JPH0715388B2 - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation device, and more particularly to an in-vehicle navigation device having a function of storing a traveling locus of a vehicle traveling to a local point.

BACKGROUND ART In recent years, as automobiles have become more electronic, engines,
Brake, suspension, etc. have come to be controlled by a computer, and further, an in-vehicle navigation device used for guiding a vehicle to a predetermined destination has been put into practical use. This in-vehicle navigation device stores digitized map data in a memory, recognizes the current location of the vehicle, reads out map data of a certain area including the current location from the memory, and displays a map around the vehicle position. It is configured to be displayed on the display and to automatically display the vehicle position on the map.

When the vehicle travels using this on-vehicle navigation device, if the passing times at several transit points from the starting point to the arrival point of the vehicle traveling are stored by some method, it will be helpful when traveling the same route next time. It is convenient for Here, as a method of storing the passing time at each of the passing points, when the driver of the vehicle or the passenger himself travels at an arbitrary passing point, a time storage command for storing the time is manually supplied to the navigation device. A method can be considered. However, such a method requires a manual operation by the user as described above, which causes a problem of poor operability. It is also conceivable that the user presets several predetermined passage points on the planned traveling route in the navigation device before the vehicle travels, so that the passage time at the passage points is automatically stored. However, even in such a method, it is necessary for the user to manually set the passage point before traveling of the vehicle, and if the vehicle travels on a road different from the planned traveling route due to the influence of road conditions, etc., There is a problem that the passing time is not remembered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an in-vehicle navigation device that can store passing times at a plurality of passing points from a starting point to an arriving point of a vehicle traveling by an easy operation. To aim.

The vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present invention is provided with a traveling position detecting means for detecting the current traveling position of the vehicle, a path number for identifying roads on a map for each predetermined route that does not overlap each other, and a specific position on the road. A first memory in which characteristic point numbers for identifying a plurality of characteristic point positions are stored, time measuring means for measuring time to obtain current time information, and a road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the current traveling position. Path discriminating means for obtaining a pass number from the stored content of the first memory, and characteristic point discriminating means for obtaining a characteristic point number corresponding to a characteristic point position located closest to the current traveling position from the stored content of the first memory. And a path number change determining means for determining whether or not the path number obtained by the path determining means changes to a different path number, and the path number in the path number change determining means When it is determined that there is a change, a second memory that accumulates and stores each of the current time information and the feature point number obtained by the time counting means and the feature point determination means immediately before this determination as traveling locus data. Have and.

Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an azimuth sensor for detecting the azimuth of the vehicle based on, for example, geomagnetism (earth magnetic field), 2 is a distance sensor for detecting the traveling distance of the vehicle, and 3 is the current position of the vehicle from latitude and longitude information. GPS (Global Positioning System) for detecting
These are devices, and the detection outputs of these sensors (devices) are supplied to the system controller 4.

The system controller 4 receives the detection outputs of the sensors (devices) 1 to 3 as an input and performs an interface 5 for processing such as A / D (analog / digital) conversion, and various image data processing and is sent sequentially from the interface 5. The CPU (central processing circuit) 6 that calculates the traveling distance and the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the output data of the respective sensors (devices) 1 to 3 and various processing programs of this CPU 6 and other necessary information are stored in advance. A written ROM (read only memory) 7 and a RAM (random read / write) for writing and reading information necessary for executing a program
Access memory) 8.

As an external storage device, a read-only non-volatile first storage medium 9 and a writable and readable non-volatile second storage medium 9.
And a storage medium 10 thereof. The first storage medium 9 is a large-capacity CD (compact disc) -ROM, an IC card, or the like, and the storage medium 9 stores digitized (numerical) map data. On the other hand, the second storage medium 10 is a digital audio tape (DAT).
The storage medium 10 stores traveling locus data obtained when the vehicle is traveling. When the vehicle is traveling, the CPU 6 obtains the current position of the vehicle based on the output data of the azimuth sensor 1, the distance sensor 2 and the GPS device 3, and the map data of a certain range including the current position is stored in the first storage medium 9 The data is read out from the RAM 8 and temporarily stored in the RAM 8 and is supplied to the display device 1. Further, the traveling locus data is obtained from the map data while traveling and is stored in the second storage medium 10.

The display device 11 includes a display 12 such as a CRT and a V (Video).
-A graphic memory 13 including a RAM, a graphic controller 14 that draws map data sent from the system controller 4 as image data in the graphic memory 13 and outputs the image data, and an image output from the graphic controller 14. The display controller 15 controls the display on the display 12 based on the data. The input device 16 is composed of a keyboard and the like, and issues various commands to the system controller 4 by key input by the user.
In addition, a timer 17 that operates with a backup power supply is provided, and this timer 17 outputs the date, hour, and minute information to the CPU 6.

The map data is stored in the first storage medium 9 as described above, and its data format will be described below. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the whole of Japan is divided into areas of a certain size (for example, maps of 1 / 25,000 and 1 / 50,000 issued by the Geographical Survey Institute). Map number is assigned to the area. Each map is managed by this map number.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific data structure of road information in the map of map number i, for example. As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the road information is basically composed of a group of line segments (hereinafter referred to as a path). A unique path number is attached to each path for each map to distinguish it from other paths.
As shown in FIG. 3B, the path is road type information (for example, “0” is a highway, “1” is a national road, “2” is a prefectural road,
"3" is also a general road, etc., and the highway, national road, prefectural road, general road, etc. are identified by this road type information. Further, the path includes some coordinate points (hereinafter referred to as nodes) indicated by black dots in FIG. These nodes are arranged in order in the path from the start point to the end point so that they can be drawn with one stroke, and numbers (hereinafter referred to as in-path node index numbers) are assigned in this order. Each node has unified (X, Y) coordinates for each map, and is given the distance (R) information to the next node. Further, a pointer to feature point information data that gives what kind of feature the node has (for example, an intersection or a map boundary point) is also incorporated.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of specific feature point information on the map with the map number i. The feature points indicated by white circles in FIG. 4 (A) have unique feature point numbers for each map as shown in FIG. 4 (B), and are distinguished from other feature points. The characteristic point type information is information indicating whether the node is an intersection, a boundary point of a map, or the like. As shown in FIG. 4C, for example, 16 bits are classified into 16 types, and which bit Is classified by whether it is "1". In the feature point classification, the state in which all bits are "0" indicates that the node is a point required only on the road notation provided to express the degree of bend of the road. The branch number C is C ≧ 1 for all the nodes, and the branch information indicating the branch state is also written. At the intersection and the map boundary point, the path numbers of some roads related to the point and the index number and the map number of the point in the path are stored. At the points other than the intersection and the map boundary point, the map number, the path number and the index number to which the point belongs are registered with the branch number C = 1.

Next, a procedure of a method of storing traveling locus data by the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention, which is executed by the CPU 6 while the vehicle is traveling, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

While the vehicle is running, the CPU 6 has a heading sensor 1 and a distance sensor 2
And the current position of the vehicle is obtained based on each output data of the GPS device 3 (step S1), the map number of the map of a certain range including the current position is obtained from the obtained current position data (step S2), and then the map Number map data first
Read from the storage medium 9 and loaded into RAM8 (step
S3). The map data taken into the RAM 8 is also supplied to the display device 11 and displayed on the display 12 together with the position of the vehicle.

Then, the path number of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is obtained from the previously obtained current location data (step S4), and the in-path node index number near the current location is obtained (step S5).
Further, the characteristic point number is obtained (step S6). After that,
It is determined whether the map number obtained based on the current vehicle position is the same as the map number obtained based on the previous vehicle position (step S7). If the map number is the same, then the current vehicle position is continued. It is determined whether or not the pass number obtained based on the same as the pass number obtained based on the previous vehicle position (step S8),
If the same here as well, the current map number, path number, and node index number in the path are held (step S
9). When it is determined that they are different in step S7 or step S8, the current passage time is obtained based on the output data of the timer 17 (step S10), and the passage time is calculated together with the previous map number m and the characteristic point number f. It is stored in the second storage medium 10 in the format shown in (step S11), and then the process proceeds to step S9. The above operation is performed in step S1.
By repeating the process in 2 until, for example, it is determined that the accessory switch (not shown) of the vehicle is turned off, the traveling locus data of the traveling this time can be stored in the second storage medium 10. This travel locus data is stored in the second storage medium 10 together with this identification information given the route identification information from the input device 16 by the user for each traveling route.

In the above embodiment, the traveling locus data is stored during the ON period of the accessory switch, but a traveling locus data storage mode is provided so that it is performed only when the mode is designated by the input device 16. Is also possible.

In this way, the position where the vehicle is currently traveling is managed by the map number and the (X, Y) coordinates on the map, and the path number and the node index number within the path are constantly monitored by a method such as so-called map matching. Then, when the map number or the pass number changes, the travel locus data is obtained by storing the map number together with the feature point number pointed by the pointer from the node index number in the path that represents the feature point of the point immediately before that. As a result, the amount of data to be stored is smaller than the method of storing the map number and the (X, Y) coordinates as shown in FIG. 7 every time the vehicle travels a certain distance, and the traveling locus can be accurately stored. In addition, by storing the passing time when the map number or pass number changes together, the required time from the starting point to the destination and the required time from each passing point to the destination can be easily obtained. You will be able to

FIG. 8 shows an actual example of the case where the traveling locus data is stored by the storage method according to the present invention and the method of storing every time the vehicle travels a certain distance. In this figure, like a path i shown by a broken line, a path j shown by a one-dot chain line, and a path k shown by a two-dot chain line, a route that is identified by each non-overlapping route on the map is shown by a solid line. When the vehicle travels in the following manner, the data of the positions indicated by the black dots in the figure are sequentially stored in the method of storing every time the vehicle travels a certain distance. Therefore, it is easy to understand that the amount of data to be stored is small.

Next, the means for displaying the traveling locus executed by the CPU 6 when the instruction for displaying the traveling locus is issued by the input device 16 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the display command of the traveling locus is input and the route identification information is input in the input device 16 and then the vehicle is started toward the destination, the CPU 6 firstly outputs the direction sensor 1, the distance sensor 2 and the GPS device 3. The current position of the vehicle is obtained based on the output data (step S21), and subsequently the map data of a certain range of area including the current position is read from the first storage medium 9 and loaded into the RAM 8 (step S22). This map data is also supplied to the display device 11 and displayed on the display 12 together with the vehicle position.

Then, the traveling locus data of the traveling route designated by the input device 16 is read from the second storage medium 10 (step S2
3). The traveling locus data is stored in a format as shown in FIG. 6, and it is judged whether the read map number m ₁ is an encode (step S24). If it is an end code, this flow ends. If not end code
It is judged whether or not the read map number m ₁ exists in the map data loaded in the RAM 8 (step S25), and if there is no, the process returns to step S23. If there is, the target feature point data D ₁ is searched from the map number m ₁ and the feature point number f ₁ (step S26).

Next, the next traveling locus data is read from the second storage medium 10 (step S27), it is judged whether the read map number m ₂ is an end code (step S28), and if it is an end code, this flow To finish. If it is not the end code, it is judged whether or not the read map number m ₂ is in the map data loaded in the RAM 8 (step S2
9) If there is not, return to step S27. If there is, the target feature point data D ₂ is searched from the map number m ₂ and the feature point number f ₂ (step S30). Then, it is judged whether or not the map number m ₁ and the map number m ₂ are the same (step S31), and m ₁ = m
_In the case of ₂ , the branch data in the feature point data D ₁ and D ₂ are compared and the matching path number is selected (step S32), and m ₁ ≠ m
_In the case of ₂ , the feature point data D ₁ and the branch data in D ₂ are compared to obtain the pass number of the map number and the pass number that match (step S33). Then, the node index numbers n ₁ and n ₂ in the path are obtained (step S34), and a series of line segments from the start node index number n ₁ to the end node index number n ₂ in the path are displayed in a specific color. At the same time, the time required to reach the destination from the passing time stored with each data is also displayed (step S3
5) Then, each value of the map number m ₂ , the feature point number f ₂ and the feature point data D ₂ is set as m ₁ , f ₁ and D ₁ (step S36).

By repeating the above operation, the traveling locus of the route designated by the input device 16 is displayed in a specific color on the display 12 together with the map around the current position of the vehicle.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, in the present invention, a path number for identifying a road on a map for each route and a feature point number for identifying a plurality of feature point positions provided at specific positions on the route are stored. I'll do it. Next, based on the current traveling position of the vehicle while traveling, the path number corresponding to the currently traveling road and the characteristic point number corresponding to the characteristic point position located closest to the current traveling position are respectively obtained. When the pass number is changed to a pass number different from the previous pass number, the feature point number and the current time obtained immediately before the change are accumulated and stored as traveling locus data. That is, a passage point for passing time measurement is automatically selected as the characteristic point number from the traveling route on which the vehicle has actually traveled, and this becomes the traveling locus data together with the current time.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the passage point for the passage time measurement is automatically selected while the vehicle is traveling, the user actually travels without the need to manually set the passage time measurement point in advance. The passing time at each of the plurality of passing points on the travel route is stored.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an on-vehicle navigation device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a national map is divided into regions having a certain size, and FIG. 3 is road information data. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the structure, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of the feature point information, and FIG. 5 is a CPU.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a method of storing traveling locus data by the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a recording format of traveling locus data by the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a constant distance. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a recording format in the case of storing position data for each run, and FIG. 8 is a locus point to be stored when actual running locus data is stored by the storage method according to the present invention and the method of storing at every fixed distance run. Fig. 9 shows CP
7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for displaying a traveling locus executed by U. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1 ... Direction sensor, 2 ... Distance sensor 4 ... System controller 9,10 ... Storage medium, 11 ... Display device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A traveling position detecting means for detecting a current traveling position of a vehicle, a path number for identifying roads on a map for each predetermined route which does not overlap each other, and a plurality of features provided at a specific position of the route. The first in which the characteristic point number for identifying the point position is stored
A memory; time measuring means for measuring time to obtain current time information; path determining means for obtaining a path number corresponding to a road on which the vehicle is traveling from the stored contents of the first memory based on the current traveling position; The characteristic point number corresponding to the characteristic point position closest to the current traveling position is obtained from the stored contents of the first memory, and the path number obtained by the path determination unit is different from the path number. And a pass number change determination means for determining whether or not the time number means and the feature point determination means are provided immediately before this determination when the pass number change determination means determines that the pass number has changed. A vehicle-mounted navigation device, comprising: a second memory that cumulatively stores each of the current time information and the characteristic point number obtained as described above as traveling locus data.