JPH07294276A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a driving support device capable of outputting various guidance voices suitable for a driver. [Configuration] Data from the GPS receiver 12 is processed by the processing device 1
1 and the current position and azimuth are detected. The processing device searches the map database 15 and creates route guidance information including a plurality of clauses when a point to be route guided is reached. A level is added to each phrase, and a voice corresponding to a phrase having a threshold level or higher is compared with a threshold level input from the input device 19 or a threshold level automatically set according to a driving situation, and a guidance voice database is provided. It is read from 17 and output to the voice generation device 18. Since only the important phrases are output as voice, the driver does not feel lacking or feeling overloaded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving support device, and more particularly, to a driving support device which transmits a guidance message to a driver and urges a driving operation suitable for various traveling states.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various devices have been developed for the purpose of assisting a driver in driving operation, and have been installed in vehicles. A navigation device, which is one of such devices, uses a GPS (Global Positioning System).
The position of the own vehicle is detected by a vehicle speed sensor, a direction sensor, etc., and is displayed superimposed on the map data. Also, the route to the destination is displayed with an arrow or the like. The driver can travel along a desired route while observing the map data and the position of the vehicle displayed on the display.

Further, there has been proposed a method of displaying a route guidance message on a display, converting the route guidance message into a voice, and notifying the driver of the route by the guidance voice. For example, JP-A-5-9967
In JP No. 8, all data required for navigation such as maps and voices are stored in a CDROM, and phrases required for route guidance are written in a buffer in advance, and a phrase selected corresponding to the current position of the vehicle is stored in the buffer. A configuration for sequentially reading and outputting is disclosed.

[0004]

However, such a configuration in which the guidance voice is uniformly output according to the current position of the vehicle cannot deal with various drivers, and the guidance voice is insufficient depending on the driver. Or vice versa. Therefore, depending on the driver, there is a problem that the guidance voice cannot be effectively achieved, such as cutting off the voice output.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device capable of outputting various guidance voices suitable for a driver.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a driving support device according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a position detection means for detecting the position of the own vehicle, and a storage means for storing a guidance message of a different guidance level. When the detected position of the vehicle reaches a point to be guided, the guide level is compared with a threshold level, and output control means for outputting a guidance sentence reaching the threshold level is provided. .

Further, the driving support apparatus according to the present invention is a position detection means for detecting the position of the own vehicle, a storage means for storing a clause constituting a guidance sentence, and a level addition for adding a guidance level for each clause. Means, and a guidance sentence creating means for synthesizing the guidance sentence to create a guidance sentence; and the guidance level of the clause constituting the created guidance sentence when the detected vehicle position reaches a point to be guided. The output control means compares the threshold level and outputs only a clause having a threshold level or higher as a guidance sentence.

The driving support device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the driving support device according to the first aspect, further comprising threshold level setting means for automatically setting the threshold level according to past driving conditions. And

The driving support system according to a fourth aspect is the driving support system according to the first aspect, further comprising level setting means for inputting the threshold level.

Further, a driving support device according to a fifth aspect is the driving support device according to the first or second or third or fourth aspect, wherein the output control means includes a route guiding means, and the guide is provided. The feature is that an intersection on the guide route is used as the point to be used.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the driving support apparatus according to the fifth aspect, wherein the adjusting means corrects the threshold level downward when the driving operation by the driver does not follow the guidance content. And having.

Further, the driving support device according to claim 7 is the driving support device according to claim 5, further comprising adjusting means for correcting the threshold level upward according to the number of past travels of the guide route. Is characterized by.

Further, the driving support device according to claim 8 is:
The driving support apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the clause includes a facility name near the intersection.

[0014]

In the present invention, the route guidance information created as in the conventional device is not output as it is, but a level is given to each guidance sentence of the route guidance information or each clause constituting the guidance sentence, and those levels are given. Comparing the level with the threshold level, guide texts or phrases (or phrases) above the threshold level
Output only. The threshold level is set by the driver depending on the driving situation or using the input device. This allows
It is possible to provide voice guidance that matches the driver.

That is, in the driving support device according to the first aspect, it is possible to support the driving operation of the driver by using the guide text corresponding to the predetermined threshold level.

Further, in the driving support apparatus according to claim 2,
A level is given to each phrase (or phrase) of the guidance information, and those levels are compared with a threshold level, and only phrases (or phrases) at or above the threshold level are combined and output as a guidance sentence. In the driving support device according to claim 2, since the guidance sentence is created by synthesizing the clauses, it is not necessary to store all the plurality of sentences having different guidance information in the storage device, and the storage capacity required for the storage means is small. There is.

The set threshold level is set in claim 6.
Alternatively, as in the driving support device according to the seventh aspect, the increase / decrease is adjusted according to the content of the guidance or the number of times of traveling. If the driver does not respond to the specific guidance content or if the driver does not drive according to the guidance content, it can be determined that the voice guidance is insufficient, and the threshold level is adjusted downward (decreased) to provide the voice guidance. Make it easier to output. In addition, since it is considered that the driver is not accustomed to a large amount of voice guidance on a road where the number of times of travel is large, it is difficult to output the voice guidance by adjusting the threshold level upward (increase).

As a result, the threshold level gradually matches the driving characteristics of the driver and can be set to an optimum value.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following examples, "bunsetsu" includes grammatical phrases, sentences, and phrases.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. A GPS receiver 12 is provided as a vehicle position detecting means and outputs a detection signal to the processing device 11. In addition, GPS
A vehicle speed sensor or a direction sensor may be used instead of the receiver 12, and position detection accuracy may be improved by combining the GPS receiver 12 with the vehicle speed sensor and the direction sensor. Further, a map database 15 for storing map data necessary for performing route guidance and a guidance voice database 17 for storing guidance voice clauses are provided, and the map data and guidance voice clauses are stored in the processing device 11. Output. The processing device 11 performs the processing described below based on the processing program stored in the ROM 13 and outputs the guidance voice to the voice generation device 18 such as a speaker. At the time of voice output, the threshold level set based on the input value from the input device 19 that can be operated by the driver is compared with the guide level added to each phrase of the guide voice. The guidance level may be added by the processing device 11, or the clause and the guidance level may be stored in advance in the map database as a set. The variables for setting the threshold level based on the input value, the initial threshold level, and the like are stored in the RAM 14. However, when it is necessary to hold these variables when the power is off, a memory such as an EEPROM is used. Used.

FIG. 2 shows the functional blocks of the processing device 11, and FIG. 3 shows a processing flow chart of the processing device. The operation of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to these drawings. Although the threshold level is stored in advance in the RAM 14 as described above, when the driver feels that the guidance voice is insufficient or excessive, he / she operates the input device 19 to input a desired level. Processor 11
The voice guidance level input acquisition means 11i therein acquires the input data and outputs it to the voice guidance level changing means 11f. The voice guidance level changing means 11f sets a new threshold level based on the input data, and stores it in the RAM 14 in place of the conventional threshold level (S101 to S103).

On the other hand, the data from the GPS receiver 12 is output to the current position / moving direction calculating means 11a, and the current position and moving direction are calculated by known processing (S10).
4). Further, the guide route acquisition means 11d searches the map data based on the input destination and transit point data, and calculates the route to the destination by a known method (for example, the Dijkstra method) (S105). And the route guidance means 11b
Determines whether or not the current position of the vehicle is a route guidance point based on the calculated current position / travel direction data and the guidance route from the guidance route acquisition means 11d (S106). If the current position is within a predetermined distance from the intersection on the guide route, it is determined to be the route guide point, and the route guide means 11b acquires the route guide information from the map database 15 (S
107). The route guidance information is stored in the map database 15 with a guidance level added in advance for each clause, and the acquired route guidance information is output to the voice guidance determination means 11e. On the other hand, the voice guidance determining means 11e acquires the threshold level stored in the RAM 14 in S101 to S103 as the voice guidance level (S108),
The size of the guidance level and the voice guidance level for each phrase are compared (S109). When the guidance level for each phrase is higher than the voice guidance level (that is, the threshold level), the guidance voice database acquisition unit 11h acquires voice data corresponding to the phrase from the guidance voice database 17 (S1).
10), output to the voice generation device 18 to notify the driver of the guidance voice (S111).

FIG. 4 shows an example of route guidance information at each point on the guide route. As described above, the route guidance means 11b compares the current position with the guide route, determines whether the current position is within a predetermined distance from the intersection on the guide route, and acquires the route guidance information from the map database 15. The route guidance can be effectively provided by changing the route guidance information to be acquired according to the distance from the intersection. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 (A), with respect to the intersection on the guide route, at each point of
The route guidance information as shown in (B) can be acquired. Is the point immediately after turning left or right at the guidance intersection, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, "** km straight ahead. Next is **.
Turn left at the intersection. It will be. Then, a guidance level is added to each clause of the route guidance information to be acquired, and in this example, a guidance level of L4 is added to the clause "** km is straight ahead", and the clause "Next is a left turn at an intersection". A guide level of L5 is added to. In addition, is a point every 5 km going straight, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, "after *
* Keep straight on the road. Next, turn left at the ** intersection. "
Becomes L2 for the phrase "I'm going straight ahead on ** km"
The guidance level is added, and the guidance level L3 is added to the phrase "Next turn left at intersection **". Also,
Is a point every 1 km in a straight line, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, "there is a further ** km road and goes straight. Next is a left turn at the ** intersection." A guidance level of L1 is added to the phrase "I'm going straight on the road ** km", and a guidance level of L2 is added to the phrase "Next is a left turn at an intersection". In addition, is a point before the guidance intersection ** m, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, “after ** m”.
At the ** intersection, turn left. It will be. Guidance level is L
5 is added. Further, is a point before the guidance intersection ++ m, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, “after, +
At + m ahead, turn left at the ** intersection. It will be. L4 is added to the guidance level. In addition, is the point just before the guidance intersection, and the route guidance information to be acquired is, for example, “soon *
* Turn left at the intersection. It will be. L6 is added to the guidance level. The size relationship between the guidance levels L1 to L6 can be set arbitrarily, for example, L1 <L2 <L3 <L4 <L5.
It can be set as <L6. Then, the guidance levels L1 to L6 of these phrases are compared with the voice guidance level (threshold level), and only the phrases having the voice guidance level or higher are acquired from the voice database 15 and output as voice. Therefore, when the driver sets a relatively low voice guidance level L0 and satisfies L0 <L1, all route guidance information of FIG. 4B is output as voice at each point of FIG. 4A. In addition, the driver sets a relatively high voice guidance level L0, and L5 <L0 <L
If 6 is satisfied, only the voice of "I will soon turn left at the intersection **" will be output only at the point.

As described above, in this embodiment, route guidance information is created when the vehicle reaches a predetermined position on the guidance route,
By comparing the guidance level of each clause of the created route guidance information with the voice guidance level set by the driver, only the clauses higher than the voice guidance level are output as voice, so the driver feels insufficient or excessive. Never feel.

Second Embodiment FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the configuration of this embodiment. In the first embodiment described above, the driver sets the guidance voice level (threshold level) using the input device 19,
In this embodiment, the device automatically sets the threshold level according to the traveling information. Therefore, in this embodiment,
Instead of the input device 19, a travel information database 16 that stores travel information is provided.

The operation will be described in detail below with reference to the functional block diagram of the processing apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 6 and the processing flowchart shown in FIG. The traveling information collecting means 11k in the processing device 11 determines the road / intersection currently traveling during non-route guidance traveling, and determines the traveling node / link /
The traveling information database 1 is collected by using the traveling information database changing means 11j by collecting traveling information such as date and the number of times of traveling.
Store in 6. In addition, during the route guidance traveling, in addition to these traveling information, traveling information such as deviation from the route is collected and stored in the traveling database 16. Specifically, S20 of FIG.
The processes of 1 to S209 are performed. That is, the current position
The traveling direction calculation means 11a calculates the current traveling link / traveling direction (S201). Next, the next passage node is calculated (S202), and it is determined whether the next passage node has been passed (S203). When the vehicle passes the next passage node, the current traveling link is further calculated (S204), and it is determined whether or not the vehicle is connected to the previous passage node (S205).
When connected, the passed node, the approach link, and the exit link are stored in the travel information database 16 as new travel information. Then, it is determined whether or not the route guidance is currently being performed (S207), and when it is determined that the route guidance is being performed and the user has left the guidance route, the departure information is stored in the travel information database 16. Whether or not the vehicle has left is determined by whether or not the node on the guide route, the node that has passed through the link, and the link match.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the format of the travel information database 16 collected in this way.
Note that FIG. 8A shows a node (intersection), a link (road), a guide route (broken line), and an actual travel route (solid line). As the travel information, the two-dimensional mesh number on the map data, the node number, the entry link number, the exit link number, the guide content, the number of times of travel, the latest travel date, the number of departures from the route, and the latest departure date are set. Will be updated. For example, while the vehicle is traveling on route guidance, the passing node number is N4, the entry link number is L6, the exit link number is L8, and the guidance content is straight, the exit link is shown in FIG.
If L9 as in (A), it is determined that the vehicle has left the guide route, the number of times of route departure is incremented by 1, and the latest departure date is updated.

When the traveling information is stored in the traveling information database 16 in this manner, the voice guidance level (threshold level) is automatically set next. First, the guide route acquisition unit 11d acquires the guide route as in the first embodiment and outputs it to the route guide unit 11b (S210). Then, the current traveling link and the heading are calculated based on the map database 15 (S211), and the route guide means 11b determines whether or not the vehicle is traveling along the guide route (S21).
2). When the vehicle is traveling along the guide route, the traveling information database acquisition unit 11m acquires the traveling information regarding the guiding node / link (S213), updates the guiding node / link traveling information to the latest one, and outputs the voice. The guidance level calculation means 11n calculates the voice guidance level based on the traveling information (S215). The voice guidance level is α,
When β and γ are predetermined weighting factors, C is the guide content in the traveling information, R is the number of times of traveling, and O is the number of times of departure from the route, voice guidance level = α · C + β · R + γ · O. In the following, as in the first embodiment, the voice guidance level and the guidance level for each clause are compared, and only the clauses equal to or higher than the voice guidance level are output as voice. By setting the voice guidance level according to the traveling information, the voice guidance level is set to be relatively high (upward) on a route where the number of times of travel is large, and it becomes difficult for the guidance voice to be output.
When the number of departures from the route is large, the voice guidance level is set relatively low (downward), and the guidance voice is easily output. In addition, the number R of times of travel is corrected by R = δ · R when the current date of travel and the latest date of travel are more than a predetermined number of days apart. If is more than a predetermined number of days apart, it is corrected by O = ε · O. This is based on the fact that if the latest travel date or the latest departure date is long before, the driver's memory is weakened and it is not very helpful. Note that δ and ε are predetermined weighting factors.

As described above, in this embodiment, the voice guidance level (threshold level) is automatically set according to the past traveling information such as the number of times of traveling and the number of departures from the route, so that the driver can set the threshold level himself. There is no need to set, and voice guidance can be provided that matches the driver.

Third Embodiment In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the driver corrects the voice guidance level (threshold level), and in the second embodiment, the voice guidance level is automatically calculated from the traveling information. However, the third embodiment deals with the case where the driver can further correct and optimize the voice guidance level automatically calculated from the traveling information. FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the configuration of this embodiment. In addition to the configuration of the second embodiment, a driver-operable input device 19 is further provided.

The operation will be described in detail below with reference to the functional block diagram of the processing apparatus of FIG. 10 and the processing flowchart of FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the driver has input the voice guidance level from the input device 19 (S301). When the voice guidance level is not input, the travel information acquisition database acquisition unit 11m acquires travel information such as the number of times of travel and the number of departures stored in the travel information database 16 as in the second embodiment described above (S302). The voice guidance level calculation means 11n calculates the voice guidance level using the voice guidance level calculation coefficients α, β, γ (S303, S30).
4). On the other hand, when the driver inputs the voice guidance level using the input device 19, the voice guidance level input acquisition means 11i outputs the inputted voice guidance level to the voice guidance level calculation means 11n. Voice guidance level calculation means 11
In n, the difference between the voice guidance level calculated from the traveling information and the voice guidance level input by the driver is calculated and stored in the traveling information database 16 as a level difference (S30).
5). Then, in order to analyze what factor of this level difference is caused by the travel information, the travel information is acquired and the voice guidance level calculation weighting coefficient acquisition means 1 is acquired.
The voice guidance level calculation coefficient (α, β, γ in the second embodiment) is obtained by 1p (S306, S307), and it is determined whether the level difference and the guidance content in the travel information have a correlation (S308). . Since the level difference is stored in the travel information database as described above, it is possible to know what kind of guidance content these level differences have. As a result, for example, when there is a large level difference when the guidance content is “turn right”, it is determined that there is a correlation between the level difference and the guidance content, and the voice guidance level calculation weighting coefficient changing means 11
q is adjusted so that the absolute value of the weight α of the guidance content coefficient becomes large (S309). As a result, the guidance content has a greater influence when calculating the voice guidance level.
On the other hand, if there is a level difference regardless of the guidance content, it is determined that there is no correlation between the level difference and the guidance content, and the absolute value of the weight α of the guidance content coefficient is adjusted to be small (S310). ).

After the weight adjustment of the guide content is completed, it is next determined whether or not there is a correlation between the level difference and the number of times of travel (S31).
1). This determination is also performed by searching the travel information database. For example, when there is a level difference in a link with a large number of times of travel, it is determined that there is a correlation, and the voice guidance level calculation weighting factor changing means 11q causes the number of travels coefficient. Is adjusted so that the absolute value of the weight β is increased (S31).
2). If there is a level difference regardless of the number of times of running, it is determined that there is no correlation, and the absolute value of the weight β of the number of running times is adjusted to be small (S313).

After the weight adjustment of the number of times of travel is completed, it is next determined whether or not there is a correlation between the level difference and the number of times of departure from the route (S3).
14). This determination is also performed by searching the travel information database. For example, if there is a level difference when the number of times of departure from the route is large, it is determined that there is a correlation, and the voice guidance level calculation weighting coefficient changing means 11q causes the departure from the route. Adjustment is made so that the absolute value of the weight γ of the frequency coefficient becomes large (S
315). If there is a level difference regardless of the number of times of departure from the route, it is determined that there is no correlation, and the absolute value of the weight γ of the number of times of departure from the route is adjusted to be small (S31).
6).

In this way, the guide contents of the traveling information,
After adjusting the weighting coefficient according to the presence or absence of the correlation between the number of times of running and the number of departure from the route and the level difference, the weighting coefficient α after the adjustment,
β and γ are stored in the RAM 14 as new weighting factors (S317), and the voice guidance level is automatically calculated (S3).
18). In the following, similar to the first or second embodiment, the route guidance information is created when the vehicle reaches a predetermined position on the guidance route, and the guidance level and driving of each clause of the created route guidance information. By comparing with the voice guidance level set by the person, only the clauses equal to or higher than the voice guidance level are output as voice.

According to the present embodiment, when the driver corrects the voice guidance level automatically set according to the traveling information, it is determined which factor of the traveling information causes the correction. Since the weighting factor of the factor is changed,
It is possible to obtain the optimum voice guidance level according to the driver's request.

Fourth Embodiment In each of the above-described embodiments , the name of a feature such as a convenience store, a police station, or an overpass at an intersection can be used as the route guidance information. For example, when there is an overpass, a police station, and a convenience store (convenience store) at an intersection on the route as shown in FIG. 12 (A), these facility names are stored in advance in the map database 15 and the guidance voice database 16. It is also possible to create the route guidance information as shown in the audio chart 12B. For example, "about *
* M ahead, turn right at the ** intersection where there is a convenience store in front of the crossroads. ”,“ About ** m ahead, turn right at the ** intersection where the police station is located at the far right of the crossroad. ”,“ About ** m
At the beginning, please proceed to the road between the convenience store and the police station at the ** intersection. , Etc. Note that different speech levels can be added in advance to the clauses including these facility names.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the route guidance is performed by voice is explained as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where the guidance sentence is displayed on the screen and the route guidance is performed.

Further, the driving support apparatus of the present invention measures the inter-vehicle distance to the preceding vehicle, and when the host vehicle is located at a predetermined inter-vehicle distance with respect to the preceding vehicle position, gives an accelerator operation instruction or a deceleration operation instruction to the driver. It can also be applied when

[0039]

As described above, according to the driving support device of the first to eighth aspects, only the important guidance sentence or phrase having a level higher than the threshold level is output on the screen or as a voice. Since the driver is informed, the driver can surely obtain the voice guidance information without feeling a lack or an excessive feeling.

In particular, according to the driving support device of the third, sixth and seventh aspects, since the threshold level is automatically adjusted according to the traveling situation, a complicated adjusting operation becomes unnecessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the processing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of route guidance information of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the processing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a travel information format of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of the processing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of route guidance information according to the fourth embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Processing Device 12 GPS Receiver 13 ROM 14 RAM 15 Map Database (Map D / B) 16 Driving Information Database (Driving Information D / B) 17 Guidance Voice Database (guidance voice D / B) 18 Voice Generator 19 Input Device

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A driving assistance device for guiding a driver to a driving operation content, including position detecting means for detecting a position of the own vehicle, and storage means for storing guidance texts of different guidance levels. When the vehicle position reaches the point to be guided,
An output control unit that compares the guidance level with a threshold level and outputs a guidance sentence that reaches the threshold level. 2. A driving support device for informing a driver of driving contents, a position detecting means for detecting a position of the own vehicle, a storage means for storing a phrase constituting a guidance sentence, and each of the clauses. Level adding means for adding a guide level to, a guide sentence creating means for synthesizing the clauses to create a guide sentence, and when the detected vehicle position reaches a point to be guided,
A driving support device, comprising: output control means for comparing the guidance level and the threshold level of the clauses constituting the created guidance sentence and outputting only the clauses having a threshold level or higher as the guidance sentence. 3. The driving support device according to claim 1, further comprising a threshold level setting unit that automatically sets the threshold level according to past driving situations. 4. The driving support device according to claim 1, further comprising level setting means for inputting the threshold level. 5. Claim 1 or claim 2 or claim 3.
The driving support device according to claim 4, wherein the output control unit includes a route guidance unit, and an intersection on the guidance route is used as the point to be guided. 6. The driving support device according to claim 5, further comprising: an adjusting unit that adjusts the threshold level downward when the driving operation by the driver does not follow the guidance content. Support device. 7. The driving support device according to claim 5, further comprising an adjusting unit that adjusts the threshold level upward according to the number of past travels of the guidance route. 8. The driving support device according to claim 5, wherein the clause includes a facility name near the intersection.