JP4084896B2 - Navigation system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a navigation system that searches a route to a set destination based on position information obtained by satellite communication and guides the course of a vehicle along the route.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the navigation system, by connecting a communication terminal such as a mobile phone or PHS, multimedia information including characters, graphics, voice, video, etc. can be exchanged, or from a VICS (traffic information communication system) Can receive various information by traffic information, characters from FM multiplex broadcasting, and images.
[0003]
On the other hand, data communication with these various communication terminals may be affected by the communication environment on the moving route of the vehicle. In other words, good data communication is possible when the moving route of the vehicle is out of the service area of the communication terminal used, or when there are communication obstacles such as buildings and mountainous areas between the moving vehicle and the communication base station. Could not be performed, and the communication was disconnected and the quality deteriorated.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional navigation system, when determining the moving route of the vehicle, the communication environment for the communication terminal is not considered, so the determined moving route is an unfavorable route for communication by the communication terminal. In some cases, good data communication cannot be performed while the vehicle is moving on the route determined by the navigation system.
[0005]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system capable of performing good data communication with a communication terminal by considering the communication environment for the communication terminal when determining a moving route of the vehicle. is there.
[0006]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system in which communication is not interrupted even while traveling on the determined route.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, the present invention searches for a route to a set destination based on position information obtained by satellite communication, and sets the set object in a navigation system that guides the course of the vehicle along the route. A route search means for selecting a plurality of routes to the ground, a plurality of communication means for enabling various data communication, a communication environment acquisition means for acquiring information on a communication environment for the communication means on the selected route, In consideration of the information related to the acquired communication environment, a route determination unit that determines a final route, and in consideration of information related to the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition unit, the plurality of communication units are connected to a communication service. configured to include a communication control means for performing communication by switching the communication means outside the area to the communication means of the communication service area, the It is.
[0008]
Here, the information on the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition means includes the position information of the base station of each communication means and the position information of communication obstacles around the base station, the route determination means, A route optimal for the communication environment can be determined from the position information of the base station and the position information of the communication obstacle.
[0009]
In the present invention , the communication means is capable of various data communications through different telephone lines.
[0010]
In the present invention, the communication control means can be configured to control the timing of data transmission / reception by the communication means in consideration of the information on the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition means.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration in an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a car navigation system. The car navigation system according to this embodiment includes a route search unit 1 that searches for a moving route of a vehicle, a communication control unit 2, a communication environment acquisition unit 3, a communication status grasping unit 4, a route determination unit 5, and navigation that controls the navigation functions. A control unit 6, a central processing unit 7, a storage unit 8 composed of a RAM and a ROM, and an external interface 9 are provided, and these are connected to each other by a bus.
[0012]
The route search unit 1 searches for a plurality of routes to a set destination based on vehicle position information obtained from GPS satellites. The communication control unit 2 is for controlling various data communications by a plurality of communication terminals connected to the external interface 9. The communication control unit 2 can appropriately control the switching of communication terminals and the timing of data transmission / reception according to the type of communication data, that is, the type of characters, images, sounds, moving images, etc., the moving speed of the vehicle, the moving route, etc. .
[0013]
The communication environment acquisition unit 3 acquires information regarding the communication environment for each communication terminal on the searched route. Here, the information regarding the communication environment includes the position information of the base station of each communication terminal and the position information of communication obstacles around the base station, such as high-rise buildings and mountainous areas. As will be described later, a part of the information on the communication environment is stored in advance in the ROM of the storage unit 8, and the other part is acquired in real time through the communication terminal. The communication environment acquisition unit 3 can read out information related to the searched communication environment on the route from the storage unit 8 and acquire it from the host computer through the communication terminal as necessary. The communication status grasping unit 4 grasps the communication status of various communication service areas, that is, the usage status of the communication line in the searched route.
[0014]
The route determination unit 5 determines a route in which communication by the communication terminal can be optimally performed among the plurality of routes selected by the route search unit 1. Therefore, the route determination unit 5 considers the information about the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition unit 3 and the communication status acquired by the communication status determination unit 4, and has the most influence on the data communication while the vehicle is traveling. Determine the route with less.
[0015]
The storage unit 8 includes a RAM as a storage area for enabling the central processing unit 7 to execute or process various information and programs, and a ROM storing various programs, map information, radio wave environment, base station position information, and the like. Composed. The external interface 9 is a connection interface for communication terminals and other external input / output devices. In FIG. 1, the external interface 9 includes a cellular phone 10, a PHS 11, a GPS antenna 12, an FM diversity antenna 13, a fax 14, a monitor 15, and a TV tuner. 16, a beacon receiver 17 and a personal computer 18 are connected. This navigation system can be provided with map information, traffic jam information, various types of guidance, services, and the like including characters, images, moving images, and the like through the plurality of communication terminals.
[0016]
Next, a procedure for determining the moving route of the vehicle by the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Below, it demonstrates along the example in the case of searching for the optimal route which goes to the destination K in the starting point A in FIG. 2 with this car navigation system. When the driver designates the destination K at the departure point A and starts the route search, the route search unit 1 searches for several routes connecting the departure point A and the destination K. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a route (A-B-C-J-K) that passes through a mountain area and a route (A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-) that passes through an urban area. JK) is searched.
[0017]
The communication environment acquisition unit 3 acquires information regarding the communication environment in the two routes. That is, information such as the communication service area around the two routes, the position of the communication base station, the position of a communication obstacle such as a building, a mountainous area, and an underpass is acquired through a communication terminal connected to the external interface 9 and stored. Extracted from information stored in the unit 8 in advance. As a result, information is acquired such that there is an underpass at position B on the route, a mountain between CJ, and a building 40 at position G. Further, the communication status grasping unit 4 grasps the communication status of each communication terminal. The route determination unit 5 determines, based on the information obtained by the communication environment acquisition unit 3 and the communication status grasping unit 4, a route that allows good communication while the vehicle is moving among the two selected routes. . As a result, an urban route that is unlikely to deteriorate or block communication quality is selected. Most of the urban route is a mobile service area, and by using the mobile phone 10, data can be exchanged while traveling on this route.
[0018]
Next, while the vehicle is moving according to the determined route, the communication control unit 2 performs data from the communication terminal at any time based on the information obtained by the communication environment acquisition unit 3 and the communication status grasping unit 4. Control of transmission / reception timing and switching control of terminals for communication are performed. That is, when the vehicle approaches the underground passage B, the communication control unit 2 stops the transmission / reception of data performed at that time, and resumes when the vehicle exits the underground passage B. As a result, it is possible to avoid the problem that data is transmitted / received during passage through the underground passage B and a part of information is lost or retransmission is necessary. Similarly, the communication control unit 2 stops the transmission / reception of data just before entering the section G in which the radio wave is difficult to reach by the building 40, and resumes after the passage. Further, in the section H that is outside the mobile service area but within the PHS service area, the communication control unit 2 temporarily switches the communication terminal that performs data exchange from the mobile phone 10 to the PHS 11. As a result, communication is also possible in the section H. As described above, in the present car navigation system, an urban route is selected, and data communication is continuously performed while the route is traveling by appropriately switching the timing of data transmission / reception and the communication terminal for communication on the route. Is possible. In this navigation system, even when the vehicle is traveling on the determined route, the route search unit 1, the communication environment acquisition unit 3, the communication status grasping unit 4, and the route determination unit 5 search and determine the route. It can be performed sequentially.
[0019]
The embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the matters shown in the above-described embodiments, and it is obvious that changes, improvements, etc. can be made based on the description of the scope of claims. In the present invention, when the communication line usage state obtained by the communication state grasping unit 4 is not good, this is notified to the driver, or a message for prompting communication by another communication terminal is given. You may comprise as follows. In addition, the route determination unit 5 or the communication control unit 2 determines a route in consideration of the types of data transmitted and received during traveling, that is, moving images, still images, fax data, voice data, character data, and the like. You may comprise so that transmission / reception of data may be controlled. Moreover, you may comprise so that a restriction | limiting of the moving speed of a vehicle may be notified to a driver according to the kind of said data. Further, an expected average moving speed of the vehicle on the moving route may be obtained from the received traffic information, and a communication system suitable for the obtained speed may be selected.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since an optimal route for communication while a vehicle is moving is determined, information is lacking even when a large amount of data is downloaded during the movement or when continuous communication is performed. Communication can be performed without any problem.
[0021]
Further, by controlling the switching of communication terminals and the timing of data transmission / reception, there is an effect that communication data is not missed, lack of information during route movement is avoided, and re-billing is not required.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a procedure for determining a route according to the present invention;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Route search part 2 Communication control part 3 Communication environment acquisition part 4 Communication condition grasping part 5 Route determination part 6 Navigation control part 7 Central processing unit 8 Memory | storage part 9 External interface 10 Mobile phone 11 PHS
12 GPS antenna 13 FM diversity antenna 14 Fax 15 Monitor 16 TV tuner 17 Beacon receiver 18 Personal computer

Claims (4)

In a navigation system that searches for a route to a set destination based on position information obtained by satellite communication and guides the course of the vehicle along the route,
Route search means for selecting a plurality of routes to the set destination,
A plurality of communication means enabling various data communication;
A communication environment acquisition means for acquiring information related to the communication environment for the communication means on the selected route;
In consideration of the information about the acquired communication environment, a route determination unit that determines a final route;
In consideration of information about the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition means, the communication control means for performing communication by switching the communication means from the communication means outside the communication service area to the communication means in the communication service area;
A navigation system characterized by comprising:   The information related to the communication environment acquired by the communication environment acquisition means includes position information of the base station of each communication means and position information of communication obstacles around the base station, and the route determination means includes the base station The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein an optimum route for a communication environment is determined from the position information of the communication object and the position information of the communication obstacle. The navigation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication means is capable of various data communications through different telephone lines . The said communication control means controls the timing of transmission / reception of the data by the said communication means in consideration of the information regarding the communication environment acquired by the said communication environment acquisition means , The any one of Claim 1 to 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The described navigation system.

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