JP3486926B2 - Map display device for vehicles - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map for a vehicle which assists a driving operation by superimposing a map around the own vehicle, a current position and a traveling direction of the own vehicle on a screen, and showing them to a passenger. Regarding display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, on a display screen such as a CRT in an instrument panel of a vehicle, a road map in the vicinity of the vehicle and a position and a traveling direction of the vehicle are superimposed and displayed on the map to assist a driver's operation. A map display device for vehicles has been developed and put into practical use. Since this device can estimate the position of the own vehicle from the map drawn on the conventional paper and can confirm the position of the own vehicle on the map, compared to the method of searching the route to drive. , That can easily find a path.

In such a device, it is desirable that the upper side of the display screen is the traveling direction. This is because a passenger such as a driver recognizes the traveling direction above the display as is the case with a road display board and the like.

Therefore, when the traveling direction changes, the entire map needs to be rotated so that the traveling direction coincides with the upper part of the screen. For example, when turning right at a crossing or the like, it is necessary to rotate the map counterclockwise by 90 °. Therefore, it is necessary to rotate and display the displayed map every time the course is changed.

[0005]

However, if the displayed map rotates every time the traveling direction changes, when the passenger looks at the display screen, the map will rotate from the previous display, There are cases where the positional relationship cannot be understood immediately. The driver operates the vehicle based on the map before turning to select the target road, and after entering the target road, confirms again whether the traveling direction of the own vehicle is correct by the map on the display screen. At this time, if the orientation of the map has changed before and after the course change, the driver recalls the map before the course change,
Imagine how this would turn into the map that is currently displayed and then determine if the path is correct. That is, when the course change is large, or when the course change is frequently performed, the driver cannot instantly grasp the relationship between the position and the traveling direction of the own vehicle and the displayed map. For this reason, there is a problem that the operation of the own vehicle may not be determined with sufficient margin.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and displays the rotation angle of the map and the vehicle displayed according to the angle between the upper direction of the display screen and the traveling direction.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular map display device that is gradually changed and has a good visibility with no discomfort.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a vehicle map display device according to the present invention has a vehicle surroundings.
A map of the side, the current position of the vehicle and the traveling direction are displayed in a superimposed manner,
Make sure that the map and
And a map display device for vehicles that rotates the display of the vehicle
The progress of the display screen upward direction and the traveling direction
If the corner is within the specified area, the map and
The display of the vehicle is gradually rotating.

Further, the predetermined area is arbitrarily defined.
Within a certain angle range, the advance angle is within the predetermined range.
If it exceeds the above, display the map and the vehicle
It can be a device that rotates at a time to a predetermined area.
Wear.

Further , the predetermined area is arbitrarily defined.
In a certain angle range, the traveling angle is larger than the predetermined area.
If it is smaller, display the map and the vehicle
Rotate at once to match the above display screen direction
It can be a device.

Further , another vehicle map display according to the present invention
The device is a map around the vehicle, the current position of the vehicle, and how to proceed.
The direction is superimposed and the upper direction of the display screen matches the traveling direction.
Vehicle site to rotate the map and display of own vehicle like
In the diagram display device, the display screen upper direction and the traveling direction
According to the angle of travel,
I am trying to change the rotation angle.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention has the structure as described above, progress
If corners of the predetermined area, the display of MAP and the vehicle is proceeding
Gradually rotate in the direction in which the line direction is the upper direction of the screen. Well
If the traveling angle exceeds the predetermined area, the traveling angle is
The map and the vehicle display should be aligned so that
Rotate every time. Further, the traveling angle is smaller than the predetermined area.
The angle of travel to match the upper direction
Then, the map and the vehicle display rotate at the same time. Also, with a map
When the display of your vehicle rotates,
Rotate at a turning angle.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a vehicle map display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the apparatus of this embodiment. The own vehicle position / azimuth detection unit 10 is configured by a global positioning system (hereinafter referred to as GPS) or an inertial navigation device that identifies the position of the own vehicle by the radio waves received from artificial satellites, and the position of the own vehicle on the ground surface. And the direction of travel is calculated. Further, the map information storage unit 12 stores the map information in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and the display control unit 14 calls the map information in the vicinity of the own vehicle, and the called map information indicates the position of the own vehicle. The traveling direction is superimposed and displayed on the display unit 16. Such a configuration is a general configuration of a map information display device, and particularly in a display device for a vehicle, processing such as display control is performed so that the information on the display unit matches the traveling direction of the vehicle. There is.

The apparatus according to the present invention further includes the following parts in addition to the above-mentioned parts. The traveling angle calculation unit 18 forms an angle (traveling angle) between the upward direction of the currently displayed map and the traveling direction of the vehicle on this map.
To calculate. At this time, the traveling direction of the vehicle is obtained from the vehicle position / azimuth detecting unit 10 described above, and the information on the upward direction of the currently displayed map is obtained from the display control unit 14. The determination unit 20 determines what angle the traveling direction on the display screen is with respect to the screen upward direction. That is, the traveling angle is within a predetermined angle range.
There, or those exceeding this angular degree region, and this
It is determined whether the angle region is less than or equal to the angle region.

When the traveling angle is within the above-mentioned predetermined angle range,
The map and the direction of travel are closer to the top of the display screen.
And gradually rotate the display of your vehicle. Also, the advance angle is
Note If the angle exceeds the specified angle range, the traveling angle
Map and own vehicle so that
Rotate the display of at once. Furthermore, the traveling angle is
If the angle is within a predetermined angle range, the traveling direction is displayed
Display the map and own vehicle so that they match the direction on the plane.
Rotate at once.

By repeating the determination and the display rotation as described above every predetermined time, the traveling direction gradually becomes the upper direction of the screen, and the passenger is not given an unnatural impression.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of control of the apparatus of this embodiment. In particular, this figure is an example of control .
Then, the above-mentioned predetermined angle region is 5 ° to 55 ° in absolute value.
Is a range in which the determination regarding the angle formed by the traveling direction and the screen upper direction is performed every 30 seconds. In the figure, each angle is simply indicated by an angle formed by the screen upper direction and the traveling direction, that is, an angle having positive and negative values, not an absolute value, and the counterclockwise direction is described as positive.

An angle (travel angle θ) in the traveling direction with respect to the screen upper direction is calculated (S100). It is determined whether the traveling angle θ is not 0 (S102). If θ ≠ 0, the process returns to step S100, and if θ ≠ 0, it is determined whether 30 seconds have passed since the previous determination (S104).
If 30 seconds has not elapsed, the process returns to step S100, and if 30 seconds have elapsed, it is determined whether the absolute value of the advance angle θ is 55 ° or less (S106). When the absolute value of the traveling angle θ is 55 ° or less, it is further determined whether this is 5 ° or less (S108). If this determination is YES, the traveling angle θ at this time is equal to or less than the above-mentioned predetermined angle region (first division). Then, whether the traveling angle θ is positive or negative is determined (S110), and the rotation of the display is instructed accordingly. That is, if θ> 0, the display is rotated by −θ, and if θ <0, the display is rotated by θ. In this way, the traveling direction matches the screen upper direction.

Further, when it is determined in step S108 that the absolute value of the traveling angle θ is not less than 5 °, the traveling angle is in the above-mentioned predetermined angle region (second section), and depending on whether the θ is positive or negative. (S116) The display is rotated 5 ° or −5 °. That is, when θ> 0, the display is rotated by −5 ° (S118), and when θ <0, the display is rotated by 5 ° (S120). As a result, the traveling direction slightly shifts to the screen upper direction. This change in the advancing angle should be performed at an angle that does not give the occupant the impression that the screen display is extremely rotated. In the present embodiment, ± 5 ° is adopted, but this is not the only option. is not.

Further, when it is determined in step S106 that the absolute value of the traveling angle θ is not less than 55 °, that is, when it is determined that it exceeds the predetermined angle region (third section), depending on whether the θ is positive or negative. (S122) The traveling angle θ is 55
The display is rotated so that it becomes either ° or −55 °. That is, when θ> 0, the display is rotated by (55 ° −θ) (S124), and when θ <0, (−θ−55 °).
Is rotated only (S126). This 55 ° is an empirical value that does not allow the passenger to erroneously determine the direction on the map and the actual direction, and is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-176407 previously filed by the present applicant. Have been described. In brief, if the traveling direction is displayed in this range, it is considered that the passenger can easily correlate the displayed map with the actual topography.

When the above-described rotation display processing is completed, the process returns to step S100.

FIG. 3 shows a display example of the apparatus of this embodiment. In (a), the vehicle 30 has an intersection 34 with the road 36.
A state in which the vehicle is traveling along the road 32 is shown. When the host vehicle turns left along the arrow A, the traveling direction turns to the right on the screen and the traveling angle becomes 90 °. In this case, it is classified into the above-mentioned third section, and therefore the screen is rotated so that the traveling angle becomes 55 °. This figure is (b). Then, the traveling angle θ becomes the second division, and it is −5 ° every 30 seconds.
The display is rotated one by one. As shown in (c), the map is rotated by −5 ° from the previous traveling direction 38. And next 3
It becomes (d) after 0 second. Further, the own vehicle 30 is on the road 36.
Go up to the intersection 40 and turn right at this intersection 40,
Enter road 42. The figure at this time is (e). The traveling direction at this time also enters the second section, and after 30 seconds, it rotates by −5 ° and becomes (f). Further, in (f), the traveling angle is 3 °
And belongs to the first section. Therefore, the screen is inverted by the advance angle θ. That is, the screen is rotated by -3 ° to become (g).

In this way, when the traveling angle is larger than a certain angle, the traveling direction is changed all at once until the angle at which the correlation between the display screen and the actual topography is not lost. After that, the passenger is gradually turned to the upper direction of the screen so that the passenger does not feel uncomfortable.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the traveling angle
If is in the predetermined area, the map and the display of the vehicle are
Gradually rotate in the direction in which the traveling direction is the upper direction of the display screen,
The passengers do not feel uncomfortable. Also progress
If the corner exceeds the predetermined area, the advance angle is
Display the map and your vehicle once so that the specified area is reached.
Rotate to and the direction of travel is displayed on the display screen in the shortest possible time.
I'm trying to get in the direction. Furthermore, the traveling angle is
If it is less than the specified area, the direction of travel is above the display screen.
Rotate the map and the display of the vehicle at once to match the direction
So that the direction of travel is upward in the shortest possible time.
I have to. In addition, the map and the
By changing the rotation angle on the vehicle display,
The direction of travel is toward the top of the display screen without giving a feeling of harmony.
I am sorry.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

18 Travel angle calculator 20 Judgment section 22 1st rotation instruction section 24 Second rotation instruction section 26 Third rotation instruction section 30 own vehicle 32, 36, 42 roads 34,40 intersection

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A map display for a vehicle, in which a map around the own vehicle, a current position of the own vehicle, and a traveling direction are superimposed and displayed, and the map and the display of the own vehicle are rotated so that the upward direction of the display screen matches the traveling direction. In the device, when the traveling angle formed by the upward direction of the display screen and the traveling direction is within a predetermined area, the display of the map and the own vehicle is gradually rotated, and the traveling angle exceeds the predetermined area. In this case, the map display device for a vehicle is characterized in that the display of the map and the display of the own vehicle are rotated at once to within the predetermined area. 2. The vehicle map display device according to claim 1, wherein when the traveling angle is smaller than the predetermined area, the display of the map and the own vehicle is aligned with the upper direction of the display screen. The vehicle map display device is characterized in that it is rotated at a time.