JP6799558B2 - Guidance device for vehicles, guidance method and its computer program. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an improvement of a guidance device such as a vehicle navigation device.

If you use a guide device to set a new large commercial facility or popular entertainment facility as your destination and depart for it, you may get caught in traffic jams on the surrounding roads before you reach it.
Even if the congestion at the facility is unavoidable to some extent, the user may feel a great deal of stress from being caught in the traffic jam of the surrounding roads. If you arrive at a destination facility and get caught in a traffic jam, you may regret that you should have considered using a facility other than this destination.
Therefore, conventionally, a technique has been proposed in which the degree of congestion of roads around a facility is calculated, and when the degree of congestion exceeds a predetermined value, an alternative destination is presented (Patent Document 1).
In addition, a technique of predicting the degree of congestion of roads around the facility based on past data and displaying it on a map has also been proposed (Patent Document 2).
In addition, refer to Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4 which calculate the degree of congestion of roads around the facility and propose countermeasures.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-048559 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-118110 JP-A-2010-169441 Special Meeting 2009-07552

In these conventional techniques, the degree of congestion of the roads around the facility is sought and countermeasures are taken, for example, guidance is given to avoid the congested roads, or other destinations are introduced.
However, an important concern for users is the extra time it takes to reach their destination, and whether that time fits the ruler. In other words, if commercial facilities and entertainment facilities are attractive, you can be convinced of some traffic jams and feel no stress.

Therefore, in the present invention, the degree of congestion of the roads around the facility is acquired, this is reflected in the route guidance, and the estimated arrival time (access real time) to the destination is calculated. At the same time, the estimated arrival time (standard access time) to the destination when there is no congestion is calculated. The difference between the two is the expected congestion time at the time of departure.
On the other hand, each facility, which is the destination, has its own attractiveness, and the attractiveness changes. In this specification, the attractiveness of the facility does not refer to the personal parameters of the user but is independent of the user's taste and the like, and corresponds to, for example, the degree of congestion in the facility and the presence or absence of an event. If the facility is highly crowded, it will be less attractive, and if an event is held, it will be more attractive. In addition, temperature, weather, time, season, etc. can also be factors that determine the attractiveness of the facility. In addition, the attractiveness can be given as a default value individually according to the facility. In addition, the remaining time during business hours and closing time can also be a parameter of attractiveness.
If the facility is attractive, it will not be a great stress for the user even if it takes time to arrive due to the congestion of the surrounding roads. In other words, depending on the degree of attractiveness, the amount of traffic that can be tolerated will change.

When the user sets a certain facility as a destination, the guidance device of the present invention provides guidance in consideration of the attractiveness of the facility and the traffic congestion time involved in reaching the facility. That is, the first aspect of the present invention is defined as follows.
The facility preservation department that preserves the facility and
An attractiveness setting unit that specifies the attractiveness of the preserved facility,
The actual access time required to reach the facility from a predetermined position is calculated with reference to the road congestion information, and the standard access time required to reach the facility from the predetermined position is referred to the road congestion information. A traffic jam time calculation unit that calculates the traffic jam time, which is the time difference between the former and the latter, without calculating
A recommendation creation unit that creates a recommendation to the user based on the specified attractiveness and the calculated congestion time, and
Guidance device equipped with.

According to the guidance device of the first aspect defined in this way, a recommendation to the user is created based on both the attractiveness of the facility and the congestion time. On the other hand, in the conventional technology, only the degree of congestion of the roads around the facility is specified, and the congestion time is not particularly calculated. Of course, the attractiveness of the facility is not considered at all, and a recommendation is made to the user as a countermeasure. Display of congested roads, proposals for alternative destinations, etc.) were carried out.
If a recommendation to the user is created in consideration of the attractiveness of the facility in addition to the congestion time as in the present invention, the recommendation becomes more beneficial to the user.
Here, the recommendation refers to information provided by the guidance device to the user and which can be a guideline or a hint of the user's behavior. In the present invention, the recommendation includes content suggesting congestion of surrounding roads. For example, it is preferable to include information on the actual access time to the facility and the congestion time in this recommendation. Recommendations can be displayed on the image in the form of text or symbols. It is also possible to output as voice.
When the guidance device has a facility search function (a function of searching for facilities of a predetermined type (entertainment facility, etc.)), the functions of the present invention (attractiveness and congestion time) can be obtained for a plurality of facilities existing in a predetermined range. Evaluation to be used) is demonstrated. Facilities can be ranked based on the results. This ranking can also be one of the recommendations.

The second aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance device of the first aspect, the attractiveness of the facility is specified based on the congestion degree of the facility. For example, if the entertainment facility is crowded, the waiting time for attractions can be several hours. On the other hand, the surrounding roads may not be congested at all. It is undeniable that users will feel stress if the facility is selected based only on the degree of congestion on the surrounding roads. Therefore, as specified in the second phase, when the facility is designated as the destination, the recommendation to the user is made based on the congestion degree of the facility as well as the calculation of the congestion time (that is, the congestion degree as the attractiveness). create.
For example, if the surrounding roads are congested and it takes a long time (for example, 1 hour) but the facility is not congested (for example, the waiting time for attractions is 5 minutes), the guidance to the facility is strongly advised. Recommendations are made to recommend. On the other hand, even if there is almost no congestion time, if the facility is congested (for example, the waiting time for attractions is 2 hours), it is recommended that the facility is congested when guiding the facility.
Here, the method of specifying the degree of congestion of the facility is not particularly limited, but for example, the degree of congestion can be specified based on the congestion information transmitted from the facility itself (for example, the average waiting time of the attraction). In addition, the degree of congestion of the facility itself can be predicted from the degree of congestion of the parking lot around the facility. The degree of congestion in the parking lot can be obtained by analyzing probe information indicating the behavior history of the vehicle.

The third aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, the attractiveness of the facility described in the first or second aspect is corrected by the event information of the facility.
If the event is held in the facility, the user will not be concerned about some congestion. Therefore, based on the information of the event provided by the facility, the attractiveness of the facility is increased while the event is held. When the attractiveness of the facility is corrected by the congestion degree, this congestion degree can be corrected by the presence or absence of an event, and the attractiveness can be corrected accordingly. The parameter indicating the degree of congestion is corrected according to the presence or absence of an event or the type of event to reduce this. It can be assumed that there was no congestion during the event (congestion degree = 0).
When the attractiveness is changed based on the event information as described in the third phase, the event information is reflected in the recommendation to the user (fourth phase). This makes it possible to make more useful recommendations to the user.

The fifth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance device described in the first aspect, the traffic jam time calculation unit calculates the traffic jam time when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value.
According to the guidance device of the fifth aspect defined in this way, the congestion time may or may not be calculated depending on the attractiveness of the facility. For example, when the facility is not congested at all and its attractiveness is high (attractiveness> first threshold value), the congestion of the surrounding roads does not cause stress for the user. Therefore, the congestion time calculation unit is turned on only when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value to enable the creation of recommendations, while the congestion time calculation unit is turned off when the attractiveness exceeds the first threshold value. , Provides general-purpose guidance. This reduces the burden required on the guidance device.

Further, even when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value, when the calculated congestion time is almost zero (that is, there is no congestion), it may not be necessary to make a strong recommendation. Therefore, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, in the guidance device specified in the fifth aspect, the recommendation is made only when the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time. As a result, useless recommendations are omitted, and the user can use it easily.
Further, in the seventh aspect, in the guidance device specified in the sixth aspect, the conditions for creating the recommendation are further narrowed down, and unnecessary recommendations are omitted. That is, when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the second threshold value, a recommendation is made. It is assumed that this second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value. That is, since the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value, the congestion time calculation unit is turned on, but when the attractiveness is greater than the second threshold value, the recommendation creation unit is not operated, and only when this is equal to or less than the second threshold value. Have them make a recommendation. By using the first threshold value, a slight margin is seen, and by turning on the congestion time calculation unit as the background of the guidance device, the attractiveness of the facility changes, that is, the attractiveness becomes equal to or less than the second threshold value. Therefore, when it becomes necessary to strongly guide the user, it is possible to quickly make a recommendation.

How to feel the attractiveness of the facility, for example, the stress on the waiting time of the attraction of the facility and the stress on the congestion time, differ depending on the user. Therefore, the guidance device of the present invention is provided with a threshold value setting unit so that the user can arbitrarily set a first threshold value regarding the attractiveness of the facility and a first threshold value regarding the congestion time (eighth aspect). ..

The ninth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance device specified in the sixth aspect, the recommendation making unit is influenced more by the attractiveness than the congestion time and specifies the content of the recommendation. In this way, it becomes easier for the user to use by reflecting the current state of the facility in the recommendation. In addition, since the congestion time is more likely to change than the attractiveness of the facility, it is preferable to use the attractiveness of the facility as the standard for making recommendations. Frequent changes in recommendations can confuse users.
On the other hand, since the actual access time to the facility is important information for the user, it is preferable to create a recommendation so that the actual access time can be grasped (tenth phase).

The eleventh aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the aspects specified in the first to tenth paragraphs,
Each time the recommendation creation unit creates a recommendation, a history storage unit that saves the content of the recommendation and the environment when the recommendation is created, and
When the recommendation creation unit creates a new recommendation, a recommendation extraction unit that extracts the same or the same type of recommendation as the new recommendation from the history storage unit and specifies the environment at the time of creating the extracted recommendation, and a recommendation extraction unit.
It is equipped with a comparison unit that compares the specified environment with the environment for creating a new recommendation.
The recommendation making unit reflects the result of the comparison in the making of the recommendation.

According to the guidance device of the eleventh aspect defined in this way, the log of the recommendation creation is recorded in the history storage unit.
Then, when creating a new recommendation, the recommendation extraction unit refers to the recommendation log, and the same or the same type of recommendation is extracted. Here, the same or similar recommendations should be made when the attractiveness of the facility and the congestion time are the same. In general entertainment facilities and surrounding roads, the same kind of congestion tendency appears on a weekly basis by day of the week and on a yearly basis by month and day. It is a so-called steady congestion state.
Therefore, in the guidance device of the eleventh aspect, the comparison unit is used to compare the environment in the steady congestion state with the environment in which the recommendation is newly created. For example, when the content of the recommendation is the same or the same, but a large difference is observed between the two days of the week or the month and day of the week, that is, when the recommendation is other than the steady congestion state, the same recommendation as the steady state is created. When that happens, reflect that (comparison result) in the recommendations. As a result, the user can be alerted.
In the above example, the day of the week (weekly unit) and the month and day (yearly unit) are used as environmental indicators, but the hour and minute (day unit) can be used, and in addition to the environment using these time as an index, the weather, etc. The temperature and the like can be used as an environmental index, and a combination of these can be used as an environmental index.

The twelfth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, it is a guidance method using a guidance device including a facility storage unit, an attractiveness setting unit, a traffic jam time calculation unit, and a recommendation creation unit.
The attractiveness setting unit specifies the attractiveness of the facility stored in the facility preservation unit, and the attractiveness is determined.
The congestion time calculation unit calculates the actual access time required to reach the facility from a predetermined position with reference to road congestion information, and calculates the standard access time required to reach the facility from the predetermined position. Calculate without referring to road congestion information, calculate the time difference between the former and the latter, and use this as the congestion time.
The recommendation creation unit creates a recommendation to the user based on the specified attractiveness and the calculated congestion time. Guidance method Like the guidance method of the twelfth aspect defined in this way, the congestion If a recommendation is made for the user in consideration of the attractiveness of the facility in addition to the time, the recommendation becomes more useful for the user.

The thirteenth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance method specified in the twelfth aspect, the attractiveness of the facility is specified based on the congestion degree of the facility. Since the degree of congestion of a facility is an easily available parameter, it is easy to identify the degree of attractiveness of the facility.
The fourteenth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance method specified in the thirteenth aspect, the attractiveness of the facility is corrected by the event information of the facility. By modifying the attractiveness of the facility specified based on the congestion of the facility by using the event information, the attractiveness of the facility becomes more suitable for the user's request.

The fifteenth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance method specified in the fourteenth aspect, when the attractiveness is corrected by the event information, the event information is reflected in the content of the recommendation. It is beneficial for the user to provide the user with event information that modifies the attractiveness.

The sixteenth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows. That is, in the guidance method specified in the twelfth aspect, the recommendation making unit makes a recommendation when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value and the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time. To do. By making a recommendation only when the attractiveness of the facility and the congestion time satisfy the predetermined conditions, it is possible to prevent the creation of a useless recommendation.
Further, the present invention provides a computer program for causing a computer to execute the guidance method of the twelfth to sixteenth aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a guide device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the attractiveness setting unit 20. FIG. 3 is a block showing the configuration of the congestion time calculation unit 30. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the recommendation creation unit 40. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the recommendation creation unit 140 of another embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the whole operation of the guidance device 1. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for specifying the attractiveness. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a calculation procedure of a traffic jam time. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating a recommendation. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a recommendation creation procedure using the recommendation log. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a hardware configuration as a computer device.

Hereinafter, the guide device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the function of the guide device 1.
The guidance device 1 includes a basic configuration unit 2 that is normally provided in a vehicle navigation device, an attractiveness setting unit 20, a congestion time calculation unit 30, and a recommendation creation unit 40 that exert the unique action of the present invention.
The basic configuration component 2 of the navigation device includes a route calculation unit 3, an input unit 3, an output unit 7, and a map memory unit 9.
From the input unit 5, the current position of the vehicle, the destination, other running conditions, and the like are input. The current position of the vehicle is input using GPS or a gyro. The destination is input via a touch panel, a cursor input device, a microphone for voice input, or the like. Other driving conditions are manually input by the user as appropriate.

Based on the information input from the input unit, the route calculation unit 3 refers to the map memory 9, calculates the guide route to the destination according to a general-purpose method, and stores it in the buffer memory (not shown). .. Data necessary for executing navigation is stored in the map memory 9. Such data includes map data, road data, addresses, telephone numbers, facility information, and the like.
The facility memory unit 10 is an area for storing facility information in the map memory 9, and the facility name, coordinates (including polygons representing the facility area), telephone number, type, and the like are stored in this area. In this case, the default value of the attractiveness of the facility is also saved. Here, the default value of the attractiveness of the facility means the attractiveness inherent in the facility, and a high attractiveness is given to famous facilities such as Tokyo Disneyland (registered trademark) and USJ Japan (registered trademark) from the beginning. .. On the other hand, large suburban shopping centers are not as attractive as the former two. Such a default value is stored in the specific area 11 in the facility memory unit 10.

When the facility in the map memory 9 is set as the destination, the route calculation unit 3 refers to the map data and the road data stored in the map memory 9 and selects the optimum guide route according to a fixed method. At that time, the estimated arrival time at the destination is also calculated. This calculation is performed based on the distance of the selected route, the legal speed of the road, the number of signals passing through, and the like, and the congestion information is not added here. The estimated arrival time (access standard time) to the destination calculated in this way is stored in the access standard time storage unit 32 of the congestion time calculation unit 30 (see FIG. 3).

The route calculation unit 3 can calculate the estimated time of arrival (access real time) to the destination with reference to the traffic jam information. The traffic jam information provided by VICS (registered trademark) or the like is obtained, the data stored in the map memory 9 according to the traffic jam information, for example, the speed limit for each link is changed, and the guide route is calculated again. The estimated time of arrival (access real time) to the destination obtained as a result is also stored in the access real time storage unit 31 of the congestion time calculation unit 30.
When the route calculation unit 3 selects a route that bypasses the congested road, the estimated arrival time at the destination when the route is used is stored in the access real-time storage unit 31 as the access real time.
The arithmetic unit 35 calculates the difference between the access real time stored in the access real time storage unit 31 and the access standard time stored in the access standard time storage unit 32 to obtain the congestion time.

The output unit 7 includes a display device and a speaker, displays the guide route and other information searched by the route calculation unit 3 on the display device, and guides the user through the speaker. Recommendations, which will be described later, are also guided to the user via this output unit.

The attractiveness setting unit 20 specifies the attractiveness of the facility (see FIG. 2). Depending on the facility, there is little need to consider the degree of congestion. Such facilities are stored with a default value of 0 (no congestion). On the other hand, a default value N (≠ O) is given to a facility where congestion is expected, and for a facility having such a default value N, the attractiveness setting unit reads the attractiveness from the specific area 11 and the default value. It is stored in the storage unit 21.
Information on the degree of congestion of the facility is input to the attractiveness setting unit 20 from the outside. Information provided directly from the facility (eg, average waiting time for attractions) can be used as information regarding the degree of congestion, but is not limited to this, of course.
The attractiveness correction unit 23 corrects the attractiveness N (default value) using the congestion degree input in this way. For example, as the degree of congestion a increases, the degree of attractiveness N decreases. For example, let NA be a new attractiveness. Further, the coefficient α (≦ 1) may be multiplied according to the degree of congestion a.

Information (event information) of the event held at the facility is also input to the attractiveness setting unit 20. It is preferable to use the event information supplied from the facility.
If an event is held, some congestion does not cause stress on the user. Therefore, in this example, the correction unit 25 corrects the degree of congestion with the event information. For example, correction is performed to reduce the value of the degree of congestion according to the event information b. The degree of congestion ab may be used as a new degree of congestion, or the coefficient β (≦ 1) may be multiplied according to the event information b.
The attractiveness N may be directly modified by using the event information.

As will be described in detail in FIG. 4, the attractiveness specified by the attractiveness setting unit 20 and the congestion time calculated by the congestion time calculation unit 30 are input to the comparison unit 41 of the recommendation creation unit 40. The comparison unit 41 reads the corresponding recommendation from the recommendation storage unit 42 and sends it to the output unit 7. The output unit 7 outputs the sent recommendation and makes the user recognize it.
Here, the recommendation storage unit 42 summarizes the contents of the recommendation in a matrix format of attractiveness and congestion time, and the comparison unit 41 exists in the cell of the matrix closest to the input attractiveness and congestion time set. Read out the recommendations to do. Of course, it is also possible to predetermine a function of attractiveness and calculation time, and specify the content of the recommendation by the function calculation.

The recommendation creation unit 40 includes a threshold value storage unit 44, and the threshold value storage unit 44 stores a first threshold value a1 and a second threshold value a2 regarding attractiveness. Similarly, the first threshold time t1 regarding the congestion time is stored.
When the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value a1 (that is, when the attractiveness of the facility is small), the attractiveness setting unit 20 sends a signal to the congestion time calculation unit 30 to execute the congestion time calculation. In other words, when the attractiveness exceeds the first threshold value a1, the calculation of the traffic jam time by the traffic jam time calculation unit 30 is stopped to reduce the load on the device.

Even when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value a1 (the traffic jam time calculation unit is on), when the traffic jam time is smaller than the first threshold time t1 (when the surrounding roads are hardly congested). The operation of the recommendation making unit 40 can be stopped. In other words, when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value a1 and the congestion time is equal to or greater than the first threshold time t1 (when congestion is observed on the surrounding roads), a recommendation is created.
Furthermore, even if the attractiveness is equal to or less than the first threshold value a1 and the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time t1, if the attractiveness exceeds the second threshold value a1, the creation of the recommendation is stopped. Can be done. Here, it is assumed that the second threshold value a2 is smaller than the first threshold value a1.
It is preferable to attach a threshold value setting unit 46 capable of arbitrarily setting these threshold values to the recommendation calculation unit 40.

FIG. 5 shows a recommendation creation unit 141 of another example. The same elements as those in FIG. 4 described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be partially omitted. The recommendation creation unit 141 is provided with a recommendation log storage unit 143. The recommendation log storage unit 143 stores a standard set of the content of the recommendation and the environment when the recommendation is created. Here is the date and time as an index of the environment.

The standard set of recommendation contents and environment is created by the recommendation log processing unit. That is, when a recommendation is created, the content and the environment when the recommendation is created are temporarily recorded in the recommendation log storage unit 143, and statistical processing is performed to determine a standard set of the recommendation content and the environment. For example, for a given facility, the content of recommendations when "Sunday morning" is adopted as the environment is aggregated, the most used content is selected, and the content and "Sunday morning" are set as standard. And. This standard set is stored in the recommendation log storage unit 143.
When the comparison unit 141 creates a recommendation based on the current attractiveness and the congestion time, the recommendation log storage unit 143 searches for the same or the same type of recommendation and specifies the environment at that time. The environment specified in this way is compared with the environment at the time of making the current recommendation, and if there is a difference between the two, that fact is reflected in the recommendation. For example, as the recommendation, for example, "Please note that there is unusual congestion or congestion" can be adopted. This recommendation is also stored in the recommendation storage unit 42.

Next, the operation of the guide device 1 will be described with reference to the flowcharts (FIGS. 6 to 9).
When the destination is set using the input unit 5 (S1), the control device that controls the entire guidance device 1 refers to the data in the specific area 11 of the facility memory 10, and the designated destination is attractive. It is determined whether or not the facility has the default value A0 for the degree (S2).
When it is designated as a destination and the default value of attractiveness is not associated with other facilities, the recommendation is not performed and the normal guidance mode is set.

When a facility with which the default value A0 of attractiveness is associated is specified, the attractiveness of the facility is specified. The default value A0 can be used as it is as the attractiveness value, but in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the default value A0 is modified based on the congestion degree of the facility.
In step 31, the attractiveness setting unit 20 reads the default value A0 of the attractiveness of the corresponding facility from the specific area 11 of the facility memory unit 10 and saves it in the default value storage unit 21. In step 33, information on the degree of congestion of the facility is obtained from the outside and stored in a buffer memory (not shown). Next, the event information of the facility is confirmed, and if there is event information, the correction unit 25 corrects the congestion information (S35, S37). In this example, if there is event information (that is, if the event is held), the congestion level is set to zero. When the event information is input to the correction unit 25, that is, when the attractiveness is corrected by the event information, the history is recorded. Then, when a recommendation based on the modified attractiveness is created, the existence of event information is included in the recommendation. It is considered that the user pays great attention to the event information.
In step 39, the default value of attractiveness is modified according to the degree of congestion obtained. In this example, the attractiveness A is specified by multiplying the default value by a predetermined coefficient α (α ≦ 1) according to the degree of congestion.

Returning to FIG. 6, in step 5, the attractiveness A specified in step 3 is compared with the predetermined first threshold value a1, and when the attractiveness A is equal to or less than the first threshold value a1, the congestion time calculation unit 30 is operated. Turn on. On the other hand, when the attractiveness A1 exceeds the first threshold value a1, the attractiveness of the facility is sufficiently large, and it is considered that the user should visit the facility regardless of the recommendation, and the congestion time calculation unit 30 is turned on. Only the normal guidance mode is executed without any.

The traffic jam time calculation unit 30 turned on in step 5 calculates the traffic jam time Tj. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, when a destination is specified, the route calculation unit 3 executes a normal process to calculate a guide route (step 71). At that time, the arrival time to the so-called theoretical destination (access standard time Tn) when calculated with the data of only the map memory 9 is calculated (S73), and the access standard time storage unit 32 of the congestion time calculation unit 30 is calculated. Save this to. At the same time, the traffic jam information is taken in from the outside, the estimated arrival time (access real time Tr) to the destination when the traffic jam information is taken into consideration is calculated, and the traffic jam information is saved in the access real time storage unit 31 (S75). The arithmetic unit 35 subtracts the access standard time Tn from the access real time Tr, and sets the obtained difference as the congestion time Tj (S77).

Returning to FIG. 6, in step 9, when the congestion time Tj specified in step 7 is smaller than the predetermined first threshold time, the normal guidance mode is executed and no recommendation is issued. This is because the stress given to the user by the traffic jam on the surrounding road is extremely small, and it is not necessary to dare to notify the existence of the traffic jam by the recommendation.
On the other hand, when the congestion time Tj is equal to or greater than the first threshold time t1, the process proceeds to step 11.
In this step 11, the attractiveness A specified in step 3 is compared with the second threshold value a2 (> the first threshold value a1), and when the attractiveness A is equal to or less than the second threshold value a2, the recommendation creation step 13 However, when the attractiveness A exceeds the second threshold value a2, the normal guidance mode is executed and no recommendation is issued.
By the time the recommendation creation step 13 is reached, the attractiveness has been examined up to twice, so the influence of the attractiveness is greater on the recommendation creation than the congestion time in which one examination was made. It can be said that. The recommendations made in this way are highly influenced by their attractiveness compared to the congestion time.

In step 13, recommendations are specified, as detailed in FIG.
In step 131, the attractiveness A sent from the attractiveness setting unit 20 is stored in a buffer memory (not shown). In step 133, the congestion time Tj sent from the congestion time calculation unit 30 is stored in a buffer memory (not shown). The comparison unit 41 reads the content of the recommendation corresponding to the combination closest to the combination of the two from the recommendation storage unit 42. The content of the read recommendation is output from the output unit 7.
At this time, it is preferable to include the actual access time in the recommendation. This is because real-time access is of great concern to users.

In the above example, the first threshold value a1, the second threshold value a2, and the first threshold value time t1 can be arbitrarily set. This is because the feeling of stress due to congestion and traffic congestion depends on individual attributes. In this example, the threshold value setting unit 46 is attached to the recommendation creation unit 40. This is because, in step 9 and step 11 of FIG. 6, the comparison unit 41 examines whether or not to make a recommendation using the second threshold value a and the first threshold time t1.
Since the first threshold value a1 is related to the on / off of the congestion time calculation unit 30, it is used for the entire controller of the guidance device. For convenience, the first threshold value is also stored in the threshold value storage unit 44 of the recommendation creation unit 40.

The operation of the recommendation creation unit 140 (see FIG. 5) of another embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. 9 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.
In the flowchart of FIG. 10, in step 137, the environment (month and time in this example) when the recommendation is created in step 13 of FIG. 6 is specified and stored in the history storage unit 142 (not shown).
The set of the recommendation content specified in step 135 and the environment specified in step 137 (currently specified) is compared with the standard set of the recommendation content and environment stored in the recommendation log storage unit 143. (S139). If the current set matches the standard set, the recommendation specified in S135 is output as it is (step 141). On the other hand, if there is a discrepancy with the standard set of the current set, the fact that it is out of the standard is reflected in the recommendation (step 143).

The hardware configuration of the guidance device 1 as a computer is shown in FIG.
One calculation unit is in charge of elements 3, 23, 25, 35, 41 having a calculation function. This arithmetic unit includes a CPU, ROM, and RAM, and is in charge of controlling the entire system. The ROM includes a non-volatile memory (not shown) in which a control program or the like for controlling the arithmetic unit is stored. The RAM readablely stores various set values preset by the user via the input device, and provides a working area to the CPU. The control program that controls the arithmetic unit is not limited to the ROM, and may be stored in the RAM, the first storage device, and the second storage device.

The first storage device 9 is a memory device provided in a general-purpose guidance device, and stores data necessary for executing road search and navigation. The facility targeted by the present invention is also a part of the map data, but in this case, the default value of attractiveness is associated only with a specific facility and stored in the facility memory unit 10.
The second storage device is the storage devices 21, 42, 143, and 44 for executing the recommendation function, and uses a part of the area of the memory device provided in the guidance device such as the hard memory and the flash memory. Is preferable.
A part of the RAM of the arithmetic unit can be used for the so-called buffer memory for temporarily storing data.

Congestion degree and event information must be provided to the attractiveness setting unit 20 from the outside, and congestion information referred to by the route calculation unit 3 must also be provided from the outside. Therefore, the guidance device includes a general-purpose communication device 200. The communication device 200 is capable of bidirectional communication with at least the data center 300. Congestion information, facility congestion, and event information are collectively managed in the data center 300.

The present invention is not limited to the above description of the embodiments, examples, and modifications. Various modifications are also included in the present invention as long as those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the description of the scope of claims.

1 Guidance device 10 Facility memory 20 Attractiveness setting unit 30 Congestion time calculation unit 40 Recommendation creation unit

Claims (17)

The facility preservation department that stores facility information and
An attractiveness setting unit that specifies the attractiveness of the preserved facility,
The actual access time required to reach the facility from a predetermined position is calculated with reference to the road congestion information, and the standard access time required to reach the facility from the predetermined position is referred to the road congestion information. A traffic jam time calculation unit that calculates the traffic jam time, which is the time difference between the former and the latter, without calculating
A recommendation creation unit that creates a recommendation including the actual access time to the user based on the specified attractiveness and the calculated congestion time.
In the guidance device equipped with
The traffic jam time calculation unit calculates the traffic jam time only when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value.
The recommendation creation unit is a guidance device that creates a recommendation including the access real time only when the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time. The guide device according to claim 1 , wherein the recommendation making unit creates the recommendation only when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the second threshold value, wherein the second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value. .. The guidance device according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the attractiveness of the facility is specified based on the congestion degree of the facility. The guidance device according to claim 3 , wherein the attractiveness of the facility is modified by the event information of the facility. The guidance device according to claim 4 , wherein when the attractiveness is corrected by the event information, the event information is reflected in the content of the recommendation. The guidance device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a threshold setting unit capable of arbitrarily setting a first threshold value for the attractiveness of the facility and a first threshold value for the congestion time. Each time the recommendation creation unit creates a recommendation, a history storage unit that saves the content of the recommendation and the environment when the recommendation is created,
When the recommendation creation unit creates a new recommendation, a recommendation extraction unit that extracts the same or the same type of recommendation as the new recommendation from the history storage unit and specifies the environment at the time of creation, and a recommendation extraction unit.
It is provided with a comparison unit that compares the specified environment with the environment at the time of creating the new recommendation.
The guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the recommendation making unit reflects the result of the comparison in making a recommendation. It is a guidance method using a guidance device including a facility storage unit for storing facility information , an attractiveness setting unit, a traffic jam time calculation unit, and a recommendation creation unit.
The attractiveness setting unit specifies the attractiveness of the facility stored in the facility preservation unit, and the attractiveness is determined.
The congestion time calculation unit calculates the actual access time required to reach the facility from a predetermined position with reference to the road congestion information, and the access standard time required to reach the facility from the predetermined position. Is calculated without referring to the road congestion information, the time difference between the former and the latter is calculated and used as the congestion time, and the congestion time is calculated here only when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value. Calculate and
The recommendation creation unit creates a recommendation including the access real time to the user based on the specified attractiveness and the calculated congestion time only when the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time . Guidance method. The guidance method according to claim 8, wherein the recommendation making unit prepares the recommendation only when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the second threshold value, wherein the second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value. .. The guidance method according to claim 8 or 9 , wherein the attractiveness of the facility is specified based on the congestion degree of the facility. The guidance method according to claim 10 , wherein the attractiveness of the facility is modified by the event information of the facility. The guidance method according to claim 11 , wherein when the attractiveness is corrected by the event information, the event information is reflected in the content of the recommendation. A computer that controls a guidance device equipped with a facility storage unit that stores facility information , an attractiveness setting unit, a traffic jam time calculation unit, and a recommendation creation unit.
The attractiveness of the facility stored in the facility preservation unit is specified by the attractiveness setting unit.
The traffic jam time calculation unit is made to calculate the actual access time required to reach the facility from a predetermined position with reference to the congestion information of the road, and the standard access time required to reach the facility from the predetermined position is calculated. Calculate without referring to the road congestion information, calculate the time difference between the former and the latter, and use this as the congestion time. Here, the congestion time is calculated only when the attractiveness of the facility is equal to or less than the first threshold value. Let me
Only when the congestion time is equal to or longer than the first threshold time, the recommendation creation unit causes the user to create a recommendation including the access real time based on the specified attractiveness and the calculated congestion time.
Computer program for guidance devices. The computer program according to claim 13, wherein the recommendation making unit is made to make the recommendation only when the attractiveness is equal to or less than the second threshold value, and the second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value. .. The computer program according to claim 13 or 14 , wherein the attractiveness setting unit specifies the attractiveness of the facility based on the congestion degree of the facility. The computer program according to claim 15 , wherein the attractiveness setting unit is made to correct the attractiveness of the facility based on the event information of the facility. The computer program according to claim 16 , wherein when the attractiveness is corrected by the event information, the recommendation creation unit creates a recommendation so that the event information is reflected.