JPH05281903A - Navigation device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the navigation device which moves and displays the name of a place, etc., in a map at a position where it does not overlap with various information on a mark indicating the current position of the vehicle. CONSTITUTION:This navigation device is equipped with a storage means 100 which stores road map information including the names of places, etc., in the map, a range setting means 102 which sets a range to be displayed on a display device 101 as to road map information stored in the storage means 100, a display position moving means 103 which moves the display positions of the names included in the road map information in the set display range, and a display control means 104 which superimposes and displays the names moved in display position on the road map in the display range on the display device 101.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation system for guiding an occupant by setting an optimum route to a destination and displaying the route on a road map.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Based on a road map stored in a map storage device, an optimum guide route from a current position to a destination is set, and the guide route and the current position while traveling are synthesized on the road map around the vehicle. There is known a vehicular navigation device that displays the information on the vehicle and guides an occupant to a destination.

This type of navigation device displays a road map on a small display of, for example, about 6 inches, which is composed of 320 dots in the horizontal direction and 200 dots in the vertical direction, so that it can be read on the displayed map. size,
For example, if the names of places and public facilities are displayed with 16 dots x 16 dots per character, the size of the name drawing area on the displayed map can be ignored by superimposing a small number of names. Sometimes, the road disappears under the name and the road cannot be read. In particular, such an adverse effect occurs as the number of names displayed on the screen increases, but if the number of names is reduced, the map becomes difficult to understand.

Therefore, a vehicle navigation device that separately stores road map data included in the road map information and name data such as a place name on the road map and displays them simultaneously or separately as needed. Has been proposed (see, for example, JP-A-61-256373).
According to this navigation device, a name such as a place name can be displayed in a superimposed manner on the road map displayed on the display or can be erased, and the road map can be accurately grasped.

[0005]

By the way, in a vehicle navigation device, in addition to a name such as a place name, a mark indicating the current position of the vehicle, a scale of the display map, a mark indicating the north direction of the display map, an object, In some cases, various information such as the azimuth and distance to the ground, the cross line used when setting the position on the display screen or scrolling the display screen, and the like are superimposed and displayed on the display map.

However, when various information such as a mark indicating the current position of the vehicle is superimposed and displayed on the display map,
Such information may overlap with names such as place names and the names may not be readable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device for displaying a name such as a place name on a map by moving it to a position where it does not overlap with various information such as a mark indicating the current position of the vehicle.

[0008]

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 which is a claim correspondence diagram. The invention of claim 1 is a storage means for storing road map information including names such as place names on a map. 100, a range setting unit 102 that sets a range to be displayed on the display device 101 from the road map information stored in the storage unit 100, and a display position of a name included in the road map information of the set display range. The display position moving means 103 for moving the display position and the display control means 104 for displaying the name of the moved display position on the display device 101 by superimposing the name on the road map of the display range are provided, thereby achieving the above object. .. According to the invention of claim 2, the position detection means 105 for detecting the current position of the vehicle, the detected current position of the vehicle, and the overlap for detecting the overlap of the display position of the name included in the road map information of the display range. Detecting means 106
The display position moving means 103A is configured to move the display position of the name detected by the overlap detecting means 106 as overlapping with the current position of the vehicle. According to the invention of claim 3, the direction detecting means 1 for detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle.
07, the display position moving means 103B is configured to move the display position of the name detected to overlap with the current position of the vehicle out of a predetermined angle range centered on the traveling direction of the detected vehicle. It is a thing. Further, the invention of claim 4 is provided with a direction detecting means 107 for detecting a traveling direction of the vehicle, and the display position moving means 103C detects the display position of the name which is detected to be overlapped with the current position of the vehicle. It is designed to move in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of.

[0009]

In the vehicular navigation device of the present invention, when it is detected that the name such as the place name on the map overlaps with the current position of the vehicle, the display position of the name is moved. It is desirable that the moving direction be outside a predetermined angle range centered on the traveling direction of the vehicle or opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle.

[0010]

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing the configuration of the vehicle navigation device of the embodiment. This device
As shown in the figure, it is composed of a microcomputer centered on the CPU 1. The CPU 1 exchanges data with various devices via the system bus 2 to perform various arithmetic processes. A direction sensor 3 detects the traveling direction of the vehicle, and is connected to the system bus 2 via the amplifier 4, the A / D converter 5 and the I / O controller 6. 7
Is a distance sensor for detecting the traveling distance of the vehicle,
It is connected to the system bus 2 via the O controller 6. Reference numeral 8 is a key for inputting various commands and data to the device, which is connected to the system bus 2 via the I / O controller 9. Reference numeral 10 is a voice output speaker, which is connected to the system bus 2 via the sound generator 11 and the I / O controller 9. 12 is a position detection system (Global Position) using a satellite.
NingSystem (hereinafter, referred to as GPS) receiver (hereinafter, referred to as GPS receiver), and is connected to the system bus 2 via the extended I / O controller 13.
The current position of the vehicle is detected based on the current position information from the GPS receiver 12, the traveling direction information of the vehicle from the azimuth sensor 3, and the traveling distance information from the distance sensor 7. Further, 14 is a receiver, which receives road traffic information and position information such as traffic congestion, road construction, traffic regulation, and the like via an antenna 15 from road beacons installed at roads and intersections.

Further, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 16 is a CD-ROM which stores a road map database, and a system bus 2 via an interface SCSI controller 17.
Connected to. The recording medium of the road map database is not limited to the CD-ROM, and an IC card or the like can be used. 18 is VDT (Visual Disp)
It is a CRT that functions as a lay terminal, is connected to the system bus 2 via the graphic controller 19, and displays a road map around the current location of the vehicle. Further, the system bus 2 includes a V-RAM 20 for storing an image of the CRT 18, a ROM 21 for storing a control program described later, a D-RAM 22 for temporarily storing data,
A kanji ROM 23 and a battery backup RAM 24 for storing information such as the current position when the ignition is off are connected.

Now, the road map data stored in the CD-ROM 16 will be described. The CD-ROM 16 separately stores data indicating a road map and data indicating a name of a place, a public facility, etc., which are associated with each other by position coordinates. That is, the road map data is
It is stored as a set of the start and end coordinates of a line that is approximated to a straight line and the attributes of that road (general roads, expressways, etc.). Name data such as place names and public facilities are stored as a set of character data, display position coordinates and their attributes. Remembered. FIG. 4 shows an example of a name attribute and its code. For example, if the character data "Yoshikaido" and the attribute "city name" (code 0101) are stored, the name "Yoshikaido City" is displayed, and the character data "Yoshikaido" and the attribute "station name" (code 1011) are stored. Then, the name "Yoshikaido Station" is displayed. In this way, by storing each name data together with its attribute, it is possible to search for each attribute at the time of data search. For example, if the destination is "Yoshikaido Station", the station name is displayed preferentially in the name. You can

5 and 6 show a display control program stored in the ROM 21. When the main switch (not shown) of the navigation device is turned on, the CPU 1 starts executing this control program. In step S1 after the start of execution, those processes are performed based on the initial setting operation by the key 8. In the initial setting process, the scale of the road map displayed on the CRT 18 is set in addition to the setting of the current position of the vehicle and the destination. The current position of the vehicle may be automatically set based on the above-mentioned position information such as GPS. In a succeeding step S2, a map around the current position of the vehicle, that is, road map data and name data is read from the CD-ROM 16 into the D-RAM 22. The map reading range at this time is set to Akm square. Next, in step S3, the road map data and the name data read in the V-RAM 20 are drawn as a bit map according to their position coordinates. Further, in step S4, a display range corresponding to the size of the screen of the CRT 18 is set from the map drawn on the V-RAM 20 according to the set scale. This display range is Bk
m.

In step S5, the map of the set display range is displayed on the CRT via the graphic controller 19.
Display on 20. In a succeeding step S6, if the radius of the mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle shown in FIG. 7 is r, there is a name displayed within the radius r centered on the current position, that is, as shown in FIG. Whether or not there is a name that overlaps with the mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle is determined based on the current position coordinates of the vehicle and the position coordinates of each name. If there is a name that overlaps with the current position mark 31 of the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S15 in FIG. 6, and if not, the process proceeds to step S7. If the current position mark 31 overlaps the name, it is determined in step S15 of FIG. 6 whether the name has already been moved. If the name has already been moved, the process proceeds to step S16, and if it has not been moved. It proceeds to step S17. In step S16, the display position of the name is once returned to the position before the movement process, that is, the initial position coordinate stored in the CD-ROM 16, and then the process returns to step S6 of FIG. 5 to perform the above process again. In other words, if the names of places and public facilities are too far from the initial display position,
Not only is the display of the name useless, but the passengers are rather confused.

If it is determined in step S15 that the object has not been moved, the moving direction and the amount of movement are set in step S17. Here, if the maximum number of characters of the name is N and the size of one side of one character is L,
The movement amount R is calculated by the following equation. R = r + N × L + α (1) Here, r is the radius of the current position mark 31, and α is a predetermined value. Now, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, the place name "Koganei City"
When the current position mark 31 and the current position mark 31 overlap each other, it is necessary to move the place name “Koganei City” in either direction. Here, if the overlapping names can be moved in any direction, the amount of movement is the largest when the place name “Koganei City” on the right (west) side of the current position mark 31 is moved to the left (east) side. become longer. In this case, if the movement amount is twice or more the movement amount R calculated by the equation (1), the place name “Koganei City” will not overlap with the current position mark 31. That is, in order to prevent the name from overlapping with the current position mark 31 in any direction, the movement amount may be set to 2R. In this embodiment, the moving direction of the name overlapping the current position mark 31 is the east direction (90 degrees), and the moving amount is 2R.

Next, it is determined whether or not the name moved in step S18 overlaps another name based on the position coordinates of each name. If they overlap, the process proceeds to step S19, and if not, the step Proceed to S22. If it overlaps with another name, it is determined in step S19 whether or not all directions have been considered as the moving direction of the name. If all the directions have been considered, the process proceeds to step S20, and the direction to be considered still. If is left, the process proceeds to step S21. If the name overlaps with another name in any direction, the name is not displayed in step S20 and the process returns to step S6 in FIG. On the other hand, if there are still more directions to be examined, the movement direction is increased by θ degrees in step S21, the process returns to step S18, and the overlap with another name is checked again. If it is determined in step S18 that it does not overlap with another name, new display position coordinates are calculated based on the movement direction and movement amount determined in step S22, and the new display position coordinates are displayed in a superimposed manner on the display map.

In step S17, the movement amount is set to 2R in order to move the name overlapping the current position mark 31 of the vehicle in an arbitrary direction, but the direction of the straight line connecting the current position of the vehicle and the display position of the original name is set. In addition, if the name is moved so as to move away from the current position of the vehicle, the movement amount may be R calculated by the equation (1). For each name drawn within the radius R from the current position of the vehicle without calculating the amount of movement, the drawing position for each character in the name is calculated, and all the character positions are the current position of the vehicle. It is also conceivable to determine the movement amount for each name so that it does not fall within the radius R centered at. By doing so, it is possible to display a map that is easier to understand without being far from the display position of the original name.

In step S7 of FIG. 5, the mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle shown in FIG. 7, the scale scale 32 of the display map, and the north of the display map are displayed on the map in which the names overlapping the current position mark 31 are rearranged. Mark 33 indicating the direction of
The direction / distance 34 to the destination, the cross line 35, etc. are superimposed and displayed. Since the cross line 35 is used for setting the current position, the destination, etc. at the time of initial setting and scrolling the display map to a range centered on the intersection of the cross line 35, It may not be used and may not be displayed during traveling. In step S8, the current position of the vehicle is calculated, and in subsequent step S9, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has moved. When the vehicle moves, the process proceeds to step S10 to determine whether it is necessary to read a new range map from the CD-ROM 16,
If necessary, the process returns to step S2 to read the map again, and if it is not necessary to read a new map, the process returns to step S4 to set a new display range centered on the current position of the vehicle.

In the above-described embodiment, the overlap between the current position mark 31 and the name was investigated in step S6.
Scale scale 32 of the displayed map shown in FIG. 7, mark 33 indicating the north direction of the displayed map, direction / distance 34 to the destination
Also, similarly to the current position mark 31, it may be investigated whether or not there are overlapping names, and if there are overlapping names, they may be moved. Further, it may be examined whether or not there are overlapping names on the cross line 35, and if they overlap, they may be moved. In that case, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9A, a method of moving a name within a predetermined radius centered on the intersection of the cross lines 35, and FIG.
As shown in (b), a method of moving a name within a band-shaped range along the cross line 35 can be considered.

As described above, if there is a name that overlaps the mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle, the name is moved in a predetermined direction by a predetermined distance. It is possible to provide easy-to-understand road map information without overlapping with the current position mark and making it unreadable.

In the above-described embodiment, the name overlapping the current position mark 35 of the vehicle is moved in any direction, or the current position is changed from the current position in the direction of the straight line connecting the current position of the vehicle and the initial display position of the name. Although the vehicle is moved away from the vehicle, it is possible that the vehicle may move in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle. FIG. 11 shows a movement direction calculation program for moving the name overlapping the current position mark 31 of the vehicle in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle. This program is executed as a subroutine in step S17 of the control program shown in FIGS. Step S31
In step S32, the current position coordinate P (Px, Py) of the vehicle is read, and the position coordinate T (Tx, Ty) of the name whose overlapping with the current position mark 31 of the vehicle is detected.
Read. Further, the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle detected by the azimuth sensor 3 is read in step S32.

In step S34, it is determined whether the coordinates P (Px, Py) and the coordinates T (Tx, Ty) are equal, that is, whether the current position of the vehicle and the name position of the vehicle match. If they match, the step is determined. The process proceeds to S35, and if they do not match, the process proceeds to step S36. If the current position of the vehicle and the name position of the vehicle match, the direction of the straight line connecting the two cannot be calculated, so in step S35, the direction opposite to the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle is set as the moving direction Sh of the name, and the direction shown in FIG. The process returns to step S17 of the indicated program. On the other hand, if the current position of the vehicle and the position of the name do not match, step S36
The direction Th from the current position of the vehicle to the name position is calculated based on the coordinates of both. Further, in step S37, the direction difference Dh between the calculated direction Th and the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle is calculated. Here, the direction difference Dh is set to 180 degrees or less.
Next, in step S38, it is determined whether or not the calculated direction difference Dh is within a predetermined angle ± θ2, and the predetermined angle ± θ2 is determined.
If it is within the range, the process proceeds to step S39 to set the moving direction Sh to the opposite direction to the direction Th, and if it is not within the predetermined angle ± θ2, the process proceeds to step S40 to set the direction Th to the moving direction Sh. That is, the direction Th from the current position of the vehicle to the position of the name is an angle ± θ2 about the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle.
If it is within the range, the name is moved in the direction opposite to the direction Th, and if not, the direction Th is directly used as the moving direction Sh of the name. When the above process is completed, the process returns to step S17 of the program of FIG.

Further, the name overlapping the current position mark 31 of the vehicle may be moved outside the range of a predetermined angle centered on the traveling direction of the vehicle. FIG. 12 shows a subroutine in that case. The CPU 1 executes this subroutine in step S17 of the control program shown in FIG. First, in step S51, the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle
Is read, and in the following step S52, the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle
The direction displaced by the angle θ3 from is set to the initial value Sh of the moving direction of the name overlapping the current position mark 31 of the vehicle. Here, the angle θ3 is, for example, 30 degrees. Next, in step S53, when the name is moved in the direction Sh, it is determined whether or not it overlaps with another name.
4 and if they do not overlap, proceed to step S57. If they do not overlap, S is moved in the direction of movement of the name in step S57.
After setting h, the program returns to the programs shown in FIGS. In step S54, the moving direction Sh is further changed by the angle θ4.
Then, in a succeeding step S55, it is determined whether or not the moving direction Sh is within an angle ± θ3 centered on the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle. Here, the angle θ4 is, for example, 10 degrees. That is, the angle ± θ about the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle
Do not move the name within 3 (= 30 degrees). If the moving direction Sh is within ± θ3 of the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle in step S55, the process proceeds to step S56,
Assuming that there is no moving direction that satisfies the conditions, the process returns to the control program shown in FIGS. On the other hand, if the moving direction Sh is not within ± θ3 of the traveling direction Ph of the vehicle, step S53
Returning to, the overlapping with other names is checked for the newly set moving direction Sh as described above.

As described above, if there is a name such as a place name that overlaps with the mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle, the name is moved out of a predetermined angle range around the traveling direction of the vehicle, or the name of the vehicle is changed. Since the vehicle is moved in the direction opposite to the traveling direction, it can be moved to a position closer to the original display position of the name, and more accurate road map information can be provided.

In the above embodiment, in addition to names such as place names,
Mark 31 indicating the current position, scale 3 of the displayed map
2, an example in which various kinds of information such as the mark 33 indicating the north direction of the displayed map, the direction and distance 34 to the destination, and the cross line 35 is superimposed and displayed on the displayed map is shown. The present invention can be applied to any information as long as it is information.

In the structure of the above embodiment, the CD-RO
M16 is storage means, CPU1 is range setting means, display position moving means, display control means and overlap detection means,
The RT 18 constitutes a display device, the azimuth sensor 3, the distance sensor 7 and the GPS receiver 12 constitute position detecting means, and the azimuth sensor 3 constitutes direction detecting means.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the display position moving means for moving the display position such as the place name included in the road map information of the display range is provided, and it is detected that it overlaps with the current position of the vehicle. Since the display position of the name is moved, the name around the current position of the vehicle does not overlap with the current position mark of the vehicle and becomes unreadable, and it is possible to provide easy-to-understand road map information. In addition, the display position of the name detected as overlapping with the current position of the vehicle may be moved outside the predetermined angular range centered on the traveling direction of the vehicle, or may be moved in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to move to a position closer to the original display position of the name, and it is possible to provide more accurate road map information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for responding to a complaint.

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

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a name attribute and its code.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a display control program.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a display control program.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a current position mark of a vehicle and the like which are displayed in a superimposed manner on a map.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which names overlap.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a range in which a name is moved with respect to a cross line.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a moving direction of a name when the current position mark of the vehicle and the name overlap.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a subroutine for calculating a moving direction of a name.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another calculation subroutine of a moving direction of a name.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 System Bus 3 Direction Sensor 4 Amplifier 5 A / D Converter 6 I / O Controller 7 Distance Sensor 8 Key 9 I / O Controller 10 Speaker 11 Sound Generator 12 GPS Receiver 13 Extended I / O 14 Receiver 15 Antenna 16 CD-ROM 17 SCSI controller 18 CRT 19 Graphic controller 20 V-RAM 21 ROM 22 D-RAM 23 Kanji ROM 24 Backup RAM 31 Current position mark of vehicle 32 Scale scale 33 North direction mark 34 Direction / distance 35 Crossline 100 Memory Means 101 Display device 102 Range setting means 103, 103A to 103C Display position moving means 104 Display control means 105 Position detecting means 106 Overlap detecting means 107 Direction detecting means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing road map information including a name such as a place name on a map, and a range setting for setting a range to be displayed on a display device from the road map information stored in the storage unit. Means, a display position moving means for moving the display position of the name included in the road map information of the set display range, and the display by moving the display position moved name on the road map of the display range. A vehicle navigation device, comprising: display control means for displaying on the device. 2. The vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle, detected current position of the vehicle, and the road map information of the display range are included. An overlap detecting means for detecting an overlap with the display position of the name, wherein the display position moving means moves the display position of the name detected to overlap with the current position of the vehicle by the overlap detecting means. Characteristic vehicle navigation device. 3. The vehicular navigation device according to claim 2, further comprising direction detection means for detecting a traveling direction of the vehicle, wherein the display position moving means is detected to overlap with a current position of the vehicle. A vehicular navigation device, characterized in that the display position of the name is moved outside a predetermined angle range centered on the detected traveling direction of the vehicle. 4. The navigation device according to claim 2, further comprising a direction detecting unit that detects a traveling direction of the vehicle, wherein the display position moving unit has a name detected to overlap with a current position of the vehicle. A vehicular navigation device, wherein a display position is moved in a direction opposite to the detected traveling direction of the vehicle.