JPH0737194A - Vehicle route guidance device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Perform voice guidance according to the configuration of the branch road. [Structure] The voice expression selection processing unit 14 includes a route memory 10
Recognize the route from the data from. When reaching the branch point, it is determined whether or not there is a road along the guide route according to the connection road number data, the connection angle data, and the connection road width data from the branch point data storage unit 16. To do. If the road is a road, the guidance is prohibited. Therefore, voice guidance suitable for the driver's feeling can be provided, and suitable route guidance can be provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle route guide device mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination, and more particularly to a device for notifying a road (guidance road) to be selected by voice at a branch point.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various devices for reducing the burden on the driver during driving have been studied and installed in vehicles. Among these, there is a route guidance device that guides a road to be traveled to by inputting a destination. In addition, this route guidance device has a function of informing the driver of a route to be selected when passing through a branch point such as an intersection, and displays the route displayed on the display and the direction to go at the intersection. Those that are guided by voice are known.

For example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-13413, at a branch point, a route to be next traveled is specified by a voice expression of eight directions (front-rear left-right, diagonal left-right, etc.) according to an angle with respect to an approach direction, and route guidance is performed. What is done is shown. According to such route guidance by voice, the driver does not need to look at the display or the like and can perform route guidance without adversely affecting the driving. Further, in this example, when the course to be advanced is close to the approach direction, it is determined that the vehicle is going straight, and the voice guidance is omitted so that unnecessary guidance is not given.

[0004]

However, in the above-described conventional route guiding device, the guide is omitted only when it is determined that the vehicle is going straight at an angle with respect to the approach direction. For example, even if you feel that you do not need guidance because of a road, there is a problem that you will be guided.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when a road is present, it is effective to provide voice guidance based on the road. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle route guidance device that can perform route guidance.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a route guidance device for a vehicle, which provides voice guidance at a branch point to guide a route to a destination. When it is determined that the guide route is a road road based on the determination means that determines whether the guide route is a road road at the branch point and the determination result of this determination means, voice guidance is provided. And a voice guidance prohibiting means for prohibiting.

[0007]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the guide route is the road, and when the guide route is the road, the voice guidance is not provided. It is possible to prevent guidance.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration, which includes a route memory 10 that stores a route to a destination and a current position calculation unit 12 that calculates the current position of a vehicle. The calculation unit 12
It is connected to the voice expression selection processing unit 14. In addition, the voice expression selection processing unit 14 is connected to the speaker 2 via the amplifier 20.
2 is connected. Furthermore, the voice expression selection processing unit 14
A branch point data storage unit 16 that stores data about each branch point and a voice data storage unit 18 that stores data about a voice expression are connected to the. In addition,
The branch point data storage unit 16 is the number of connected roads data storage unit 1
6a, a connection angle data storage unit 16b and a connection road width data storage unit 16c.

In such a device, when the route guidance is performed, the driver first inputs the data about the destination. Then, using a predetermined route search method from the data about the destination and the data about the current position (the starting point may be entered, or the current position known by the vehicle may be used as the starting point), Determine the route to your destination. Then, this route is stored in the route memory 10.
On the other hand, the current position calculation unit 12 constantly calculates the current position from data obtained by GPS (Global Positioning System) or dead reckoning which detects the current position from the running state of the vehicle. Then, as the vehicle travels, the current position calculation unit 12 sequentially updates the current position and supplies it to the voice expression selection processing unit 14. When the voice expression selection processing unit recognizes that the branch point is reached based on the data supplied from the route memory 10 and the current position calculation unit 12, the voice data storage unit 18 outputs the guidance voice data here. Selected from the expressions stored in, and supplied to the speaker 22 via the amplifier 20. Therefore, voice guidance for selecting the route stored in the route memory 10 at the branch point is performed.
Therefore, the driver can recognize the road to go next according to the guidance output from the speaker 22 for each branch point and select the road.

Then, in this embodiment, the voice expression selection processing unit 14 uses the voice data storage unit based on the data such as the number of connecting roads, the connecting angle, and the connecting road width stored in the branch point data storing unit 16. From the expressions stored in advance in 18, the expression considered to be most suitable for the road selection is selected. The characteristic of this embodiment is that
It is determined whether or not the searched route is a road at each branch point, and if it is determined that the road is a road, voice guidance is not performed. That is, when the guidance route set as a result of the search is a road along which the driver determines that “the road should proceed as it is” at each branch point, it is not necessary to guide the route by voice guidance. If route guidance is performed in such a case, the driver may instead feel that "unnecessary guidance has been given." Therefore, in the present embodiment, the road which will be described below is determined, and based on this determination, it is determined whether or not to provide route guidance.

The road / road judgment will be described below.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control of this embodiment.
First, the angle (θ) formed by the approach road and the exit road of the guidance route at the corresponding intersection is calculated (S601). This angle θ
Depending on the case, if it is 45 ° or more, 10 °
If the angle is less than 45 ° and less than 10 °, different control is performed. First, the case of θ ≧ 45 ° is determined (S602), and if θ ≧ 45 °, it is further determined whether the width of the road other than the guide route is 5.5 m or more (S603). If the width of another road is 5.5 m or more, route guidance will be given at the intersection (S604),
If it is less than 5.5 m, it is determined that the guide route is a road, and route guidance is not performed (S605).

If it is determined that θ ≧ 45 ° (S602), it is further determined whether θ ≧ 10 ° (S606). When θ ≧ 10 °, it is further determined whether or not there is a road other than the guide route within ± 60 ° with respect to the approach route of the guide route (S607). If there is no other road in this range, the driver does not judge the other road to be a guide route, and thus it is not necessary to provide route guidance (S608). If there is another road within ± 60 °, the process proceeds to step S611 described below.
If θ ≧ 10 ° is not satisfied (S606), it is determined whether or not there is another road within ± 15 ° with respect to the approaching direction of the guide route (S609). If no other road exists in this range, route guidance is not performed (S610). Also, ±
If another road exists within 15 °, the process proceeds to step S611.

In step S611, the road widths are compared. Steps S607 and S609 described above
If it is determined that there is another road, the width of the road of the guide route is compared with this other road. If the width of another road is equal to or less than the width of the escape route for route guidance, route guidance is not performed (S612). Is the width of the other roads equal?
If it is more than this, it is determined whether all the other roads are one-way exits (S613). If all the roads are one-way exits, route guidance is not performed (S614), and if not, route guidance is performed (S615).

The comparison between the guide route and the width of other roads at this time will be described in more detail. Each road is divided into eight ranks of width rank shown in FIG. The comparison of the width is performed by comparing the width ranks based on the table shown in FIG. Figure 4 shows each width rank
The width rank that is judged to be equal to or higher than the road width is shown. Specifically, in step S611, for example, the width of the escape route of the guide route is 20 m and the width rank is 3. Roads having a width less than that of the width rank 3 roads are other than the ranks 2 to 7, that is, the roads having the rank 0 or 1. Therefore, if all the other roads are less than 5.5 m (rank 1 or lower), the guide route is determined to be a road and the process proceeds to step S612, and route guidance is not provided.

As described above, in this embodiment, it is determined only whether the route to be guided is a road or a road. That is, even if there is a road that meets the condition of a road other than the guide route at a certain intersection, this road will not be examined. First, three ranges are set according to the angles formed by the approach road and the exit road of the guide route, and the angles and widths of other roads are determined according to these ranges. Since it is considered that the driver will not erroneously select the road for the guide route that the driver determines to be a road that is a normal road, the voice guidance is omitted. As a result, the driver does not feel that unnecessary guidance has been given.

As described above, in this embodiment, it is determined whether or not the guide route is a road, and the other roads are not considered to be roads. It's simple. Therefore, the processing time can be shortened.

Although the range of the angle (θ) formed by the guide path is divided into 10 ° and 45 ° in the above embodiment, the angle is not limited to this angle. Similarly, the width of the road is not limited to 5.5 m, and in consideration of the applicable vehicle type, the characteristics of the area, etc. in addition to the above angle,
It is also preferable to optimize.

[0018]

As described above, according to the route guiding apparatus of the present invention, whether or not to provide route guidance is determined depending on whether or not the guiding route is a road. In other words, when you follow a road, you can omit the guidance,
It is possible to provide route guidance that suits the driver's feeling without providing unnecessary guidance.

Further, since it is determined whether or not only the guide route is a road, it is possible to shorten the calculation time and reduce the load on the calculation processing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the control of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a road width rank.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing roads of different width ranks and width ranks judged to have a width equal to or larger than the roads.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 route memory 12 current position calculation unit 14 voice expression selection processing unit 16 branch point data storage unit 18 voice data storage unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle route guidance device that guides a route to a destination by voice guidance at a branch point, wherein a guidance route at the branch point is determined based on data on a connecting road at the branch point. A judging means for judging whether or not the road is a road, and a voice guidance prohibiting means for prohibiting voice guidance when it is judged that the guidance route is the road by the judgment result by the judging means. A route guidance device for a vehicle, comprising: