JPH06215296A - Map display device in vehicle navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily display a map of a section required for a driver by inputting a telephone number for which information can be everyday obtained and displaying a map including a point corresponding to the inputted telephone number. CONSTITUTION:This map display device is provided with a map data storing means 105, a point setting means 101 for setting up the positional coordinates of plural points, a route searching means 104 for reading out map data corresponding to the positional coordinates and for searching a route between the points, a current position detecting means 102 for detecting the current position of a vehicle, a route guiding means 103 for guiding a route based upon the current position of the vehicle and the searched route, an input means 106 capable of inputting telephone numbers at least, a positional coordinate storing means 107 for storing positional coordinates corresponding to the, telephone number, a retrieving means 108 for retrieving the corresponding positional coordinates based upon the telephone number, and a display means for displaying a map corresponding to the retrieved positional coordinates.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map display device in a navigation device, and more particularly to a map display device capable of easily displaying a desired map without knowing the detailed position on the map. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of visiting a land for the first time by car, it is necessary to examine a sufficient travel route in advance by a road map or the like in order to reach a destination without hesitation. In this examination of the driving route, it is of course necessary to select the driving route first, but in order to drive the selected route without fail, there are landmarks such as intersections and features that turn right and left on the driving route, It is necessary to remember road information such as mileage up to. However, if the road network becomes complicated, you may forget the name of the intersection to turn or the feature that serves as a mark on the route you are going to travel for the first time, or it may not be easy to check while traveling.
If you overlook the name of a crossing to turn or a feature that serves as a landmark and lose your current position, you may not be able to smoothly follow the flow of cars and you may get stuck on the way.

[0003] A vehicle navigation system provides route guidance so that a user can visit a destination for the first time without worrying about the above, and various types of systems have been proposed in recent years. There is. Among them are those that set the route to the destination and display the set route on the display and the remaining distance, name, right turn left etc. regarding the intersection that should turn so that you can definitely drive on that route. Of information, and also to teach the features so that you can check the route while traveling,
Furthermore, there are some which provide not only display but also voice guidance.

In such a vehicle navigation system, it is necessary to set a route first. To set a route, it is necessary to input the starting point and the destination. When the starting point and the destination are determined by this input, the route search is performed from the road information data around the starting point and the destination and between them. Processing is performed, and an optimum route is set from a plurality of routes. In addition, in the method already proposed by the applicant, rather than setting a specific route from a starting point to a destination, a traveling road or a traveling direction to a destination at a specific point such as each intersection is set. There is also. In this case,
It collects travel information such as travel distance, steering angle, and passing intersections to recognize the current position, and provides information on the traveling road and traveling direction set at the current position to guide the route.

As described above, in the vehicular navigation device, it is necessary to input the respective positional information, and to search and set the route in order to go from the departure place to the destination. If the current location cannot be entered as the departure point for the vehicle navigation device, enter a specific registered location, such as an intersection nearby, as the departure point, and enter a navigation start instruction when passing through the departure point. Will be done. In that sense, the departure point input in the present specification is used not only in the current position but also in the case of inputting a specific position near the current position.

The applicant of the present invention has already proposed several methods for inputting the position of the starting point and the destination.
For example, the target registration position such as the starting point or the destination is divided into genres such as tourism, parking lots, restaurants, etc. Also, it is divided into regions such as prefectures and cities and coded, and that code is also one of them. Is. In that case, in addition to directly inputting the code number, a method of displaying a menu and sequentially selecting and inputting from the menu is also proposed. We also propose a method that has node data, connects the node data to define a road network, and inputs the position by coordinate values of east longitude and north latitude. When a map is displayed at the time of inputting these positions, a desired map is read by the driver by inputting a place name such as a prefecture name or a city name, or by sequentially switching from a wide area map to a detailed map.

In addition, when setting a point such as a current position and a destination or when it is desired to see where the target value is on the map, a place name such as a prefecture name or a city name is input. By doing so, the map desired by the driver is read and displayed, and the map desired by the driver is displayed from the wide area map to the detailed map using the scale of the map.

[0008]

However, in the conventional position input of the starting point and the destination, which are indispensable as an initial operation in the vehicle navigation device, it is troublesome to input the desired position as described above. There is a problem that it is not convenient.

When inputting a place name by the above-mentioned conventional method, it is necessary to input a prefecture name or a city name, and moreover, a plurality of key operations are required to specify from the wide area map to the detailed map. However, there is a problem that the operation for the driver to read out a desired map becomes complicated.

Further, in the code input method, since each position is defined by a special code number, a codebook is required, and the position cannot be input unless the codebook is referred to one by one. Moreover, the codebook is enormous because it contains all the codes, and it must be carried.

In addition, in the menu system, the desired position cannot be input on one screen, and the desired position cannot be input unless a number of screens are sequentially switched and a predetermined item is selected on each screen. That is, the display device used in the vehicular navigation device is mounted in a relatively easy-to-see space near the driver's seat, so a compact device is adopted, and the amount of information that can be displayed at one time is small. Therefore, there is a problem that the screens are finely classified and the number of menu screens increases, and the input operation takes time and labor accordingly.

In the method of inputting coordinates, the position cannot be input without the coordinate table, and the coordinate value of the position to be input must be searched from the coordinate table.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, and by inputting a telephone number for which information can be easily obtained on a daily basis, a map including a point corresponding to the input telephone number is displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide a map display device for a vehicle navigation device that can easily display a map of an area required by a driver.

[0014]

To this end, the present invention provides map data storage means, point setting means for setting position coordinates of a plurality of points, and map data corresponding to the set position coordinates as the map data. A route searching means for reading a route between the points set by the point setting means, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and a current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detecting means. In a map display device in a vehicular navigation device comprising: and a route guiding unit that guides a route based on the searched route, at least an input unit capable of inputting a telephone number and a position coordinate corresponding to the telephone number. And the necessary information from the position coordinate storage means based on the telephone number input by the input means. Search means for searching only out corresponding position coordinates, and is characterized in that a display means for reading the display from the map data storage means map corresponding to the retrieved coordinates.

Further, a map data storage means, an input means for inputting at least a telephone number, and a peripheral map including a point corresponding to the telephone number input by the input means are read out from the map data storage means and displayed. The display control means includes storage means for storing position coordinates corresponding to a telephone number, and the storage means based on the telephone number input by the input means. Retrieval means for retrieving necessary information from the means and retrieving the corresponding position coordinates, or retrieving representative position coordinates of the area of the telephone number when the telephone number does not exist in the storage means, and the retrieved position coordinates. And a display unit for reading and displaying a peripheral map including corresponding position coordinates from the map data storage unit,
The storage means has a telephone number list storing position data corresponding to telephone numbers and a position data list storing position coordinate data corresponding to the position data stored in the telephone number list. It is a thing.

[0016]

In the map display device of the vehicle navigation device of the present invention, the position coordinate storage means for storing the position coordinates corresponding to the telephone number, and the position coordinate storage means based on the telephone number input by the input means are used. It is provided with a searching means for reading out necessary information and searching for corresponding position coordinates, and a displaying means for reading out and displaying a map corresponding to the searched position coordinates from the map data storing means, or a telephone number inputted by the input means. Since the display control means for reading out and displaying the peripheral map including the point corresponding to is displayed from the map data storage means, it is possible to display the map including the position coordinates corresponding to the input telephone number, and the telephone number. By inputting, it becomes possible for the driver to easily give the map information that the driver wants to know. Therefore, if you know the telephone number without knowing the detailed position on the map, the map containing this position coordinate is displayed, and the current position, destination,
It becomes possible to easily input a passing point and the like. Further, when the position data for the input telephone number does not exist, by having the representative position data for the out-of-city or local area code of the telephone number, it is possible to display the surrounding map including the position data.

[0017]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle navigation device according to the present invention, in which 101 is a point setting means, 102 is a current position detecting means, 103 is a route guiding means, 104 is a route calculating means, and 105 and 302 are Map data storage means, 10
6 and 301 are telephone number input means, 107 is storage means, 1
08 and 305 are position coordinate search means, 201 is a display unit, 2
Reference numeral 02 is a display control unit, 203 is an input unit, 204 is an input mode recognition unit, 205 is a processing unit, 206 is a storage unit, 207 is a telephone number list, 208 is position data, 209 is a route search unit, 210 is a code list, Reference numeral 303 is a display control unit, 304 is a position coordinate storage unit, and 306 is a display unit.

In FIG. 1A, the point setting means 101
Is for inputting and setting the position coordinates of a plurality of arbitrary points, and a storage means 1 for storing a phone number input means 106 for inputting a phone number and position coordinate data corresponding to the phone number.
07 and position coordinate search means 108 for searching position coordinate data (departure point, destination, passing point, etc.) based on the telephone number. Then, when the telephone number is input, the corresponding position coordinate data is retrieved from the storage means 107 to set the position coordinate, and if there is no input telephone number, the representative position coordinate data of the area of the telephone number is retrieved. To set. The map data storage means 105 stores map data of a target area for route search, and the route calculation means 1
Reference numeral 04 is for reading out map data corresponding to the position coordinate data set by the spot setting means 101 from the map data storage means 105 and searching for a route between the spots set by the spot setting means 101. Current position detection means 102
Is for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and the route guiding means 103 provides guidance by voice or display on the map based on the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detecting means 102 and the searched route. The route guidance is performed by outputting the guidance in which the route and the current position are displayed in an overlapping manner.

FIG. 1B shows an example of the structure of the point setting means 101. In FIG. 1B, the display unit 201
Is a liquid crystal display, a CRT display, or other display provided near the driver's seat for easy viewing. For example, when setting a route, the departure place or the current position,
A menu for inputting a destination is displayed. Then, when the navigation is executed after the route is set, so-called navigation information such as course guidance information is displayed. The input unit 203 is provided, for example, on the screen of the display unit 201 and detects a touch position on the screen. Of course, a separate key panel may be combined. The display control unit 202 controls the display content of the display unit 201, and the input mode recognition unit 204 has different input information depending on the screen even if the touch position on the input unit 203 is the same. Is converted into a logical key, and the input information and the input mode of the input unit 203 are recognized according to the display screen. The storage unit 206 stores a telephone number list 207 and position data 208. The telephone number list 207 is a telephone number (TELN
o.), the block number of the position data 208 (block N
o.) and the position number of the position data 208 (position No.), the position data 208 is managed for each block number, and within the same block number, for each position number (position No.). Has specific position information such as name and position. The processing unit 205 has an internal memory, and appropriately stores the storage unit 2.
The data is read in block units from 06, and the input data and the display data are processed according to the display screen, the input information, and the input mode. In the vehicle navigation device of the present invention, when the telephone number is input in the position input mode, the telephone number list 207 is read to perform the telephone number matching process, and the block corresponding to the block number (block No.) The position data list 208 is read and the position information in which the position number (position No.) is matched is held. As described above, the storage unit 206 is configured by, for example, a CD (compact disc) or the like that stores necessary data, and is read into and held in the internal memory of the processing unit 205 as necessary to improve processing speed. The internal memory size is being reduced.

Further, if the data is separately configured like "telephone number data-position data" and "position data-position coordinate data", the search processing speed can be increased, and moreover, "position data-position data". The data of “coordinate data” can be applied to another position search method. The so-called guidance start position and guidance end position are the starting point, the current position, the destination, and the positions in the vicinity thereof, but multiple destinations are set on the way to the final destination, and each of the destinations on the way is called. You may input by a number and may set each position or its vicinity position in order as a guidance start position and a guidance end position.

The vehicle navigation device stores map data such as road network data and guidance data including intersection information, road information, node information defining roads, etc. in the storage unit 206, and also while traveling. A distance detection unit, a steering angle detection unit, and the like for tracking the current position are below the processing unit 205, and after setting a point and performing a route search, the processing unit 205
In the above, the information may be processed and the route guidance information may be output through the display unit 201. As the route guidance information output unit, not only the display unit but also the voice output unit may be used.

Further, the display control unit 202 reads a peripheral map including a point corresponding to the inputted telephone number from the map data and displays it on the display unit 201, and sets an arbitrary point on the map as a destination. It may be configured as follows. In this case, necessary information is read from the storage unit based on the telephone number input from the input unit 203, the corresponding position coordinates are searched, and the peripheral map including the position coordinates corresponding to the position coordinates is read and the map data is input. When the designated telephone number does not exist, the representative position coordinates of the area of the telephone number may be searched and the peripheral map may be read out from the map data and displayed.

If the point is set as described above and the current position of the vehicle can be detected by the current position detecting means, route search and route guidance can be performed at least by setting only the destination. The route searching unit 209 is the route searching means 103 shown in FIG. 1A, and when the position information of the departure place or the current position and the destination is held, the route searching unit 209 searches the route and sets the optimum route to the destination. It is a thing.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1C, the map data storage means 302, the telephone number input means 301 capable of inputting at least a telephone number, and the telephone number input by this telephone number input means 301 are used. The display control unit 303 reads out and displays a peripheral map including corresponding points from the map data storage unit 302. Then, the display control means 303 includes a position coordinate storage means 304 for storing the position coordinates corresponding to the telephone number, and a position coordinate search means 305 for searching the position coordinate based on the telephone number input by the telephone number input means 301. And a display unit 306 for reading out and displaying a peripheral map including position coordinates corresponding to the searched position coordinates from the map data storage unit 302. The position coordinate searching means 305 reads out necessary information from the position coordinate storing means 304 based on the telephone number inputted by the telephone number inputting means 301 and retrieves the corresponding position coordinate, and the telephone number is the position coordinate storing means 30.
If it does not exist in No. 4, the representative position coordinate of the area of the telephone number is searched. Further, the position coordinate storage means 30
Reference numeral 4 has a telephone number list storing position data corresponding to telephone numbers and a position data list storing position coordinate data corresponding to the position data stored in the telephone number list.

Next, a specific example of processing will be described. Figure 2
Is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing in position input mode,
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of position input on the display screen, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a telephone number.

When the vehicle navigation device enters the input mode of the departure point or the destination, as shown in FIG. 2A, for example, the position input mode screen as shown in FIG. 3A is displayed. At this point, the entire phone number "0566-99-1111" has not been entered,
"Cancel" is a key used when there is an input mistake,
The "genre input" is a key used when inputting codes classified by genre, not in the mode of telephone number input "TEL NO". The figure (b) shows an example in which the area code, the local area code, and the individual phone number are entered consecutively without using the "-" to enter the phone number. Operate the "End" key after input. In the former case, the end may be automatically recognized on the condition that the total number of digits is 9 digits or more and that a 4-digit numerical value is input after "-".

The input mode is the telephone number input mode “T
If it is YES, the next telephone number input process is performed, and if NO, the position input process in another mode is performed.

The mode judgment in the case of the screen of FIG. 3 (a) is YES when the ten key is operated without operating the "genre input" key, and NO when the "genre input" key is operated. Becomes Of course, it is needless to say that the screen configuration and the operation mode can be variously changed by providing a key for selecting each mode on the screen so that the mode is always selected.

When the telephone number input process or the input process in another mode is performed and the position data is read out, the confirmed position information is registered as a starting point or a destination.

In the above telephone number input process, as shown in FIG. 2B, ○ 11 first, group recognition is performed. This is a case where the telephone number list 207 of the storage unit 206 shown in FIG. 1 is divided into a plurality of groups,
It recognizes each group divided in advance from "city code-city code-individual phone number". Also, FIG.
In the input method that inserts "-" as shown in (a),
The area code, local area code, and individual telephone number can be classified by recognizing "-". However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the area code, the local area code, and the telephone number are entered as consecutive numbers without using "-", the individual telephone number "111"
It is necessary to enter "1" and confirm the entered number on condition that the "end" key is operated, and to distinguish the area code, city code and telephone number. Especially the area code,
The city code is, for example, 2 digits or 3 digits in the Tokyo ward, 4 digits or 2 digits in the suburbs, and 3 digits or 3 digits in the Yokohama city. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the classification for each area. FIG. 4 shows an example of Hokkaido, but in the example shown in FIG. 4, if the numerical value input next to “011” is “3”, the station numbers up to “01137” are further set,
Otherwise, up to “011” is set as the station number. Further, the division of individual telephone numbers can be performed by extracting a 4-digit numerical value from the end.

○ 12 The telephone number list corresponding to the recognized group is read from the recording unit 206 to the processing unit 205.

○ 13 Matching processing with the telephone numbers input in the read telephone number list is performed.

○ 14 Based on the block number of the telephone number list, the block of position data is read from the storage unit 206,
Holds the position information of the corresponding position number.

The position information held as described above is used as the position information of the starting point and the destination. Then, when the position input of the departure place and the destination is completed, the vehicle navigation device normally shifts to the route search (route search) processing as described above.

“Vehicle navigation device to which the present invention is applied”
Further, an example of the entire configuration of the vehicle navigation device to which the present invention is applied, including the current position detecting means and the route guiding means, will be described in more detail. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration of one embodiment of a vehicle navigation device having a current position calculation function.

In FIG. 5, the input section 1 is composed of input means by hard keys, touch input means from a display screen, etc., and is used for destination input, current position input, start input and the like. The distance sensor 2 detects the traveling distance of the vehicle, and the steering angle sensor 3 detects the steering angle of the operated vehicle. Output part 5
Is composed of a display, a voice output device, and the like, and displays a menu necessary for inputting a destination and a current position and outputs course guidance information. The road network data 5 is made up of data on intersections, roads connecting the intersections, data of nodes constituting the roads, and the like. The navigation data 7 is composed of course guide information, set course information and other data necessary for navigation, and the navigation data generated by the navigation processing unit 4 is stored therein. The flag table 8 is a table for registering flags required for navigation, is accessed from the navigation processing unit 4 according to the processing status, and is appropriately updated. The navigation processing unit 4 is composed of, for example, a computer, accesses the road network data 6, the navigation data 7, and the flag table 8 to detect the data and information input from the input unit 1, the distance sensor 2, and the steering angle sensor 3. It processes signals.

The navigation processing unit 4 analyzes the data and information input from the input unit 1, an input data processing module 11, a distance data processing module 12 that processes a detection signal of the distance sensor 2, and a steering angle sensor 3 detection. It has a steering angle data processing module 13 for processing signals, and also has a plurality of processing modules for performing processing necessary for navigation based on data and information input from these processing units.

The processing control module 14 operates the navigation processing unit 4 according to the instruction information input from the input unit 1.
It controls the entire process, and refers to the flag table 8 as necessary to control the route search module 15, the current position input module 16, and the current position tracking module 17.

When the destination is input from the input unit 1, the route search module 15 is for searching an optimum route for guiding to the destination while accessing the road network data 6 and is a target of navigation. The optimum traveling direction to the destination is set at all intersections of the road network data 6. And
The searched data is stored in the navigation data 7. In this case, paying attention to a certain intersection, select a road according to the traveling direction set at the intersection and drive, and select a road according to the traveling direction set repeatedly at the next intersection or the next intersection. It is set so that the driver can reach the destination on the optimum route by driving. Here, the meaning of not the shortest but the optimum is
In the route search, considering the width of the road, the number of passing intersections, the traffic volume and other driving conditions, etc., depending on these weightings, the absolute distance is not always the shortest,
This is because a search that is the shortest when converted by travel time is included. When the present invention is applied to the method of performing route search and navigation focusing on intersections as described above, it is sufficient to perform a route end node sequence creation process described later to connect the input position to a nearby intersection. Hereinafter, such processing is added to the current position and the destination. Therefore, in the following description, it is assumed that the intersection is reached.

The current position input module 16 includes the input unit 1
When the current position is input from, the current position is recognized from the road network data 6 and the navigation data 7, and the corresponding intersection shape and direction, mark, intersection name, traveling direction road, etc. are drawn, and the screen of the output unit 5 is displayed. The data required for navigation is set while being displayed on. Then, a flag required for starting the tracking of the current position is set by the start input.

The current position tracking module 17 is activated when the route search is performed, the navigation data is set, and the current position is input, and the distance sensor 2 and the steering angle sensor 3 are activated.
An intersection is detected on the basis of the signal, navigation data 7 and road data 6, and the current position is tracked while repeatedly performing the recognition process of the current position for each intersection. The state at that time is appropriately set in the flag table 8 as a flag,
Further, the shift to each processing step is determined by referring to this flag. Therefore, it further has sub-modules such as initial position setting 18, sensor detection 19, remaining distance calculation 20, bending point detection 21, road selection 22, and distance error correction 23.

The remaining distance calculation 20 always calculates the remaining distance to the intersection in order to detect the current position at the intersection, and performs recognition processing of the intersection when the remaining distance to the intersection reaches a predetermined value. is there. The bending point detection 21 performs the recognition process of the intersection, detects the bending start point and the bending end point in the error range of the intersection, and detects the bending point position corresponding to the intersection position. The road selection 22 is to detect a road that actually passes through the intersection regardless of whether or not the guided traveling direction road is selected. We are trying to provide guidance in the direction of travel. Then, the distance error correction 23 corrects the distance error based on the detected bending point position and the selected traveling road to obtain the current position on the traveling road. That is, here, the remaining distance to the end point intersection on the current position road is obtained.

In this way, the current position is detected at the intersection,
By recognizing the advancing road, it is possible to provide guidance based on the selected road even if the guidance regarding the end point intersection of the road is given but the intersection does not proceed as instructed. Navigation continues. That is, the guidance in the traveling direction at each intersection is merely guidance, and the navigation can be continued even if the road is not set as the traveling direction.

Next, the processing contents of the vehicle navigation device having the current position calculation function will be described in more detail. First, prior to the description of the processing content, an example of the data structure prepared by the vehicle navigation device having the current position calculation function will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure example of a road network, intersection data, road data, and node string data.

Now, for example, when there is a road network consisting of intersection numbers I to VII and road numbers to ∘14 as shown in FIG. 7A, the intersection data is shown in FIG. 7B and the road data is shown in FIG. ) And node data have a data structure as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7B, the intersection data is the smallest road number corresponding to the intersection numbers I to VII among the roads starting from the intersection, and the intersection is the end point. It has the smallest road number among existing roads, the location of the intersection (east longitude, north latitude), and the name of the intersection.

Further, the road data is such that, as shown in FIG. 7C, the road number corresponds to the road number to ∘14, the road number has at least the same starting point, and the road number has the same ending point. It has information on the starting point, the ending point, the node sequence pointer, and the road length by the number and the intersection number. As is clear from the figure, the next road number among roads with the same start point and the next road number among roads with the same end point should be generated by searching for the same number from the start point and end point by the intersection number. You can Further, the road length can also be calculated by integrating the position information of the next node string data.

In the node string data, there is a node number at the head pointed by the node string pointer of the road data as shown in (d) of the figure, and the node position (east longitude, north latitude) for the node corresponding to that number next. I have information.
That is, a node string is formed for each road data. The illustrated example shows a node sequence with road numbers.

As is clear from the above data structure, the unit of road number consists of a plurality of nodes. That is, the node sequence data is a set of data relating to one point on the road, and when connecting the nodes is called an arc, the road is represented by connecting the arcs between the plurality of node sequences. . For example, regarding the road number, it is possible to access the node sequence data A000 from the node sequence pointer of the road data, and it can be recognized that the road number includes 15 nodes.

Further, when attention is paid to the intersection number V, for example, in the course where the starting point is the starting point, first the road number is obtained from the information of the road in which the intersection data appears, and then the "the same starting point of the road data of the road data Road number "
Road number ○ 12 is searched from the information of. Then, the road number ◯ 14 and then the road number ◯ 12 are searched from the same information. Here, since the road number is the first road number, it can be determined that there is no other road number as the surrounding road. This also applies to the end point.
In this way, by using the intersection data and the road data, it is possible to search the road numbers entering and leaving each intersection, and also it is possible to obtain the distance of the route connecting each intersection. Furthermore, by adding entry prohibition, right / left turn prohibition, traveling conditions such as road width, etc. to these data, it is possible to use them as information for performing the route search described later in detail, for example.

Next, the flow of the entire processing will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the flow of the entire processing by the vehicle navigation device having the present position calculation method according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of route search output, and FIG. 9 is a guide output. It is a figure which shows the example of.

(S1) First, the destination is input. For the destination, by displaying the menu screen as described above, the numeric part is used as a numeric keypad, for example, the telephone number "0".
"566-99-1111" is touch-inputted.

(S2) Next, the route search mode is entered. First, a route search from the position input by the telephone number to a nearby intersection (destined intersection) is performed, and then a destination (destined intersection) at each intersection. The optimal route direction to is set. For example, in the road network shown in FIG.
Is the destination, the traveling direction to the destination is set at each of the intersections II to VII as shown in FIG. An example of the data is shown in FIG.
This route search, for example, by sequentially finding the direction that is the shortest distance to the destination from the intersection close to the destination,
Set the direction of travel at each intersection.

(S3) Input the current position which is the starting point. Although a detailed description will be given later with reference to FIG. 10, in this process, the “current position tracking failure flag”, the “destination guidance flag” and the like are turned off.

(S4) When the input processing of the current position is performed, it is possible to guide the vehicle in the traveling direction at that position, and the signals of the distance sensor and the steering angle sensor are processed according to the traveling to track the current position. Although a detailed description will be given later with reference to FIG. 11, in this process, first, the “intersection arrival flag” is turned off at the initial stage, and the current position is recognized by recognizing information such as the length of the current position road, the end point intersection, and the node sequence. Turn on the "Intersection arrival flag" when arriving at the guided intersection and turn on "Current position tracking failure flag" when arriving at the guided intersection by tracking and judging whether or not the guided intersection is reached. To do.

(S5) After the current position tracking process, it is checked whether the "intersection arrival flag" is on or off.

(S6) If the "intersection arrival flag" is off, it is further checked whether the "current position tracking failure flag" is on or off. If the "current position tracking failure flag" is off, the road network is checked. Since it can be determined that the vehicle is traveling on the road in the data, the process returns to step S4 and the current position is continuously tracked again. However, if the "current position tracking failure flag" is turned on, a road other than the road in the road network data is selected. When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, the process returns to step S3 and the current position as the departure place is input again.

(S7) If the "intersection arrival flag" is on, then it is checked whether the "destination guidance flag" is on. The "destination guidance flag" is turned on when the end point intersection of the current position road becomes the destination intersection in processing step S10 described later. If this "destination guidance flag" is turned on, it means that the guidance up to the destination intersection has been completed, and therefore the process returns to the first destination input processing.

(S8) However, if the "destination guidance flag" is still off, the destination intersection is further ahead of the next intersection, and therefore the progress of the end intersection of the current position road By reading the direction data and drawing the shape of the intersection, the features of the intersection, the landmarks, the direction of travel at the intersection, etc. on the screen as shown in FIG. 9, and displaying the name of the intersection and the remaining distance to the intersection, the guidance of the intersection is output. To do. At this time, the "intersection arrival flag" is also turned off.

(S9) Then, it is checked whether or not the ending point intersection of the current position road is the destination intersection. If it is not the destination intersection, the process returns to the current position tracking in step S4.

(S10) When the end point intersection of the current position road is the destination intersection, the "destination guidance flag" is turned on and the process returns to the current position tracking in step S4.

The above is the overall processing flow. Next, the main processing routine of the above steps will be described in more detail. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing routine for inputting the current position. In the processing routine of the current position input S3, when the intersection number is first input, the orientation of the intersection, the shape of the intersection, the name of the intersection, the mark of the intersection, etc. are recognized from the intersection data, road data, and node sequence data described above. 10 (a)
As shown in, the intersection name, the characteristics of the intersection, and the traveling direction are drawn and displayed on the screen (S31, S32). Then, the traveling direction data at the intersection number input based on the traveling direction data shown in FIG. 8B is stored as the road number of the current position road, and the traveling direction road is indicated by an arrow as shown in FIG. 10A. Is drawn (S33, S34). After that, wait until there is a start input, and when the driver inputs a start at the time of passing the intersection, turn on the "current position tracking flag", "current position tracking failure flag", "destination guidance flag", "intersection The arrival flags "are turned off (S35, S36).

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a current position tracking processing routine, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an initial position setting processing routine, FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a sensor detection processing routine, and FIG. The figure which shows the example of the processing routine of remaining distance calculation,
FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining the calculation processing of the vehicle azimuth and the trajectory, FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for detecting a bending point,
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a road selection processing routine, FIG.
8 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for distance error correction, FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining processing contents of distance error correction.

As shown in FIG. 11 (S411), the current position tracking processing routine first checks whether or not the "current position tracking initialization flag" is turned on. If the current position is only input and the initial data for tracking the current position has not been set, it is ON, so the initial position setting shown in FIG. 12 is performed. When this setting is performed, the "current position tracking initialization flag" is turned off, and thereafter, the process directly proceeds to the next step.

In the initial position setting, as shown in FIG. 12, the road length, the ending intersection, and the node string are read from the road data and the node string data according to the "road number of the current position road", and these are read as "current position road number". "Length", "end point intersection of current position road", "node string of current position road". Furthermore, the signal of the distance sensor is read and the value is set to the “current distance sensor value”. Then, the "current position tracking initialization flag", "error range flag", "error range passage flag", "bending end wait flag", "bending point detection flag", "bending detection flag", etc. are turned off. Set the "current location road length" to the "remaining distance to the intersection."

(S412) Next, the sensor detection process shown in FIG. 13 is performed. In this process, first, the current sensor values for the distance and the steering angle are set as the previous sensor values, and then the sensor values are read and used as the current sensor values. Then, the amount of change in the steering angle corresponding to the distance traveled is obtained to obtain the steering angle Sta at the current position.

(S413) After the loop counter i is set to 0, the loop counter i is incremented until the loop counter i reaches the advanced distance, and the remaining distance calculation and the following processes are repeated. In the remaining distance calculation, as shown in FIG. 14, the remaining distance to the intersection is sequentially subtracted and updated, and it is judged whether or not the remaining distance to the intersection is within the intersection error range distance. Until you enter
The "error margin flag" is turned off, and the remaining distance calculation is repeated. When the remaining distance to the intersection falls within the intersection error range distance, the "within error range flag" is turned on. And
When the “error range pass flag” is turned on and the vehicle exits the intersection error range distance, the “error range pass flag” is turned on.

(S414) When the "within error range flag" is turned on, the vehicle azimuth and the trajectory are calculated, and the bending point shown in FIG. 16 is detected.

In the calculation of the vehicle direction and the locus, the traveling distance and the steering angle Sta are sampled for each traveling of the constant distance d as shown in FIG. 15, and the previous vehicle direction Ang and the locus (X, Y) are calculated.
From this, a new vehicle direction and trajectory are calculated and stored in the memory. For example, the vehicle azimuth Ang (i) can be calculated from the steering angle Sta (i) read from the sensor at regular intervals and the vehicle rotation angle θ (st) with respect to the steering angle stored in advance as Ang (i) = θ (Sta (i) ) + Ang (i-1) Further, the vehicle locus (X (i), Y (i)) is (X (i), Y (i)) = (X (i-1) + dx, Y (i-1) )
+ Dy) dx = d * cos ([pi] -Ang (i)) dy = d * sin ([pi] -Ang (i)) can be used.

In bending point detection, as shown in FIG. 16, <S421> First, it is determined whether the "bending end waiting flag" and the "bending detection flag" are off and the steering angle is larger than the threshold value. If the determination is YES (beginning to bend), the "bending start point" is set to the current distance ("previous distance sensor value" + i), and the "bending detection flag" is turned on. That is, since the steering angle becomes larger than the threshold value for the first time, the bending detection processing state is entered. However, in the case of NO (during bending detection, or so-called straight line traveling where the steering angle is less than or equal to the threshold value), <S422>, whether or not the "bending detection flag" is ON and the steering angle is smaller than the threshold value. Judge whether
In the case of ES (the bending was detected last time and the bending was completed this time), the rotation angle is set to the difference between the current azimuth and the azimuth at the bending start point. Then, it is checked whether or not the rotation angle is larger than a predetermined minimum detected rotation error, and if the rotation angle is equal to or smaller than the predetermined minimum detected rotation error, it cannot be determined that the intersection is bent. ”Is turned off, but if the rotation angle is larger than the predetermined minimum detected rotation error, it can be judged that the intersection has been bent.
Here, the "bending point detection flag" is turned off, the "bending end waiting flag" is turned on, and the "bending end waiting position" is turned on.
To the current distance. This is used to calculate the inflection point position. In addition, in the case of NO (end of bending, still detecting bending, or running straight) <S423>, the “bending point end waiting flag” is ON, and (“bending point end waiting position” +10 m) is the current value. It is determined whether the distance is smaller than the distance, and if YES (10 m has been traveled from the end of bending), the rotation angle is set to the difference between the current bearing and the bearing at the bending start point. Then, it is checked whether the rotation angle is larger than a predetermined minimum detected rotation error, and if the rotation angle is equal to or smaller than the predetermined minimum detected rotation error, the "bending point end wait flag" is turned off. Rotation angle is 20
If it is larger than °, the "bending point detection flag" is turned on, the "bending end waiting flag" is turned off, the "bending end point" is set to the current distance, and the bending point position calculation is performed.

(S415) It is checked whether or not the "bending point detection flag" is on, and if it is off, the counter i is incremented and the same process is repeated, but if it is on, a road is selected.

Further, although the "inside error range flag" is once turned on after entering the intersection error range distance, the inflection point is not detected and the "inflection point detection flag" remains off, but outside the intersection error range distance. When it comes out, the "error range flag" is turned off and the "error range passage flag" is turned on as described in S413. Since this includes the case where the vehicle passes through the intersection without turning, the next road is selected in this case as well.

In selecting a road, the bending angle of the vehicle is first calculated as shown in FIG. Then, the road exiting from the intersection is read, the bending angle of each connecting road is calculated, and the minimum difference between the connecting road bending angle and the vehicle bending angle is obtained. When the minimum value is smaller than the predetermined maximum allowable angle difference, the road number is set to the "road number of the current position road", and when the minimum value is equal to or larger than the predetermined maximum allowable angle difference. For this, it is determined that the corresponding road has not been detected, and the "current position tracking failure flag" is turned on. That is, the road closest to the bending angle of the vehicle is selected as the traveling road for all the connected roads, but if the error between them is large, the current position cannot be calculated and the current position is reset. ing.

(S416) "Current position tracking failure flag"
Is checked, and if it is on, the process returns from steps S5 and S6 in FIG. 6 to S3, and if it remains off, the distance error is continuously corrected.

In the distance error correction, as shown in FIG.
First, as in the case of the initial position setting, the road length, the end intersection, and the node string are read from the road data and the node string data according to the "current position road number", and these are read as the "current position road length", Set it to “End point intersection of current position road” and “Node string of current position road”. Then, it is checked whether or not the "bending point detection flag" is turned on, the difference D between the current distance ("previous distance sensor value" + i) and the bending point position is obtained, and this value D is calculated as the "current position road length". It is subtracted from "sa" and the result is set to "remaining distance to the intersection". That is, here, a process of correcting the error up to that point to a new road by the length when the vehicle enters the next road after turning the intersection is performed. However, if the "bending point detection flag" is off, the value obtained by adding the "length of the current position road" to the "remaining distance to the intersection" is updated as a new "remaining distance to the intersection". This is a process corresponding to the case where the vehicle passes through an intersection without turning. For example, if the "remaining distance to the intersection" is 0 at that intersection, the "current position road length" remains unchanged to the new "intersection". "Remaining distance". FIG. 19 shows the result of error correction when a bending point is detected and when it is not detected. Assuming that the difference between the bending point position and the intersection position is ed as shown in FIG. 7A, the remaining distance to the next intersection is the bending point position as the intersection position as shown in FIG. Is corrected to D.

(S417) The "intersection arrival flag" is turned on, the loop counter i is incremented, and the same processing is repeated.

Next, the calculation processing of the bending point at the intersection will be described. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for calculating a bending position, FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for calculating a vehicle bending angle, FIG. 22 is a steering angle, a bending start point, a bending point position,
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a road reading processing routine that exits from an intersection, FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for calculating a connecting road bending angle, and FIG. 25 is a method for obtaining a connecting road bending angle. It is a figure for explaining.

In the bending point position calculation processing in the bending point detection processing (FIG. 16), as shown in FIG.
Then, an intermediate distance B ₀ between the bending end point C and an intermediate azimuth d of the vehicle azimuth Ang is obtained, the loop counter j is set to 1, and the distance B is set to the average distance B _0.
(B) Further, the vehicle heading Ang when B ₀ ± j is set to B while incrementing the loop counter j
Regarding (B), a point that coincides with the intermediate direction d is searched for, and the coincident point B is set at the bending point position. Then, a distance D _up from the bending start point A to the bending point position B and a distance D _down from the bending point position B to the bending end point C are obtained. FIG. 22 shows these relationships. The bending start point A and the bending end point C are set to the bending start point A when the steering angle exceeds a threshold value as shown in FIG. 22A, and the points are set when the steering angle returns to within the threshold value. Is set to the bending end waiting position C ', and a point 10 m from that point is set to the bending end point C.

In the vehicle bending angle calculation processing in the road selection processing (FIG. 17), it is checked whether or not the "bending point detection flag" is off, as shown in FIG. The end point, the bending point position, and the bending start point are respectively obtained in the bending point detection processing (FIG. 16), but when OFF, these values have not been obtained, so the next value is set. It That is, the bending end point is the current distance (“previous distance sensor value” + i), the bending point position is the current distance minus the intersection error range distance, and the bending start point is the current distance from the intersection error range. The value should be the value obtained by subtracting twice the distance. Then, / ABC shown in FIG. 22 is obtained as the vehicle bending angle from the coordinates of these three points.

When the vehicle bending angle calculation is completed, the road read from the intersection is read next.
As shown in FIG. 3, first, the road number at the end point intersection of the current position road is read from the intersection data, and the road numbers are set as the “road number” and the “first road number”, respectively. Then, the loop counter j is set to 0.
Next, while incrementing the loop counter j, all road numbers are read by sequentially reading from the road data until the next road number having the same start point becomes the "first road number", and the number is read as "the number of exit roads." ”.

In the process of calculating the connecting road bending angle in the process of selecting roads (FIG. 17), first, as shown in FIG. 24, the node sequence of the road number of the current position road is read from the road data and the node sequence data, The coordinates (x _A , y _A ) of point A at a distance D _up from the end point are calculated. Then, the end point B of the example node is set to the coordinates (x _A , y _A ). Then, road data the node series of road exiting the intersection, reading from the node string data, C coordinate point distance D _down from the starting point (x
Calculate _A , y _A ). Further, from these coordinates, points A'and C'on the circles inscribed in the straight lines AB and BC and inscribed in these straight lines are determined by the length of the arc (A'C ') being D _up + D _down.
Assuming that an inscribed circle is obtained, the coordinates of points A ′ and C ′ are calculated, and the point of intersection of the inscribed circle and the straight line bisecting / ABC is obtained as point B ′. The resulting / A'B'C 'is set to the "connect road bend angle". FIG. 25 shows these relationships.

As described above, the vehicle navigation device having the current position calculation function uses various flags for processing information. The main ones are summarized as follows. “Intersection arrival flag”; when it is on, guidance output of the next intersection is performed, and it is turned off when inputting the current position and turned on when passing the intersection. "Destination guidance flag": If it is on when an intersection arrives, it is judged that the destination has arrived, and the main routine is returned to the beginning (destination input processing). If the next intersection is the destination when the guidance is output, turn it on. "Current position tracking failure flag"; If it is on, the current position tracking process returns, and the main routine branches to input the current position again. It is turned off during the current position input process to select the road. When there is no road to select, turn it on. "Current position tracking initialization flag"; When it is turned on, it calls an initial position setting routine, which is turned off when the initial position is set and turned on when the current position is input. “In-error-range flag”: When it is on, the trajectory is calculated, the bending point is detected, and so on. If it is within the intersection error range, it is turned on, and if not, it is turned off. "Error range passage flag": If it is on, the road is selected. If it passes the intersection error range, it is turned on, otherwise it is turned off. "Bending point detection flag": When on, the road is selected by tracking the current position and the current position is reset by correcting the distance error. When it is off, the bending start point and the bending end are calculated by calculating the vehicle bending angle. This is for setting the points and bending points.
It is turned off when the initial position is set, turned on when a bending point is detected, and turned off after correcting the distance error. “Bending detection flag” and “bending end wait flag”: Bending detection and bending end point detection are performed, and are turned off at the initial position setting. The "bending detection flag" is turned on when the steering angle exceeds a threshold value, and these on / off are controlled depending on whether or not the rotation angle exceeds the minimum detection rotation angle.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. Figure 2
6 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine of current position tracking in another embodiment of the vehicle navigation device having a current position calculation function, and FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining bending point detection.

In the above embodiment, the current position is tracked by the road number and the remaining distance from the end point intersection of the road number. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 26, the intersection is recognized by the coordinates and the current position is determined. To track. Therefore, in the process of tracking the current position, the procedure up to the detection of the bending point is the same as that in the above-mentioned embodiment, but instead of the process from the road selection to the distance error correction performed in the above-described embodiment, the process at the time of passing an intersection It is designed to perform processing for approaching an intersection, comparing bending angles, and correcting current position.

According to the example shown in FIG. 27, when entering from the intersection into a circle having a constant radius, it is recognized that the intersection is within the error range of the intersection. For example, intersection coordinates (x _c , y
If the distance within the error range of _c ) is r, the coordinates (x _o , y _o ) of the current position (vehicle position) are (x _c −x _o ) ² + (y _c −y _o ) ² <r ² . When it reaches a position that satisfies the conditions, it is assumed that the vehicle has entered the circle shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, bending detection is performed to detect the bending start position and the bending end position, and the azimuths of these positions are set to −20 ° and −10, respectively.
Assuming 0 °, locus bending accuracy = (bending end position azimuth) − (bending start position azimuth) = − 100 ° − (− 20 °) = − 80 ° is obtained, and the bending point position is further detected, and D _up = | Bend point position-bend start position | D _down = | bend end position-bend point position |

FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining the intersection approaching direction and bending angle comparison processing, FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine corresponding to the processing of FIG. 28, and FIG. 30 is a road reading processing routine for entering an intersection. 31 is a diagram for illustrating the current position correction process, and FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process routine corresponding to the process of FIG.

In the intersection approach direction and bending angle comparison processing,
As shown in FIG. 28A, the road entering the intersection number IV is read from the road containing the intersection data and the road having the same end point in the road data, and the direction when entering from these roads is on the node string for the road. It is obtained as the azimuth of the position D _up from the intersection point position. For example, as shown in FIG.

[0089]

[Table 1] Then, in the example shown in FIG. 27B, the road number ○ 10 having the approach direction closest to the bending start position direction (−20 °) is set as the approach road.

When the approach road is determined, the road having the same start point is read from the road exiting from the intersection number IV and the road data, and the direction change when the approach road ∘10 is advanced to these roads is determined. In this process, it is determined as a change between the azimuth at the position D _down from the intersection position on the node sequence of the exit road and the azimuth of the bending start position on the approach road. Therefore, when we look at the relationship between the approach road ○ 10 and each exit road ,,

[0091]

[Table 2] Becomes Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 27 (b), the locus bending angle is −80 °, and therefore the road ○ 10 → having the bending angle closest to this is determined as the traveling direction.

FIG. 29 shows the processing routine for comparing the intersection approach direction and bending angle. In the process routine shown in FIG. 29, first, the process of reading the road entering an intersection is performed. In this process, as shown in FIG. 30, the road number at which the end point intersection of the current position road enters is read from the intersection data, and this number is set to the "road number" and the "first road number", respectively. Then, the loop counter j is set to 0.
Set. Next, while incrementing the loop counter j, all road numbers are read by sequentially reading from the road data until the next road number having the same end point becomes the “first road number”, and the number is read as “the number of entering roads”. ”. That is, the process corresponding to the process of reading the road number exiting from the intersection described above with reference to FIG. 23 is performed.

Similarly, the processing for reading the road number from the intersection described in FIG. 23 is performed, and the loop counter j is set to 0.
Set to. Then, first, while determining the approach road shown in FIG. 28 (b) while incrementing the loop counter j to the number of entering roads, subsequently setting the loop counter k to 0 and incrementing to the number of roads leaving this. The bending angle is calculated to determine the traveling direction road shown in FIG. 28 (c). Then, the traveling direction road obtained here is set as the road number of the current position road.

The correction of the current position is performed after the road number of the current position road is obtained.
As shown in (a), the current position coordinates are the bending end coordinates on the node row of the road, and the current position azimuth is the bending end position azimuth (−120 °) on the node row. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the end point intersection V of the road number is read from the road data as the next intersection, the intersection coordinates are read from the intersection data, and the vehicle enters within the error range of the intersection V. To monitor.

FIG. 32 shows the above-mentioned processing routine for correcting the current position. In the processing routine shown in FIG. 32,
First, the end point intersection of the road number of the current position road and the node sequence are read from the road data, and these are referred to as the “current position road end point intersection” and the “node sequence”, respectively. Also,
The coordinates of the east longitude and north latitude of the "current position road end intersection" are read from the intersection data and set as "the coordinates of the next intersection east longitude and north latitude". Then, the coordinates on the node sequence at the distance D _down from the start point of the “node sequence” are the coordinates of the current position (X [“previous distance sensor value” + i], Y [“previous distance sensor value” +
i]), and the azimuth between the nodes at a distance of D _down from the start point of the “node sequence” is taken as the azimuth of the current position.

[Route End Node Sequence Creation and Route Search] Next, a route end node sequence creation process and a route search process from an intersection for creating a node sequence from a position input by a telephone number to a nearby intersection will be described. In the above route search, the example of inputting the destination and setting the traveling direction to the destination at each intersection has been described, but in the following example, an example of searching for the optimum route from the departure point to the destination is given. Will be explained. 33 is a diagram showing a destination setting and its data configuration example, and FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a configuration example of intersection sequence and node sequence data.

This route end node sequence creation processing is to create a node sequence from the departure point and destination obtained from the position data by inputting a telephone number to the nearest intersection, and from the nearest intersection to the departure point or destination. The node sequence is created by sequentially performing node search until the node closest to the position information of. FIG. 3 shows an example in which the destination is set between the intersections. For example, in FIG.
As shown in (a), when the destination A is given from the position data by the coordinates not directly related to the road between the intersections I and II, the destination data is communicated as shown in FIG. At intersections I and II, the coordinates are 135 ° east longitude and 35 north latitude.
Expressed as °. Further, when the destination A is given by the distance from one of the intersections I and II between the intersections I and II as shown in FIG. 7C, the destination data is as shown in FIG. At the connecting intersections I and II, the distance from the connecting intersection I is expressed as 50 m. Therefore, in the route end node sequence creation process, a node sequence from the connecting intersection to the node of the destination A or the closest node is created.

In the route search processing, a surrounding road search subroutine for searching for surrounding roads from intersections, excluding entry-prohibited roads such as forbidden right and left turns, width of roads, necessity of guidance, and other necessary conditions for calculating an optimum route. It has an optimum route condition setting subroutine for setting and an end condition subroutine for judging the end of the route search, and searches for the optimum route from the designated departure point to the destination between the nearest intersections. Then, when the optimum route is searched by the route search process, intersection row and node row data between the nearest intersections from the departure point to the destination are created along the route. The intersection sequence and the node sequence data are obtained by connecting the node sequence created by the route end node sequence creation process to both ends of this data, and FIG. 34 shows the data configuration example.

The flow of the route end node sequence creating process for the input setting of the destination as shown in FIG. 34 will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is checked whether or not the input setting of the destination is the coordinate designation as shown in FIG. 33B. If YES, the next coordinate designation process is performed.
Since the input setting for specifying the distance is as shown in (d), the processing for specifying the distance described below is performed.

(A) Coordinate designation processing: FIG. 35 (a) The node at the connecting intersection I is set to N.

Assuming that the node of the destination is N ₀ , the straight line distance D = NN ₀ between the connecting intersection I and the destination is calculated, and the distance D is stored in the memory.

The distance D is stored in the memory.

It is checked whether or not the node N is the connecting intersection II. In the case of YES, it means that the destination was the connecting intersection II, so the node N is stored and the process ends.
This determination cannot be the first processing, and is for the node up to the connecting intersection II when the processing of ~ ○ 12 is repeated and the termination condition is not reached. If NO, the following process is performed.

Let N ′ be the node next to the node N.

The division constant t is set to 0.

Regarding the coordinates N _x and N _y of the node N, N _x = (1-t) N _x + tN _x ′ N _y = (1-t) N _y + tN _y ′.

A distance NN ₀ using the coordinates calculated by the distance D, that is, the node N and the next node N ′.
It is checked whether or not the distance between points and is divided by a division constant t to the destination node N ₀ . If YES, the following process is performed. In this case, since the current point is closer to the destination than the previous point, the point is further shifted. In the case of NO, the coordinates N _x , N _y
Is stored in the memory and the process ends. That is, in the case of NO, the point has come closer to the destination until the previous point, but this point indicates that the point is farther from the destination than the previous point, so that the node N at this time and the next node N ′ are Since this is the closest to the destination, it is sufficient to create a node sequence from here to the connecting intersection.

Replace the distance D with NN ₀ .

○ 10 Add 0.1 to the division constant t. That is, the division points are shifted by 10%.

○ 11 Check whether or not the division constant t exceeds 1.

In the case of YES, the following process ○ 12 is performed, the node N is replaced with the next node N ′, and the process returns. That is, YES means 0.1 from node N to the next node N '.
Each means that the dividing point has reached the node N ′, so that the node is shifted by 1 in process ○ 12. If NO, the process returns to the process. That is, in this case, since the division point is between the node N and the next node N ', the processes after the process are repeated.

(B) Distance designation processing; FIG. 35 (b): The node at the connecting intersection I is N.

The distance D is set to 0.

The distance D is stored in the memory.

It is checked whether or not the node N stored in the memory is the connecting intersection II. If YES, the node N of the connecting intersection II is stored and the process ends. If NO, the following process is performed.

Let N ′ be the node next to the node N.

The division position constant t is set to 0.

Coordinates of a division point between the node N and the next node N ′ according to the division position constant t N _x ″, N _y ″ N _x ″ = (1-t) N _x + tN _x ′ N _y ″ = ( determine the _{1-t) N y + tN} y '.

Whether the distance obtained by adding the distance NN ″ to the point N ″ of the coordinates N _x ″, N _y ″ calculated by the process from the node N to the distance D is larger than the distance from the input destination to the connecting intersection I Check whether or not. In the case of YES, the coordinates N _x and N _y are stored in the memory and the process ends. That is, in the case of YES, the point has come closer to the destination until the previous point, but this point indicates that the point is farther from the destination than the previous point, so that the node N at this time and the next node N ′ are Since this is the closest to the destination, it is sufficient to create a node sequence from here to the connecting intersection. If NO, the following process is performed. In this case, since the current point is closer to the destination than the previous point, the point is further shifted.

The division constant t is incremented by 0.1. That is, the division points are shifted by 10%. ○ 10 division constant t
Check whether is greater than 1. If YES, the following process ○ 11 is performed to replace the node N with the next node N ′,
Further, the distance obtained by adding the distance NN ″ to the distance D is replaced as a new distance D, and the process returns. That is, YES means that the division point has reached the node N ′ by 0.1 from the node N to the next node N ′. This means that the node is shifted by 1 in process ○ 11. If NO, the process returns to the process, that is, in this case, the division point is between the node N and the next node N ′. Therefore, the process after the process is repeatedly performed.

Next, the flow of processing when a route search is performed using the above network data will be described with reference to FIG. Here, L (c) is a distance, F (c) is a flag, R (c) is a passing road number, s ₀ and s ₁ are intersection numbers on both sides of the departure place, and e ₀ and e ₁ are destinations. The intersection numbers on both sides of.
Further, c indicates an intersection number, flag F (c) indicates that "0" has not been searched, "1" is being searched, and "2" is the end of search.

For all intersections, the distance L (c) is set to infinity (∞) and the flag F (c) is set to “0” (not searched). With this initial setting, all intersections will be unsearched first, and the distance from the departure point will be infinite.

Intersection numbers s ₀ and s on both sides of the departure place
_The distances L (s ₀ ) and L (s ₁ ) corresponding to ₁ are set to the distance from the departure point, and flags F (s ₀ ) and F corresponding to the intersection numbers s ₀ and s ₁ on both sides of the departure point are added. Set "1" in (s ₁ ) and the road number from the departure point in the road number R (c) that has passed.

The flag F is not “2” and the distance L is
Find the intersection number c ₀ that minimizes (c).

The surrounding road search subroutine is executed,
A surrounding road starting from the intersection number c ₀ is searched.

It is checked whether there is a surrounding road. YE
In the case of S, move to the next process, and in the case of NO, process ○
Go to 11.

The optimum route condition setting subroutine is executed to set road conditions and other conditions for searching the optimum route.

The intersection number of the end point of the road is c ₁ ,
Let l be the length of the road.

Distance P to the intersection at the end of the road
To calculate. Calculate P = L (c ₀ ) +1.

Here, L (c ₀ ) is the distance from the starting point to the intersection number c ₀ , and P is from the intersection number c ₀ through the road (road under search) to the ending intersection number c ₁ . It becomes the distance.

P <L (c ₁ ) and F (c ₁ ) ≠ 2
Check whether or not. In the case of YES, the process proceeds to the next process ○ 10, and in the case of NO, the process returns.

○ 10 Intersection number c _{1 being} searched from the point of departure
A distance L a (c ₁₎ of P, the intersection number flag F (c ₁₎ to "1" in the c _1, road number R (c ₁₎ the search in which has passed through before reaching the intersection number c ₁ Road number.

○ 11 F if NO in process
Set (c ₀ ) to “2”.

○ 12 The termination condition confirmation subroutine is executed.

◯ 13 It is checked whether or not the process is completed. If NO, the process returns to the process, and if YES, the process ends. By performing the above processing, the road number of the optimum course from the departure place to the intersection number is set for each intersection number, corresponding to each intersection number.

The surrounding road search subroutine of the above processing is to perform the processing shown in FIG. That is, it is checked whether or not the surrounding road is searched for the first time. If YES, the process proceeds, and if NO, the process proceeds.

From the intersection data, the current intersection c ₀
The road number starting from is extracted and stored.

By referring to the road data, the prohibited road at the road number coming to the intersection c ₀ under search is extracted.

It is checked whether the road just taken out is a prohibited road. If YES, the process proceeds, and if NO, the next process proceeds.

The road thus taken out is stored as a surrounding road, and the process returns (moves to the process of FIG. 36 (a)).

From the road data, the road number having the same starting point as the previously searched road and the next number is extracted.

It is checked whether or not the initially searched road is the same as the road just retrieved. If YES, the process moves to the next process, and if NO, the process returns.

It is determined that there is no surrounding road, and the process returns.

Further, the optimum route condition setting subroutine of the processing shown in FIG. 36 carries out the processing shown in FIG. That is, the size W and the length l of the surrounding road are read from the road data.

It is checked whether or not the size W of the surrounding road is 1 or less. If YES, move to the next process, N
If it is O, the process proceeds.

A length obtained by multiplying the length l by a is set as l. That is, the road with D greater than 1 is set as a normal wide road,
If a road having a value of 1 or less is a thin road, the thin road is evaluated to be a times as long as a normal road. Therefore, a is a number greater than 1.

From the road data, the guidance unnecessary data of the road that has passed to the intersection currently searched is read.

It is checked whether there is a surrounding road that matches the guidance unnecessary data. If YES, return, N
In the case of O, the next processing is performed.

Further, the value obtained by adding bm to the length l is set as a new length l and the process is returned. That is, an intersection requiring guidance such as turning left or right is calculated as bm and added to the intersection that does not require guidance. In the termination condition confirmation subroutine, as shown in FIG. 39, the intersection number c ₀ of the search target and the intersection numbers on both sides of the target or the like are checked for coincidence, and the termination flag is set on the condition that they coincide.

As described above, in the route search of the present invention, the shortest route is searched by weighting the distance between intersections in consideration of the size of the surrounding road and the traveling conditions such as the necessity / unnecessity of guiding the road. As a result, road number information along the optimum course corresponding to each intersection is obtained. Therefore, according to this search result, the data of the intersection row and the node row can be created according to the processing flow shown in FIG.

The intersection number for which the search is completed is stored in the memory.

The starting point of the road number at the intersection is stored in the memory.

It is checked whether or not the intersection is on both sides of the departure place. If YES, move to the next process,
If NO, the process returns.

The starting point number and the destination number are added before and after the stored intersection number sequence to form an intersection sequence.

The node string between the intersections is extracted by referring to the road data, and the node string is created. Exclude intersections that do not require guidance from the intersection sequence using guidance-free data.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the intersection sequence and node sequence data generated from the result of the route search in this way.
It is 4. For example, as shown in FIG. 34 (a), the intersection sequence data is made up of information such as intersection names, intersection numbers, photograph numbers of characteristic landscapes of the intersections, bending angles, distances, etc. As shown in FIG. 6B, the node position includes information such as east longitude, north latitude, intersection number, attribute, angle, and distance. Moreover, these data consist of only the intersections that require guidance, excluding the intersections that do not require guidance. Therefore, in navigation, this data may be sequentially read and output corresponding to a predetermined position. As described above, at the time of route search, a search is made while checking the right / left turn prohibition data, and a course in which the right / left turn prohibition is not included.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the course of navigation from the starting point to the destination is created by the data string including the node string and the intersection string,
The data string for navigation may be either the node string or the intersection string. In the case of the intersection row only, it goes without saying that each data of the intersection row is provided with a photograph for navigation, guidance information and other necessary information. Further, when performing navigation using the data in the intersection row, for example, a push button switch is simply provided, and when the driver operates the push button switch every time when passing the intersection, the next intersection data is read out. By doing so, it is possible to execute navigation by a simple operation.

Although the route search is started from the departure point in the above embodiment, the route search may be started from the destination. Further, although the route search is started from the departure point and the process is ended when the destination is reached, the route search is performed until all the flags F (c) become 2, that is, all the intersections. Good. In particular, if this route search is performed from the destination, optimal course information from all intersections to the destination will be created as in the example shown in FIG. 5 above. Also, the intersection sequence and the node sequence can be created from the nearest intersection without performing the route search again.

For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the telephone number list 7 is composed of TEL No., block No., and position No., but the TEL No. and block for each certain group unit, for example, each suburb or local number. No. and position number may be listed. In this case, a TEL No. that does not correspond to the telephone number that is not registered in the group is registered, and the block No. and position No. have information on the representative position of the area limited by the area code. You may do it. In this way, even when a telephone number that is not in the telephone number list is input, the information of the representative position and the map information of the surrounding area can be used for the position input.

There is not always a telephone at the place of departure, the current position, or the position of the destination like a park or a tourist spot. Therefore, if there is no telephone number or the telephone number is unknown, it is of course possible to use it in combination with another input method so that the position can be input by inputting other than the telephone number. In addition to such a code input method and a menu input method, it is possible to use together with a coordinate input method by numerical value input or touch input on a displayed map, a voice input method, a card input method, and the like. For example, when used in combination with the code input method, the code list 10 may be separately provided as shown in FIG. 1 or may be combined with the telephone number list. When the former code list 10 is separately provided, the block No. and position No. of the telephone number list may be replaced with the code No. of the code list 10, and particularly when the latter is merged, the mode No. Instead of providing a switching key, the telephone number may be input when the head of the input number is “0” and the code may be input when the input number is other than “0”.

Alternatively, the telephone number may be input by voice. Especially in the case of voice input, recognition accuracy becomes a problem and some voices are registered, but in the case of a telephone number, it is sufficient to register voices from "0 to 9", so when voice registration is necessary. However, the number of registered voices is small and the false recognition rate can be reduced.

In addition, when inputting a telephone number, a telephone number of a station or other representative facility, an interchange on a highway, a gas station along a national road, etc., which is particularly easy to target, is set as a specific abbreviated number. It may be possible to enter with the abbreviated number.In this case, not only the location but also the map in the vicinity can be displayed so that the destination can be entered on the map. Good. This makes it easy to input the destination when the telephone number is unknown but a representative facility is nearby.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, since the position can be input by the telephone number, the starting point and the destination are not limited to specific positions such as named points and intersections. You can freely set the location of the phone.

Therefore, for example, even if the user is at a loss while driving and cannot find the position at all, the current position can be easily changed to the vehicular navigation device by inputting the telephone number displayed on a nearby gas station, shop, signboard, or the like. It is possible to input, to set the traveling route again with the place of departure as the starting point, and to receive new route guidance by the vehicle navigation device.

To input the position, a numerical value of about 10 digits can be displayed on one screen without referring to a codebook or a coordinate table as in the conventional method or switching between a plurality of menu screens for input. Since only input is required, the input operation can be easily completed in a short time. In particular,
Code input and coordinate input cannot be directly connected to the position to be input, but in the case of a telephone number, since it is consciously recorded as information unique to that position on a daily basis, the connection with the position is deep, The merit is great in that it can be used as useful and convenient information.

[0166]

As described above, the map display device of the vehicular navigation device of the present invention can display a map including the position coordinates corresponding to the input telephone number on the display means, and the driver can handle it. It is possible to easily provide the map information that the driver wants to know without searching the road map book or the like for a map to be used. Even if you do not know the detailed position on the map, if you know the telephone number, you can display the map containing this position coordinate and quickly find the desired position of the driver such as the current position, destination, passing point etc. It becomes possible to input the point easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1a is a diagram showing an embodiment of a map display device in a vehicle navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1b is a diagram showing an embodiment of a map display device in a vehicle navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1c is a diagram showing an embodiment of a map display device in a vehicle navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a flow of processing in a position input mode.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of position input on a display screen.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a telephone number.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration of one embodiment of a vehicle navigation device having a current position calculation function to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the overall processing flow of a vehicle navigation device having a current position calculation function.

FIG. 7a is a diagram showing a configuration example of road network data.

FIG. 7b is a diagram showing a configuration example of intersection data.

FIG. 7c is a diagram showing a configuration example of road data.

FIG. 7d is a diagram showing a data configuration example of node sequence data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of route search output.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of guidance output.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing routine for current location input.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a current position tracking processing routine.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing routine for initial position setting.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sensor detection processing routine.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for remaining distance calculation.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining calculation processing of a vehicle azimuth and a trajectory.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a bending point detection processing routine.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing routine for selecting a road.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for distance error correction.

FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining processing contents of distance error correction.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of a bending position calculation processing routine.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for calculating a vehicle bending angle.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a steering angle, a bending start point, a bending point position, and a bending end point.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a road reading processing routine for exiting from an intersection.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine for calculating a bend angle of a connecting road.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining how to obtain a bending angle of a connecting road.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of a current position tracking processing routine in another embodiment of the vehicle navigation device having the current position calculation method according to the present invention.

FIG. 27a is a diagram for explaining bending point detection.

FIG. 27b is a diagram for explaining bending point detection.

FIG. 27c is a diagram for explaining bending point detection.

FIG. 28a is a diagram for explaining intersection approach direction and bending angle comparison processing.

FIG. 28b is a diagram for explaining intersection approach direction and bending angle comparison processing.

FIG. 28c is a diagram for explaining intersection approach azimuth and bending angle comparison processing.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine corresponding to the processing of FIG. 28.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an example of a road reading processing routine that enters an intersection.

FIG. 31 is a diagram for proceeding with the current position correction processing.

32 is a diagram showing an example of a processing routine corresponding to the processing of FIG. 31. FIG.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing a destination setting and a data configuration example thereof.

FIG. 34 is a diagram showing a data configuration example of intersection row and node row data.

FIG. 35a is a diagram for explaining the flow of route end node sequence creation processing.

FIG. 35b is a diagram for explaining the flow of a route end node sequence creation process.

FIG. 36 is a diagram for explaining the flow of route search processing.

FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing of a surrounding road search subroutine.

FIG. 38 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing of an optimum route condition setting subroutine.

FIG. 39 is a diagram for explaining the flow of processing of a termination condition confirmation subroutine.

FIG. 40 is a diagram for explaining the flow of intersection row and node row extraction processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Point setting means, 101 ... Display unit, 102 ... Display control unit, 103 ... Input unit, 104 ... Input mode recognition unit,
105 ... Processing unit, 106 ... Storage unit, 107 ... Telephone number list, 108 ... Position data, 109 ... Route search unit, 1
10 ... Code list, 200 ... Route search means, 300 ...
Map data storage means 400 ... Route guidance means 500 ...
Current position detection means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Koji Sumiya, 10 Takane, Fujii-cho, Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture, Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (72) Shoji Yokoyama 10, Takane, Fujii-cho, Aki Prefecture, Aisin A.・ In W Corporation

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A map data storage means, a spot setting means for setting position coordinates of a plurality of spots, and map data corresponding to the set position coordinates are read from the map data storage means and set by the spot setting means. Route searching means for searching a route between the searched points, a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle, a current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detecting means, and a route based on the searched route. In a map display device in a vehicle navigation device including route guidance means for guiding, an input means capable of inputting at least a telephone number, a position coordinate storage means for storing position coordinates corresponding to the telephone number, Based on the telephone number input by the input means, necessary information is read from the position coordinate storage means and the corresponding position coordinates are searched. That search means and the map display device in the vehicle navigation device characterized by comprising a display means for reading displaying a map corresponding to the retrieved coordinates from the map data storage means. 2. A map data storage unit, an input unit capable of inputting at least a telephone number, and a peripheral map including a point corresponding to the telephone number input by the input unit are read out from the map data storage unit and displayed. A map display device in a vehicle navigation device, comprising: 3. The display control means reads out necessary information from the storage means based on the telephone number input by the input means, and stores the corresponding position coordinate in the storage means for storing the position coordinate corresponding to the telephone number. 3. The vehicular navigation device according to claim 2, further comprising: a search unit that searches the map data, and a display unit that reads and displays a peripheral map including position coordinates corresponding to the searched position coordinates from the map data storage unit. Map display device in Japan. 4. The display control means includes a storage means for storing position coordinates corresponding to a telephone number, and an area of the telephone number if the telephone number input by the input means does not exist in the storage means. 3. The vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising: a search unit that searches the representative position coordinates, and a display unit that reads and displays a peripheral map including the position coordinates corresponding to the searched position coordinates from the map data storage unit. Map display device in a car navigation system. 5. The storage means has a telephone number list storing position data corresponding to telephone numbers and a position data list storing position coordinate data corresponding to the position data stored in the telephone number list. The map display device in the vehicle navigation device according to claim 3 or 4.