JP4249575B2 - Nearest facility search apparatus and search method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a nearest facility searching apparatus and a searching method, and more particularly to a nearest facility searching apparatus and a searching method in a navigation system capable of searching for a desired nearest facility in a short time.

  A navigation device that provides driving guidance for a vehicle so that a driver can easily reach a desired destination by detecting the position of the vehicle and detecting the position around the vehicle position from a map recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM or a DVD disk). Map data is read out, a map image is drawn on the display screen, and a vehicle position mark is drawn at a predetermined location on the map image. As the vehicle position changes due to the movement of the vehicle, the vehicle position mark is fixed at a predetermined position on the screen and the map is scrolled so that the map information around the vehicle position can always be seen at a glance. In addition to the above, the navigation device searches for a guidance route from the departure point to the destination, displays the guidance route on a map, and locates a peripheral facility of a genre preset on the map. A nearest facility display function for displaying landmarks to be displayed, and a nearest information display function for displaying information on each nearest facility (distance, store name, etc.) one by one in order of distance.

  In the navigation map display setting menu, set the nearest display function to “display on” and select the desired facility, for example, “gas station” or “convenience store” from the nearest facility list as the nearest display facility. The navigation device displays landmarks corresponding to the gas stations and convenience store locations on the map. For landmarks, landmarks corresponding to dealers such as Cosmo Oil, Mobile Oil, and Eneos are displayed. For convenience stores, landmarks corresponding to Seven-Eleven, Lawson, Ministop, etc. are displayed. The

  Recently, in car navigation, restrictions have been placed on device operation during driving. For this reason, functions that take a long time to operate (functions with a long viewing time), such as a function for operating the menu screen one step lower, cannot be used. For example, in Japan, the operation time is restricted by the guidelines of the Japan Society of Workers' Association, and it is necessary to configure so as to clear this restriction. For this reason, functions that are assumed to be used during driving are prepared in accordance with shortcut buttons or simple operation flows. For example, there is a case where a desired facility is searched from among the nearest facilities set to display landmarks by the above-mentioned nearest facility display function and the destination is set. In such a case, it is possible to perform “Find nearest facility” by using a shortcut button or a simple menu call and set it as a destination. In the following cases, the landmark display is set to “Convenience store” or “Gas station” Will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flow for searching for the nearest facility. First, a shortcut button (nearest button) K1 on the remote controller 1 is pressed to instruct the navigation system to search for the nearest facility (step 101).
The navigation system sorts the facilities corresponding to “Convenience Store” and “Gasoline Station” for which landmark display is set with the nearest display function in order of distance (see FIG. 6), and the nearest convenience store A as shown in FIG. Displays information SI such as the distance to (Seven-Eleven) and the store name in the upper right of the map screen.
Next, the user searches for facilities by moving the joystick key K2 up and down on the remote controller 1 and displays desired facility information (step 102). If the upward direction is input with the joystick key K2, the system displays the information SI of the corresponding facility one by one in the order of distance (ascending order) in the upward direction in FIG. 8, and if the downward direction is input, In FIG. 8, the information of the corresponding facility is displayed in the upper right of the map screen one by one in the order of distance (descending order).

When the desired facility information SI is displayed by the above operation and the user inputs a decision by pressing the joystick key K2, the system displays the menu screen M on the right side of the map screen as shown in FIG. If “go here” is selected and the destination is set, the system searches for the route to the selected facility and displays it on the map screen in an identifiable manner (step 103).
However, in the above prior art, the facilities that span a plurality of genres are only rearranged in order of distance. For this reason, when searching for facilities with the joystick key up or down, it is not possible to know which genre of facility will be displayed next after entering the key, increasing the content to be checked one by one, and the facility search takes time. is there.

For example, if you want to find a frequent JOMO in a gas station,
(1) Convenience store A is displayed first.
(2) Next, press the joystick key upward to display gas station A.
(3) If gas station A does not match the user's preference (not JOMO), press the joystick key upward again. At that time, convenience store B is displayed.
(4) After that, press the joystick key several times (Convenience store C and Convenience store D are displayed).
(5) After that, the gas station B (JOMO) is displayed and finally it can be set as the destination.

In the above operation flow, shortcut keys are used, but it takes time depending on the order in which the desired facilities are displayed, it does not satisfy the regulations of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association & Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and it is determined that the operation while driving is dangerous May be. That is, there is a problem that the facility search takes time.
Prior art that specifies one desired genre and displays stores of that genre on a single screen in order of distance, or specifies multiple genres (collective search), and displays stores of all specified genres on a single screen in order of distance (Patent Document 1).
JP 10-30931 A

However, in the prior art, the information is displayed collectively on one screen, and the facility information is not searched and displayed one by one on the map screen. Therefore, the conventional technique cannot solve the problem that the facility search time becomes long when the facility information is searched and displayed one by one.
Considering the cause of the time required for the desired facility search display, the following can be considered.
-If it is set to display multiple genres, it takes time to search because all facilities are presented in order of distance if the nearest search is performed during driving. As a result, it takes more time to view the screen during driving.
・ When you display the next facility, you do not know which genre of facility is coming (because it is displayed in order of distance). For example, if a convenience store and a gas station are set as landmarks and you want to go to the convenience store's Lawson, the information on the convenience store's Sunkus is currently being searched, but the next facility to be displayed is the gas station. I don't know if it's a convenience store.
・ Facilities are searched for by scrolling up and down with the joystick key. However, the facility overshoots with the joystick key, and a return operation occurs.
From the above, an object of the present invention is to reduce the time required for searching for the nearest facility when searching for and displaying facility information one by one.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the time required for facility search even when there are a plurality of target genres for the closest facility search.

A first aspect of the present invention is a nearest facility search method in a navigation system that searches for the nearest facility and displays information on the facility one by one on a map screen. In this nearest facility search method, when there are a plurality of genres to be searched, the nearest facility of the plurality of genres is searched and information on the shortest distance facility is displayed. Information on facilities belonging to the genre of the facility being displayed is displayed in order of distance, and when genre change is instructed, the genre is changed and information on facilities belonging to the genre after change is displayed. According to this nearest facility search method, a desired genre can be selected, and facility information can be displayed in order of distance in the genre, so that the time required for facility search can be shortened.
In addition, priorities are assigned to the genre, information on the shortest distance among the facilities belonging to the highest priority genre is displayed first, and when the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed in the priority order. The information on the facilities belonging to the changed genre is displayed. In this way, it is possible to search and display a desired facility at a higher speed with fewer genre changing operations.
In addition, if the genre to be searched is a genre that is set to display landmarks on the map by the nearest display function, it is not necessary to enter the genre one by one in the nearest facility search, and the desired facility can be selected at high speed. You can search and display.

A second aspect of the present invention is a nearest facility search device in a navigation system that searches for the nearest facility and displays information about the facility on the map screen one by one. This nearest facility search device has a plurality of genres to be searched. When present, means for searching for the nearest facility of the plurality of genres and displaying information on the facility with the shortest distance, means for instructing distance order display and genre change, and when displaying the order of distance indication, is currently displayed The information on the facilities belonging to the genre of the facility is displayed in order of distance, and when the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed, and the facility information belonging to the genre after the change is displayed. According to this nearest facility search apparatus, since a desired genre can be selected and information on facilities can be displayed in order of distance in the genre, the time required for facility search can be shortened.
In addition, when priority is given to the genre, the facility information display means first displays the information of the facility of the shortest distance among the facilities belonging to the genre with the highest priority, and when the genre change is instructed The genre is changed in the priority order, and the information on the facilities belonging to the changed genre is displayed. In this way, it is possible to search and display a desired facility at a higher speed with fewer genre changing operations.
In addition, the crossing key is used as the instruction means, and the order of distance is displayed vertically and the genre change is instructed horizontally. In this way, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of excessive scrolling like a joystick key.

According to the nearest facility search method and the search apparatus of the present invention, a desired genre can be selected, and facility information can be displayed in order of distance in the genre, so that the time required for the facility search can be shortened.
In addition, according to the nearest facility search method and search device of the present invention, priorities are assigned to the genre, among the facilities belonging to the genre with the highest priority, information on the shortest distance facility is displayed first, When genre change is instructed, the genre is changed in order of priority, and information on facilities belonging to the changed genre is displayed, so the desired facility can be searched and displayed faster with fewer genre change operations. can do.
In addition, if the genre to be searched is a genre that is set to display landmarks on the map by the nearest display function, it is not necessary to enter the genre one by one in the nearest facility search, and the desired facility can be selected at high speed. You can search and display.
In addition, if the pointing means is a cross key, the distance order is displayed up and down, and the genre change is instructed on the left and right, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of excessive scrolling like the joystick key, and the desired speed can be increased. The facility can be searched and displayed.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the present invention. Search genres are a gas station and a convenience store (convenience store), and these are genres set to display landmarks on a map in the nearest facility display function. is there. The genre may be input separately, but it takes time.
When there are multiple genres of the nearest facility to be searched (gas station, convenience store in Fig. 1 (A)), when the nearest facility search is requested by shortcut key operation, the navigation system will be as shown in Fig. 1 (B) The nearest facilities of a plurality of genres are searched and arranged in order of distance for each genre. At first, the information of the shortest distance facility (convenience store A) among all the facilities is displayed.

If the target facility is a convenience store, a display in order of distance is requested using the cross key without changing the genre. That is, an upward direction from the cross key is input. The system displays convenience store A → convenience store B → convenience store C → convenience store D and the information of each convenience store in the upper right of the map screen in order of distance for each upward input (see FIGS. 7 and 9). When the downward direction is input, information on convenience stores is displayed in the reverse direction in the order of distance.
On the other hand, when the target facility is a gas station, the genre change is requested using the cross key while the information of the convenience store A is displayed. That is, the right direction is input from the cross key. The system changes the genre for each input in the right direction and displays information on the facility with the shortest distance in the genre on the upper right of the map screen. If the left direction is input, the genre can be returned. If you select the desired genre (gas station) and enter an upward direction from the cross key, the system will display information on each gas station, gas station A → gas station B → gas station C, in order of distance for each upward input. Display on the top right of the map screen.

As described above, since a desired genre is selected and facility information is displayed in order of distance in the genre, the time required for facility search can be shortened.
In addition, priorities are assigned to the genre, information on the shortest distance among the facilities belonging to the highest priority genre is displayed first, and when the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed in the priority order. The information on the facilities belonging to the changed genre is displayed. In this way, it is possible to search and display a desired facility at a higher speed with fewer genre changing operations.
In addition, if the genre to be searched is a genre that is set to display landmarks on the map by the nearest display function, it is not necessary to enter the genre one by one in the nearest facility search, and the desired facility can be selected at high speed. You can search and display.
Further, if the cross key is used as a means for instructing distance order display and genre change, it is possible to prevent the facility from going too far due to the joystick key.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the navigation system of the present invention.
The map call control unit 11 reads map information around the vehicle position (map data for each leaf) from the map recording medium (DVD, hard disk, etc.) 10 and stores it in the map buffer 12. The map drawing unit 13 generates a map image around the vehicle position based on the map information and stores it in a built-in VRAM. The image display control unit 14 reads the map image from the VRAM and displays it on the screen of the display device 15. The remote controller 16 and / or the fixed button operation unit 17 or the touch screen input unit inputs various navigation commands, and the input processing unit 18 takes in the commands from the input units and inputs them to necessary units. FIG. 3 is an external view of the remote controller 16. As buttons (keys) related to the present invention, a cross key 16a, a nearest facility search key 16b, an enter key 16c, and the like are provided.

  The own vehicle position detection unit 19 includes a self-supporting sensor (distance sensor, direction sensor) and a GPS receiver, and the vehicle position calculation unit 20 appropriately executes map matching calculation based on output signals of the self-supporting sensor and the GPS receiver. To calculate the vehicle position. The operation screen drawing unit 21 generates a necessary operation screen based on various inputs by operation of the remote controller or the button operation unit, and the image display control unit 14 displays the operation screen on the screen of the display device 15 alone or on a map image. Overlapping display. When the route search processing unit 22 inputs the destination and the route search is instructed, the route to the destination is searched and stored in the guide route memory 23, and the guide route drawing unit 24 stores the searched guide route in other ways. The image is drawn so as to be distinguishable from the road and input to the image display control unit 14, and the image display control unit 14 displays the guidance route on the map image.

  The nearest facility database 25 stores the facility name, longitude / latitude, genre, TEL number, landmark, and the like in association with the facility existing in each leaf of the map. The nearest genre storage unit 26 saves a genre name set to display a landmark by the nearest facility display function. In the figure, convenience stores and gas stations are stored as the nearest genres, and their priorities are also stored. The priority order may be input when setting the nearest genre, or may be set in the system in advance for each genre. The nearest facility search unit 27 executes the nearest facility search process according to the processing flow shown in FIG. 4 to display information on a desired nearest facility, and performs processing such as setting the facility as a destination. The nearest facility search unit 27 has a computer configuration and includes a processor, a memory, and the like.

FIG. 4 is a closest facility search processing flow of the closest facility search unit 27 of the present invention.
When the nearest facility search unit 27 is requested by pressing the nearest key 16b (see FIG. 3), the nearest facility search unit 27 extracts the genre name for which the landmark display is set from the nearest genre storage unit 26 (step 201). . Next, for each extracted genre name, the nearest facility is searched from the nearest facility database 25, arranged in order of distance, and stored in the built-in memory (step 202).
Next, among all the facilities, the facility information of the facility closest to the own vehicle is passed to the operation screen drawing unit 21, and the facility information is displayed on the upper right of the map screen (see FIG. 7), and the land indicating the facility is displayed. The mark blinks (step 203). In addition, it is possible to display information on a facility closest to the own vehicle among facilities of the highest priority category.

Whether or not there is a key operation in this state is monitored (step 204), and if there is a key operation, the key content is determined. If the operation key is the cross key 16a (Fig. 3) and the input is in the vertical direction, if the facility of the same genre as the current display facility is input in the upward direction, the facility information is passed to the operation screen drawing unit 21 and displayed in ascending order of distance. If the input is in the downward direction, the facility information is displayed in descending order of distance (step 205).
If the operation key is the cross key 16a and the input is in the right direction, the facility of the next genre of the current display facility genre and the facility of the shortest distance is passed to the operation screen drawing unit 21 for display. If the facility information of the shortest distance has already been displayed, information on the facility closest to the facility that was displayed last time is displayed (step 206). In this case, information on the facility that was displayed last time may be displayed.

If the operation key is the enter key 16c, the operation screen drawing unit 21 is controlled to display the next process determination menu M (FIG. 9). This menu M is a menu for determining “stop to the facility”, “go to the facility”, “use the registration point”, “view detailed information”, etc. In this state, the user “goes to the facility”. If the selection key 16c is selected and the decision key 16c is operated, the nearest facility search unit 27 passes the longitude and latitude information of the facility to the route search processing unit 22. The route search processing unit 22 searches for a route to the corresponding facility (step 208), the guidance route drawing unit 24 displays the searched route on a map, and starts route guidance according to the route (step 209).
As described above, according to the present invention, when searching for the nearest facility, it is possible to narrow down by genre and distance. Further, according to the present invention, since the genre is narrowed down by the left / right key input, when searching in the order of distance (up / down key input), it is possible to know which genre is the next facility. Further, according to the present invention, since the cross key is used, mistakes caused by excessive scrolling can be improved. From the above, the screen viewing time when used during driving can be reduced, and the facility search time can be shortened.
In the embodiment, there are two genres: a convenience store and a gas station. However, the greater the number of genres, the greater the effect of time reduction of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the navigation system of this invention. It is an external view of a remote control. It is a nearest facility search process flow of the nearest facility search part of this invention. It is the processing flow of the conventional nearest facility search. It is explanatory drawing rearranged in order of distance of facilities. It is facility information display explanatory drawing. It is explanatory drawing of the distance ascending order / descending order display of a facility. It is an example of facility information display.

Explanation of symbols

15 Display device 25 Nearest facility database 26 Nearest genre storage unit 27 Nearest facility search unit

Claims (4)

In the nearest facility search method of searching for the nearest facility and displaying information on the facility one by one on the map screen,
When there are a plurality of search target genres, search for the nearest facility of the plurality of genres and display information on the shortest distance facility,
Each time the display in order of distance is instructed, information on the facilities belonging to the genre of the currently displayed facility is displayed one by one in the order of distance,
When the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed, and the facility information belonging to the changed genre is displayed one by one every time the order of distance display is instructed in order of distance .
The nearest facility search method characterized by this. Prioritizing the genre, among the facilities belonging to the genre with the highest priority, information on the facility with the shortest distance is displayed first, and when the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed in order of priority and changed. Display information about facilities belonging to later genres,
The nearest facility search method according to claim 1, wherein: In the nearest facility search device that searches for the nearest facility and displays information on the facility one by one on the map screen,
Means for searching for the nearest facility of the plurality of genres when a plurality of genres to be searched exist, and displaying information on the facility of the shortest distance;
Means for instructing distance order display and genre change;
Each time the display in order of distance is instructed, the information on the facilities belonging to the genre of the currently displayed facility is displayed one by one in the order of distance, and when the genre change is instructed, the genre is changed and the changed genre is displayed. Means for displaying information of facilities belonging to each one in order of distance order in the order of distance ;
The nearest facility search apparatus characterized by comprising. Prioritizing the genre, the facility information display means first displays information on the shortest distance among the facilities belonging to the genre with the highest priority, and when the genre change is instructed, the change in order of preference, to display the information of the facilities belonging to the genre after the change,
The nearest facility searching device according to claim 3, wherein:

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