JP5300435B2 - Navigation device and character string prediction method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation apparatus 20 allowing input of a character string desired by a user with a small number of operations. <P>SOLUTION: A character string candidate display 203 refers to an input history storage unit 204, and displays, on an output device 15, character strings each beginning from a character input by the user, input in the past in the same time zone as a time zone including current time as character string candidates arranged from the head in order of a large input frequency in the time zone including the current time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device that provides information on a point related to an input character string.

  In the following patent document, a character string that starts with an input character and that is input in the past is displayed as a prediction result of the character string corresponding to the input character. A navigation device that supports operations is disclosed.

2005-283890

  By the way, it is preferable that the character string displayed at the head as the prediction result is highly likely to be the character string that the user is trying to input. However, in the navigation device disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document, a character string input in the past is merely displayed as a prediction result, and it is highly possible that the user is attempting to input a character string at that time. It can not be said.

  In addition, if there are a plurality of character strings that have been input in the past and that have been input in the past, even if there is a character string that the user is trying to input at that time. If the character string is not displayed at the beginning of the prediction result, the user needs to find out the character string to be input at that time from the prediction result including a large number of character strings. It cannot be said that the nature is high.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to enable a user to input a character string desired by a small number of operations.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, a character string that starts with an input character and that has been input in the past in the same time zone as the current time zone is included in the current time. Arrange from the top in descending order of the number of inputs in the time zone and display them as character string candidates.

For example, a first aspect of the present invention is a navigation device that provides information on a point related to an input character string,
For each character string input in the past, an input history storage means for storing the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input , and position information indicating the position at which the character string was last input ;
When a character is input, referring to the input history storage means, the reading kana is a character string starting with a character including at least the input character, and has already been input in a time zone including the current time. A character string candidate display means for extracting and displaying a character string candidate in which the extracted character string is arranged according to the number of times of input,
When a character string is input by being selected by the user from among the character string candidates, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, An input history management means for initializing the number of times of input of the character string corresponding to the time zone including the time ;
Positioning means for measuring the current position of the navigation device ,
The character string candidate display means includes:
In the extracted character string, when there is a character string with the same number of inputs in the time zone including the current time, the last input position in the character string with the same number of inputs is the navigation device. The order of the character string closer to the current position of
The input history management means includes:
When a character string is input, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, the position information of the character string is updated with the position information measured by the positioning means. If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, and the position information of the character string is added to the position information by the positioning means. setting the information of the measured position to provide a navigation apparatus according to claim Rukoto.

In the second aspect of the present invention, information indicating each point is associated with a set of character strings corresponding to the first classification and a set of character strings corresponding to the second classification. When the first character string and the second character string are received from the user with a predetermined identifier in between, the two character strings are recognized as different character strings, and A navigation device that provides information on a point including a corresponding character string in the first character string and the second character string,
For each character string input in the past, an input history storage means for storing the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input, and information indicating the classification of the character string,
When a character is input following the first character string and the identifier, a character string associated with a classification different from the input first character string with reference to the input history storage means A character string that begins with the input character and that has already been input in the time zone that includes the current time, and the extracted character string is arranged according to the input count Character string candidate display means for creating and displaying candidates,
Point information acquisition means for acquiring information on a point specified by the input first character string and the second character string together with information indicating a classification of each of the first character string and the second character string; ,
If a character string selected by the user from among the character string candidates is accepted as a second character string, and the second character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time Is counted, and if the second character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the second character string is newly stored in the input history storage means. , The number of times of input of the second character string corresponding to the time zone including the current time is initialized, and the second character string classification acquired by the point information acquisition unit as the classification of the second character string And an input history management means for setting the input history in the input history storage means.

  According to the navigation device of the present invention, it is possible to input a character string desired by a user with few operations.

  First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a configuration of a navigation system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation system 10 includes a navigation device 20 and an information providing server 30.

  The navigation device 20 is mounted on the vehicle 13 and uses a built-in map data to search for a route to a designated destination point or guide a user according to the searched route. The navigation device 20 communicates with the information providing server 30 via the communication line 11 by performing wireless communication with the nearest base station 12. The navigation device 20 acquires POI (Point Of Interest) information of a point related to the instructed character string from the information providing server 30 and notifies the user of the point according to the instruction from the user.

  The information providing server 30 manages POI information composed of a plurality of character strings indicating information regarding points in association with the coordinates of the points related to the POI information, and the navigation device 20 via the communication line 11. When the character string is received from the POI, the POI information including the character string and the coordinates of the point corresponding to the POI information are returned to the navigation device 20.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the navigation device 20. The navigation device 20 includes a character string storage unit 200, a character string prediction unit 201, an input history management unit 202, a character string candidate display unit 203, an input history storage unit 204, a POI information acquisition unit 205, a map data storage unit 206, a route search A unit 207, a positioning unit 208, and a route guidance unit 209.

  The character string storage unit 200 stores a plurality of character strings in association with the reading kana of each character string so that the date and time last input are in a new order. In the input history storage unit 204, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, for each character string 2040, the number of times of input 2041 for each time zone, and position information indicating the position on the map where the character string 2040 was last input 2042 is stored. In the present embodiment, the number of inputs in each of a plurality of time zones and holidays on weekdays is registered in the column of the number of inputs 2041.

  The map data storage unit 206 stores mesh data including information regarding links indicating roads included in the mesh for each mesh that is a predetermined map area. Each mesh data includes a mesh ID for identifying each mesh, link data that is data related to a link in the mesh, and the like. Each link data stores a link ID for identifying each link, a start node coordinate of the link, an end node coordinate of the link, and the like. The map data storage unit 206 also stores graphic information for drawing a map, names of points, and the like.

  The sensor 17 is, for example, a GPS receiver, a direction sensor, a distance sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and the like, and measures a GPS signal transmitted from a geodetic satellite, a traveling direction of the vehicle 13, a moving distance of the vehicle 13, a vehicle speed, and the like. Measurement information is supplied to the positioning unit 208.

  The positioning unit 208 is based on the measurement information supplied from the sensor 17 and the link data stored in the map data storage unit 206 every time the vehicle 13 on which the navigation device 20 is mounted moves a predetermined distance (for example, 10 m). For example, the current position of the vehicle 13 is calculated by map matching or the like, and information indicating the calculated current position is input history management unit 202, character string candidate display unit 203, POI information acquisition unit 205, route search unit 207, and route guidance. Part 209.

  The route search unit 207 is a map data storage unit when search information including the coordinates of a departure point, a destination point, and a waypoint, search conditions, and the like is received from the user via the input device 14 such as a touch panel or a remote controller. The link data in 206 is referenced, and based on the search information, for example, an algorithm such as Dijkstra's method is used to search for a route from the departure point to the destination point through the waypoint, and the search result is displayed on the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display ) Etc. on the display device 15. Then, the route search unit 207 uses the route specified by the user via the input device 14 among the searched routes as a guide route, and sends the guide route to the POI information acquisition unit 205 and the route guide unit 209.

  When the route guidance unit 209 receives information indicating the guidance route from the route search unit 207, the route guidance unit 209 acquires map data near the current position of the vehicle 13 stored in the map data storage unit 206, and acquires the acquired map data The route guidance is started by displaying a car mark indicating the current position of the vehicle 13 on the map indicated by.

  Then, the route guidance unit 209 refers to the current position of the vehicle 13 calculated by the positioning unit 208 and the link data stored in the map data storage unit 206, and is within a predetermined distance ahead of the vehicle 13 on the guidance route. In addition, when there is a guide point where the traveling direction is to be indicated, an image relating to the guide point is displayed on the display device 15 to guide the user in the direction to proceed.

  When the character string predicting unit 201 receives information indicating a character from the user via the input device 14, the character string predicting unit 201 extracts a character string whose reading kana begins with the character from the character string storage unit 200, and finally extracts the extracted character string. The predicted character string arranged in the order of the date and time input to is generated, and the generated predicted character string is sent to the character string candidate display unit 203. In addition, when the character string which starts from the character received from the user does not exist in the character string storage part 200, the character string estimation part 201 does not output a prediction character string.

  Further, when the character string predicting unit 201 receives information indicating confirmation of the input of the character string via the input device 14, the input date and time of the input character string is the latest (that is, the order of arrangement of the plurality of character strings). The order of a plurality of character strings in the character string storage unit 200 is changed so that When the character string corresponding to the information indicating the input confirmation does not exist in the character string storage unit 200, the character string prediction unit 201 associates the input character with the character string as a reading pseudonym of the character string. Are registered in the character string storage unit 200, and the order of the character strings is set to the top of the arrangement order of the plurality of character strings.

  When the acquisition of POI information is instructed via the input device 14, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays a screen 40 as shown in FIG. 4 on the display device 15, for example. And the character string candidate display part 203 receives the search condition of POI information via the input device 14, and displays the received search condition. The search condition is, for example, one of the vicinity of the current position, the vicinity of the destination, or the vicinity of the searched route. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the area 41 on the screen 40 is highlighted so that the vicinity of the current position is designated as a search condition.

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the input character in the region 44 when information indicating any character shown in the region 48 of the screen 40 is received from the user via the input device 14. In addition, a predicted character string is received from the input character string predicting unit 201. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 extracts the character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 from the character strings included in the received predicted character string, and stores the input history for each extracted character string Referring to unit 204, the number of times of input input in the past in the same time zone as the current time zone is extracted.

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204, and the characters arranged in the descending order of the input counts among the character strings extracted from the predicted character string with the input count of 1 or more. Create column candidates. If there are a plurality of character strings having the same number of inputs, the character string candidate display unit 203 acquires information indicating the current position of the vehicle 13 on which the navigation device 20 is mounted from the positioning unit 208, and an input history storage unit With reference to 204, the order of the character string matched with the positional information which shows the position close | similar to the present position of the vehicle 13 among the character strings with the same input frequency is made high.

For example, the data shown in FIG. 3 is stored in the input history storage unit 204. When the predicted character string 50 as shown in FIG. The display unit 203 extracts a character string shown in FIG. 5B as a character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 from character strings included in the predicted character string. Then, assuming that the current time is 12:00 on weekdays, the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204, and character strings “S ₁ ”, “S ₂ ”, “S ₃ ”, “4 times”, “1 time”, “3 times”, “0 times”, and “3 times” are extracted as the numbers of inputs of “S ₄ ” and “S ₅ ”, respectively.

Then, among the extracted character strings, the character string candidates 51 in which the character strings are arranged in the descending order of the number of times of input for one or more input times are as shown in FIG. 6A, for example. Here, the position indicated by the position information (x ₅ , y ₅ ) of the character string “S ₅ ” is greater than the position indicated by the position information (x ₃ , y ₃ ) of the character string “S ₃ ”. If it is assumed that the current position (x ₀ , y ₀ ) of the vehicle 13 is close, the character string candidate display unit 203 creates a character string candidate 51 as shown in FIG. 6B, for example.

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the created character string candidates in the area 46 of the screen 40 shown in FIG. 4 in that order. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 deletes the character string candidate from the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201, and displays the remaining predicted character string in the region 46 while maintaining the order. Display after column candidates. When the scroll button 47 is pressed on the screen 40 shown in FIG. 4, a candidate character string is displayed in the area 46. An overall image of the character string displayed in the area 46 is illustrated in FIG. 7, for example.

  Note that the first character string (“curry” in the example of FIG. 4) displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 shown in FIG. 4 is underlined, and the button 45 for instructing the search for POI information is pressed. In this case, even if the underlined character string is not displayed in the area 46, the character string candidate display unit 203 uses the underlined character string as a search target character string as a search condition ( In the example of FIG. 4, it is sent to the POI information acquisition unit 205 together with “near the current location” In this way, by giving a special meaning to the first character string of the candidate, it is possible to reduce the operation amount of the user in the search processing for the character string. Therefore, it is important to improve the convenience of the user which character string is displayed first in the candidate character strings to be presented to the user.

  In this regard, in the navigation device 20 of the present embodiment, focusing on the user's behavior pattern of taking the same behavior in the same time zone, the most frequently input times in the past in the time zone including the current time. Let the string be the first candidate. Thereby, the character string most likely to be input by the user can be displayed at the head of the candidate character string. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of user operation when inputting a character string, and it is possible to improve the convenience for the user.

  In addition, the character string candidates are rarely displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40, and in some cases, some character string candidates are displayed in the area 46. For example, when the character string desired by the user does not exist among the character string candidates displayed in the area 46, the user presses the scroll button 47 and searches for the character string desired by the user. In such a character string input process, the user depresses the scroll button 47 by displaying candidate character strings in order in descending order of the number of times of input in the past in the time zone including the current time. The possibility of finding the desired character string without increasing is increased. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of user operation when inputting a character string, and it is possible to improve the convenience for the user.

  The character string candidate display unit 203 sends the character string in the underlined area 46 to the input history management unit 202 when the search button 45 is pressed. Further, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the selected character string in the region 44 when the user selects a character string in the region 46 of the screen 40, and manages the selected character string in the input history management. Send to section 202.

  When the predicted character string is not output from the input character string predicting unit 201 (that is, when the character string starting with the input character does not exist in the character string storage unit 200), the character string candidate display unit 203 The input character is displayed in the area 44 of the screen 40 and the character string is not displayed in the area 46. When the search button 45 is pressed, the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the character string input in the region 44 as a search target character string to the POI information acquisition unit 205 together with the search condition, and Store character strings as registration candidates. When the search result is received from the POI information acquisition unit 205 and the search result is not 0, the character string candidate display unit 203 transmits the stored registration candidate character string to the input history management unit 202. send.

  When the input history management unit 202 receives a character string from the character string candidate display unit 203, the input history management unit 202 determines whether or not the received character string is already registered in the input history storage unit 204. When the received character string is already registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 increases the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string by 1 and the character string Is updated with the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208.

  On the other hand, when the received character string is not registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string in the input history storage unit 204. Then, the input history management unit 202 sets 1 to the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string, and the position information of the vehicle 13 of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208. Set the current position.

  When the POI information acquisition unit 205 receives a search condition together with the search target character string from the character string candidate display unit 203, the POI information acquisition unit 205 specifies coordinates corresponding to the search condition based on the guidance route received from the route search unit 207. For example, if the search condition is “near the current location”, the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208, and if the search condition is “near the destination”, the coordinates of the destination point on the guidance route are obtained. If “is around the route”, a plurality of coordinates on the guidance route are respectively specified as coordinates corresponding to the search condition.

  Then, the POI information acquisition unit 205 transmits the specified coordinates together with the character string to be searched to the information providing server 30 via the antenna 16. When the search result is received from the information providing server 30, the POI information acquisition unit 205 sends the received search result to the character string candidate display unit 203 and displays it on the display device 15.

  Next, the information providing server 30 will be described. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the information providing server 30. The information providing server 30 includes a POI information storage unit 31 and a POI information providing unit 32. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the POI information storage unit 31 stores POI information 311 of the point in association with the coordinates 310 of the point indicated by the POI information.

  When the POI information providing unit 32 receives the character string to be searched and the coordinates corresponding to the search condition from the navigation device 20 via the communication line 11, the POI information providing unit 32 refers to the POI information storage unit 31 and determines the predetermined coordinates from the coordinates. The POI information storage unit 31 searches for POI information of a point within a distance (for example, within 300 m) and including the character string.

  Then, when the corresponding POI information exists in the POI information storage unit 31, the POI information providing unit 32 indicates the POI information and the coordinates of the point corresponding to the POI information via the communication line 11. Send to. When the corresponding POI information does not exist in the POI information storage unit 31, the POI information providing unit 32 transmits to the information providing server 30 via the communication line 11 that the search result is zero.

  Next, the operation of the navigation device 20 will be described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the navigation device 20 in the first embodiment. When the information indicating the character is received via the input device 14, the navigation device 20 starts the operation shown in this flowchart. It is assumed that the user has instructed acquisition of POI information and has input the POI information search conditions before receiving information indicating characters.

  First, when a character string whose reading kana begins with the accepted character is present in the character string storage unit 200, the character string predicting unit 201 is composed of these character strings, and the last input date and time is in chronological order. Lined predicted character strings are created, and the created predicted character strings are sent to the character string candidate display unit 203. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the predicted character string is received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S100).

  When the predicted character string is not received from the character string predicting unit 201 (S100: No), that is, when the character string starting with the accepted character does not exist in the character string storage unit 200, the character string candidate display The unit 203 displays the input character in the area 44 (see FIG. 4) of the screen 40 (S108), and further determines whether or not a character is input (S109). When a character is further input (S109: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S108 again.

  Further, when no character is input (S109: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 is pressed (S110). When the search button 45 is not pressed (S110: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S109 again. On the other hand, when the search button 45 is pressed (S110: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 holds the input character string as a registration candidate. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the input character string and the search condition to the POI information acquisition unit 205, and the POI information acquisition unit 205 executes a process shown in step S112 described later.

  When the predicted character string is received from the character string predicting unit 201 (S100: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes a first character string candidate display process described later to display character string candidates on the screen 40. In the area 46 (see FIG. 4) (S200). And the character string candidate display part 203 determines whether the character was further input (S101). When a character is further input (S101: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S100 again.

  When no further characters are input (S101: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not a character string has been selected by the user from among the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 ( S102). When no character string is selected from the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 (S102: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 button has been pressed (S106). ). When the search button 45 button is not pressed (S106: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S101 again.

  When the search button 45 button is pressed (S106: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 inputs the first character string underlined among the plurality of character strings displayed in the area 46. This is sent to the history management unit 202. When the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is already registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 inputs the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string. The number of times is increased by 1, and the position information of the character string is updated with the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208.

  On the other hand, when the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is not registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string in the input history storage unit 204, and 1 is set as the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string, and the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is set in the position information of the character string (S107). Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the underlined leading character string as a search target character string together with the search condition to the POI information acquisition unit 205, and the POI information acquisition unit 205 proceeds to step S112 described later. The process shown is executed.

  When a character string is selected from the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 (S102: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the selected character string in the area 44 of the screen 40. The selected character string is sent to the input history management unit 202. When the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is already registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 inputs the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string. The number of times is increased by 1, and the position information of the character string is updated with the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208.

  On the other hand, when the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is not registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string in the input history storage unit 204, and 1 is set as the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string, and the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is set in the position information of the character string (S103).

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not more characters have been input (S104). When a character is further input (S104: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S100 again. If no character is further input (S104: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 button on the screen 40 has been pressed (S105). When the search button 45 button is not pressed (S105: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S104 again.

  When the search button 45 button is pressed (S105: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the character string displayed in the area 44 of the screen 40 to the POI information acquisition unit 205 together with the search condition as a search target. The POI information acquisition unit 205 specifies the coordinates corresponding to the search condition received from the character string candidate display unit 203 based on the guidance route received from the route search unit 207, and uses the specified coordinates together with the search target character string as an antenna. 16 to the information providing server 30. When the search result is received from the information providing server 30, the POI information acquisition unit 205 sends the received search result to the character string candidate display unit 203 and displays it on the display device 15 (S112).

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the character string is held as a registration candidate (S113). When the character string is not held as a registration candidate (S113: No), the navigation device 20 ends the operation shown in this flowchart. On the other hand, when a character string is held as a registration candidate (S113: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search result received from the POI information acquisition unit 205 is zero (S114). ). When the search result is 0 (S114: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 discards the stored registration candidate character string (S115), and the navigation device 20 performs the operation shown in this flowchart. finish.

  On the other hand, when the search result is not 0 (S114: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the stored registration candidate character string to the input history management unit 202. The input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 in the input history storage unit 204, and sets 1 as the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string. At the same time, the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is set in the position information of the character string (S116), and the navigation device 20 ends the operation shown in this flowchart.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the first character string candidate display process (S200).

  First, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not there is a character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S201). When the character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 does not exist in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S201: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 receives the character string prediction unit 201 from the character string prediction unit 201. The received predicted character strings are displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 in the order output from the character string predicting unit 201 (S209), and the character string candidate display unit 203 ends the character string candidate display processing shown in this flowchart. To do.

  When the character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 exists in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S201: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 receives the character string prediction unit 201 from the character string prediction unit 201. A character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 is extracted from the received predicted character string (S202), and it is determined whether today is a weekday (S203).

  When today is a weekday (S203: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204, and the extracted character string has a large number of inputs in the weekday time zone including the current date and time. Character string candidates arranged in order are created (S204), and the process shown in step S206 is executed.

  On the other hand, when today is a holiday (S203: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204, and character string candidates in which extracted character strings are arranged in descending order of the number of times of input on holidays. Is created (S205). Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not there is a character string with the same number of inputs in the created character string candidate (S206).

  When character strings having the same number of inputs do not exist (S206: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S208. On the other hand, if there is a character string with the same number of inputs (S206: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204 based on the position information calculated by the positioning unit 208, and finally inputs The order of the character string whose position is close to the current position of the vehicle 13 is higher (S207).

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the created character string candidates in the area 46 of the screen 40 in that order. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 deletes the character string candidate from the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 and displays the remaining predicted character string in the area 46 while maintaining the order. After the candidates are displayed (S208), the character string candidate display unit 203 ends the operation shown in this flowchart.

  The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the navigation device 20 of the present embodiment, it is possible to input a character string desired by the user with a few operations.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, the system configuration of the navigation system 10, the functional configuration of the navigation device 20, and the functional configuration of the information providing server 30 are the same as those described in FIGS. 1 to 8 except for the points described below. Since there is, explanation is omitted.

  First, the information providing server 30 in this embodiment will be described. In the POI information storage unit 31 of the information providing server 30, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, the POI information 311 of the point and the place name related to the POI information are shown in association with the coordinates 310 of the point indicated by the POI information. A place name keyword 312 including a character string and a name keyword 313 including a character string indicating a name related to the POI information are stored.

  In this embodiment, the POI information providing unit 32 of the information providing server 30 receives the first character string and the second character from the navigation device 20 via the communication line 11 with a predetermined identifier (reading mark in this embodiment) sandwiched therebetween. When a character string is received, for example, processing as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 is executed.

  First, the POI information providing unit 32 determines whether or not the first character string exists in the place name keyword associated with any of the POI information (S300). When the first character string exists in the place name keyword associated with any POI information (S300: Yes), the POI information providing unit 32 determines the category of the first character string as the place name, The category of the second character string is determined as the name.

  The POI information providing unit 32 refers to the POI information storage unit 31 and searches for POI information that includes the first character string in the place name keyword 312 and includes the second character string in the name keyword 313 ( S301). Then, the POI information providing unit 32 transmits the search result to the navigation device 20 through the communication line 11 together with the classification of the first character string and the second character string determined by the POI information providing unit 32 (S302). Then, the process shown in this flowchart is terminated.

  When the first character string does not exist in the place name keyword associated with any POI information (S300: No), the POI information providing unit 32 corresponds to any POI information with the second character string. It is determined whether or not the place name keyword is present (S303).

  When the second character string exists in the place name keyword associated with any POI information (S303: Yes), the POI information providing unit 32 determines the category of the first character string as the name, The category of the second character string is determined as the place name. The POI information providing unit 32 refers to the POI information storage unit 31 and searches for POI information including the second character string in the place name keyword 312 and including the first character string in the name keyword 313 ( S304), the process shown in step S302 is executed.

  When the second character string does not exist in the place name keyword associated with any POI information (S303: Yes), the POI information providing unit 32 selects either the first character string or the second character string. Is also determined as a name. Then, the POI information providing unit 32 refers to the POI information storage unit 31 and searches for POI information associated with the name keyword 313 including the first character string and the second character string (S305), The process shown in step S302 is executed.

  Next, the navigation apparatus 20 of this embodiment is demonstrated. In the input history storage unit 204, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, for each character string 2040, the number of times of input 2041 for each time zone, position information 2042 indicating the position on the map where the character string 2040 was last input, In addition, a classification 2043 indicating the category of the character string is stored. In the present embodiment, the classification of each character string is either “place name” or “name”, and there is no character string belonging to both categories.

  When the acquisition of POI information is instructed via the input device 14, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays a screen 40 as shown in FIG. 15 on the display device 15, for example. The character string candidate display unit 203 displays the input character in the region 44 and receives the input when information indicating any character shown in the region 48 is received from the user via the input device 14. A predicted character string is received from the character string prediction unit 201.

  And the character string candidate display part 203 extracts the character string registered into the input log | history storage part 204 from the character string contained in the received prediction character string similarly to the case of 1st Embodiment. Then, the input history storage unit 204 is referred to for each extracted character string, and character string candidates arranged in descending order of the number of times of input corresponding to one or more times corresponding to the time zone including the current time are created. . At this time, the character string candidate display unit 203 sets the order of the character strings associated with the position information of the position close to the current position of the vehicle 13 as the upper order for the character strings having the same input count.

  Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the created character string candidates in the order in the area 46 of the screen 40 shown in FIG. 15, and the predicted character received from the character string prediction unit 201. The predicted character string that is deleted from the column and the remaining predicted character string is displayed following the character string candidate displayed in the area 46 while maintaining the order.

  Next, when a predetermined identifier (in this embodiment, a punctuation mark) is input after the character string, the character string candidate display unit 203 recognizes the character string before the identifier as the first character string. When a character is input following the identifier, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the input character in the area 44 and receives the predicted character string from the input character string prediction unit 201.

  Then, if the first character string is registered in the input history storage unit 204, the character string candidate display unit 203 stores the character string candidate display unit 203 in the input history storage unit 204 from among the character strings included in the received predicted character string. A registered character string is extracted, and the input history storage unit 204 is referred to for each extracted character string, and a character string of a classification different from that of the first character string is extracted.

  Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 creates the character string candidates arranged for the extracted character strings that have the number of times of input corresponding to the time zone including the current time of 1 or more in descending order of the number of times of input. To do. At this time, the character string candidate display unit 203 sets the order of the character strings associated with the position information of the position close to the current position of the vehicle 13 as the upper order for the character strings having the same input count.

  Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the created character string candidates in the order in the area 46 of the screen 40 as shown in FIG. 16, and also receives the character string candidates received from the character string prediction unit 201. The predicted character string that is deleted from the character string and the remaining predicted character string is displayed after the character string candidate displayed in the area 46 while maintaining the order.

  Note that the first character string (“curry” in the example of FIG. 16) displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 shown in FIG. 16 is underlined, and a search button 45 for instructing search for POI information is provided. When pressed, even if the underlined character string is not displayed in the area 46, the character string candidate display unit 203 uses the underlined character string as the second character string as the first character string. And sent to the POI information acquisition unit 205. In this way, by giving a special meaning to the first character string at the time of input of the second character string, the user's operation amount when inputting the character string as the second character string is reduced. Can do. Therefore, it is important to improve the convenience of the user which character string is displayed first in the candidate character strings to be presented to the user.

  In this regard, in the navigation device 20 of the present embodiment, focusing on the user's behavior pattern of taking the same behavior in the same time zone, the most frequently input times in the past in the time zone including the current time. A character string that is a character string and has a classification different from that of the first character string is set as a candidate head. Thereby, the character string most likely to be input by the user can be displayed at the head of the candidate character string. Therefore, the user's operation amount in inputting the second character string can be reduced, and the convenience for the user can be improved.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 17, when a character is input after the identifier following the first character string whose classification is the name (“curry” in the example of FIG. 17), the character string candidate display unit 203 displays From the predicted character string output from the character string predicting unit 201, the character string whose classification is the place name in the input history storage unit 204 is displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 as a character string candidate.

  Further, the character string candidate display unit 203 inputs the character string in the underlined area 46 when the search button 45 is pressed after a character is input following the first character string and the identifier. The data is sent to the management unit 202. Further, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the selected character string in the region 44 when the user selects a character string in the region 46 of the screen 40, and manages the selected character string in the input history management. Send to section 202.

  Further, when the second character string is input, when the predicted character string is not output from the input character string prediction unit 201 (that is, when the character string starting with the input character does not exist in the character string storage unit 200). The character string candidate display unit 203 displays the input character in the area 44 of the screen 40 and does not display the character string in the area 46.

  When the search button 45 is pressed, the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the second character string input in the region 44 to the POI information acquisition unit 205 together with the first character string, and the second character string is displayed. Store character strings as registration candidates. When the search result is received from the POI information acquisition unit 205 and the search result is not 0, the character string candidate display unit 203 transmits the stored registration candidate character string together with the search result. The second character string is sent to the input history management unit 202 together with the classification of the second character string.

  When the input history management unit 202 receives a character string from the character string candidate display unit 203, the input history management unit 202 increments the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string by one, and obtains position information of the character string. The current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is updated.

  In addition, when the input history management unit 202 receives the character string classification together with the character string from the character string candidate display unit 203, the input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string in the input history storage unit 204. Then, the input history management unit 202 sets 1 as the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string, and the current information of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is included in the position information of the character string. The position is set, and the classification received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is set as the classification of the character string.

  When the POI information acquisition unit 205 receives the first character string and the second character string from the character string candidate display unit 203, the POI information acquisition unit 205 transmits the received character strings to the information providing server 30 via the antenna 16. . When the classification of the first character string and the second character string is received together with the search result from the information providing server 30, the POI information acquisition unit 205 displays the received search result and classification as the character string candidate display unit 203. And the search result is displayed on the display device 15.

  Next, operation | movement of the navigation apparatus 20 of this embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the navigation device 20 according to the second embodiment. When the information indicating the character is received after the first character string and the identifier are input via the input device 14, the navigation device 20 starts the operation illustrated in this flowchart.

  First, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the first character string exists in the input history storage unit 204 (S400). When the first character string does not exist in the input history storage unit 204 (S400: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the processing from S100 to S111 and S200 described in FIG. 10 (S413), and the POI. The information acquisition unit 205 executes the process shown in step S414.

  When the first character string exists in the input history storage unit 204 (S400: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the predicted character string has been received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S401). ). When the predicted character string is not received from the character string predicting unit 201 (S401: No), that is, the character string corresponding to the reading kana beginning with the character input after the first character string and the identifier are input is the character. When the character string candidate display unit 203 does not exist in the column storage unit 200, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the input character in the area 44 of the screen 40 (S409), and determines whether or not a character is further input (S410).

  When a character is further input (S410: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S409 again. On the other hand, if no more characters are input (S410: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 has been pressed (S411). When the search button 45 is not pressed (S411: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S410 again.

  On the other hand, when the search button 45 is pressed (S411: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 holds the input character string as a registration candidate. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 uses the input character string as the second character string, and sends the first character string and the second character string to the POI information acquisition unit 205. The POI information acquisition unit 205 The process shown in step S414 is executed.

  When the predicted character string is received from the character string predicting unit 201 (S401: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes a second character string candidate display process, which will be described later, to display character string candidates on the screen 40. (S500). And the character string candidate display part 203 determines whether the character was further input (S402). When a character is further input (S402: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S401 again.

  When no further character is input (S402: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not a character string has been selected by the user from among the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 ( S403). When no character string is selected from the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 (S403: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 button has been pressed (S407). ). When the search button 45 button is not pressed (S407: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S402 again.

  When the search button 45 button is pressed (S407: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 inputs the first character string underlined among the plurality of character strings displayed in the area 46. If it is already registered in the history storage unit 204, the leading character string is sent to the input history management unit 202. The input history management unit 202 increases the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 by one, and the position information of the character string is output from the positioning unit 208 Update the current position of the vehicle 13 (S408). If the leading character string is not registered in the input history storage unit 204, the character string candidate display unit 203 holds the character string as a registration candidate.

  Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the first character string and the second character string to the POI information acquisition unit 205 as the second character string using the underlined first character string, and the POI information The acquisition unit 205 executes the process shown in step S414.

  When a character string is selected from the character string candidates displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 (S403: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the selected character string in the area 44 of the screen 40. The selected character string is sent to the input history management unit 202. When the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is already registered in the input history storage unit 204, the input history management unit 202 inputs the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string. The number of times is increased by 1, and the position information of the character string is updated with the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 (S404). When the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is not registered in the input history storage unit 204, the character string candidate display unit 203 holds the character string as a registration candidate.

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not a character is further input (S405). When a character is further input (S405: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S401 again. If no character is further input (S405: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search button 45 button on the screen 40 is pressed (S406). When the search button 45 button is not pressed (S406: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S405 again.

  When the search button 45 button is pressed (S406: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 uses the character string displayed in the region 44 as the second character string, and the first character string and the second character string. The column is sent to the POI information acquisition unit 205. The POI information acquisition unit 205 transmits the first character string and the second character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 to the information providing server 30 via the antenna 16. When the first character string and the second character string classification are received together with the search result from the information providing server 30, the POI information acquisition unit 205 displays the received search result on the display device 15 and receives the search result. The retrieved results and classification are sent to the character string candidate display unit 203 (S414).

  Next, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the character string is held as a registration candidate (S415). When the character string is not held as a registration candidate (S415: No), the navigation device 20 ends the operation shown in this flowchart. On the other hand, when a character string is held as a registration candidate (S415: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not the search result received from the POI information acquisition unit 205 is zero (S416). ). If the search result is 0 (S416: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 discards the stored registration candidate character string (S417), and the navigation device 20 performs the operation shown in this flowchart. finish.

  On the other hand, if the search result is not 0 (S417: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 sends the stored registration candidate character string to the input history management unit 202 together with the classification of the character string. The input history management unit 202 newly registers the character string received from the character string candidate display unit 203 in the input history storage unit 204, and sets 1 as the number of times of input in the time zone including the current time corresponding to the character string. Then, the current position of the vehicle 13 output from the positioning unit 208 is set in the position information of the character string, the classification received from the character string candidate display unit 203 is set as the classification of the character string (S418), and navigation The device 20 ends the operation shown in this flowchart.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the second character string candidate display process (S500).

  First, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not there is a character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S501). When the character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 does not exist in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S501: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 receives the character string prediction unit 201 from the character string prediction unit 201. The received predicted character string is displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 in the order output from the character string predicting unit 201 (S511), and the character string candidate display unit 203 ends the operation shown in this flowchart.

  When the character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 exists in the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 (S501: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 receives the character string prediction unit 201 from the character string prediction unit 201. A character string registered in the input history storage unit 204 is extracted from the received predicted character string (S502), and the first character string is extracted from the extracted character string by referring to the input history storage unit 204. It is determined whether or not there is a character string with a classification different from (S503). If there is no character string of a different classification from the first character string in the extracted character string (S503: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S511.

  If there is a character string with a classification different from that of the first character string in the extracted character string (S503: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 selects the first character string from the extracted character strings. Further extracts character strings of different classifications (S504). The character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether today is a weekday (S505). When today is a weekday (S505: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204, and extracts the character string further extracted in step S504 in the time zone of the weekday including the current date and time. Character string candidates arranged in descending order of the number of times of input are created (S506), and the process shown in step S508 is executed.

  On the other hand, when today is a holiday (S505: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204 and arranges the character strings further extracted in step S504 in descending order of the number of times of input on the holiday. A character string candidate is created (S507). Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 determines whether or not there is a character string having the same input count in the created character string candidate (S508). When character strings with the same number of inputs do not exist (S508: No), the character string candidate display unit 203 executes the process shown in step S510.

  On the other hand, when there is a character string with the same number of inputs (S508: Yes), the character string candidate display unit 203 refers to the input history storage unit 204 based on the position information calculated by the positioning unit 208, and finally inputs The order of the character string whose position is close to the current position of the vehicle 13 is higher (S509). Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 displays the created character string candidates in the area 46 of the screen 40 in that order. Then, the character string candidate display unit 203 deletes the character string candidate from the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201 and displays the remaining predicted character string in the area 46 while maintaining the order. After the candidates are displayed (S510), the character string candidate display unit 203 ends the operation shown in this flowchart.

  The second embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

  As is clear from the above description, also in the navigation device 20 of the present embodiment, when the user inputs the second character string, the user can input the character string desired by the user with few operations.

  Note that the navigation device 20 in each of the above-described embodiments can be realized by a computer 60 configured as shown in FIG. 20, for example. The computer 60 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 61, a random access memory (RAM) 62, a read only memory (ROM) 63, a hard disk drive (HDD) 64, a wireless communication device 65, and an input / output interface (I / F) 66. , And a media interface (I / F) 67.

  The CPU 61 operates based on a program stored in the ROM 63 or the HDD 64 and controls each unit. The ROM 63 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 61 when the computer 60 is activated, a program depending on the hardware of the computer 60, and the like. The HDD 64 stores programs executed by the CPU 61, data, and the like. The wireless communication device 65 provides the data received from the base station 12 via the antenna 16 to the CPU 61 and transmits the data generated by the CPU 61 to the base station 12 via the antenna 16.

  The input / output interface 66 sends the data generated by the CPU 61 to the display device 15 and sends a signal from the input device 14 or the sensor 17 to the CPU 61. The CPU 61 controls the input device 14, the display device 15, and the sensor 17 via the input / output interface 66.

  The media interface 67 reads a program or data stored in the recording medium 68 and provides it to the CPU 61 via the RAM 62. The CPU 61 loads the program from the recording medium 68 onto the RAM 62 via the media interface 67 and executes the loaded program. The recording medium 68 is, for example, an optical recording medium such as DVD or PD, a magneto-optical recording medium such as MO, a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, or a semiconductor memory.

  The CPU 61 of the computer 60 executes a program loaded on the RAM 62 to thereby execute a character string storage unit 200, a character string prediction unit 201, an input history management unit 202, a character string candidate display unit 203, an input history storage unit 204, The functions of the POI information acquisition unit 205, the map data storage unit 206, the route search unit 207, the positioning unit 208, and the route guidance unit 209 are realized. The ROM 63 or the HDD 64 stores data in the character string storage unit 200, the input history storage unit 204, and the map data storage unit 206.

  The computer 60 reads these programs from the recording medium 68 and executes them, but as another example, the computer 60 may acquire these programs from other devices via the wireless communication device 65. .

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist thereof.

  For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the description has been made on the assumption that the navigation device 20 is mounted on the vehicle 13, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may be realized in a portable information terminal (for example, a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants)) regardless of whether it is mounted on the vehicle 13 or not. The present invention may also be used as a character input support function for a general purpose computer.

  In each embodiment described above, the navigation system 10 has been described on the assumption that the server / client system includes the navigation device 20 and the information providing server 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the POI is included in the navigation device 20. A database for storing information and a POI information management function for managing POI information in the database are provided, and the POI information acquisition unit 205 passes a character string corresponding to a character input by the user to the POI information management function. The POI information management function may retrieve POI information corresponding to the received character string from the database and return it to the POI information acquisition unit 205.

  In each embodiment described above, the character string candidate display unit 203 inputs, from the predicted character string received from the character string prediction unit 201, a character string that is frequently input in a time zone including the current time as an input history. Although the character string candidates are created by extracting all from the storage unit 204, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the character string candidate display unit 203 selects a predetermined number (for example, the top five) of character strings in the descending order of the number of times input in the time zone including the current time from the predicted character strings received from the character string prediction unit 201. May be extracted from the input history storage unit 204 to create a character string candidate. As a result, the number of character string candidate creation steps can be reduced, and the character string candidates can be displayed in the area 46 of the screen 40 at a higher speed and with a smaller processing load.

  In each embodiment described above, the character string candidates created by the character string candidate display unit 203 are displayed on the display device 15, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the character string candidates created by the character string candidate display unit 203. A character string candidate creation processing control function for switching whether to display the display device 15 on the display device 15 or to display the predicted character string output from the character string prediction unit 201 in the same order on the display device 15. The navigation device 20 may be provided.

1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a navigation device 20. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the data stored in the input history storage part 204 in 1st Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the screen 40 in 1st Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the extraction process of the character string by the character string candidate display part 203. FIG. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the extraction process of the character string by the character string candidate display part 203. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overall image of character string candidates displayed on an output device 15; FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an information providing server 30. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the data stored in the POI information storage part 31 in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the navigation apparatus 20 in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a 1st character string candidate display process (S200). It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the data stored in the POI information storage part 31 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the information provision server 30 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the data stored in the input history storage part 204 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the screen 40 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the screen 40 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the screen 40 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the navigation apparatus 20 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a 2nd character string candidate display process (S500). 2 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer 60 that realizes the function of the navigation device 20. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Navigation system, 11 ... Communication line, 12 ... Base station, 13 ... Vehicle, 14 ... Input device, 15 ... Display device, 16 ... Antenna, 17 ... Sensor 20 ... Navigation device 200 ... Character string storage unit 201 ... Character string prediction unit 202 ... Input history management unit 203 ... Character candidate display unit 204 ... Input history storage unit 205 ... POI information acquisition unit 206 ... Map data storage unit 207 ... Route search unit 208 ... Positioning unit 209 ... Route guidance unit 30 ... Information providing server 31 ... POI information storage unit 32 ... POI information providing unit 60 ... Computer 61 ... CPU 62 ... RAM 63 ... ROM 64 ... HDD, 65 ... wireless communication device, 66 - input and output interface, 67 ... media interface, 68 ... recording medium

Claims (6)

A navigation device that provides information on a point related to an input character string,
For each character string input in the past, an input history storage means for storing the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input , and position information indicating the position at which the character string was last input ;
When a character is input, referring to the input history storage means, the reading kana is a character string starting with a character including at least the input character, and has already been input in a time zone including the current time. A character string candidate display means for extracting and displaying a character string candidate in which the extracted character string is arranged according to the number of times of input,
When a character string is input by being selected by the user from among the character string candidates, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, An input history management means for initializing the number of times of input of the character string corresponding to the time zone including the time ;
Positioning means for measuring the current position of the navigation device ,
The character string candidate display means includes:
In the extracted character string, when there is a character string with the same number of inputs in the time zone including the current time, the last input position in the character string with the same number of inputs is the navigation device. The order of the character string closer to the current position of
The input history management means includes:
When a character string is input, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, the position information of the character string is updated with the position information measured by the positioning means. If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, and the position information of the character string is added to the position information by the positioning means. navigation apparatus characterized that you set the information of the measured position. The navigation device according to claim 1 ,
Character string storage means for storing a plurality of character strings registered in advance;
A character string predicting unit that outputs a predicted character string including a character string starting from a character including at least the input character when the character is input;
The character string candidate display means includes:
A navigation device, wherein a character string included in the character string candidate is removed from the predicted character string, and the remaining character string is displayed after the character string candidate. The navigation device according to claim 2 ,
When the user gives an instruction to display the character string candidates according to the input history, the character string candidate display unit executes the creation of the character string candidates, and the input history management unit inputs Update the contents of the input history storage means according to the character string,
When the user gives an instruction not to display character string candidates according to the input history, the character string prediction unit displays the predicted character string as a character string candidate corresponding to the input character. A navigation device further comprising character string candidate creation processing control means. Information indicating each point is managed in association with a set of character strings corresponding to the first classification and a set of character strings corresponding to the second classification, and a predetermined identifier is sandwiched between them. When the first character string and the second character string are received from the user, the two character strings are recognized as character strings of different classifications, and the first character string and the second character string in each classification A navigation device that provides information on a point that includes the corresponding character string in
For each character string input in the past, an input history storage means for storing the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input, and information indicating the classification of the character string,
When a character is input following the first character string and the identifier, a character string associated with a classification different from the input first character string with reference to the input history storage means A character string that begins with the input character and that has already been input in the time zone that includes the current time, and the extracted character string is arranged according to the input count Character string candidate display means for creating and displaying candidates,
Point information acquisition means for acquiring information on a point specified by the input first character string and the second character string together with information indicating a classification of each of the first character string and the second character string; ,
If a character string selected by the user from among the character string candidates is accepted as a second character string, and the second character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time Is counted, and if the second character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the second character string is newly stored in the input history storage means. , The number of times of input of the second character string corresponding to the time zone including the current time is initialized, and the second character string classification acquired by the point information acquisition unit as the classification of the second character string A navigation apparatus comprising: an input history management unit that sets the input history in the input history storage unit. A method for predicting a character string in a navigation device that provides information on a point related to an input character string,
The navigation device is
When a character is input, for each character string input in the past, the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input and position information indicating the position at which the character string was last input is stored. With reference to the input history storage means, the reading kana is a character string starting with a character including at least the input character, and a character string already input in a time zone including the current time is extracted, A character string candidate display step for creating and displaying a character string candidate in which the extracted character string is arranged according to the number of times of input,
When a character string is input by being selected by the user from among the character string candidates, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, An input history management step for initializing the number of times the character string corresponding to the time zone including the time is entered ,
In the character string candidate display step,
In the extracted character string, when there is a character string having the same number of inputs in the time zone including the current time, the last input position in the character string having the same number of inputs is the positioning means. The order of the character string closer to the current position of the navigation device measured by
In the input history management step,
When a character string is input, if the input character string is already stored in the input history storage means, the position information of the character string is updated with the position information measured by the positioning means. If the input character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the character string is newly stored in the input history storage means, and the position information of the character string is added to the position information by the positioning means. string prediction method characterized that you set the information of the measured position. Information indicating each point is managed in association with a set of character strings corresponding to the first classification and a set of character strings corresponding to the second classification, and a predetermined identifier is sandwiched between them. When the first character string and the second character string are received from the user, the two character strings are recognized as character strings of different classifications, and the first character string and the second character string in each classification A method of predicting a character string in a navigation device that provides information on a point that includes the corresponding character string in
The navigation device is
When a character is input following the first character string and the identifier, for each character string input in the past, the number of times of input for each time zone in which the character string is input, and the classification of the character string A character string that is associated with a classification different from the input first character string, and that starts with the input character. Characters that have already been entered in the time zone that includes the current time are extracted, character string candidates are created according to the number of times the extracted character strings are placed, and the created character string candidates are displayed. Column candidate display step,
A point information acquisition step of acquiring information on a point specified by the input first character string and the second character string together with information indicating the respective classifications of the first character string and the second character string; ,
If a character string selected by the user from among the character string candidates is accepted as a second character string, and the second character string is already stored in the input history storage means, a time zone including the current time Is counted, and if the second character string is not stored in the input history storage means, the second character string is newly stored in the input history storage means. , The number of times of input of the second character string corresponding to the time zone including the current time is initialized, and the second character string classification acquired by the point information acquisition unit as the classification of the second character string An input history management step for setting the input history in the input history storage means.

Images