JP3431413B2 - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle navigation system, and more particularly to an on-vehicle navigation system having a function of communicating with another vehicle using a wireless device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In-vehicle navigation systems use GPS
Radio signals from satellites are received by a GPS antenna attached to the vehicle, the position of the own vehicle is obtained based on the received signal, and the obtained own vehicle position is displayed on a liquid crystal display along with map information sent from the map database. To be displayed. In addition, the map matching process is performed to match the actual road position with the map road position. The own vehicle position can be obtained with higher accuracy by also referring to the sensor output obtained from an acceleration sensor such as a gyro sensor installed in the vehicle or a vehicle speed sensor. Such a system is called hybrid navigation.

When a plurality of vehicles are traveling in a group, there is a desire to display the positional information of other vehicles together on the display, such as when the vehicle positions are to be mutually confirmed or when the vehicles are separated. In order to meet the above requirement, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-70999 discloses a wireless navigation system capable of obtaining not only position information of a vehicle but also position information of a predetermined specific vehicle. This system has a transmission function of obtaining its own position information on the basis of a GPS signal for position identification received by one vehicle from a GPS satellite, and transmitting the obtained position information as a radio signal,
The other vehicle receives the radio signal and displays the position information of the one vehicle on the display.

In the in-vehicle navigation system as described above, in order to communicate with a specific other vehicle, transmission data with a call sign assigned to each radio is transmitted.

[0005]

By the way, although the vehicles are traveling in a group, there are cases where the traveling vehicles cannot wirelessly communicate due to the distance, the surrounding environment, etc.
Conventionally, the existence of the other party is uncertain before communicating.
It might, for confirming whether the first available communication, which transmits a predetermined signal to the communication counterpart, receives the reply
I could only confirm it. Therefore, there is a problem that information cannot be quickly transmitted to the other party of the specific vehicle.
Moreover, even if the station cannot communicate, the communication procedure is started, and efficient communication cannot be performed. This applies not only to other vehicles but also to other fixed stations.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle navigation system which enables quick communication with a specific destination.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the in-vehicle navigation system of the present invention obtains the position of the vehicle on the basis of the GPS signals from GPS satellites and the mounted sensor signals, and the obtained vehicle position is obtained. In addition to displaying the vehicle position together with map information, in an in-vehicle navigation system that transmits radio waves to the radio of another vehicle for communication, searches for a communicable station based on received data from another station, The search result is stored in the memory, the communicable station name read from the memory at the time of communication is displayed on the display unit, the communication partner is selected based on the display of the display unit, and the connection communication with the partner is performed, wherein if there is no selection, rerun the search process, displays the station names can communicate the updated stored at the next communication request and updates stores the search results in the memory To display in.

Here, the display on the display unit displays all the predetermined station names, displays the communicable stations in a special display form different from other stations, and displays the communicable stations displayed on the display unit. Are sorted and displayed in order of distance. The selection of the communication partner is performed by touching a touch panel provided on the display unit, and the search for the communicable station is performed by
It is performed at predetermined time intervals.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted navigation system according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, the navigation unit 1 and GP shown in FIG.
S data communication modem unit 2 and the system consisting of the radio unit 3 is mounted on a vehicle as a moving body, is performed transmission and reception of calculation and obtained vehicle position information of the vehicle position to the procedure described below .

The GPS radio signal from the GPS satellite is GP
The signal is received by the S antenna 11A and sent to the navigation unit 12 which constitutes the GPS system. The navigation unit 12 obtains the vehicle position information such as the latitude and longitude information of the vehicle based on the received GPS signal and the sensor output signal obtained from the autonomous navigation sensor 13 such as the acceleration sensor and the vehicle speed sensor. The navigation unit 12 also reads the map information of a necessary area from the map information stored in the storage medium 15 such as a CD-ROM, the own vehicle position information obtained by the navigation unit 12, and the map information from the storage medium 15. Are combined (also subjected to map matching processing) and displayed on the screen of the display device 14.

The user interface 16 is an operation unit for instructing the operation of this system, and is composed of keys, push buttons, and the like, and is, for example, a remote controller or a touch panel.

The navigation unit 12 further includes an F
M multiplex antenna 11B, radio wave beacon receiving antenna 11
VICS by C or optical beacon receiving antenna 11D
The information is received, and a detour course or the like is searched based on the received VICS information. The GPS data communication modem unit 2 sends the vehicle position information and the course information obtained by the navigation unit 12 in the form of radio signals via the wireless device 31 and the wireless antenna 33 of the wireless unit 3 to other vehicles. Transmits the vehicle position information.

The GPS data communication modem unit 2 comprises a GPS data communication modem unit 21 and a modulation / demodulation circuit 22, and sends the information sent from the navigation unit 12 via the serial I / F to the radio unit 3. Radio section 3
Has a radio unit 31, a modulation / demodulation circuit 32 and a radio antenna 33, and sends position information and course information in the form of radio signals. In the configuration of FIG. 1, upon reception, the received data is sent to the navigation unit 12 via the wireless unit 3 and the GPS data communication modem unit 2. The modulation / demodulation circuits 22 and 32 are connected by a packet communication line (audio data).

In the above configuration, a communicable station is searched based on the received data from another station, and the search result is stored in the memory 17. On the display unit, the communicable station name read from the memory 17 is displayed on the display unit 17. Based on the display on the display unit 17, the user starts communication by selecting a desired wireless partner station from the displayed station names. If the user interface 16 has a touch panel configuration provided on the display unit 14, this selection may be performed by simply touching the display station. In the display by the display unit 14, a preset communication station may be displayed on the screen, and the display form of only the communicable station may be a display form such as color or blinking.

In the above configuration, the GPS data communication modem unit 2 always transfers the received content of the wireless partner station received by the wireless unit 3 to the navigation unit 12 as digital data. The navigation unit 12 is a GPS
The receiving station data transferred from the data communication modem unit 2 is stored in the memory 17 as a receiving station list (receivable stations).

When the user operates the user interface 16 to receive a wireless station list display request, the navigation unit 12 reads the wireless partner station list read from the memory 17 on the display unit 14, and the display unit 14 displays the list as shown in FIG. The station name is displayed as shown. The user simply selects a wireless communication partner station from the list displayed on the display unit 14, and the connection communication with the selected station is automatically performed. This selection can also select multiple stations. Here, Yu
If there is no user selection, the search process is executed again to check whether communication is possible, the search result is stored in the memory 17 as update information, and the display on the display unit 14 is also updated.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of this embodiment. First, after turning on the power (step S
1), wait for the search request (step S2), and then the memory 1
The previous wireless partner station information stored in 7 is cleared (step S3). Next, communication is possible now (reception is possible)
The partner station is searched for (step S4), and the search result is stored in the memory 17 for each received radio partner call sign (step S5). Next, it is determined whether or not there is a wireless station list display request (step S6). If there is a request, the list information is displayed on the display unit 14 in step S7 (step S7), and the user selects a wireless partner station from the list. It is determined whether or not it has been selected (step S8), the selected station is called (step S9), and the process ends.
If there is no list request in step S6, the process returns to the search process in step S4. Further, in step S 8, the user selection is not performed at all
At this time, the process returns to the search process in step S4. In the above, the information (result) obtained by the search is
Then, they are sorted in order of distance (for example, in order of close distance) and stored (stored) in the memory 17 . In addition, the information (conclusion
The result) may be displayed on the display unit 14.

[0018]

As described above, in the in-vehicle navigation system of the present invention, since the communicable stations are displayed in a list in advance, it is possible to omit the communication with the stations whose existence is uncertain, and see the screen. The communication partner station can be selected, and the operability is improved. Further, the user interface is simplified because the input work required when connecting to the partner station is automatically performed by selecting the communication partner. In particular, according to the present invention, the search process is executed again for the station not selected by the user, and the latest search result is always stored and displayed, so that the efficient communication connection process can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted navigation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of a display unit 14 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 the navigation unit 2 GPS data communication modem unit 3 radio unit 11A GPS antenna 11B FM multiplex antenna 11C wave beacon receiver antenna 11D light beacon reception antenna 12 navigation unit 12 13 autonomous navigation sensor 14 display device 15 storage medium 16 User Interface 17 Memory 21 GPS communication modem unit 22, 32 Modulation / demodulation circuit 31 Radio unit 33 Radio antenna

Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00-21/36 G08G 1/09-1/137

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle position is obtained on the basis of a GPS signal from a GPS satellite or a sensor signal mounted on the vehicle, and the obtained vehicle position is displayed together with map information. In an in-vehicle navigation system that transmits radio waves for communication, it searches for a communicable station based on the data received from other stations, stores the search result in memory, and reads the communicable station name from the memory during communication. Is displayed on the display unit, a communication partner is selected based on the display on the display unit, connection communication with the partner is performed, and if there is no selection, the search process is re-executed, and the search result is An in-vehicle navigation system characterized in that the communicable station name updated and stored in the memory is displayed on the display unit when the next communication request is made. 2. The in-vehicle navigation system according to claim 1, wherein all the predetermined station names are displayed on the display unit, and the communicable stations are displayed in a special display mode different from other stations. 3. The vehicle-mounted navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the communicable stations displayed on the display unit are sorted and displayed in order of distance. 4. The vehicle-mounted navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the communication partner is selected by touching a finger of a touch panel installed on the display unit. 5. The in-vehicle navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the search for the communicable station is performed at a predetermined time interval.