JPH11201770A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation device capable of making a guiding action reflecting the intention of a user. SOLUTION: A navigation controller 1 is constituted of a route search process section 36, an intersection guide section 46, a travel history record section 70, a travel history memory 72, a number of travel times judgment section 74 and an action request voice output section 76. The number of travel times of a road is recorded on the travel history memory 72 by the travel history record section 70. In the route guidance, the number of travel times of the road being traveled by this vehicle is judged by the number of travel times judgment section 74. If the number of travel times is small, a message for confirming the requirement and method for intersection guidance is generated by the action request voice output section 76, and it is outputted from an audio section 10 by voice. The intersection guide section 46 sets the requirement and method for intersection guidance, based on the action of a user made in response to this message or stops an intersection guiding action according to circumstances.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus for setting an optimum route connecting a departure point and a destination by searching for a route, and guiding the user to a next intersection along the route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an on-vehicle navigation device detects a current position of a vehicle, reads map data near the current position from a CD-ROM, and displays the map data on a screen. Also,
In the center of the screen, a vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is displayed, and the map data in the vicinity is scrolled according to the progress of the vehicle around the vehicle position mark so that the map information around the vehicle position can be always understood. Has become.

[0003] Most of the recent on-vehicle navigation devices are equipped with a route guidance function that enables a driver to travel to a desired destination without making a mistake on a road. According to this route guidance function, the route with the smallest cost connecting the departure point and the destination is automatically searched using the map data by performing a simulation such as the horizontal search (BFS) method or the Dijkstra method, and the search is performed. The route is stored as a guidance route. Then, when the guidance route is drawn on the map image in a different color from other roads and is drawn thicker, or displayed on the screen, or when the vehicle approaches the intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, " The driver will be guided to the destination by outputting a voice such as `` turning to '' or performing an intersection guidance such as displaying an arrow indicating the traveling direction by enlarging the guidance image of the intersection. I have.

The cost is a value obtained by multiplying a road width, a road type (such as a general road or an expressway), a right turn, a left turn, and other predetermined constants based on the distance. The degree of appropriateness is quantified. Even if there are two routes having the same distance, the cost differs depending on whether the driver specifies whether to use the expressway, whether to give priority to time or distance, and the like.

[0005]

By the way, roads set as a guide route may include not only roads that have traveled for the first time, but also roads that have traveled several times in the past. On such roads that have been run several times in the past, the driver often does not need intersection guidance, and may feel troubled by being guided by voice or images. In particular, when listening to music such as a CD, unnecessary guidance voices may interfere with the listening of music, or, for example, a navigation device and a CD player may share a display device. If you don't need the intersection guidance screen,
Inconveniences may occur, such as hindering the display of information about CD music such as performance time on the screen.

In order to avoid such inconvenience,
For example, it is conceivable to take measures such as performing intersection guidance only when traveling on a road where the number of times of travel in the past is less than a predetermined number of times. However, even on a road that is traveling for the first time, for example, when traveling on a main road or the like where guide signs for destination display are provided, the driver often does not need intersection guidance, but in this case, Unnecessary intersection guidance is performed, and the above-described inconvenience may occur. After all, since it is up to the user to determine whether or not intersection guidance is necessary, it is necessary to reflect the user's intention and provide intersection guidance only when necessary. desirable.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device capable of performing a guiding operation reflecting a user's will.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a navigation device according to the present invention determines the number of travels on a road on which a vehicle travels and determines a guidance operation when the number of travels is less than a predetermined number. After outputting the confirmation message, the guidance operation is restricted according to a predetermined operation performed in response to the confirmation message. Therefore, guidance operation is not always performed under certain conditions,
A guidance operation reflecting the user's will can be performed in response to the confirmation message.

In particular, as the above-mentioned guidance operation, an intersection guidance operation performed at an intersection approaching ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle along a predetermined route set by the route search is suitable. It is preferable to include at least one of the necessity and the method of the guiding operation. Intersection guidance along the searched route is usually convenient and effective on roads with few travels, but it is not always necessary on arterial roads and highways, etc., and can be selected arbitrarily by the user's will It is more convenient to use it. In addition, it is possible to reflect the user's intention more accurately by making it possible to select whether or not to perform the guidance operation in response to the confirmation message (necessary / unnecessary) and how to perform it (method). it can.

Preferably, the above-mentioned confirmation message is output by voice. A confirmation message will be output when entering a road with a small number of travels from a road with a large number of travels, but since the guidance operation has not been performed until then, if the confirmation message is performed only by image display, Sometimes it is difficult to understand. On the other hand, by outputting a voice confirmation message,
The content can be reliably transmitted to the user.

It is preferable that the above-mentioned confirmation message is output at a predetermined interval, for example, at a fixed time interval or a fixed distance interval. After the necessity and method of guidance operation are set once by the user, if the running road or its surroundings change, and you want to restart the guidance operation that was stopped, or conversely, interrupt the guidance operation that is currently being performed Although it may be desirable to output the confirmation message at a predetermined interval, the chances of changing various settings related to the guidance operation increase, so that the intention of the user can be easily reflected.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A navigation device to which the present invention is applied does not provide intersection guidance on a road that has traveled a predetermined number of times or more during a route guidance operation, and does not drive on a road that has traveled less than a predetermined number of times. According to the choice of the person
It is characterized by providing intersection guidance as needed. Hereinafter, a navigation device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Configuration of Navigation Apparatus FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device shown in FIG. 1 includes a navigation controller 1 for controlling the entire system, a CD-ROM 2 for recording various map data necessary for map display, route search, and the like.
A disk reading device 3 for reading map data recorded in the D-ROM 2, a remote control (remote control) unit 4 as an operation unit for a driver or a passenger to input various instructions, and a vehicle position and vehicle direction. A GPS receiver 5 and an autonomous navigation sensor 6 for detection, a display device 9 for displaying a map image and a guidance route superimposed on the map image, a voice for intersection guidance, and a selection of whether or not to perform intersection guidance by voice or the like. And an audio unit 10 for outputting a requested voice.

The above-mentioned disk reading device 3 can be loaded with one or a plurality of CD-ROMs 2 and any one of the CD-ROMs 2 is controlled by the navigation controller 1.
-Read map data from the ROM 2. The remote control unit 4 includes a search key for giving a route search instruction,
Route guidance mode key used for setting the route guidance mode, destination input key, left / right / up / down cursor keys, map reduction /
Various operation keys such as an enlargement key, a setting key for fixing the item at the cursor position on the display screen, and an intersection guidance selection key for selecting whether or not the intersection guidance is required by voice and image are provided. An infrared signal according to the state is transmitted to the navigation controller 1.

The GPS receiver 5 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, performs three-dimensional positioning processing or two-dimensional positioning processing, and calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle (the vehicle direction is currently Is calculated based on the own vehicle position and the own vehicle position one sampling time ΔT before), and these are output together with the positioning time. The autonomous navigation sensor 6 includes an angle sensor 12 such as a vibrating gyroscope that detects the vehicle rotation angle as a relative bearing, and a distance sensor 14 that outputs one pulse every predetermined traveling distance. Detect position and orientation.

The display device 9 displays map information around the own vehicle together with a vehicle position mark, a departure point mark, a destination mark, etc., based on the image data output from the navigation controller 1, or guides the user on this map. Or show directions.

The audio section 10 outputs, based on the voice data output from the navigation controller 1, voice for intersection guidance and voice for requesting selection of whether or not to perform intersection guidance by voice or image.

(2) Details of Map Data Next, details of the map data recorded on the CD-ROM 2 will be described. The map data recorded on the CD-ROM 2 is in units of figures separated by a predetermined longitude and latitude, and the map data of each figure can be specified and read by specifying a figure number. Becomes The map data for each map includes a drawing unit composed of various data necessary for map display, a road unit composed of data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, and route guidance, and an intersection. An intersection unit consisting of detailed data of the intersection is included. Further, the above-described drawing unit includes data of a background layer necessary for displaying a building or a river, and data of a character layer necessary for displaying a municipal name, a road name, and the like.

In the above-mentioned road unit, a line connecting an intersection on a road to another adjacent intersection is called a link, and a point connecting two or more links is called a node. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the above-described road unit. As shown in the figure, the road unit has a unit header for identifying a road unit, a connection node table storing detailed data of all nodes, and a node table indicating a storage position of the connection node table. And a link table storing detailed data of a link specified by two adjacent nodes.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the detailed contents of various tables included in the road unit. As shown in FIG. 3A, the node table includes node records # 0, # 1,... Corresponding to all the nodes included in the target leaf.
Is stored. Each node record is #
Node numbers are given in order from 0, and indicate the storage position of the connection node table corresponding to each node.

FIG. 3B shows the connection node table.
For each of the existing nodes, a. Normalized longitude / latitude, b. "Node attribute flag" including an intersection node flag indicating whether or not this node is an intersection node, an adjacent node flag indicating whether or not this node is a node at a boundary with another figure, c. "The number of connected nodes" indicating the number of nodes forming the other end of each link when there is a link having this node as one end of the link; d. No right turn or U
"Number of traffic restrictions" that are present if there are traffic restrictions such as turn prohibition, e. Connection node records for the number of links indicating the link number of each link having this node at one end; f. A traffic regulation record indicating the specific content of the traffic regulation corresponding to the number of the traffic regulations, if any, g. If this node is a node at a boundary with another figure leaf, an “adjacent node record” indicating the position of the connection node table of the corresponding node of the neighboring figure leaf, h. If this node is an intersection node, the storage location and size of the corresponding intersection record in the intersection unit are included.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, the link table includes a plurality of link records in the order of link numbers corresponding to all the links included in the target figure. Each of these link records: a. A link ID, which is a code assigned to each link mainly for displaying a search route, b. Node number 1 and node number 2 identifying the two nodes located at both ends of the link; c. Link distance, d. Cost for determining the time required for traveling on this link, e. A road attribute flag associated with this link, f. A road type flag indicating the type of road and the width of the road such as whether the actual road corresponding to this link is an expressway or a general road, g. The route number assigned to the road corresponding to this link is included.

(3) Detailed Configuration and Operation of Navigation Controller Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The navigation controller 1 includes a map buffer 16 for displaying a predetermined map on the display device 9 based on the map data read from the CD-ROM 2, a map reading control unit 18, a map drawing unit 20, a VRAM 22, a reading control unit 24, Image synthesis unit 26
A data storage unit 30, a vehicle position / azimuth calculation unit 32 for performing calculation of the vehicle position, map matching processing, route search processing, and route guidance processing and displaying the results.
A map matching processing unit 34, a route search processing unit 36, a guidance route memory 38, a route search memory 40, a guidance route drawing unit 42, a mark image generation unit 44, an intersection guidance unit 46,
A remote control unit 60 for displaying various operation screens to the user and transmitting operation instructions from the remote control unit 4 to the respective units, a cursor position calculation unit 62, an operation screen generation unit 64, and a link that the vehicle has traveled in the past. History recording unit 70 for recording the information, a traveling history memory 72, and a traveling number determination for determining whether or not the link on which the vehicle is currently traveling is a link that has traveled a predetermined number of times in the past. And an operation request audio output unit 76 that outputs audio data for requesting selection of an intersection guidance method.

The map buffer 16 includes the disk reading device 3
Is for temporarily storing the map data read from the CD-ROM 2 by the above method. Map reading control unit 1
When the center position of the screen is calculated by the control unit 8, a command to read map data in a predetermined range including the center position of the screen is sent from the map reading control unit 18 to the disk reading device 3, and the map data necessary for displaying the map is stored on the CD. Read out from the ROM 2 and stored in the map buffer 16; For example, map data corresponding to four sheets including the screen center position is read out and stored in the map buffer 16.

The map drawing section 20 creates a map image necessary for display based on the drawing units included in the map data of the four figures stored in the map buffer 16. The created map image data is stored in the VRAM 22, and the read control unit 24 reads one screen of map image data. The image synthesizing unit 26 adds the mark image generating unit 44, the intersection guidance unit 46,
Each image data output from each of the operation screen generating units 64 is superimposed to perform image synthesis, and the synthesized image is displayed on the screen of the display device 9.

The data storage unit 30 sequentially stores positioning position (own vehicle position) data output from the GPS receiver 5. Further, the vehicle position / direction calculation unit 32 calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle from the relative position and direction of the vehicle output from the autonomous navigation sensor 6. The map matching processing unit 34 uses the GP stored in the data storage unit 30
It is determined whether or not the own vehicle position by the S receiver 5 or the own vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position / azimuth calculation unit 32 exists on the road in the map data. The process of correcting the own vehicle position is performed. As typical methods of map matching, pattern matching and projection are known.

When the destination input key is pressed after the cursor is moved to a specific location on the map by operating the cursor keys of the remote control unit 4, the route search processing unit 36
At this time, the cursor position calculated by the cursor position calculator 62 is set as the destination of the route search. The set destination data is stored in the guidance route memory 38.
When the search key of the remote control unit 4 is pressed, the route search processing unit 36 sets the own vehicle position corrected by the map matching processing unit 34 as a departure point, stores the vehicle position in the guidance route memory 38, and A search is made for a traveling route connecting the departure point and the destination stored in the guidance route memory 38 under predetermined conditions. For example, a guidance route that minimizes the cost under various conditions such as the shortest time, the shortest distance, and the priority on general roads is set. As a typical method of the route search, the Dijkstra method and the horizontal search method are known.
The guidance route set by the route search processing unit 36 in this way is recorded in the guidance route memory 38.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of guidance route data stored in the guidance route memory 38. As shown in the figure, the data of the guide route set by the route search processing unit 36 is a set of nodes NS, N from the departure point to the destination.
, ND, and the guidance route memory 38
Is stored in

The route search memory 40 stores the data of the intersection network list necessary for the route search. The stored data is read out by the above-described route search processing unit 36, and the predetermined route search processing is performed. Is performed.

The guidance route drawing unit 42 stores the guidance route memory 3
8 from the guidance route data recorded at that time
Those included in the map area drawn on the RAM 22 are selected, and a guidance route which is superimposed on a map image with a predetermined color and emphasized thickly is drawn. The mark image generating unit 44 generates a vehicle position mark at the position of the own vehicle after the map matching processing, or generates a cursor mark having a predetermined shape.

The intersection guide section 46 provides guidance at the intersection where the vehicle is approaching by means of a display image and voice, and includes a remote control section 60 and a running number determination section 74 described later.
It is determined whether or not to provide guidance at an intersection in accordance with an instruction from the vehicle. If guidance is provided, when the vehicle approaches within a predetermined distance from the intersection in front of the guidance route, a guide map of the approaching intersection ( (Enlarged intersection, destination, direction arrow)
Is displayed on the screen of the display device 9 while being superimposed on the display image of the guide route, and the traveling direction is guided by audio through the audio unit 10.

The traveling history recording unit 70 identifies the link on which the vehicle is currently traveling based on the corrected vehicle position output from the map matching processing unit 34, and creates or updates traveling history data to travel. It is stored in the history memory 72.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of travel history data stored in the travel history memory 72. As shown in the figure, the travel history data is composed of a “link ID” for identifying each link and a “run count” indicating the number of times the link has traveled. This travel history data is created or updated every time the vehicle travels on the link. For a link that has traveled once, travel history data is created, and for the second and subsequent travels, the “number of travels” is counted up and updated.

The traveling number determination unit 74 identifies the link on which the vehicle is currently traveling based on the corrected vehicle position output from the map matching processing unit 34, and stores the traveling history memory 7
2 is read to determine the number of times the current traveling link has traveled in the past, and in accordance with the determination result, instructs the intersection guidance unit 46 not to perform intersection guidance. Or, it instructs the operation request sound output unit 76 to output a sound requesting selection of an intersection guidance method. The operation request audio output unit 76
In accordance with the instruction from the running frequency determination unit 74, the audio unit
And outputs a voice requesting the user to select an intersection guidance method.

The above-described route search processing unit 36, guidance route memory 38, and route search memory 40 serve as route search means, and the intersection guidance unit 46 serves as guidance restriction means and intersection guidance means.
The travel history memory 72 is used as the travel history storage unit, the travel number determination unit 74 is used as the travel number determination unit, and the operation request voice output unit 7 is used.
6 respectively correspond to the message output means.

(4) Operation of Navigation Apparatus The entire navigation apparatus and the navigation controller 1 have the above-described configuration. Next, an operation procedure of intersection guidance performed at the time of route guidance will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the intersection guidance performed in the navigation device of this embodiment. First, the route guidance mode key of the remote control unit 4 is pressed to start a predetermined route guidance operation (step 101). For example, each node on the guidance route stored in the guidance route memory 38 is read by the guidance route drawing unit 42, and among the links connecting these nodes,
At that time, a guidance route that is included in the map area drawn in the VRAM 22 is selected, and a guidance route that is emphasized thick is superimposed on a map image corresponding to each link.

In parallel with such a display operation of the guidance route, the traveling number determination section 74 performs the map matching processing section 3
The link that the vehicle is currently traveling is specified based on the corrected vehicle position output from the vehicle 4 (step 102), and the traveling history data shown in FIG. It is determined whether the traveling link has traveled a predetermined number of times in the past (step 103). If there is no traveling history data corresponding to the currently traveling link, it is determined that the link is the link traveling for the first time.

If the number of times of travel is equal to or more than a predetermined number (for example, five or more), the number-of-times-of-travel determination section 74 determines whether the
6, an instruction not to perform the intersection guidance is issued, and the intersection guidance unit 46 stops the intersection guidance operation according to the instruction (step 104). That is, even if the own vehicle approaches within a predetermined distance from the intersection in front of the guidance route, the intersection guide unit 46 does not display the image of the guide map of the approaching intersection or provide guidance in the traveling direction by voice. After issuing an instruction to the intersection guide unit 46, the traveling number determination unit 74 specifies again the link corresponding to the current position of the own vehicle (step 1).
02).

If the number of runs of the currently running link is less than a predetermined number of times (less than 5 times), the number-of-times-of-travel determination section 74
Issues an instruction to send a message to the operation request audio output unit 76, and the operation request audio output unit 76 prompts the user to determine whether or not intersection guidance is required (by performing the intersection guidance by voice or by displaying an image). (Step 105). For example, a confirmation message such as "We will guide you through the route you are going through for the first time. If you want to give guidance only by voice, just press the A button if you want to provide guidance by voice and image, press the B button if you do not need guidance." Is sent.

The intersection guide section 46 includes a traveling number determination section 74.
Monitors the timing at which an instruction to send a message to the operation request audio output unit 76 is issued, and determines whether a predetermined time (for example, 20 seconds) has elapsed from the instruction to send the message (step 106). If the predetermined time has not elapsed since the message transmission instruction, the intersection guidance unit 46
Determines whether the user has selected the intersection guidance by voice and image (step 107). Specifically, when the user operates the remote control unit 4, an operation instruction is transmitted through the remote control unit 60, and the intersection guide unit 46 monitors the operation instruction and presses the A button of the remote control unit 4. It is determined whether or not there is an intersection guidance instruction by voice and image by checking whether or not the intersection guidance instruction is given.

When the user selects the intersection guidance by voice and image, the intersection guidance unit 46 sets the subsequent intersection guidance method to the guidance mode by voice and image (step 108).

Also, the intersection guide unit 46 determines whether or not the stop of the intersection guide is selected within a predetermined time after the message transmission instruction (step 109). Specifically, the intersection guidance unit 46 monitors the operation instruction transmitted through the remote control unit 60 and checks whether or not the B button of the remote control unit 4 has been pressed, thereby determining whether there is an instruction to stop the intersection guidance. judge.

If the user selects to stop the intersection guidance, the intersection guidance unit 46 sets the subsequent intersection guidance method to the guidance suspension mode (step 110). If the stop of the intersection guidance is not selected, the intersection guidance unit 46 again determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the message transmission instruction (step 106).

When a predetermined time has elapsed from the message transmission instruction (YES at step 106), the intersection guidance section 46 sets the subsequent intersection guidance method to a guidance mode using only voice (step 111).

Steps 108, 110, 111 described above
After the guidance mode for the intersection guidance method is set in any one of the above, the intersection guidance unit 46 sets a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes longer than the predetermined time to be determined in step 106) from the message transmission instruction.
Minute) is monitored (step 112). If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the intersection guide unit 46 determines whether or not the vehicle has approached within a predetermined distance from the intersection in front of the guidance route (step 113). Intersection guidance is performed by an intersection guidance method corresponding to the guidance mode (step 114). After the end of the intersection guidance or when the vehicle is not approaching within a predetermined distance from the intersection (negative determination in step 113), it is monitored again whether a predetermined time has elapsed from the message transmission (step 1).
12).

If a predetermined time has elapsed since the message transmission instruction (a positive determination is made in step 112), the number-of-times determination section 74 determines again the link corresponding to the current position of the own vehicle after step 102. Repeat the process.

As described above, the traveling history of the road is stored in the traveling history memory 72, and the traveling frequency determining unit 74 determines the traveling frequency of the road on which the vehicle is traveling. At this time, a message voice requesting confirmation from the user about the necessity and method of the intersection guidance is output before performing the intersection guidance immediately. The user performs a predetermined operation instructed by the message voice (in the above-described embodiment, presses the A button or the B button without performing any operation) to stop the intersection guidance or output a voice. It is possible to specify whether to use the image display together with the image display, and it is possible to select the necessity of the intersection guidance and the method as needed. Therefore, it is possible to avoid inconveniences such as unnecessary reproduction of the sound of the intersection guidance, such as the sound output of the CD broadcast and the radio broadcast, and the display of the operation screen of the CD player or the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the necessity of the intersection guidance and the method are checked at regular intervals (for example, every 10 minutes in the determination of step 112 shown in FIG. 6) while traveling on a road with a small number of travels. However, the confirmation may be made every time the vehicle travels a certain distance (for example, every 5 km). In this case, the content of step 112 shown in FIG. 6 may be replaced with “determination processing as to whether or not the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance from the point of the message transmission instruction”.

In the above-described embodiment, the travel history data is constituted by the link and the number of travels of the link. However, the travel history data is constituted by the start and end nodes of the link and the number of travels between these nodes. Is also good.

In the above-described embodiment, the message voice is output from the operation request voice output unit 76 in order to request the user to select the intersection guidance method. However, the selection of the intersection guidance method is performed by image display. A request may be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the link corresponding to the current travel position is specified, and when the number of runs of the specified link is less than a predetermined number, the necessity of the intersection guidance and the method are confirmed. However, instead of the link currently running, the number of times of travel of the next scheduled link or the like may be used. Further, the predetermined number of times to be determined may be one. That is, when traveling on a link (road) that has never traveled in the past, the necessity and method of intersection guidance may be confirmed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which the navigation device is used to provide the intersection guidance. However, the display device 9 is commonly used as a display unit of another in-vehicle device such as a CD player or a television tuner. It may be. In this case, for example, during normal driving, the operation screen of the CD player is displayed, and the navigation device is operated in the background. When the vehicle travels on a road with a small number of travels, a voice message is output to the user to confirm the necessity and method of intersection guidance, and if intersection guidance by image display is selected, a predetermined timing is displayed. An intersection guidance image is displayed on the operation screen of the CD player. In addition, when other than that (when the intersection guidance is not performed or the intersection guidance is performed by voice) is selected, the operation screen display of the CD player is continued. Therefore, when intersection guidance is unnecessary even while traveling on a road with a small number of travels, it is possible to continue displaying other images and outputting audio without displaying a guidance image or outputting guidance voice. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation such as an operation screen display or music listening being suddenly interrupted.

In the above-described embodiment, if the user does not press the A button or the B button within a predetermined time after outputting a message for confirming the necessity and method of the intersection guidance, the intersection guidance by voice is performed. However, if the user does not perform any operation, it is determined that it is instructed not to perform intersection guidance, or it is assumed that intersection guidance using images and sounds has been instructed. You may make it determine. In addition, intersection guidance using only an image may be included as one of the options. In particular, by selecting the intersection guidance based on only this image, even during music performance by the CD player or reception of the program by the radio tuner, the intersection guidance is performed without interrupting the music performance and the like.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the necessity of the intersection guidance is confirmed at every elapse of a predetermined time. However, this confirmation operation is performed by the user using a predetermined operation key of the remote control unit 4 at an arbitrary timing. It may be performed when is pressed. In addition, the necessity and method of the intersection guidance are specified in advance, and when the vehicle enters the road where the number of times of travel is less than the predetermined number of times, the intersection guidance in the guidance mode already set is performed without performing the confirmation operation each time. It may be performed.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where both the necessity and the method of the intersection guidance can be selected has been described. However, only one of them may be selected. For example, a message for confirming whether or not to provide an intersection guidance may be output, and the user may operate a predetermined key in response to the message to provide an intersection guidance in a preset guidance mode. .

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of travels on the road on which the vehicle travels is determined, and if the number of travels is less than the predetermined number, a confirmation message relating to the guidance operation is output. Since the guidance operation is restricted according to a predetermined operation performed in response to the message, the guidance operation is not always performed under a certain condition, but the guidance operation reflecting the user's will in response to the confirmation message. It can be performed.

In particular, intersection guidance along a searched route is usually convenient and effective on a road where the number of travels is small, but is not always necessary on an arterial road or an expressway. Since it is more convenient to be able to select arbitrarily according to the will, it is possible to select whether or not to perform the guidance operation in response to the confirmation message (necessary / unnecessary), and if so, how to perform it (method). It can reflect the user's will more accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an entire configuration of a road unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing detailed contents of various tables included in a road unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a guidance route memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in a travel history memory.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of intersection guidance performed in the navigation device shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation controller 16 Map buffer 34 Map matching processing part 36 Route search processing part 38 Guidance route memory 40 Route search memory 46 Intersection guidance part 60 Remote control part 70 Travel history recording part 72 Travel history memory 74 Travel number judgment part 76 Operation request voice Output section

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A travel history storage means for storing a travel history of a vehicle, and a travel number determination means for determining a travel number of a road on which the vehicle travels based on the travel history stored in the travel history storage means. A message output unit that outputs a confirmation message related to a guidance operation when the number of travels determined by the number of travels determination unit is less than a predetermined number of times; and a predetermined determination that is made in response to the confirmation message output by the message output unit. And a guidance restricting means for restricting a guidance operation in accordance with the operation of the navigation device. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising: a route search unit that searches for a predetermined route connecting the departure place and the destination; and a forward approaching vehicle in a traveling direction along the route searched by the route search unit. An intersection guidance unit that performs an intersection guidance operation for an inside intersection. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the confirmation message output by the message output means includes a content for confirming at least one of a necessity of a guidance operation and a method. Navigation device. 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the message output unit outputs the confirmation message by voice. 5. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the message output unit outputs the confirmation message at a predetermined interval.