JPH0816615B2 - Vehicle guidance device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle running guidance device, and more particularly to a vehicle running guidance device capable of enlarging or reducing a road map displayed for guiding the running of a vehicle within an arbitrarily set range. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vehicular traveling guidance device is a device for guiding a vehicle to a destination without error by displaying a traveling map and a current position of the vehicle on a display means such as a CRT together with a road map of the area where the vehicle is traveling. And, for example, JP-A-58-70
An example is shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 125.

By the way, as a road map used in this type of device, a fixed fixed scale is generally used.

Therefore, for example, when a road map with a large scale is displayed, the entire road condition can be grasped, but the road condition in a complicated place such as an urban area cannot be grasped sufficiently.

On the other hand, on a small-scale road map, on the contrary, it becomes difficult to grasp the entire road condition.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, in order to facilitate the identification of the current position on the map, it is possible to enlarge and reduce the display map at a plurality of predetermined magnifications. A travel guidance device is disclosed in JP-A-57-169785.
No.

[0007]

However, in the conventional vehicle guidance system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-169785, a specific area is enlarged and displayed on the entire screen by an enlarged road map having a small scale. From that state, when switching to a large scale reduced map that also covers the peripheral area adjacent to the specific area and displaying it on the screen, it was simply switching the enlarged map to the reduced map and displaying it. It is difficult to quickly recognize which side position and range in the reduced map after switching the specific area that was magnified before switching, and this makes it difficult to grasp the map during driving. There was a case where the current position on the map was lost and the passengers were confused.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to display a specific area that has been enlarged and displayed when the enlarged map is switched to the reduced map. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle travel guidance device capable of easily ascertaining which part of a reduced map after a road map corresponds to.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a vehicle travel guidance device, a current position detecting means (c) for recognizing a current position of a vehicle and a current position detecting means (c) are used. Display means (a) for displaying the recognized current position and a map around the current position on the screen;
The scale variable means (g) capable of changing the scale of the map displayed on the screen of the display means (a), and the scale of the map displayed on the screen by the scale variable means (g). When displaying the area of the map reduced and the area of the map displayed on the screen before the reduction and another area adjacent to the area on the reduced screen, an identifying means for displaying the both areas in a distinguishable manner ( e) and are provided.

[0010]

According to the vehicular traveling device having the above-described structure, the map of the specific area which has been enlarged and displayed on the display means is reduced by the scale varying means and is displayed adjacent to the specific area. When switching to a reduced map that includes other areas that did not exist, the specific area displayed on the original map before reduction and the newly displayed other area are displayed in a distinguishable manner by the identifying means. Therefore, the occupant can quickly grasp the mutual relationship between the original map and the current map at a glance.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 to 5 show an embodiment of a vehicle running guide device according to the present invention.

The traveling guide device shown in the figure has a display means 10 and a storage means 12 as shown in FIG.
And a current position detection means 14, a manual operation means 15 and a control means 16.

The display means 10 has information for guiding the vehicle to travel, for example, a map of the area where the vehicle is currently traveling, a guidance target location set on the map, and a route for guiding the vehicle to the guidance destination. The present location and the like obtained by the present location detecting means 14 are displayed. Generally, a monochrome or color CRT, a liquid crystal display element, a plasma display, an electroluminescence, etc. are used, and the displayed information is the above control means. Controlled by 16.

The storage means 12 stores information necessary for driving guidance including at least road maps of different scales. For example, a CD-ROM or a magnetic tape is used, and in particular, the CD-ROM has a storage capacity. Since it is large, compact, and has a short access time, it is suitable as a storage means for mounting on a vehicle, and the stored information may store a vehicle start-up inspection procedure, a tire replacement procedure, etc. in addition to the map.

The information is taken out from the storage means 12 by mounting a recording medium such as a compact disk or a tape on the reproducing device and controlling the reproducing device by the control means 16.

The current position detecting means 14 is equipped with a receiver of a positioning system (GPS) for receiving a radio signal from a satellite to detect the current position of the vehicle, for example, and also detects the current position by known geomagnetism. You may also install a sensor.

The manual operating means 15 is specifically a keyboard switch, and when the road map is displayed on the CRT of the display means 10 as shown in FIG. Cursor frame 15a for freely moving the window frame 10a in the front, rear, left and right directions, an enlargement / reduction selection key 15b for enlarging and reducing the size of the window frame 10a step by step, and these keys 15a, 1
After the position of the window frame 10a and the enlargement or reduction of the window frame 10a are set by operating 5b, the control means 16 carries out necessary processing and a set key 15c for displaying the result is provided.

FIG. 3B shows a state in which the size of the window frame 10a has been reduced from that shown in FIG. 3A and has moved diagonally to the upper right. When the set key 15c is turned on in this state, A part of the window frame 10a in FIG. 3B is enlarged to the entire screen of the display means 14 as shown in FIG. 3C.

On the other hand, the control means 16 is composed of a so-called microcomputer in this embodiment,
The display means 10, the storage means 12, the present location detection means 14
And an input / output interface 16a connected to the manual operation means 15 and a procedure stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 16b. Storage means 12 based on the result
And a random access memory (RAM) 16d for temporarily storing the fetched data. The CPU 16c controls the stored information, for example, performs processing such as displaying the present location on a map.

Particularly, in the present invention, the control means 16
The window 10a is displayed on the display means 10 and is freely moved by the cursor key 15a.
The road map set in the window frame 10a is configured to be partially enlarged, and when it is shrunk, the original display range is also displayed at which part.

First, in this embodiment, the storage means 12 is used.
As shown in FIG. 4 (A), a plurality of road maps whose scale magnifications are sequentially doubled are stored, and each road map is 1, 2, 3 as shown in Table 1. The map level of… is attached.

The size of the window frame 10a is determined corresponding to each map level, and the window frame level indicating the level is attached, and the window frame level is the same as the number of road maps. Only different sizes are prepared.

In other words, the window frame 10a is of a size capable of displaying 1 / 1.25 million maps on the entire screen of the display means 10 at level 1, and 16.4 million maps at level 10. It is set to display on the entire screen.

[0025]

[Table 1] Now, assuming that a map with a map level of 4, that is, 1 / 100,000 is displayed on the display means 10 as shown in FIG. 4 (B), and level 2 is set as the window frame 10a, the manual means When the enlargement key 15b and the set key 15c of 15 are pressed, the inside of the frame indicated by the window frame 10a is enlarged and displayed on the entire screen of the display means 10 as shown on the right side of FIG. This is a partial representation of a 1 / 25,000 map.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 (C), when the map level of 1 / 25,000 is displayed on the display means 10, press the reduction key 15b and the set key 15c. For example, as shown on the right side of the figure, the screen of the display means 10 has a map level reduced to 1 / 50,000 of 3, and the window frame level corresponding to the original map level 2 is 2 as well. A frame is displayed.

The details of the above procedure are shown in FIG.

First, when the map enlargement / reduction routine is started in step S1, the display means 1 is actually displayed in step S2.
The map level and the window frame level shown in 0 are set.

Then, in step S3, it is judged whether the enlargement or reduction is made, and if the enlargement key is pressed, it is judged in step S4 whether or not the map level is smaller than 1. As described above, the map scale of 1 has the smallest reduction ratio, and the local map level of 1
If so, confirm it because it cannot be expanded any further.

If it is determined in step S4 that enlargement is possible, the window frame level is subtracted by 1 from the current window frame level in step S5, and the display means 1 is displayed in step S6.
A window frame 10a having a size corresponding to the level is displayed at 0.

That is, in step S5, when enlarging, a range smaller than the current display map is set, so that the level is first changed by one step.

When the window frame 10a is displayed, the cursor key of the manual operating means 15 is operated to operate the window frame 1
0a is moved to an arbitrary place (steps S7 and 8).

Here, if it is desired to further increase the enlargement ratio, the enlargement key is pressed again, and in step S9, step S4 is performed.
Returning to step S5, the window frame level is further subtracted in step S5, and the window frame 10a which is two steps smaller than the initial level is displayed in step S6.

Further, in order to increase the enlarging magnification, the enlarging key is pressed a plurality of times to make the window frame 10a considerably smaller. However, if the enlarging magnification is too large, the reduction key is pressed in step S10. Then, in step S11, 1 is added to the current window frame level, and the new window frame level becomes one level higher than the original level. In step S12, this window frame level is compared with the local map level. If the window frame level is higher than or equal to the map level, the process cannot be expanded and the process returns to step S4. If the window frame level is lower than the map level, the process can be expanded and the level of the level is determined in step S13. The window frame 10a is displayed.

In step S10, if the reduction key is not pressed and the window frame 10a displayed in step S6 is desired to be enlarged, or if the window frame 10a displayed in step S13 is enlarged. If desired, when the set key is pressed in step S14, the maps within the respective window frames 10a are enlarged and displayed in the entire screen of the display means 10 in step S15, and the process returns to the main routine in step S16.

In this case, if the set key 15c is not pressed in step S14, the process returns to step S7 and the window frame 10a can be moved to another place by the cursor key 15a.

On the other hand, if reduction is selected in step S3,
In step S17, the local map level and the maximum map level 1 are compared.

Here, if the currently displayed map of the prepared maps has the maximum scale, it cannot be reduced, so that determination is made.

If it is determined in step S17 that the size can be reduced, the window frame level is set to the local map level in step S18, and then a new map level is added to the local level by 1 in step S19, and then step S20. In addition to displaying a new map reduced by one step, the window frame 10a corresponding to the original map level is displayed therein.

As a result, the driver can easily visually recognize where the original map is located in the reduced map.

The window frame 10 thus displayed
a can move this together with the map to any place by operating the cursor key 15a in step S21 (step S22), and if further reduction is desired, press the reduction key in step S23 to go to step S17. Returning, the map reduced by another step is displayed together with the window frame 10a.

If the user wants to enlarge the map, he can press the enlargement key in step S24 to return to step S14 and enlarge the map.

When the desired reduction map is obtained by the above procedure, the set key 15c is pressed in step S25 to erase the window frame 10a in step S26, and step S1
At 6, the process returns to the main routine.

[0044]

As described above in detail in the embodiments,
In the vehicle travel guidance device according to the present invention, the map of the specific area that has been enlarged and displayed on the display means such as a CRT is reduced by the variable scale means and is displayed adjacent to the specific area. When switching to a reduced map that includes other areas that did not exist, the specific area displayed on the original map before reduction and the newly displayed other area are displayed in a distinguishable manner by the identifying means. Therefore, the occupant can quickly grasp the mutual relationship between the original map and the current map at a glance. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the occupant from being confused, such as losing his or her current position on the map, and improve the inductive property.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to the configuration of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a relation between a road map and a window frame shown on a display unit and an enlarged state.

4A and 4B are an explanatory diagram of a map stored in a storage unit of the same apparatus and an explanatory diagram of enlargement and reduction.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Display Means 12 Storage Means 14 Present Location Detecting Means 15 Manual Operating Means 16 Control Means

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kiyomi Suzuki 4-2610 Hanazono, Tokorozawa, Saitama Pioneer Co., Ltd. Tokorozawa factory (56) References JP-A-60-73679 (JP, A) JP-A-57-169785 (JP, 169785) A) JP-A-52-93227 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A current position detecting means for recognizing a current position of a vehicle, a display means for displaying a current position recognized by the current position detecting means and a map around the current position on a screen, and a display means for displaying the map. Scale varying means capable of changing the scale of the displayed map, and the scale varying means reduces the scale of the map displayed on the screen to reduce the scale of the map displayed on the screen before reduction. When displaying an area and another area adjacent to the area on a screen after being reduced, an identification means for displaying the both areas in an identifiable manner, and a vehicle running guidance device comprising: