JPH0546482B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a driving course guidance device, in particular, a driving course guide device that uses current position information of a moving object, which is calculated based on output signals from a direction sensor and a distance sensor mounted on a moving object such as a car. A driving course guidance device that guides a driving course is equipped with a planned course memory that stores position information of a predetermined point in the planned driving course and driving direction instruction information at the point, and also inputs points. It is equipped with a scale memory that holds scale data for the map to be mapped, and in response to the current position information, displays the driving direction at the above points, makes announcements regarding course guidance, and displays the position information stored in the planned course memory. The present invention relates to a driving course guidance device that makes corrections.

Prior to filing the present application, the applicants of the present application developed a running course guiding device as shown in FIG. The travel course guidance device is placed, for example, in front of the driver's seat,
As shown in Figure 1, it has a CRT display 1 and a direction sensor (not shown) installed separately.
It is constructed to plot a travel trajectory 2 obtained based on outputs from the vehicle and a speed sensor (not shown) on the display screen, while a map sheet 3 drawn on, for example, a transparent film is placed in front of the display screen. The map sheet 3 is configured to be attachable and detachable, and the attached map sheet 3 is fixed by a map fixing means 4 so that the traveling trajectory 2 is extended along a desired road on the map.

The driving course guidance device described above has one major feature and advantage in that it superimposes the display screen and the map and extends the driving trajectory along the road on the map. Although this is a promising direction for a course guidance device, it also has the following problems. Namely, (i) the map attached to the display screen is present in the form of a map sheet and is configured to be manually attached and manually removed; For this reason, if, for example, while driving with one map sheet 3 attached, the driving trajectory advances to the edge of the map and it becomes necessary to replace it with a new map, it is necessary to manually replace it. be. In addition, when performing this replacement, it is necessary to select a new map sheet to be replaced next from a large number of map sheets one by one, which is relatively troublesome.

(ii) Since the route must be determined by visually checking the map and the travel trajectory, there is a problem in terms of safe driving.

(iii) Due to their large volume and weight, they are not only unsuitable for small vehicles, but also require specific mounting parts for installation.

(iv) Since a map sheet prepared in advance is used, there is a lack of flexibility regarding the scale of map display.

The present invention aims to solve the above problems. However, on the other hand, as explained with reference to Fig. 1 above, instead of the configuration in which the map and travel trajectory are displayed together, so to speak, all the time, an attempt is being made to adopt a configuration in which notifications are sent at important point positions, so to speak. Then, the following new problem arises. That is, (i) It is desirable to reliably notify the driver visually and audibly that the above-mentioned point position has been reached at that point.

(ii) Even if there is a discrepancy between the point position and the actual driving position, there is usually no way for the driver to know. However, it is essential to correct this deviation correctly.

(iii) It is also desirable to be able to easily change the planned course once the vehicle has been driven.

(iv) It is desirable to change the scale of the map depending on whether the vehicle is driving in an urban area or not, and it is desirable to be able to easily handle this change. Therefore, the running course guidance device of the present invention is equipped with a direction sensor that detects the running direction of the moving body and a distance sensor that detects the running distance, and the running course guidance device of the present invention is equipped with a direction sensor that detects the running direction of the moving object and a distance sensor that detects the running distance. In the driving course guidance device that guides the driving course based on the current position information of the mobile object, a point position where position information of a predetermined point on the driving course is inputted in correspondence with a position on a map. an input device, a running direction instruction information input device for inputting running direction instruction information regarding the direction in which the moving object should travel in correspondence with the predetermined point; A planned course memory that stores the input driving direction instruction information; a scale memory that stores scale data for the map where the points are input; a position corresponding to the position information of the points and the contents of the scale memory. a planned course calculation unit that calculates positional information of the points to be supplied to the planned course memory using the above; an audio memory that stores audio information regarding course guidance at the points; a position correction unit for making corrections; and a direction indication display unit for instructing the traveling direction of the moving object at the point based on the traveling direction indication information on the planned course memory, and the present position information and the above. Displays the running direction at the point on the direction indication display section by comparing the position information of the point stored in the planned course memory, and accesses the contents of the voice memory to provide information on the course guidance at the point. The present invention is characterized in that it is configured to make an announcement and further to modify the position information stored in the planned course memory by the position correction section. This will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the running course guidance device of the present invention includes a direction sensor 5, a distance sensor 6,
It is composed of a digitizer 7, a control device 8, and a display device 9. And table display device 9
1 is a direction indicator display unit 1 which indicates the direction of travel at predetermined points on a travel course, such as road intersections, railroad crossings, bridges, etc., which are landmarks for travel.
0. A speaker 11 that makes announcements regarding course guidance at the above point (for example, the place name of the point, directional instructions such as turning right, turning left, going straight, voice guidance such as approaching the destination, etc.); A direction display that displays the running direction of the moving object; The vehicle is provided with a trip display section 12 and a trip display section 13 that displays the distance traveled. Further, the road map 14 is used for inputting planned course information to be described later, and the microphone 33 is used for inputting information regarding course guidance at the aforementioned points by voice. The operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. Reference numerals 5 to 7 and 10 to 13 in FIG. 3 correspond to those in FIG. 2, 15 is an X counter, 16 is a Y counter, 17 is a scale input key, 18 is a scale memory, 1
9 is a planned course calculation unit, 20 is a direction instruction input key, 21 is a planned course memory, 22 is an A/D converter, 23 and 23' are counters, 24 is a current position calculation unit, 25 is a current position memory, and 26 is a distance memory, 27 is a comparison section, 28 is a voice memory,
29 is a voice synthesis section, 30 is an amplifier, 31 is an azimuth reference memory, 32 is an azimuth calculation section, 33 is a microphone, 3
4 is an amplifier, 35 is a voice analysis section, 36 is a correction instruction input key, and 37 is a position correction section.

In the present invention, before the start of travel, a predetermined point on the planned travel course, such as a road intersection, a railroad crossing, a bridge, etc., is selected, and the position information of the point and the point at the particular point are selected. Travel direction instruction information, that is, right turn, left turn, or straight travel direction instruction information is stored in a planned course memory 21, which will be described later. That is, before the start of travel, the planned travel course is traced using the digitizer 7 on a road map 14 of the planned travel area, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. By tracing, the digitizer 7 outputs pulse signals corresponding to the amount of movement in the X and Y directions. The X-direction and Y-direction pulse signals are counted by an X counter 15 and a Y counter 16, respectively, and the count values, that is, the position information of the planned course corresponding to the trace, are sent to the planned course calculating section 19. On the other hand, the scale data of the road map 14 used for tracing the planned driving course by the digitizer 7 is input using the scale input key 17, and the scale data is stored in the scale memory 1.
It is stored in 8. Therefore, in the planned course calculating section 19, based on the contents of the scale memory 18, the position information of the planned course that is sequentially output from the X counter 15 and the Y counter 16 in response to the tracing of the planned course is converted. will be carried out. In this way, the calculation results in the planned course calculation section 19, that is, the position information of the planned course corresponding to the tracing of the planned course by the digitizer 7 are sequentially sent to the planned course memory 21. When the trace by the digitizer 7 reaches the point (for example, a road intersection), direction instruction data indicating the driving direction at the point, that is, whether to turn right, left, or go straight at the point, is inputted using the direction input key. 20 into the scheduled course memory 21. At this time, the position information input into the planned course memory 21, that is, the position information of the point and the direction instruction data are input into the planned course memory 21. In this manner, while the digitizer 7 traces the entire course to be traveled, the position information of predetermined points and the direction instruction data at the points are sequentially stored.

In addition, at predetermined points on the above scheduled driving course, such as road intersections, railroad crossings, bridges, etc., points that serve as landmarks when driving, the road name, place name, building name that is characteristic of the point, and the point concerned. The voice memory 28 stores information regarding course guidance such as the driving direction (right turn, left turn, go straight) etc.
Store in. That is, when the trace by the digitizer 7 reaches the point (for example, a road intersection), information regarding the course guidance at the point is input using the microphone 33. The audio input by the microphone 33 is sent to the amplifier 34.
The signal is converted into an electrical signal in the audio analyzer 35, and the audio is analyzed by the audio analyzer 35 and stored in the audio memory 28.

Next, the current position information of the moving body while traveling will be explained. The traveling direction information (analog signal) detected by the direction sensor 5 is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter 22. On the other hand, a counter 23 counts pulses outputted from the distance sensor 6 every time a predetermined distance is traveled (for example, in response to the rotation of a wheel), and the counter 23 collects samples every predetermined count value.
Outputs the clock. Then, the current position calculation section 2
4 calculates and sequentially adds the X and Y components of the unit mileage based on the output of the A/D converter 22 every time the sample clock is output from the counter 23. That is, the current position calculation unit 24 sequentially calculates and outputs position information of the current position based on the starting point, and the current position information is stored in the current position memory 25. That is, the contents of the current position memory 25 are updated every time the moving body travels a unit distance, and the latest current position information is always held in the current position memory 25.

The comparing unit 27 performs a process of comparing the position information for each point on the predetermined running course stored in the planned course memory 21 described above and the current position information stored in the current position memory 25. It is done. For example, if the mobile object has now departed from the starting point, at that point the comparison section 27 stores the planned course memory 21.
The position information and direction instruction data of the first point after the departure read from are held, and the comparison unit 27 compares the position information of the first point and the contents of the current position memory 25. The point when the absolute value of the difference becomes smaller than the value stored in the distance memory 26, that is, when the current position of the moving object is at a predetermined distance from the first point (the distance When the information reaches within the range (stored in the distance memory 26), the comparator 27 outputs direction instruction data at the first point. Then, based on the direction instruction data, a direction instruction display is performed on the direction instruction display section 10. For example, if the content of the direction instruction data instructs a right turn, a right turn is displayed among right turn, left turn, and straight forward indications on the direction instruction display section 10, as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, information indicating that the vehicle has arrived within the range of, for example, the first point among a plurality of predetermined points in the planned course is transferred from the comparison section 27 to the audio memory 28 . As a result, the voice information related to the course guidance for the first point stored in the voice memory 28 is read out, and the voice information about the course guidance for the first point stored in the voice memory 28 is read out from the speaker 11 via the voice synthesis section 29 and the amplifier 30, for example, "Next is the Ginza 1-chome intersection. , turn right at the Ginza 1-chome intersection.
Make a voice announcement such as

In this way, even at the second, third, .
It is carried out by.

Further, when the vehicle reaches the first point and the driver presses the correction instruction input key 36, the position correction unit 37 inputs the current position information in the current position memory 25 at that point and the planned course memory 2.
1 (location information at the first point) and if there is an error, the error is calculated, and the second scheduled course stored in the planned course memory 21 is calculated based on the error. Correct the position information after the point. As a result, the second
Direction indications and course guidance announcements at each point after the point can be made relatively accurately.

Furthermore, in the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a direction display section 12 for displaying the running direction of the moving body is provided.
The vehicle is equipped with a trip display section 13 that displays the travel distance. That is, the A/D converter 22 described above
The detection signal of the direction sensor 5, which has been A/D converted by Then,
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the display is divided into 16 directions. Further, the counter 23' counts the output pulses from the distance sensor 6 mentioned above, and the count value is sent to the trip display section 13. The trip display section 13 is composed of a multiplier, a display driver, and a display element (all not shown), and multiplies the count value by the distance traveled per count to obtain the distance traveled, and displays the result. The distance traveled is displayed on a display element via the driver. Note that the counter 23' is provided with a switch (not shown) for resetting the count value to zero. Therefore, it is possible to display the travel distance from a desired point on the trip display section 13.

As explained above, according to the travel course guiding device of the present invention, the following effects can be achieved. That is, (i) The route to be taken is displayed at each point, such as an intersection, and route instructions are given by voice, so there is no need to be distracted by the course guidance display screen, which is effective for safe driving. .

(ii) Since the display unit is small and lightweight, it can be easily installed even in small cars, and no special mounting parts are required for installation.

(iii) A general-purpose road map can be used for inputting the planned course, and the scale can be freely selected.
Also, there is no need to change maps while driving.

(iv) Since the position information stored in advance in the planned course memory can be corrected in accordance with the current position information when actually traveling, it is possible to accurately guide the course.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an external view of a conventional driving course guidance device.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. In the figure, 5 is a direction sensor, 6 is a distance sensor, 7 is a digitizer, 8 is a control device, 9 is a display device, 1
0 is a direction indication display section, 11 is a speaker, 12 is a direction display section, 13 is a trip display section, 15 is an X counter, 16 is a Y counter, 17 is a scale input key,
18 is a scale memory, 19 is a planned course calculation unit, 2
0 is a direction input key, 21 is a planned course memory, 22 is an A/D converter, 23 and 23'
is a counter, 24 is a current position calculation unit, 25 is a current position memory, 26 is a distance memory, 27 is a comparison unit,
28 is a voice memory, 29 is a voice synthesis unit, 30 is an amplifier, 31 is a direction reference memory, 32 is a direction calculation unit, 33 is a microphone, 34 is an amplifier, 35 is a voice analysis unit, 36 is a correction instruction input key, 37 is a Represents a position correction unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle equipped with a direction sensor that detects the running direction of a moving object and a distance sensor that detects the distance traveled, and that is calculated based on detection signals from the direction sensor and the distance sensor. In a driving course guidance device that guides a driving course based on current position information, the point position input device inputs position information of a predetermined point on the driving course corresponding to a position on a map; A running direction instruction information input device for inputting running direction instruction information regarding the direction in which the moving object should travel in correspondence with a predetermined point; a planned course memory that stores the above-mentioned driving direction instruction information; a scale memory that stores scale data about the map into which the above-mentioned points are input; and a position corresponding to the position information of the above-mentioned points and the contents of the above-mentioned scale memory. , the above scheduled courses・
a planned course calculation section that calculates positional information of the above points to be supplied to the memory; a voice memory that stores audio information regarding course guidance at the above points; a position correction section that corrects the contents of the planned course memory; and the above. A direction indication display unit is provided for instructing the traveling direction of the mobile object at the point based on the traveling direction indication information on the planned course memory, and the present position information and the traveling direction are stored in the planned course memory. By checking the position information of the point, the driving direction at the point is displayed on the direction indication display section, and the content of the voice memory is accessed to make an announcement regarding the course guidance at the point. A traveling course guidance device, characterized in that it is configured to modify the position information stored in the planned course memory by a modification section.