text data of various names included in the map data and register the location The present invention relates to a navigation system and a navigation device that make it easy to register destinations and passing points.

  In recent years, navigation services that search for a guidance route to a destination by inputting the name of a destination or a passing point as a registration point and guide along the searched route are known recently. A navigation service has also been realized that provides mobile phone users with real-time route guidance from their current location to their destination.

  In these navigation systems and navigation devices, destinations and waypoints that are frequently used by users are registered as registration points, and the corresponding registration points are entered by reading the registration point name or entering a character string. You can search and set destinations. When searching for such registration points, various devices have been proposed to facilitate the search and improve usability.

  For example, the following Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-164242) discloses a navigation device that improves the usability by facilitating a search by reading the name of a registered point and inputting a character string of the name.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a navigation device that can input a reading of a registered point name or a character string and search for the corresponding registered point, and information on the reading or character string of each registered point as registered point information. And information storage means for storing information relating to the registration point including the position coordinates of the registration point, a first input means for instructing and inputting an arbitrary area on the map for searching for the registration point, and the first input First search means for searching for a registered point included in the area designated by the means, second input means for inputting a part or all of a reading or character string of the registered point, and the first search means Second search means for searching for a registration point searched by the second input means, including a part or all of the reading or character string input by the second input means, and the second search means Are those configured with a display unit that lists a more searched registration spot.

By configuring in this way, a point search can be easily performed by a series of simultaneous narrowing processes from different viewpoints, such as reading of registered points or character strings and areas, and information familiar to the user Since it is possible to narrow down by using, it is possible to easily perform a point search.
2006-164242 (paragraphs [0005] and [0006], FIG. 1)

  As described above, the navigation device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been devised so as to facilitate a search by reading a registered point name and inputting a name character string. That is, in this navigation device, when an area on the map is specified at the time of point registration, a registered point in the area is searched, and when a part of a character string or a reading of a point to be registered is input, a search is performed. It is checked whether there is the same reading or character string in the data of registered points, and if there is the same reading or character string, the name of the point to be registered can be input using the reading or character string.

  When specifying a desired point on the navigation device and registering a point, some users may register with a character string that is easy for the user to understand later, such as the name of a place around the point, the name of an intersection, or the name of a well-known facility. There is a request to edit data such as a memo about a location name or a registered location. Such a character string may not be accumulated in the registered registration point data.

  However, in the navigation device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when inputting the name of a point to be registered, etc., the data of the registered point is used. If there is no data, this cannot be used. In that case, input must be input and Kana-Kanji conversion or a character string must be input, and the input operation is not always easy. There was a problem.

  The inventor of the present application has made various studies to solve the above-mentioned problems. As a result, in the navigation system, place names, road names, intersection names, facility names of famous facilities that become landmarks, etc. are included in the map data. If the user specifies a desired point for point registration or data editing of a registered point, paying attention to the fact that it is included, the surrounding data such as the place name and various names around the specified point are searched from the map data. If there is data that matches some of the readings and character strings entered by the user, the above problem can be solved if the data is edited using that data. The invention has been completed.

  That is, the present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, designates a desired point as a registered point, searches surrounding information included in map data based on the position information, and inputs an input character string. It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation system and a navigation apparatus in which peripheral information is extracted and character information is edited using the extracted peripheral information.

In order to solve the above problems, the inventions according to claims 1 and 5 of the present application are:
In a navigation system and a navigation device that can register by specifying a desired point as a registration point, and perform route guidance by searching for a route between two specified points.
The navigation system includes map data including various name data such as place names and road names as peripheral information, control means including peripheral information search means and character string information editing means, and character string input means,
When editing the desired character string information using the designated point as a registration point, the peripheral information search means calculates peripheral information in an area within a predetermined range of the map data based on the positional information of the designated point. Search, the character string information editing means, based on the character string input by the character string input means, with reference to the extracted peripheral information, to extract various name data of the peripheral information including the character string, Character information is edited using the extracted various name data.

  The invention according to claim 2 and claim 6 of the present application is the navigation system according to claim 1 and the navigation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control means further includes a display control means, and the designated point. When editing the desired character string information using as a registration point, the display control means displays the extracted various name data as candidates on the display means.

  The invention according to claims 3 and 7 of the present application is the navigation system according to claim 1 or 2, and the navigation device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the character string information editing means The character string input by the character string input means and the extracted character string of the name data are compared from the beginning with the size having the smaller number of characters, and matching name data is extracted.

  The inventions according to claims 4 and 8 of the present application are the navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and the navigation device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the designated point is used. If the position information cannot be specified, the character string information editing means edits the character information using the character string input by the character string input means.

  In the invention according to claims 1 and 5, a desired point is designated as a registered point, peripheral information included in the map data is searched based on the position information, and peripheral information including the inputted character string is extracted. Since the character information is edited using the data, the user can edit the desired character information with a simple operation, and the number of characters to be input can be suppressed, so that the input operation can be simplified. Further, since the peripheral information having various name data included in the map data is used, a database for input conversion or the like is not required.

  In the invention according to claims 2 and 6, in the navigation system and the navigation apparatus according to claims 1 and 5, the control means further includes a display control means, and the designated point is used as a registration point. When editing the desired character string information, the display control means displays the extracted various name data as candidates on the display means, so that the user can edit the desired character information with a simple operation. Moreover, since the number of characters to be input can be suppressed, the input operation can be simplified.

  In the invention according to claims 3 and 7, in the navigation system and navigation device according to claim 1 or claim 2, claim 5 or claim 6, the character string information editing means is the character string input means. Since the character string input by the above and the extracted character string of the name data are compared from the beginning with the size of the smaller number of characters and the matching name data is extracted, the user can select desired character information with a simple operation. Can be edited. Moreover, since the number of characters to be input can be suppressed, the input operation can be simplified.

  In the invention according to claims 4 and 8, in the navigation system and navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and claims 5 to 7, the position relative to the designated point. When the information cannot be specified, the character string information editing unit edits the character information using the character string input by the character string input unit, so that it is desirable even when the position information of the designated point cannot be specified. It becomes possible to input and edit the character string.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a navigation system and a navigation device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and is intended to specify the present invention as the navigation system and the navigation device. Instead, the present invention can be equally applied to navigation systems and navigation devices of other embodiments included in the scope of claims.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 10 includes a control unit 11, a current position detection unit 12, a map storage unit 13, a display unit 14, an input unit 15, a kana / kanji dictionary unit 16, and the like.

  The control means 11 is mainly composed of a microprocessor, and includes a memory such as a RAM and a ROM as in a general computer device, and controls the operation of each part by a control program stored in these memories.

  The current position detection unit 12 receives GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites at a fixed period and measures the current position, and outputs various sensor outputs such as an acceleration sensor and a steering angle sensor provided in the vehicle. And self-contained navigation means for performing dead reckoning navigation by obtaining and calculating the current position. Since each of these position detection means has an error of a different nature, it is generally configured to be used while complementing each other. However, depending on accuracy, it may be configured as a part thereof. .

  Although the present embodiment shows the vehicle-mounted navigation device 10, it may be a communication type navigation system composed of a navigation server and a navigation terminal device. It may be a navigation system that guides routes using transportation. In the case where the navigation terminal device is a portable terminal device that does not have a vehicle-mounted function, it is not necessary to provide a self-contained navigation means.

  The map storage unit 13 stores map information, peripheral information, and guidance data that are downloaded in advance from a route search server by communication or preinstalled from an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM. The map information includes data representing each road as a node and a link, the type of each link (general road, highway, etc.), the node type (existence of intersection signal, etc.), cost data, and the like.

  Peripheral information includes various intersections, roads, place names, facilities (landmarks), etc. existing in the map area, such as their names, attributes (types), locations, addresses, telephone numbers, or facility opening hours. It consists of detailed information. This peripheral information is configured to be updated from a CD-ROM update or from an external information providing unit via a communication unit.

  For example, when the facility is a store, detailed facility information including business days and business hours can be acquired from store information provided by various servers and home pages. In addition, when the facility is a parking lot, the VICS system provides a status as to whether there is a vacant space or the vehicle is full. Can be updated at time intervals.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of peripheral information data stored in the map storage unit 13. In FIG. 2, the peripheral information data is associated with each name starting with “Tokyo”, the corresponding reading, coordinate data as the location, name attribute, and telephone number and opening time as detailed information. Is remembered. For example, for the name “Tokyo ** cafeteria”, the reading “Tokyo ** Shokudo”, coordinate data (latitude, longitude) “aa ° aa'aa”, aa ° aa'aa ””, attribute “food” Stored, and phone number “000-0000-0000” and opening time “10: 0 to 22:00” are stored as detailed information.

  In the navigation device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when a user designates a desired point on the map for registering a point or editing data of a registered point, the name of the surrounding area, various names, etc. from the map data. If there is data that matches some of the readings and character strings entered by the user, the data is edited using that data. Details of this will be described later.

  In addition, the map storage part 13 includes a plurality of guidance phrases such as “Further left turn” when a vehicle approaches an intersection or branch point, for example, route guidance downloaded or preinstalled from a route search server. And the guidance data by voice are stored, and the control means 11 displays guidance (guide) on the display unit 14 according to this guidance data and guides by voice through a speaker (not shown). Can do.

  The display unit 14 is a display unit including a display panel such as an LCD or an organic ELD, and performs predetermined image processing on the image signal supplied from the map storage unit 13 in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 11. To display map images and recommended routes.

  The input unit 15 is configured by an operation button, a touch panel such as a resistive film type or a sensor type, and operates various functions of the navigation device 10 or inputs necessary numerical values or characters. The touch panel is provided on the LCD display surface of the display unit 14, generates a position detection signal by detecting the pressing or contact of a finger or the like at an arbitrary position on the display surface, and operates the position detection signal with respect to the control means 11. Output as a control signal.

  The kana / kanji dictionary unit 16 stores a predetermined kana character string and a predetermined kanji character string associated with each other, and converts the predetermined kana character string input with 50 sounds into a desired kanji character string. It is.

  Further, when there is a navigation request for setting a desired starting point and destination from the input unit 15, the control unit 11 refers to the map information in the map storage unit 13 and searches for a recommended route that connects the two points at the shortest. A route search function is provided. The searched recommended route is displayed on the display unit 14 together with the map image. The map image is displayed on the display unit 14 based on a predetermined range of map data centered on the current position calculated by the current position detection unit 12, and a current position mark indicating the current position is displayed on the map image.

  When the name of the destination and the position information thereof are input by the input unit 15, the control means 11 automatically selects the optimum route from the current position to the destination and creates a guidance route, and the current position The detection unit 12 detects the current position and current direction of the vehicle. This method of automatically selecting the optimum route is performed by a known method called a Dijkstra method, for example.

  Then, the map information including the current position of the vehicle is read from the map storage unit 13, and a map image around the vehicle position is drawn on the display unit 14 based on the map information, and a vehicle position mark (location) is displayed. The map image is scrolled and displayed as the vehicle moves, or the map image is fixed on the screen and the vehicle position mark is moved to show where the vehicle is currently traveling. You can see at a glance if there is.

  Furthermore, the control means 11 is designated when registration of a point is requested to register a desired point as a registration point such as a departure point or a destination, or to edit the name of a registered point that has already been registered. The peripheral information in the map storage unit 13 is searched based on the position information of the specified point, and the peripheral information (data of various names) of the specified point is searched and extracted.

  Then, a desired reading such as a name given to the point by the user or a part of a character is input from the input unit 15. When a part of a reading or character string is input, the control means 11 compares the extracted peripheral information data and displays a list of the input data starting with the same reading or character string as conversion candidates on the display unit 14. The display order can be set according to the priority order and displayed according to the priority order. The priority order is, for example, the order of readings in Japanese syllabary.

  If the user designates a desired reading or character string from the conversion candidate list displayed on the display unit 14, the user can easily input and edit the name of the registered point at the designated location. If the input data that starts with the same reading or character string is not in the extracted peripheral information data, the user inputs the desired reading or character string to the end, converts the kana-kanji character, and edits the registration point data.

  In addition, when the position information of the point designated by the user cannot be specified, the area information on the map cannot be specified, so that the peripheral information cannot be searched. In that case, it is necessary to directly input a name or the like from the input unit 14 in the same manner as normal registration point data input and editing. The method of designating a desired point by the user is to display a map image of an area including the point on the display unit 14 and click a POI icon or an intersection on the map with the cursor of the input unit 15. A method of inputting an address, a telephone number, a name of a prominent nearby facility, or the like may be used instead of the method of specifying a point above.

  Next, operation | movement of the navigation apparatus 10 concerning the Example of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. Note that the operation shown in FIG. 3 is realized by executing a control program stored in a ROM provided in the control means 11.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, when the user designates a point from the input unit 15 and makes a character string input or edit request in step S30, the control unit 11 requests the designated point. It is determined whether or not coordinate information that is position information can be specified. If the position information can be specified, the process proceeds to step S31. If the position information cannot be specified, the process proceeds to step S32.

  In step S31, the peripheral information stored in the map storage unit 13 is searched based on the position information indicating the designated point, and various name data of the peripheral information in a predetermined area are acquired from the point. On the other hand, the process proceeds to S33, and in step S32, kana-kanji conversion processing of character string information is performed according to the user's specification without using the peripheral information stored in the map storage unit 13 and without acquiring the peripheral information. The process is terminated.

  In step S33, when one character is input from the input unit 15 by the user in step S33, various name data of peripheral information acquired in step S31 is searched in step S34, and reading and searching of the character string input in kana is performed. It is determined whether or not there is a matching name by performing a comparison process with the reading of the first character string of the specified name. If there is a matching name, the process proceeds to step S35, and if there is no matching name, the process proceeds to step S36. move on.

  In step S35, a name whose reading is partially matched, a character string inputted with kana, and a conversion result obtained by performing kana-kanji conversion processing on the character string inputted with kana are candidates for names whose reading is partially matched. Is displayed as a list of conversion candidates on the display unit 14 at the top of each, while in step S36 it is determined whether or not the user has pressed the kana-kanji conversion key from the input unit 15, and if it is determined that it has been pressed, The process proceeds to step S37, and if not pressed, the process returns to step S33.

  In step S37, the input character string is converted to kana / kanji in accordance with the user's designation, and the process proceeds to step S38.

  In step S38, it is determined whether or not the user has selected a list candidate or a kana-kanji conversion candidate. If there is a selection, the process proceeds to step S39. If there is no selection by the user, the process returns to step S33.

  In step S39, the conversion result selected by the user is changed and used as a name character string, and the process proceeds to step S40. In step S40, the character string selected by the user has been edited. It is determined whether or not the final confirmation key has been pressed. If it is determined that the final confirmation key has been pressed, the name character string is stored in the RAM and the process ends. If not, the process returns to step S33.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conversion candidate display screen displayed in accordance with an input character string. In the display example of FIG. 4, conversion candidates starting with “Tokyo” are listed in a priority order with reference to the peripheral information data. Specifically, “Tokyo □□ Hospital”, “Tokyo XX Land”, and “Tokyo ΔΔ Building” are displayed as the first to third candidates.

  These names are obtained from the surrounding information data shown in FIG. 2 in the vicinity of a point specified as a character string input or editing target, for example, the location information of the registered point “xx ° yy'zz”, xx. ‘° yy′zz ″’, coordinate data “xx ° y0′z0 ″, xx ° y0′z0 ″” to “xx ° y9′z9 ″, xx ° y9′z9 ″ within a predetermined distance from the position. "Is the name of the peripheral information having" In addition, as the fourth and subsequent candidates, “Tokyo” subjected to kana-kanji conversion processing as in the past, “Tokyo” subjected to katakana conversion processing, and “Tokyo” without conversion are displayed.

  When the user sees the list of conversion candidates displayed and changes the character string information to the desired character string information, the user selects and clicks the desired conversion candidate from the displayed candidate group. The conversion result is output to the display unit 14 and stored in a RAM provided in the control unit 11.

  In the above description, the conversion process is performed when the user of the navigation device 10 inputs “Tokyo” as a desired character string. However, “to” follows “to” and “to”. When input, conversion candidates starting with “to” or “to” are displayed in a list.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the user inputs or edits the registration point as the departure point or destination in the navigation apparatus has been described. However, the user takes a note of the point of interest as the registration point and the registration point data. The present invention can also be applied to the input of kana, and in this case, the kana-kanji input and conversion can be greatly simplified by using various name data of the peripheral information as the contents to be edited.

  As described above, according to the navigation device of the present invention, a desired point is designated as a registered point, peripheral information included in map data is searched based on the position information, and peripheral information including an input character string Since the character information is edited by using the extracted data, the user can edit the desired character information with a simple operation and the number of characters to be input can be suppressed, so that the input operation can be simplified. Further, since the peripheral information having various name data included in the map data is used, a database for input conversion or the like is not required.

  Although the above description of the present invention is based on the navigation device 10 as an example, the present invention is not limited to the navigation device of the example, and a terminal for editing character string information added to information having position coordinates. The present invention can also be applied to a system including a server that provides a name around a point indicating a device and a registration point. Further, the terminal device may be either fixed or mobile.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of peripheral information data in this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the navigation apparatus concerning a present Example. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the conversion candidate displayed according to the character string input in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Navigation device 11 ... Control means 12 ... Current position detection part 13 ... Map storage part 14 ... Display part 15 ... Input part 16 ... Kana kanji dictionary

Claims (8)

In a navigation system in which a desired point can be specified and registered as a registration point, and route guidance is performed by searching for a route between two designated points.
The navigation system includes map data including various name data such as place names and road names as peripheral information, control means including peripheral information search means and character string information editing means, and character string input means,
When editing the desired character string information using the designated point as a registration point, the peripheral information search means calculates peripheral information in an area within a predetermined range of the map data based on the positional information of the designated point. Search, the character string information editing means, based on the character string input by the character string input means, with reference to the extracted peripheral information, to extract various name data of the peripheral information including the character string, A navigation system, wherein character information is edited using the extracted various name data. The control means further comprises display control means,
The display control means displays the extracted various name data as candidates on the display means when editing desired character string information with the designated point as a registration point. Navigation system.   The character string information editing means extracts the matching name data by comparing the character string input by the character string input means with the character string of the extracted name data from the top in a size having a smaller number of characters. The navigation system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:   2. The character string information editing unit edits character information using a character string input by the character string input unit when position information cannot be specified for the designated point. The navigation system according to any one of claims 3 to 4. In a navigation system in which a desired point can be specified and registered as a registration point, and route guidance is performed by searching for a route between two designated points.
The navigation system includes map data including various name data such as place names and road names as peripheral information, control means including peripheral information search means and character string information editing means, and character string input means,
When editing the desired character string information using the designated point as a registration point, the peripheral information search means calculates peripheral information in an area within a predetermined range of the map data based on the positional information of the designated point. Search, the character string information editing means, based on the character string input by the character string input means, with reference to the extracted peripheral information, to extract various name data of the peripheral information including the character string, A navigation apparatus, wherein character information is edited using the extracted various name data. The control means further comprises display control means,
The display control means displays the extracted various name data as candidates on the display means when editing the desired character string information using the designated point as a registration point. Navigation device.   The character string information editing means extracts the matching name data by comparing the character string input by the character string input means with the character string of the extracted name data from the top in a size having a smaller number of characters. The navigation device according to claim 5 or 6, characterized by:   6. The character string information editing unit edits character information using a character string input by the character string input unit when position information cannot be specified for the designated point. The navigation device according to any one of claims 7 to 9.

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