JPH0658231B2 - Vehicle route guidance device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a device mounted on a vehicle for performing route guidance to an occupant.

<< Prior Art and its Problems >> As a conventional vehicle route guidance device, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
The one described in JP-A-223017 is known.

In this type of device, a route from an intersection closest to the present location to an intersection closest to the destination is set, and information necessary for traveling along the set route is displayed for guidance to vehicle occupants.

Therefore, it is possible to automatically select the intersection closest to the current location and the destination by referring to each intersection coordinate based on the current location coordinates and the destination coordinates. If an exit intersection to a road is selected as a departure intersection, or an intersection on a highway or an entrance intersection from a general road to a highway is selected as a destination intersection, the departure point to the departure intersection or the destination intersection to the destination There was a fear that the driver might be confused when trying to head to.

<< Object of the Invention >> An object of the present invention is to determine an intersection that can be reached without difficulty from the present location when the nearest intersection is set as the departure intersection and the destination intersection based on the present coordinates and the destination coordinates. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle route guidance device capable of defining an intersection that can reach the destination without difficulty as the destination intersection.

<< Structure of the Invention >> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as shown in the claim correspondence diagram shown in FIG. 1, and when the starting point coordinates and the destination coordinates are set, these starting point coordinates and destination points are set. Based on the distance from the coordinates, select the nearest departure intersection and destination intersection, set the travel route from the departure intersection to the destination intersection, determine the current location of the vehicle as the vehicle progresses, and display the current location on the map. Vehicle route guidance device A for guiding the vehicle to the destination while displaying
For each intersection, the coordinates of the intersection and the intersection type such as whether the intersection is an intersection on a highway, an exit intersection from a highway to a general road, or an entrance intersection from a general road to a highway, etc. Based on the stored basic information storage means a and the set origin coordinates, by referring to each intersection coordinate and the intersection type in the basic information storage means a, the intersections on the highway and from the highway to the general road Departure intersection selection means b for selecting the intersection closest to the departure point coordinates as a departure intersection from among the intersections excluding the exit intersection and the intersections in the basic information storage means a based on the set destination coordinates Refer to the coordinates and the intersection type and select the intersection closest to the destination coordinate from the intersections excluding the intersection on the expressway and the entrance intersection from the general road to the expressway. Characterized by comprising the object intersection selecting means c, and selecting as the basis the intersection.

<< Description of Embodiments >> First, the hardware configuration of the device of this embodiment is described below.
Description will be given with reference to the drawings.

As shown in the figure, this device is mainly a control device of a stored program system, which is composed of a CPU 1 mainly composed of a microprocessor, a system ROM 2 storing various control system programs, and a RAM 3 used as a working area or the like. It is configured.

Then, by causing the CPU 1 to execute various control programs (details will be described later) stored in the system ROM 2, various functions are realized as shown in the general flowchart of FIG.

The current position coordinates (X, Y) and the traveling distance ∫ΔD required during traveling are detected by the distance sensor 4 for each constant distance ΔD traveling.
In response to the interrupt pulse obtained from the CPU 1, the CPU 1 executes the current position calculation process (see FIG. 23), and the unit vector addition process using the vehicle direction θ obtained from the direction sensor 5,
And the unit distance ΔD is simply accumulated.

Guidance information is transmitted to the driver via the video RAM6, C
VDT (Visual Display Termina) mainly based on RT7
l) (see FIG. 3).

Various commands to the apparatus are issued by using the input operation unit 8 including a numeric keypad or the like, or a known transparent operation panel 10 mounted on the front surface of the VDT 9 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the transparent operation panel 10 is pressed by a fingertip or the like, the CPU 1 causes the operation panel interface 1
It is possible to detect the pressed portion via 1.

Storage of various information such as road maps and intersections is performed by an external memory 12 such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, a magnetic tape.

As shown in FIG. 4, the external memory 12 is provided with a plurality of block areas corresponding to the blocks obtained by vertically and horizontally dividing the reference road map 13.

Each block area is further divided into a plurality of intersection areas corresponding to each intersection included in the block.

In each intersection area, intersection type information, X coordinate information indicating a position on the map, Y coordinate information, intersection name information, and information about adjacent intersections are stored.

In particular, the intersection type information is “0” in the case of an intersection on a general road, “1” in the case of a highway entrance intersection, “2” in the case of a highway exit intersection, “3” in the case of a highway entrance intersection, and a highway, as described later. In the case of the upper intersection, it is "4", and these can be identified by "0" to "4".

In each adjacent intersection area, the intersection number information of the intersections adjacent to each intersection, the road number information of the connecting road, the direction information of each connecting road seen from the central intersection, and the section distance information from each intersection to the intersection. Each is remembered.

Each of the above-mentioned information includes the departure intersection, the destination intersection selection processing, the shortest route search processing, and the guidance display processing (I) to be described later.
It is used in (III) (see Fig. 10).

In addition to the intersection information described above, various types of information are stored in the external memory 12 as shown in FIGS.

That is, in the external memory 12, as shown in FIG.
Each area name information storage area, reduced map information storage area corresponding to each area name, enlarged map information storage area corresponding to each zone of each reduced map, point name information included in each enlarged map, and other A table for storing each area name in association with a reduced map number (see FIG. 6), a table for storing each zone of the reduced map in association with an enlarged map number (see FIG. 7), each of the enlarged map A table (see FIG. 8) that stores the Zone and its center coordinates in association with each other and a table (see FIG. 9) that stores the name of the destination such as a resort and the point coordinates of the destination in association with each other are stored. Has been done.

The meaning of each of these pieces of information will be described later in the process of identifying the starting point and the destination.

The description centering on the hardware is completed above, and then the software configuration of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings starting from FIG.

As shown in the general flow chart of FIG. 10, the software configuration of the apparatus of this embodiment has a starting point / destination specifying process (step 1001), a starting intersection and a destination intersection selecting process (step 1002), and a shortest route searching process. (Step 1003), guidance display process I (Step 100
4), guidance display processing II (step 1005) and guidance display processing III (step 1006).

Of these processes, the process directly related to the present invention is the selection process of the departure intersection and the destination intersection (step 10).
02) and other five processes (step 1001,
1003, 1004, 1005, 1006), there is no direct relationship.

However, although these five processes have already been filed, they have not been published (for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-2204).
No. 81 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-100898), Japanese Patent Application No. 59-
220484 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-100811), Japanese Patent Application No. 59-242435 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-121200)
Japanese Patent Application No. 60-57476 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-215).
922), Japanese Patent Application No. 60-57478 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-
216100), Japanese Patent Application No. 60-70622 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-229196), Japanese Patent Application No. 60-70623 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-229197), August 30, 1985.
Japanese patent application (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-51000) and the like).

Therefore, in the following description, a detailed description will be given in text of the selection process (step 1002) of the departure intersection and the destination intersection, and the other five processes will be described in detail in the flow chart and various types in which each processing content is described in text. Instead of attaching figures and tables, the text explanations in the specification shall be kept to the minimum necessary.

(A) Determining Place of Departure / Destination In this process, the screen of VDT 9 is used to interact with the operator to finally identify the place of departure / destination.

That is, a list of area names is displayed on the screen (12th
(See the figure), the designated area is detected after the transparent operation panel 10 is pressed.

Then, a reduced map of the designated area is displayed (see FIG. 13), waits for the transparent operation panel 10 to be pressed, and the designated zone is displayed.
e is detected.

Then, an enlarged map of the designated zone is displayed (see FIG. 14), the transparent operation panel 10 is pressed, the final designated area is obtained, and the center coordinates thereof are specified as the starting point or the destination.

In addition, for those who are unfamiliar with geography, a spot name list is displayed (see FIG. 15), the pressing of the transparent operation panel is waited for, the designated spot name is detected, and the spot coordinates are used as the starting point. Recognize as the destination.

The above processing is performed by executing the starting point / destination specifying processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The relationship between the pressed area and the reduced map number and the relationship between the pressed area and the enlarged map number are obtained by referring to the tables in FIGS. 6 and 7, and each image information is shown in FIG. What is stored in the external memory 12 is used as shown in FIG.

Further, the relationship between the pressed portion and the center coordinates of each Zone and the relationship between the pressed portion and the point coordinates can be obtained by referring to the tables in FIGS. 8 and 9.

(B) Selection process of departure intersection and destination intersection FIGS. 16A to 16J show details of the selection process of departure intersection and destination intersection.

In FIG. 16A, when the selection process of the departure intersection and the destination intersection is started, first, the coordinates of the starting point (Xs, Ys) and the coordinates of the destination (Xd, Yd) are read (step 1601), and then the next step. An X, Y area that satisfies the expression is obtained (step 1602).

-Y (Yd-Ys)> X (Xd-Xs) Next, from the obtained registered intersections existing in the X and Y regions, the one closest to the departure place is selected (step 16).
03).

Then, based on the intersection type information, it is confirmed that the obtained intersection is the intersection "0", the highway entrance intersection "1" or the highway entrance intersection "3" on the general road (step 1605). Other than the above, that is, when the intersection is the highway exit intersection "2" or the intersection "4" on the highway (No in step 1605), the selected registered intersection is deleted from the XY region (step 160).
4) From the registered intersections existing in the X and Y areas again,
Reselect the one closest to the point of departure (step 160)
3).

On the other hand, when the selected intersection is the intersection “0”, the highway entrance intersection “1” or the highway exit intersection “3” on the general road (Yes at step 1605), the selected registered intersection is set as the departure intersection. Remember (Step 1
606).

Next, from the registered intersections around the destination, the one closest to the destination is selected (step 1607), and the selected intersection is the intersection "0", the highway exit intersection "2", or the highway exit on the general road. Check whether the intersection is "3", and check the other points, that is, expressway intersection "1"
Alternatively, if the intersection is “4” on the expressway (step 1609), the selected registered intersection is deleted from the vicinity of the destination (step 1608), and the registered intersection existing around the destination is again selected most. The one close to the destination is selected again (step 1607).

If the obtained intersection is the intersection “0” on the general road, the highway exit intersection “2” or the highway exit intersection “3” (Yes at step 1609), the selected registered intersection is stored as the target intersection. (Step 161
0), the selection process is completed.

As described with reference to FIG. 4, in the intersection type area on the road map information, as shown in FIGS. 16B to 16D, “0” to “4” are assigned according to each intersection type. Since the code is stored, the type of the selected intersection can be determined by referring to these.

In addition, as specific examples of the intersection "0" on the general road, the highway entrance intersection "1", the highway exit intersection "2", the highway entrance intersection "3", and the intersection "4" on the highway, the 16th E The thing shown in FIGS. 16-16J can be mentioned.

In this way, highway exit intersections and intersections on highways are excluded from the target of departure intersections, and highway entrance intersections and intersections on highways are excluded from the target of intersections. A possible intersection can be defined as a departure intersection, and an intersection that can reasonably reach the destination can be defined as a destination intersection.

(C) Shortest route selection process In this process, while searching for a destination intersection from the vicinity of the departure intersection to a distance, the route to the intermediate intersection is stored, the destination intersection is detected, and the stored route information is stored. Relying on, the shortest route is reverted from the destination intersection to the departure intersection, and the intermediate intersection on the shortest route is detected and stored thereby.

This is performed by executing the shortest path search process shown in the flowchart of FIG.

(D) Guide display processing (I) This processing is for guiding the travel route from the departure point to the departure intersection, and as shown in FIG. 25, until the vehicle approaches within a radius of 300 m from the departure intersection, as shown in FIG. The direction of the departure intersection is displayed using the and arrow-shaped segments, and after approaching within 300 m, the departure route is filled in by using the intersection figure with the vehicle traveling direction right above, as shown in FIG. By displaying it, the departure route direction, that is, the route at the intersection is displayed, and at the same time, the traveling locus is drawn on the screen.

This is performed by executing the processes of FIGS. 22, 24, and 26, respectively.

(E) Guidance display processing (II) In this processing, while checking that the current position is not out of the planned route, the approach to the next passing intersection is monitored, and the current position is checked each time the intersection is checked. To fix
The above operation is repeated with the intersection to be passed next as a new target.

Also, in front of each intersection, Figs. 35, 37, 3
As shown in FIG. 8, the route at the intersection is guided and displayed by using the intersection graphic and the route arrow.

If the intersection to be bent is a grade separation, the 41st
As shown in the figure, the center of the intersection figure is outlined,
A route arrow is added to this to guide and display the route at the intersection.

Further, while traveling, the traveling locus is always displayed on the road map in a superimposed manner.

This is performed by executing the respective processes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 28, 29, 34, 36, 39 and 40.

(F) Guide display processing (III) In this processing, as shown in FIG. 43, the direction of the destination is displayed using the automobile figure and the arrow-shaped segment, and when the destination is approached, Notifies the driver of this with an arrival notification text, as shown in FIG.

This is performed by executing the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.

<< Effects of the Invention >> As is apparent from the above description of the embodiments, according to the vehicle route guidance device of the present invention, it is possible to reasonably reach from the departure place at the intersection closest to the departure place. The intersection is selected as the departure intersection, and among the intersections closest to the destination, the intersection that can reasonably reach the destination is selected as the destination intersection, so the usability of this type of device is greatly improved. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a VD.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which a transparent operation panel is attached to T.
The figure shows a memory map showing the contents of the intersection information area provided in the external memory. Fig. 5 shows the area name information storage area, reduced map information storage area, enlarged map information storage area, spot name information provided in the external memory. A memory map showing a storage area, and FIG. 6 is a memory map showing the contents of a table in which each area name and the number of the reduced map are stored in association with each other,
FIG. 7 is a memory map showing the contents of a table that stores each Zone of the reduced map in association with the number of the corresponding enlarged map, and FIG. 8 shows each Zone of the enlarged map and the center coordinates of the corresponding Zone stored in association with each other. 9 is a memory map showing the contents of a table, FIG. 9 is a memory map showing the contents of a table that stores the relationship between each spot name and the corresponding spot coordinates in association with each other, and FIG. 10 is a general flow chart of the route guidance device. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the details of the process of identifying the departure point and the destination, FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the area names are collectively displayed on the VDT screen, and FIG. 13 is a reduced map displayed on the VDT screen. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a state, and FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an enlarged map is displayed on the VDT screen,
FIG. 15 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a place name list is displayed on the VDT screen, FIG. 16A is a flowchart showing a selection process of a departure intersection and a destination intersection, and FIGS. 16B to 16B.
FIG. D is a memory map showing the format of road map information corresponding to each intersection type, FIGS. 16E to 16J are diagrams showing the relationship between each intersection type and an intersection figure, and FIG. 17 is an algorithm for selecting a departure intersection. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an algorithm for selecting a target intersection, and FIG.
FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing the details of the shortest route search processing, FIG. 20 is a memory map showing the details of the route storage area provided in the RAM, and FIG. 21 is a memory showing the details of the intersection number area provided in the RAM. Map, FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the details of the guidance display process (I), FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing the contents of the current location calculation process executed by an interrupt, and FIG. 24 is the detail of the departure intersection direction display process. Flow chart, FIG. 25 is an explanatory view showing a display example on the VDT screen on the way from the departure place to the departure intersection, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the departure road direction display processing, FIG. 27 is an explanatory view showing a display example on the VDT screen when approaching the departure intersection, and FIG. 28 is a guidance display processing (I
Flowchart showing details of I), FIG. 29 is a flow chart showing the details of the route guidance preparation process to the next passing intersection, and FIG. 30 is the test circle A, the test circle B, and the error test oval in the state toward the straight intersection. Fig. 31 is a diagram showing an example of a road map showing the relationship, etc., Fig. 31 is a diagram showing an example of a road map showing the relationship between the test circle B and the error test oval in the state of heading to a bent intersection, and Fig. 32 is a bent grade intersection. Fig. 33 is an explanatory view showing the inspection area at the time of entering the vehicle, Fig. 33 is an explanatory view showing the state of each inspection area at the time of exiting the bent overpass, and Fig. 34 is a route guidance display processing and current position correction when passing straight through the intersection. FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing details of the processing, FIG. 35 is an explanatory view showing a display example of a VDT screen when approaching a straight intersection, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of route guidance display processing and current position correction processing at the time of passing a normal intersection, FIG. 37 is an explanatory view showing a display example of a VDT screen when approaching a bending plane intersection, and FIG. An explanatory view showing a display example of the VDT screen when the vehicle is approaching a bending plane intersection, FIGS. 39 and 40 are flow charts showing details of route guidance display processing and current position correction processing at the time of passing through a normal intersection, and FIG. 41. Is an explanatory view showing a display example of a VDT screen when approaching a three-dimensional bend intersection, FIG. 42 is a flowchart showing details of guidance display processing (III), and FIG. 43 is a display example of a VDT screen when approaching a target intersection. FIG. 44 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of the VDT screen when the destination is approaching. A ... Vehicle route guidance device a ... Basic information storage means b ... Departure intersection setting means c ... Destination intersection setting means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Yoshida 2 Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-58-223017 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When the origin coordinates and the destination coordinates are set,
Based on these distances from the origin coordinates and destination coordinates, select the nearest departure intersection and destination intersection, set the travel route from the departure intersection to the destination intersection, and determine the current location of the vehicle as the vehicle progresses. , A route guidance device for vehicles that guides a vehicle to a destination while displaying the present location on a map, for each intersection, the coordinates of the intersection and whether the intersection is an intersection on a highway or a highway Basic information storage means for storing the type of intersection such as an exit intersection to the road or an entrance intersection from a general road to a highway, and each of the basic information storage means based on the set starting point coordinates. Refer to the intersection coordinates and the intersection type, and select the closest intersection to the origin coordinates from the intersections excluding the intersection on the highway and the exit intersection from the highway to the general road. Departure intersection selection means for selecting an intersection as a departure intersection, and based on the set destination coordinates, refer to each intersection coordinate and intersection type in the above basic information storage means, and refer to the intersection on the expressway and the highway A route guidance device for a vehicle, comprising: a destination intersection selecting unit that selects an intersection closest to a destination coordinate as a destination intersection from intersections other than an entrance intersection to a road.