JP7622955B2 - Information processing device, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program.

Conventionally, technology has been known that displays on a screen the vehicle's position on a highway and the distance to the next facility (interchange, service area, parking area, etc.) in order to provide information to the driver (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-168996

However, conventional technology could only display facilities that could be displayed on the screen based on the vehicle's position. This meant that users, such as drivers, could not, for example, check the distance to a facility that was far ahead of the vehicle's position and could not be displayed on the screen based on the vehicle's position.

On the other hand, there is technology that allows a facility that is not displayed on the screen based on the vehicle's position to be displayed by, for example, scrolling the screen through user operations, but in this case, the facility and the vehicle's position cannot be displayed at the same time.

Therefore, for example, when users wanted to check information about an important facility for changing roads at a junction or the like, they were unable to check the information until it was displayed on a screen based on the vehicle's position, or they were unable to check the information at the same time as the vehicle's position, which was inconvenient.

One embodiment of the present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide information about a specific facility at all times.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing device according to one embodiment is an information processing device that can be mounted on or carried in a vehicle traveling on a highway, and has a display control unit that displays a display screen including a first display area and a second display area that is a display area different from the first display area, and the display control unit displays in the first display area a list of information about facilities on the highway that can be scrolled based on the position of the vehicle, and displays in the second display area information about a specific facility on the highway in a fixed manner.

Information about a given facility can be provided at any time.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a guidance screen (part 1). FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a guidance screen (part 2). FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a client terminal according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server device according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a client terminal and a server device according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process executed by a client terminal and a server device according to the embodiment; 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a display control process for a guidance screen according to the embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dialog.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, an information providing system 1 will be described that displays on the user's terminal a screen (hereinafter referred to as a "guide screen") that constantly provides information about specific facilities in addition to information about various facilities within a displayable range based on the vehicle's position when the user is driving on a highway. Note that highways may also be referred to as expressways, etc.

Here, examples of facilities include junctions (JCTs), interchanges (ICs), service areas (SAs), and parking areas (PAs). The specified facility is a facility that has been set in advance, and in this embodiment, it is a JCT. However, any facility other than a JCT (IC, SA, or PA) may be set as the specified facility, or a facility that satisfies any condition specified by the user (for example, "PAs where large vehicles can be parked," "SAs with a gas station," "SAs with a kids' corner," etc.) may be set.

Facility-related information includes at least the type of facility (JCT, IC, SA, or PA), the name of the facility, and the distance from the start (or end) of the expressway to the facility. In addition to these, facility-related information may also include various other information (for example, if the facility is a PA, the number of parking spaces available, etc.). Facility-related information may also include the distance from the vehicle's position to the facility (i.e., the relative distance from the vehicle's position). In the following, the term "distance" will be taken to mean the distance from the start (or end) of the expressway.

<Overall composition>
First, the overall configuration of an information providing system 1 according to this embodiment will be described. As shown in Fig. 1, the information providing system 1 according to this embodiment includes a client terminal 10 and a server device 20. The client terminal 10 and the server device 20 are communicatively connected to each other via an arbitrary communication network N such as the Internet or a mobile phone network.

The client terminal 10 is a terminal such as a smartphone carried by a user (for example, a driver of a vehicle traveling on a highway or a passenger in the vehicle). While the user is traveling on the highway, a guidance screen is displayed on the client terminal 10 that provides the names of facilities within a displayable range based on the vehicle's position and the distance to the facility, as well as the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction. This allows the user to always check the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction.

The client terminal 10 is not limited to a smartphone, but may be, for example, a tablet terminal or a wearable device, or may be an in-vehicle device including a so-called car navigation system.

The server device 20 is a server that provides facility data required for the client terminal 10 to display the guidance screen. The facility data includes, for example, at least the name and location of the facility.

The configuration of the information providing system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and other configurations may be used. For example, if the client terminal 10 itself holds the data necessary to display the guidance screen (the facility data described above, as well as the network data described below, etc.), the information providing system 1 does not need to include the server device 20.

<Guidance screen>
Here, an example of a guidance screen displayed on the client terminal 10 of a user who is driving on an expressway will be described.

The guidance screen 1000 shown in FIG. 2 includes a first display area 1100 and a second display area 1200.

The first display area 1100 displays the name of the next junction (i.e., the nearest junction) ahead in the direction of travel of the vehicle and the distance to that junction. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the name of the next junction, "Miyanoki," and the distance to that junction, "16.7 kp," are displayed in the first display area 1100. Note that kp stands for kilometer post, and indicates the distance from the start (or end) of the expressway.

In the second display area 1200, a vehicle position icon 1201 indicating the current position of the vehicle and facility icons within a range that can be displayed based on the vehicle position icon 1201 in a list of facility icons indicating the facility name and the distance to the facility (hereinafter referred to as the "facility icon list") are displayed. At this time, as the vehicle position moves, the facility icon list is dynamically scrolled downward on the screen (hereinafter, scrolling associated with the movement of the vehicle position is referred to as "automatic scrolling"). In the example shown in FIG. 2, a facility icon 1211 indicating the IC name "Wangan Ichikawa" and the distance to the IC "1.0 kp" and a facility icon 1212 indicating the IC name "Yatsufunabashi" and the distance to the IC "5.5 kp" are displayed in the second display area 1200. Here, facility icons within the range that can be displayed based on the vehicle position icon 1201 refer to facility icons that are included in the second display area 1200 when the vehicle position icon 1201 is fixedly displayed in the second display area 1200 and the facility icon list is dynamically scrolled downward on the screen as the vehicle position moves.

The facility icon list displayed in the second display area 1200 can be scrolled by a user operation (e.g., swiping up or down on the screen) (hereinafter, scrolling by a user operation is referred to as "manual scrolling"). The operation for manually scrolling the facility icon list is also referred to as a "scrolling operation."

When an icon displaying the name and distance of the next junction is displayed in the second display area 1200 by automatic or manual scrolling, the name and distance of the next junction is displayed in the first display area 1100. For example, if the junction name "Miyanoki" and the distance to that junction are displayed in the first display area 1100, when an icon displaying the name of the junction "Miyanoki" and the distance to that junction is displayed in the second display area 1200 by automatic or manual scrolling, the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction are displayed in the first display area 1100. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, when an icon 1221 displaying the junction name "Miyanoki" and the distance to that junction is displayed in the second display area 1200 by manual scrolling, the first display area 1100 displays the junction name of Narita JCT, which is the next junction after Miyanoki JCT, and the distance to that junction.

In this way, the client terminal 10 according to this embodiment displays a guidance screen including a first display area in which information about a specific facility is fixedly displayed, and a second display area in which a list of facility icons is automatically scrolled in accordance with the movement of the vehicle's position. This guidance screen allows the user to always check information about the specific facility, as well as information about the facility displayed in the second display area. This allows the user to always check, for example, the name of the next junction and the distance to the next junction.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the distance (kp) from the start (or end) of the expressway to the facility in question is displayed, but the relative distance from the vehicle's position to the facility in question may be displayed together with (or instead of) kp. When the relative distance from the vehicle's position to the facility in question is displayed, this relative distance is dynamically updated as the vehicle's position moves.

<Hardware Configuration>
Next, the hardware configurations of the client terminal 10 and the server device 20 according to this embodiment will be described.

<Client terminal 10>
4, the client terminal 10 according to the present embodiment has, as hardware, a touch panel 11, an external I/F 12, a communication I/F 13, a processor 14, a memory device 15, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 16. Each of these pieces of hardware is connected to each other via a bus 17 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

The touch panel 11 is an electronic component that combines a display device such as a display and a display device such as a touchpad, and accepts user input operations and displays various screens, etc. to the user.

The external I/F 12 is an interface with an external device such as a recording medium 12a. The client terminal 10 can read and write data from and to the recording medium 12a via the external I/F 12. Examples of the recording medium 12a include a secure digital memory card (SD memory card) and a universal serial bus (USB) memory card.

The communication I/F 13 is an interface for connecting the client terminal 10 to the communication network N. The processor 14 is, for example, various types of arithmetic devices such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The memory device 15 is, for example, various types of storage devices such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a flash memory. The GPS receiver 16 is an electronic component that receives radio waves from GPS satellites.

The client terminal 10 according to this embodiment has the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 4 and can perform various processes described below.

<Server device 20>
5, the server device 20 according to the present embodiment has, as hardware, an input device 21, a display device 22, an external I/F 23, a communication I/F 24, a processor 25, and a memory device 26. Each of these pieces of hardware is connected to each other via a bus 27 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

The input device 21 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The display device 22 is, for example, a display. Note that the server device 20 does not necessarily have to have at least one of the input device 21 and the display device 22.

The external I/F 23 is an interface with an external device such as a recording medium 23a. The server device 20 can read and write data from and to the recording medium 23a via the external I/F 23. Examples of the recording medium 23a include a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), an SD memory card, and a USB memory card.

The communication I/F 24 is an interface for connecting the server device 20 to the communication network N. The processor 25 is, for example, a CPU or other computing device. The memory device 26 is, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, or other storage device.

The server device 20 according to this embodiment has the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 5 and is therefore capable of performing the various processes described below.

<Functional configuration>
Next, the functional configurations of the client terminal 10 and the server device 20 according to this embodiment will be described.

<Client terminal 10>
6, the client terminal 10 according to the present embodiment includes a communication unit 101, a positioning unit 102, and a display control unit 103. Each of these functional units is realized by, for example, processing executed by the processor 14 of one or more programs installed in the client terminal 10.

The communication unit 101 transmits and receives various data to and from the server device 20. The positioning unit 102 receives radio waves using the GPS receiver 16 to determine the current position of the client terminal 10 (i.e., the position of the vehicle in which the user who owns the client terminal 10 is riding). The display control unit 103 displays a guidance screen on the touch panel 11.

<Server device 20>
6, the server device 20 according to this embodiment includes a communication unit 201, an identification unit 202, and a facility acquisition unit 203. Each of these functional units is realized by, for example, processing executed by the processor 25 of one or more programs installed in the server device 20.

The server device 20 according to this embodiment also includes a point sequence data storage unit 204, a network data storage unit 205, and a facility data storage unit 206. Each of these storage units can be realized, for example, by the memory device 26.

The communication unit 201 transmits and receives various data to and from the client terminal 10. The identification unit 202 uses point sequence data indicating the point sequence of the position of the client terminal 10 (i.e., the vehicle position) and network data stored in the network data storage unit 205 to identify the expressway and the direction (upbound or downbound) on which the user of the client terminal 10 is traveling. The facility acquisition unit 203 acquires the relevant facility data from the facility data storage unit 206 using the expressway and direction identified by the identification unit 202.

The point sequence data storage unit 204 stores point sequence data indicating the point sequence of the vehicle's position. The network data storage unit 205 stores network data, which is data related to a road network. The facility data storage unit 206 stores facility data. Note that the network data includes data related to the links that make up the road network, and data related to the nodes that indicate the end points of the links. The data related to the links includes, for example, information such as the road type and road name of the road represented by the link.

<Processing details>
Next, a flow of processing executed by the client terminal 10 and the server device 20 according to the present embodiment will be described. Fig. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing executed by the client terminal 10 and the server device 20 according to the present embodiment. In the following, it is assumed that the user of the client terminal 10 is driving on a highway.

The positioning unit 102 of the client terminal 10 receives radio waves from the GPS receiver 16 to determine the current position of the client terminal 10 (step S101). Next, the communication unit 101 of the client terminal 10 transmits position information indicating the current position determined by the positioning unit 102 to the server device 20 (step S102). Note that the communication unit 101 of the client terminal 10 also transmits identification information (e.g., a user ID or a terminal ID) that identifies the client terminal 10 to the server device 20 along with the position information.

When the identification unit 202 of the server device 20 receives the location information from the client terminal 10 via the communication unit 201, the identification unit 202 stores the location information in the point sequence data storage unit 204 (step S103). At this time, the identification unit 202 stores, for example, the identification information of the client terminal 10 in association with the location information in the point sequence data storage unit 204. As a result, the time series of the location information of the client terminal 10 is stored in the point sequence data storage unit 204 as point sequence data.

In addition, instead of transmitting position information in the above step S102, point sequence data may be transmitted. That is, in the above step S102, the client terminal 10 may transmit position information for a certain predetermined time width to the server device 20 as point sequence data.

Following step S103, the identification unit 202 of the server device 20 uses the point sequence data stored in the point sequence data storage unit 204 and the network data stored in the network data storage unit 205 to identify the expressway and the direction (upbound or downbound) on which the user of the client terminal 10 is traveling (step S104). The identification unit 202 may identify the expressway and the direction on which the user is traveling using the point sequence data and the network data, for example, by a known method such as map matching.

Next, the facility acquisition unit 203 of the server device 20 acquires the corresponding facility data from the facility data storage unit 206 using the expressway and direction identified by the identification unit 202 (step S105). Here, the corresponding facility data refers to facility data related to a facility located in the direction of the expressway (i.e., the user's traveling direction).

Then, the communication unit 201 of the server device 20 transmits the facility data acquired by the facility acquisition unit 203 to the client terminal 10 (step S106).

Note that, for example, if the facility data has already been sent to the client terminal 10, steps S105 to S106 above do not need to be executed.

The display control unit 103 of the client terminal 10 executes a display control process for the guidance screen (step S107). That is, the display control unit 103, for example, scrolls the facility icon list displayed in the second display area of the guidance screen according to the current position determined in step S101 above, and when information about the next junction is displayed in the second display area as a result of this scrolling, displays information about the next junction in the first display area. Details of the display control process for the guidance screen will be described later.

The above steps S101 to S107 are repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals (e.g., every few seconds).

When the user scrolls the second display area on the guidance screen, the display control unit 103 of the client terminal 10 executes display control processing for the guidance screen (step S201). That is, the display control unit 103, for example, scrolls the facility icon list displayed in the second display area on the guidance screen in response to the scroll operation, and when information about the next junction is displayed in the second display area as a result of this scrolling, displays information about the next junction in the first display area.

<<Display control process for guide screen>>
Here, the display control process of the guidance screen in step S107 or step S201 will be described below. Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the display control process of the guidance screen according to this embodiment.

The display control unit 103 scrolls the facility icon list displayed in the second display area on the guidance screen in response to the current position determined by the positioning unit 102 or a scroll operation (step S301).

Next, the display control unit 103 determines whether or not an icon displaying the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction is displayed in the second display area as a result of the scrolling in step S301 above (step S302).

If it is determined that an icon displaying the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction is not displayed in the second display area (NO in step S302), the display control unit 103 refers to the facility data received from the server device 20 and determines whether or not there is a junction in the user's travel direction (step S303).

If it is determined that there is a junction in the user's direction of travel (YES in step S303), the display control unit 103 displays the name of the junction (i.e., the next junction) and the distance to the junction in the first display area (step S304).

If it is determined that there is no junction in the user's direction of travel (NO in step S303), the display control unit 103 does not display anything in the first display area (step S305).

If it is determined that an icon displaying the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction is displayed in the second display area (YES in step S302), the display control unit 103 refers to the facility data received from the server device 20 and determines whether there is a next junction (step S306).

If it is determined that there is a next junction (YES in step S306), the display control unit 103 displays the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction in the first display area (step S307).

If it is determined that there is no next JCT (NO in step S306), the display control unit 103 does not display anything in the first display area (step S308).

As described above, while the user is driving on the expressway, the client terminal 10 according to this embodiment displays a guidance screen including a first display area in which information about a specific facility is fixedly displayed, and a second display area in which a list of facility icons is automatically scrolled in accordance with the movement of the vehicle's position. This allows the user to always check not only the information about the facility displayed in the second display area, but also information about the specific facility (e.g., the name of the next junction and the distance to that junction, etc.).

The first display area in the guidance screen may be configured to be pressable by a tap operation or the like by the user. For example, when information about a junction named "Miyanoki" is displayed in the first display area, a dialogue 1300 shown in FIG. 9 may be displayed when the first display area is pressed by the user. In this dialogue 1300, "Higashi-Kanto Expressway, Upbound," "Keiyo Road, Upbound," and "Keiyo Road, Downbound" are displayed as selectable options, and when one of them is selected, traffic information for the junction on the selected expressway and in the direction is displayed. For example, when "Keiyo Road, Downbound" is selected in the dialogue 1300, a window 1400 is displayed that displays traffic information for the direction of the Keiyo Road at Miyanoki JCT. In this way, by pressing the first display area, the user can check the traffic information for the junction displayed in this first display area. Such traffic information may be output as audio from a speaker or the like provided in the client terminal 10.

Note that the traffic information is just one example, and may be useful information related to the information on the facility displayed in the first display area. For example, when information on "PAs where large vehicles can be parked" is displayed in the first display area, the information may indicate the availability of the parking lot; when information on "SAs with gas stations" is displayed in the first display area, the information may indicate the congestion status of the gas station; and when information on "SAs with kids' corners" is displayed in the first display area, the information may indicate the congestion status of the kids' corner.

The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments above, and various modifications, changes, and combinations with known technologies are possible without departing from the scope of the claims.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Information providing system 10 Client terminal 20 Server device 101 Communication unit 102 Positioning unit 103 Display control unit 201 Communication unit 202 Identification unit 203 Facility acquisition unit 204 Point sequence data storage unit 205 Network data storage unit 206 Facility data storage unit N Communication network

Claims (7)

An information processing device that can be mounted on or carried into a vehicle traveling on a highway,
a display control unit that displays a display screen including a first display area and a second display area that is a display area different from the first display area;
The display control unit is
displaying information on facilities for road transfer on the expressway in a fixed manner in the first display area;
an information processing device that displays, in the second display area, a list of information relating to facilities on the expressway in a scrollable manner based on the position of the vehicle . The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the display control unit causes the second display area to display information about various facilities within a range that can be displayed in the second display area based on a position of the vehicle. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a display unit that displays the display screen. The display control unit is
The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the list displayed in the second display area is scrolled in response to a movement of the vehicle position or a user operation. The display control unit is
The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the display screen is displayed such that the first display area is disposed above the second display area. An information processing method that can be applied to an information processing device that can be mounted on or carried into a vehicle traveling on a highway, comprising:
A step of displaying a display screen including a first display area and a second display area which is a display area different from the first display area,
In the step,
information relating to facilities for road transfer on the expressway is fixedly displayed in the first display area;
An information processing method , wherein a list of information relating to facilities on the expressway is displayed in the second display area in a scrollable manner based on the position of the vehicle . On the computer,
Executing a step of displaying a display screen including a first display area and a second display area which is a display area different from the first display area;
In the step,
The first display area displays information about facilities for road transfers on an expressway on which a vehicle on which the computer is mounted or carried is traveling,
A program in which a list of information relating to facilities on the expressway is displayed in the second display area in a scrollable manner based on the position of the vehicle .

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