JP4925082B2 - Navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device that outputs guidance information such as voice information, and more particularly to navigation that preferentially outputs guidance information that is really necessary for a user when a plurality of guidance information exists simultaneously. It relates to the device.

  In the conventional navigation device, the current position that changes with the movement of the user is displayed together with a map on the display, and the route from the current position to the destination set by the user is calculated to perform route guidance. Navigation devices are known and are increasingly used, especially in vehicles.

  The initial navigation apparatus only provides route guidance to a set destination, but recently, a technique for presenting guidance information that matches the user's purpose has been disclosed. For example, in Patent Document 1, when a driver first inputs an action purpose, candidate destinations that satisfy the action purpose are displayed, and when the driver next selects a destination, the selected destination is displayed. The guide information and the route to the destination are displayed. For example, when a department store is input as an action purpose, a plurality of department stores are displayed. When a department store is displayed, sales information thereof is displayed, and directions to the department store are displayed on a map.

  However, in such a navigation device, in order for the user to input an action purpose, it is necessary to follow a predetermined action purpose setting procedure, which is complicated for the user. Therefore, even when there is no action purpose input from the user, a method for estimating the destination and changing the guidance information to be output has been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 2, a prediction target area is estimated from the current location and the traveling direction, and guidance information in the estimated area is output. Further, in Patent Document 3, a history of the stop position and the number of stops of the vehicle is stored, and the guidance information of the point where the vehicle has stopped is presented in more detail. It proposes to search automatically and present guidance information.

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-16320 (Means for solving problems) Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-244112 (Summary Solution) Japanese Patent No. 3264206 (paragraph 0006)

  Since the conventional navigation apparatus is configured as described above, in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 described above, the direction of the destination or the vehicle is simply regarded as an action purpose and related guidance information is output. However, even if the destination is in front of the station, for example, the purpose of the action is to “pick up people in front of the station” or “ Since there are various patterns such as “shopping in front of the station”, there is a problem in that appropriate guidance information cannot be presented in such a situation.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and even if the user does not input the behavioral purpose, the user's behavioral purpose is automatically estimated and useful guidance information is presented to the user. An object of the present invention is to obtain a navigation device that can do this.

A navigation device according to the present invention includes a history database that stores past user operation information, past vehicle position information, and past vehicle information as history data, and a map database that stores map data. And any current user operation information, current vehicle position information, and at least one of the shape, weight, number, name, position, address, and preference of the person in the vehicle and current vehicle information including at least one of shape, weight, number, name, position location of the object, and history data stored in the history database, based on the map data stored in the map database, and destination estimating unit for estimating a destination candidate, the operation information of the current user, and any of the information of the position information of the current vehicle, the shape and weight of the person in the car The number, name, location, address, at least one of preference, the current vehicle information including at least one of the preferences of the shape, weight, number, name, position location of an object in the car, stored in the map database Based on the map data, the destination candidates estimated by the destination estimation unit, the behavioral purpose estimation unit for estimating the behavioral purpose of the user based on the retained behavioral purpose estimation table, and the behavioral purpose estimation unit And a guidance information determination unit for determining guidance information to be presented to the user based on the user's purpose of behavior estimated by the above.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to present guidance information useful for a user considering the user's behavioral purpose without inputting the user's behavioral purpose.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Before describing the present invention, the terms used below are defined as follows.
"Destination" refers to the point that the user is trying to reach using the vehicle, "Action purpose" refers to the action that the user is planning to perform at the destination, and "One drive" It refers to a series of operations from when the engine is turned on until it is turned off.

  1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The navigation device includes an input unit 1, a position information acquisition unit 2, a vehicle information acquisition unit 3, a history database 4, a map database 5, a destination estimation unit 6, a behavior purpose estimation unit 7, a guidance information determination unit 8, and a navigation control unit. 9 and an output unit 10.

  The input unit 1 includes a remote controller, a touch panel, a voice recognition device, and the like, and a driver or passenger (hereinafter referred to as a user) as a user inputs a destination or information provided by a navigation device. Used to select.

  The position information acquisition unit 2 acquires the current position of the vehicle. This position information acquisition unit 2 uses, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System), D-GPS (Differential GPS) for correcting the positioning result by GPS using error information provided by FM multiplex broadcasting, and other artificial satellites. Maps based on positioning conditions, methods that use position information supplied from optical beacons or radio beacons installed on the road, autonomous navigation that obtains the position from the traveling direction and travel distance of the vehicle, and that the vehicle travels on the road Various position detection methods such as a map matching method for correcting the vehicle position to the position of the road registered in the database 5 can be realized by one or a plurality of combinations.

  The vehicle information acquisition unit 3 acquires vehicle information related to the vehicle. Examples of the vehicle information include vehicle control systems such as various ECUs (Electronic Control Units) and ETACS (Electronic Timer & Alarm Control Systems), various switches such as column switches, handle angle sensors, in-cars and trunks. Information obtained by combining one or more devices that acquire the in-vehicle state such as pressure sensors and weight sensors, battery voltage, engine water temperature, oil temperature, engine control, AT control, ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control), power Powertrain information such as steering, safety information such as airbags and ABS, doors and windows, trunk open / closed state and lock state, mirror state, blinker state, wiper state, light direction and Body system information such as lighting status, accelerator opening, brake opening, direction indicated by gyro, suspension Information on the chassis system such as vehicle status, steering status, remaining fuel, displacement, torque distribution, handle angle, handle angular speed, shift lever position, current shift stage, turn indicator status, seat belt indicator status, mileage, occupant Number, vehicle speed, meter display vehicle speed, acceleration, wheel speed, and other travel information are included.

  In addition to this, as vehicle information, a method of recognizing an image acquired from an image acquisition device such as a camera, a shape grasping device such as a laser, a pressure sensor such as a weight sensor or a pressure sensor, an object such as an IC tag, etc. A person in a vehicle such as a seat or trunk using one or a combination of occupant / object identification methods, such as a method of installing an individual identification device such as an IC card reader on the vehicle side. Individual information such as the number of objects, names, and position information may also be acquired. In particular, if it is a person, personal information such as an address and preferences may be acquired. Thus, the information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 3 is collectively referred to as vehicle information.

  The history database 4 is acquired by the user's past operation information such as remote control operation input through the input unit 1, past vehicle position information acquired by the position information detection device 2, and the vehicle information acquisition unit 3. The past vehicle information is stored as history data, and the necessary history information is passed to the destination estimation unit 6.

  In addition to 2D map information, the map database 5 includes 3D shape information that models the shape of ground, ponds, lakes, mountains, valleys, and other topography, buildings, roads, railway bridges, and tunnel structures. In addition, 3D landscape information that includes data related to the colors and images of the surfaces that make up these 3D shapes, as well as facility information such as structures and facilities, locations of tourist attractions, names, telephone numbers, and addresses as map data I remember it.

  The destination estimation unit 6 is acquired by the user's current operation information such as a remote control operation input through the input unit 1, the current vehicle position information acquired by the position information detection device 2, and the vehicle information acquisition unit 3. The destination candidate is estimated using any current information of the current vehicle information, history data stored in the history database 4, and map data stored in the map database 5. As a method for estimating a destination candidate, for example, a method in which a destination input by a user is used as it is or a neighborhood from map data based on a user's preference estimated from the number of stops as in Patent Document 3 above. One or a combination of a method for searching for a point, a method for selecting a destination by comparing the current driving route with the previous driving route, and the like are used.

In the case of the method of selecting the destination by comparing the current travel route during the one-drive and the previous travel route, the length of the current travel route is l_now, and the past travel route that matches the current travel route When the length of the travel route of n is l_n, the coincidence match_n is calculated by the following equation (1), and the destination destination_n of the past travel route n with the highest coincidence match_n is selected as a destination candidate. .
match_n = l_n / l_now (1)

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the estimation result of the destination candidates by the destination estimation unit 6. For example, in the method using the above-mentioned match level match_n, the destination of k travel routes with high match_n is selected. There may be a plurality of destination candidates, and as shown in FIG. Here, the reliability of the destination candidate may be indicated by a numerical value that is simply ranked in addition to the degree of coincidence.

  The behavior purpose estimation unit 7 includes the current operation information of the user input through the input unit 1, the current vehicle position information acquired by the position information detection device 2, and the current vehicle acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 3. Use based on any current information of information, surrounding map data stored in the map database 5, destination candidates estimated by the destination estimation unit 6, and the action purpose estimation table held The behavioral purpose of the person. This behavioral purpose estimation method will be described later.

  The guidance information determination unit 8 determines guidance information to be presented to the user based on the user's behavior purpose estimated by the behavior purpose estimation unit 7. For example, when the behavioral purpose is shopping, the presentation information determination unit 7 presents information on a newly opened store, route information, or when the behavioral purpose is to take a train. Present the timetable and operation status.

  The navigation control unit 9 uses the current vehicle position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 2 and the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 3 to be input by the user via the input unit 1. In order to provide basic functions for guiding the driver to the destination, such as navigation devices that calculate the guidance route according to the destination and generate guidance information to the user according to the guidance route In addition to processing the data necessary for the vehicle, search for information such as vehicle location, destination, traffic information related to the destination route, sightseeing spots, restaurants, merchandise stores, etc., search for facilities that match the conditions entered by the user, etc. Perform data processing. The navigation control unit 9 receives the guidance information determined by the guidance information determination unit 8 and controls the timing for outputting the guidance information according to the current screen state and the like, the output position on the screen, and the like.

  The output unit 10 presents guidance information to the user based on the control of the navigation control unit 9 through output means such as screen display on a display or audio output using a speaker.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the behavior purpose estimation unit 7. Here, a case where only the number of passengers and the type of luggage are acquired as vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 3 will be described. Further, as the destination candidates, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of destination candidates obtained by a method using the matching degree match_n of the travel route is used.

In steps ST11 to ST15 of FIG. 3, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 selects a behavior purpose for each destination candidate, and calculates the certainty factor of the selected behavior purpose. In step ST11, the action purpose estimation unit 7 selects a destination candidate n. In step ST12, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 searches the map database 5, extracts the genre of the destination candidate n estimated by the destination estimation unit 6, and extracts it from the held behavior purpose estimation table. The action purpose estimation table corresponding to the genre is selected.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a station behavior purpose estimation table held by the behavior purpose estimation unit 7. For example, if the genre of the destination candidate is a station, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 selects a behavior purpose estimation table for a station as shown in FIG.

In step ST <b> 13, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 determines each condition such as the destination and vehicle information written in the behavior purpose estimation table of the station selected in step ST <b> 12 and the current number of passengers acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 3. And the package data are matched, and if there is a matching condition, the action purpose corresponding to the condition is selected, and the certainty factor p_i_now of the selected action purpose is obtained. When there are a plurality of matching conditions, priority is given to a higher certainty factor p_i_now. In FIG. 4, the certainty p_i_now of the behavioral purpose is a predetermined parameter, but may be arbitrarily changed by the user or the navigation device. For example, the coefficient w_j is added to each condition j such as the destination and vehicle information. And the belief p_i_now for the action purpose may be calculated by the following equation (2).
p_i_now = Σ (w_j × 1) When condition j matches the current data
= Σ (w_j × 0) Other than that (2)

In step ST14, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 uses the obtained behavior goal certainty factor p_i_now and the reliability of the destination candidate (in the present example, the matching degree match_n of the travel route) according to the following equation (3). Cumulative certainty p_i for action purpose is updated.
p_i = p_i + p_i_now × match_n (3)

  In step ST15, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 selects the next destination candidate and repeats steps ST12 to ST14. In step ST <b> 16, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 finally selects the behavior purpose corresponding to the maximum cumulative certainty degree max (p_i) as the user's behavior purpose and outputs it to the presentation information determination unit 8. At this time, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 may add the cumulative certainty p_i to the selected behavior purpose.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the destination estimation unit 6 estimates destination candidates based on the current information, history data, and map data, and the behavioral purpose estimation unit 7 uses the current information and map data. By estimating the user's behavioral purpose based on the destination candidate and the behavioral purpose estimation table, guidance information useful for the user considering the user's behavioral purpose can be obtained without inputting the user's behavioral purpose. The effect that it can be presented is obtained.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
The block diagram showing the configuration of the navigation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as FIG. 1 of the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, after presenting the guidance information to the user, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 receives various information from the input unit 1, the position information acquisition unit 2, and the vehicle information acquisition unit 3, and is currently in one drive. It is characterized in that the next estimation of the behavioral purpose is performed in consideration of the user's reaction to the guidance information to the user corresponding to the previously estimated behavioral purpose.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing procedures of the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 and the guidance information determination unit 8. In step ST21, the action purpose estimation unit 7 has already presented some guidance information to the user through the guidance information determination unit 8, the navigation control unit 9, and the output unit 10 during the current one-drive. Determine if there is. When the guidance information is not presented, the process proceeds to step ST22, and the action purpose is estimated according to the method described in the first embodiment.

If any guidance information has already been presented in step ST21, in step ST23, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 generates an estimated behavior purpose cumulative certainty table corresponding to the user's reaction that is held. Using the previously presented guidance information and the user's reaction, the cumulative certainty of the action purpose estimated previously is obtained.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a cumulative certainty factor table of estimated behavioral objectives corresponding to the user's reaction held by the behavioral purpose estimation unit 7. In this cumulative certainty table, the cumulative certainty of the previously estimated action purpose is fixed in advance. However, for example, when obtaining the cumulative certainty from the handle angle, t seconds have passed since the guidance information was presented. If the handle is rotated d degrees, the cumulative certainty may be calculated by the following equation (4).
Cumulative certainty = d / 360 / t (4)

  In step ST24, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 compares the cumulative certainty obtained in step ST23 with the threshold value X of the cumulative certainty to determine whether the previously estimated behavior purpose is correct or wrong. The threshold value X of the cumulative certainty factor may be determined in advance by the system or the user, or may be calculated on the spot such as using the cumulative certainty factor of the behavioral object estimated previously. If the calculated cumulative certainty factor is larger than the threshold value X, the process proceeds to step ST25, and the previously estimated action purpose is not changed and is left as it is.

  If the obtained cumulative certainty factor is equal to or less than the threshold value X, in step ST26, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 re-estimates the behavior purpose by the method described in the first embodiment. However, for example, when the previous action purpose is A and re-estimation is performed, if A is selected, the second action purpose with the certainty is selected, and the action purpose other than the action purpose selected before is selected. To be selected.

  The action purpose selected in steps ST22, ST25, and ST26 is sent to the next step ST27. At this time, a value of cumulative certainty may be added.

In step ST27, the guidance information determination unit 8 receives the action purpose selected in any of steps ST22, ST25, and ST26 and determines the guide information. For example, the action purpose is determined by the held guidance information table. Guidance information to be presented is determined according to the selected number of times and the accumulated certainty factor.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a guidance information table held by the guidance information determination unit 8. The guidance information determination unit 8 determines guidance information to be presented with reference to the table shown in FIG.

  In step ST28, the guidance information determination unit 8 presents the guidance information determined in step ST27 to the user via the navigation control unit 9 and the output unit 10. In step ST29, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 obtains the user's reaction based on changes in the vehicle information such as the steering wheel rotation angle and the current position information, and estimates the next behavior purpose after step ST21 and the guidance information to be presented. Used for decision.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the next behavioral purpose is estimated in consideration of the user's reaction to the behavioral purpose presented by the behavioral purpose estimating unit 7, and the guidance information determining unit 8 obtains the guidance information. By determining, it is possible to obtain the effect that it is possible to present more useful guidance information for the user.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The navigation apparatus shown in FIG. 8 is configured such that the behavior purpose database 11 is added to FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, and the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 inputs history data from the history database 4. The configuration is the same as in FIG. In FIG. 8, the behavior purpose database 11 stores the behavior purpose estimated in the past, and the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 is stored in the current information, history data from the history database 4, and the behavior purpose database 11. The behavioral purpose is estimated based on the behavioral purpose estimated in the past, and the estimated behavioral purpose is stored in the behavioral purpose database 11.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the behavior purpose estimation unit 7. In step ST <b> 31, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 compares the current information with the history data stored in the history database 4 to calculate the similarity. For example, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 compares the current destination, travel route, and vehicle information with the past destination, travel route, and vehicle information stored in the history database 4 to calculate the similarity. At this time, the behavioral purpose estimation unit 7 detects the similarity of only the destination, the method of examining the similarity between the destination and the travel route, or the degree of similarity according to the number of items that match by detecting vehicle information. The degree of similarity is calculated by using one or a plurality of methods for determining the above.

  In step ST32, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 determines whether the current destination and the past destination, the travel route, and the vehicle information match depending on whether the similarity calculated in step ST31 exceeds the threshold value Y. Determine whether.

  If there is a matching destination, travel route, or vehicle information, in step ST33, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 acquires a behavior purpose that matches the past destination, travel route, or vehicle information from the behavior purpose database 11. And presuming it as the current behavioral purpose. If there is no match in step ST32, the behavioral purpose is estimated in step ST34 as in the first embodiment or the second embodiment.

  In step ST35, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 records the behavior purpose selected in step ST33 or step ST34 in the behavior purpose database 11.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, the behavior purpose estimation unit 7 performs the behavior estimated in the past stored in the current information, the history data from the history database 4, and the behavior purpose database 11. By estimating the behavioral purpose based on the purpose, when the user is driving similar to the past drive, the behavioral purpose considering feedback of the user's reaction is presented from the first stage of behavioral purpose estimation And the effect that the accuracy of the estimation of the behavioral purpose can be improved is obtained.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the estimation result of the destination candidate by the destination estimation part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the action objective estimation part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the action purpose estimation table of the station which the action purpose estimation part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention hold | maintains. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the action objective estimation part and guidance information determination part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the accumulation reliability table of the estimated action objective corresponding to the reaction of the user which the action objective estimation part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention hold | maintains. It is a figure which shows the example of the guidance information table which the guidance information determination part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention hold | maintains. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the action objective estimation part of the navigation apparatus by Embodiment 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input part, 2 Position information acquisition part, 3 Vehicle information acquisition part, 4 History database, 5 Map database, 6 Destination estimation part 6, 7 Action purpose estimation part, 8 Guidance information determination part, 9 Navigation control part, 10 output Department, 11 Action purpose database.

Claims (8)

A history database storing past user operation information, past vehicle position information, and past vehicle information as history data;
A map database storing map data;
Current user operation information, current vehicle position information , at least one of the shape / weight / number / name / position / address / preference of a person present in the car, and an object present in the car and current vehicle information including at least one of shape, weight, number, name, position location, and the history data stored in the history database, based on the map data stored in the map database, the destination A destination estimator for estimating candidates;
Information on any one of the current user operation information and current vehicle position information, and at least one of the shape, weight, number, name, position, address, and preference of a person existing in the vehicle, are present in the vehicle. and current vehicle information including at least one of shape, weight, number, name, position location of the object, and the map data stored in the map database, the destination candidates estimated by the destination predicting section, A behavioral purpose estimation unit that estimates the behavioral purpose of the user based on the retained behavioral purpose estimation table;
A navigation apparatus comprising: a guidance information determination unit that determines guidance information to be presented to a user based on a user's behavior purpose estimated by the behavior purpose estimation unit.   The destination estimator compares the current one-drive travel route with the past travel route stored in the history database, and based on the current travel route length and the past travel route length, The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a reliability is calculated, and a destination of a past travel route having a high reliability is estimated as a destination candidate.   The behavioral purpose estimation unit checks whether each condition such as the destination and vehicle information described in the behavioral purpose estimation table matches the current information, and from among the behavioral purposes described in the behavioral purpose estimation table. 3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an action purpose corresponding to a matching condition is selected.   The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the behavior purpose estimation unit selects a behavior purpose having a high certainty factor.   5. The navigation according to claim 4, wherein the behavior purpose estimation unit updates the cumulative certainty of the behavior purpose based on the selected certainty of the behavior purpose and the reliability of the destination calculated by the destination estimation unit. apparatus.   The behavioral purpose estimation unit holds a confidence table for behavioral purposes corresponding to the user's response to the guidance information presented to the user, and uses the confidence level table for the behavioral purpose based on the user's response to use The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the next estimation of a person's action purpose is performed.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the guidance information determination unit determines the guidance information to be presented based on the number of times the behavior purpose is continuously selected by the behavior purpose estimation unit or the certainty of the behavior purpose. A behavioral purpose database that stores behavioral purposes estimated in the past,
The behavior purpose estimation unit estimates the behavior purpose based on the current information, the map data stored in the map database, and the behavior purpose estimated in the past stored in the behavior purpose database, and the estimated behavior purpose The navigation device according to claim 6, wherein the behavior purpose database is stored.

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