JP2008082724A - Navigation device, control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To calculate the route better in weather condition prior to the other even in the case the weather information cannot be obtained externally in the navigation technique. <P>SOLUTION: A navigation device comprises: an own vehicle detection means 2 for detecting the position of an own vehicle at any time; a road discrimination means 3 discriminates that the detected own vehicle position is on which road stored in the road information memory means 1; a weather information acquisition means 4 acquires the weather information; and a day and time acquisition means 5 acquires the day and time. Further, the navigation device has a: statistic weather information memory means 6 for memorizing correspondingly the road discriminated by the road discriminating means 3, the weather information acquired by the weather information acquire means 4, and the day and time acquired by the day and time acquisition means 5; and a route calculation means 7 for calculating the route calculation from the memorized information in the memory means 6 and the road information memorized in the road information memory means 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in navigation technology.

  In recent years, with the development of electronic technology, the spread of navigation devices for in-vehicle use is remarkable. The navigation device is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, and based on the map data, the position of the vehicle specified by GPS or the like is displayed on the surrounding map, or the destination specified by the user by facility search or cursor is used. The route is searched and calculated, and guidance guidance such as turning directions and turning left and right at intersections is performed with map display and synthesized voice.

For such a navigation device, in addition to having a route search function according to conditions specified by the user, such as road width priority or distance priority, toll road priority or general road priority, from VICS information received by FM multiplex broadcasting, There is also a proposal for acquiring weather information at any time and performing route calculation according to the weather conditions (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-107165 A

  However, even if there is a function of the prior art as described above for reflecting the weather information in the route search, the FM broadcast cannot be received due to the radio wave condition or the service area, or the object is located at a long distance from the own vehicle. In some cases, such as when the local weather conditions are unknown, the function may not be useful, and a solution was desired.

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and the purpose of the present invention is to enable route calculation giving priority to a route having good weather conditions even when weather information cannot be acquired from the outside in the navigation technology. It is to be.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, in a navigation device that calculates a route from a departure place to a destination, a road information storage unit that stores road information, and a vehicle position that detects the vehicle position Detecting means; road determining means for determining which road the vehicle position detected by the own vehicle position detecting means corresponds to among roads stored in the road information storage means; and weather for acquiring weather information Corresponding information acquisition means, date acquisition means for acquiring date and time, road determined by the road determination means, weather information acquired by the weather information acquisition means, and date acquired by the date acquisition means A route calculation unit that performs route calculation using the statistical weather information storage means stored in the memory, the information stored in the statistical weather information storage means, and the road information stored in the road information storage means. And having a, the.

  In this way, weather information around the vehicle is acquired, recorded in association with road links, dates, and time zones that indicate positions, and the weather information is acquired by reflecting the statistical results of the weather information in the route calculation. Even in such a case, it is possible to prioritize routes with good weather conditions and to calculate routes that avoid roads that are likely to have bad weather.

  Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the weather information acquisition means further includes an air temperature detection means for detecting an air temperature around the host vehicle.

  In this way, by detecting the temperature around the vehicle and reflecting it on the ground, it is possible to calculate the route that reflects the actual temperature on the road that does not necessarily match the nominal value of the observation point, etc. The sheath safety can be further improved.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the weather information acquisition unit further includes a broadcast reception unit that receives and acquires an external broadcast.

  As described above, when a broadcast such as FM multiplex broadcast can be received, the accuracy of the route search reflecting the weather information can be further improved by utilizing the broadcast.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the meteorological information acquisition means further converts the meteorological information into a point for evaluation according to the value together with a road link that is road information of the corresponding place, a date, and a time zone. Then, the weather information data is stored in the statistical weather information storage means, and when the route calculation means tries to perform the route calculation, among the weather information data stored in the statistical weather information storage means For the weather information whose date is within the specified number of years and within the specified number of days before and after the current date, the point is obtained for each road link and the average value is calculated, and the average value of this point is calculated. A statistical means for setting a corresponding weight value, and performing the route calculation so as to prioritize or exclude road links according to the superiority or inferiority of the weight value.

  In this way, it is concise by weighting road links according to the average points that are statistically calculated based on the common points of the route calculation time, date time, and time zone among the accumulated weather information. Therefore, it is possible to easily reflect the weather information in the route calculation by processing with a small load.

  The method and the computer program also conform to the above embodiments.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when weather information cannot be acquired from the outside in the navigation technique, it is possible to perform route calculation giving priority to a route with good weather conditions.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that assumptions common to the explanation in the background art and problems are omitted as appropriate.

[1. Constitution〕
This embodiment is a navigation device (hereinafter referred to as “this device”) that calculates a route from a departure point to a destination, and a configuration related to the present invention is shown in FIG. It should be noted that general elements common to the conventional art (for example, a GPS receiver, a computer control unit, an input / output device, etc.) are omitted, not features of the present invention.

  In this apparatus, each means 1-8, 41, and 42 shown in FIG. 1 is implement | achieved by controlling the arithmetic control part of the above computers with computer programs, such as incorporation, These each means is the following. Is a processing means for realizing and executing each functional action.

[2. Action)
That is, this apparatus works as follows.
[2-1. (Overview of action)
As an outline, the road information storage unit 1 stores road information in advance, and the own vehicle position detection unit 2 detects the own vehicle position as needed (own vehicle position detection process). Then, the road discriminating means 3 discriminates which road among the roads stored in the road information storage means 1 is the detected vehicle position (road discrimination processing). The weather information acquisition unit 4 acquires weather information (weather information acquisition process), and the date / time acquisition unit 5 acquires the date / time (date / time acquisition process).

  The statistical weather information storage unit 6 stores the road determined by the road determination unit 3, the weather information acquired by the weather information acquisition unit 4, and the date acquired by the date acquisition unit 5 in association with each other. The route calculation means 7 performs route calculation based on the stored information and the road information stored in the road information storage means 1 (route calculation processing).

The weather information acquisition means 4 detects the temperature around the vehicle by the temperature detection means 41 (temperature detection processing) as the weather information, and receives the broadcast from the outside by the broadcast reception means 42 and acquires it. Yes (broadcast reception processing).
Hereinafter, a specific operation procedure will be described.

[2-2. (Acquisition of weather information)
First, the operation procedure for acquiring and accumulating weather information is shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, the main point of this operation procedure is that the weather information acquisition means 4 converts the weather information into the points for evaluation according to the value, along with the road link, the date, and the time zone as the road information of the corresponding place. The statistical weather information storage means 6 stores the information.

  Specifically, this operation procedure starts when traveling along a route or during other normal traveling (step 101), and the vehicle position detection means 2 is operated by the GPS, gyroscope, acceleration sensor, etc. And the link ID of the road link for which the map is matched is acquired (step 102). This link ID is assigned to each road link (also simply referred to as “link”) obtained by dividing road information into minimum units for route calculation. For example, a road link ID that has been conventionally used is assigned. use.

  Next, the date acquisition unit 5 acquires the current date and time from the GPS (especially the receiver), and acquires the number corresponding to the time zone among the numbers allocated in advance for each time zone (step 103). For example, “0” to 6 o'clock is “1”, 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock is “2”, 12 o'clock to 18 o'clock is “3”, and 18 o'clock to 24 o'clock is “4”.

  Furthermore, the weather information acquisition means 4 communicates with vehicle computers, such as ETC, and acquires temperature information (step 104). The communication with the vehicle performed here is not limited to any method or standard as long as information can be acquired. This temperature information is also converted into points corresponding to the temperature among points allocated in advance for each temperature zone. For example, “4” points if the temperature is 5 ° C. or lower, and “0” points if the temperature is 5 ° C. or higher.

  The weather information acquisition means 4 also communicates with the vehicle computer in the same manner as described above to acquire the wiper operation information (step 105), and the wiper operation mode is, for example, stop, intermittent, continuous low speed, continuous high speed, etc. (Step 106). Note that the number of types of such operation modes may vary depending on the function / performance of the vehicle, but the information on the wiper operation mode is also converted into points allocated in advance for each determined state. For example, “0” point for stop, “1” point for intermittent, “2” point for continuous low speed, “3” point for continuous high speed, and so on.

  The meteorological information acquisition means 4 also receives FM multiplex broadcasting by a suitable algorithm such as a known technique (step 107), acquires meteorological information such as VICS, and from the meteorological information, the date and time, the corresponding local information and position Information items such as information, weather, precipitation probability, and temperature are extracted (step 108). At this time, all links included in the area are searched from the area information, and in the case of position information, a link near the position is searched according to map matching.

  And it converts into the point allocated previously according to the weather condition which the weather information represents. For example, “0” point if clear, “1” point if rain, and so on. The temperature is also converted into points in the same manner as described in the case where the temperature is acquired from the vehicle (step 104). When the weather information is a forecast, it is converted into points after assigning a number in the same manner as when assigning the time acquired from GPS according to the time zone to be forecasted. The probability of precipitation is multiplied by the above points.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the points obtained as described above are associated with the link ID of the vehicle position, the date, and the time zone in the statistical weather information storage means 6 as weather information data. It is memorized and accumulated as a database of weather information (step 109). The above processing is repeated at regular intervals by setting a timer at an arbitrary time (step 110), and the latest information is added each time.

[2-3. (Calculation of weight)
When calculating the route, the weather information data accumulated as described above is used to calculate a weighted addition value (also simply referred to as “weighting value”) according to the weather. That is, among the records of each weather information data accumulated in the statistical weather information storage means 6 by the statistical means 8, weather information in which the date is within the predetermined number of years and within the predetermined number of days before and after the current date and the current time zone is the same. For each road link, the above points are acquired for each road link, the average value is calculated, and a weighting value corresponding to the average value of the points is temporarily set in the road information storage means 1 or an appropriate storage area ( Statistical processing).

  In this process, a record is searched using the link, date (month / day), and time zone as keys, and points are obtained and averaged. As a range for acquiring points, the time period is the same in the past five years, the same date and one week before and after, and a weight value corresponding to the point is acquired.

[2-4. Route calculation using weighting)
Then, the route calculation means 7 performs route calculation so that a road link with a smaller weighting value is given priority and a road link with a larger weight is excluded. The specific criteria are free, but as an example, in the route calculation using the above weighting value corresponding to the link, when the weighting value is larger than a preset threshold value, the route (link) is excluded. Again, the shortest route link is calculated. However, if the distance is twice or more of the route calculated first (details such as magnification may be determined as appropriate by experiment), the distance is doubled without recalculation. A route that does not exceed is set as the final candidate route.

[2-5. Example of processing procedure)
The flowchart of FIG. 4 shows a route calculation processing procedure in consideration of such weather information. That is, when the route calculation process considering weather information is started (step 201), the vehicle position is determined by GPS, gyroscope, acceleration sensor, etc. (step 202), the destination setting is accepted (step 203), and the vehicle is All the link IDs between the position and the destination are acquired (step 204), the current date and time are acquired from the GPS (step 205), and the time zone corresponding to the current time is determined (step 206). That is, the current time is also set to the same time zone as the time zone assigned when information is acquired, and consistency with the accumulated weather information is obtained.

  Then, based on the accumulated weather information, the link ID, date, and time zone are used as keys to obtain and average the weather points for one week before and after that day and the past five years (step 207). A weight value corresponding to the calculated point is added to the link information (step 208), route calculation according to the weight is performed (step 209), and the process ends (step 210).

[3. effect〕
As described above, according to the present embodiment, weather information around the vehicle is acquired, recorded in association with the position, road link, date, and time zone, and the statistical result of the weather information is reflected in the route calculation. Thus, even when weather information cannot be acquired, it is possible to prioritize routes with good weather conditions and to calculate routes that avoid roads that are likely to be in bad weather.

  In addition, in this embodiment, by detecting the temperature around the vehicle in the field and reflecting the accumulated temperature, it is possible to calculate a route that reflects the actual temperature on the road that does not necessarily match the nominal value such as the observation point, The comfort and safety of the route can be further improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when broadcast such as FM multiplex broadcasting can be received, the fact that it is utilized also makes it easier to improve the accuracy of route search reflecting weather information.

  In this embodiment, the road links are weighted according to the average points of the accumulated weather information based on the statistical information based on the common point in time, date, and time of route calculation. Therefore, it is possible to easily reflect the weather information in the route calculation by a simple and low-load process.

[4. Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, What is illustrated below and other embodiment other than that are included. For example, detection of the temperature around the vehicle and reception of broadcasts from the outside are not essential, and the above embodiment has been described mainly with respect to a navigation device, but the present invention is a control method corresponding to such a device, It can also be grasped as a control program.For example, it is also included in the scope of the present invention to provide the function of the present invention as a program for addition or update to the navigation device through wireless access or a recording medium, for a fee. It is.

The figure which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence of the weather information accumulation | storage in embodiment of this invention. The conceptual diagram which shows the database of the weather information in embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence of the route calculation reflecting the weather information in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Road information storage means 2 ... Own vehicle position detection means 3 ... Road discrimination means 4 ... Weather information acquisition means 5 ... Date and time acquisition means 6 ... Statistical weather information storage means 7 ... Route calculation means 8 ... Statistics means 41 ... Temperature detection means 42. Broadcast receiving means

Claims (12)

In the navigation device that calculates the route from the starting point to the destination,
Road information storage means for storing road information;
Own vehicle position detecting means for detecting the own vehicle position;
Road discriminating means for discriminating which of the roads stored in the road information storage means is the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detecting means;
Weather information acquisition means for acquiring weather information;
A date acquisition means for acquiring the date and time;
Statistical weather information storage means for storing the road determined by the road determination means, the weather information acquired by the weather information acquisition means, and the date acquired by the date acquisition means in association with each other;
Route calculation means for performing route calculation based on information stored in the statistical weather information storage means and road information stored in the road information storage means;
A navigation device comprising:   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weather information acquisition unit includes an air temperature detection unit that detects an air temperature around the vehicle.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the weather information acquisition unit includes a broadcast reception unit that receives and acquires a broadcast from the outside. The meteorological information acquisition means converts the meteorological information into a point for evaluation according to the value along with the road link, the date, and the time zone that are road information of the corresponding place, and the statistical weather as the weather information data Memorize it in the information storage means,
The route calculation means includes
When the route calculation is to be performed, among the weather information data stored in the statistical weather information storage means, the date matches the current time zone within a predetermined number of days before and after the current date within a predetermined number of years. For weather information, the point is obtained for each road link, an average value is calculated, and a statistical means for setting a weighting value according to the average value of the point,
The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the route calculation is performed so that road links are prioritized or excluded according to superiority or inferiority of the weighting value. In a control method of a navigation device that calculates a route from a departure place to a destination based on road information stored in advance in a predetermined road information storage means,
A vehicle position detection process for detecting the vehicle position;
Road discrimination processing for discriminating which of the roads stored in the road information storage means corresponds to the vehicle location detected in the vehicle location detection processing;
Weather information acquisition processing for acquiring weather information;
Date and time acquisition processing to acquire date and time,
A process in which the road determined in the road determination process, the weather information acquired in the weather information acquisition process, and the date acquired in the date acquisition process are associated with each other and stored in a predetermined statistical weather information storage unit;
A route calculation process for calculating a route by the information stored in the statistical weather information storage unit and the road information stored in the road information storage unit;
A method for controlling a navigation device, comprising:   The navigation device control method according to claim 5, wherein the weather information acquisition process includes an air temperature detection process of detecting an air temperature around the host vehicle.   The navigation apparatus control method according to claim 5, wherein the weather information acquisition process includes a broadcast reception process for receiving and acquiring an external broadcast. The meteorological information acquisition process converts the meteorological information into a point for evaluation according to the value along with the road link, date, and time zone that are road information of the corresponding place, and the statistical weather as the weather information data. Memorize it in information storage means,
The route calculation process includes:
When the route calculation is to be performed, among the weather information data stored in the statistical weather information storage means, the date matches the current time zone within a predetermined number of days before and after the current date within a predetermined number of years. For weather information, including statistical processing to obtain the point for each road link and calculate an average value, and set a weighting value according to the average value of the point,
The method for controlling a navigation device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the route calculation is performed so that a road link is given priority or excluded according to superiority or inferiority of the weighting value. In a control program for a navigation device that calculates a route from a departure place to a destination based on road information stored in advance in a predetermined road information storage means using a computer,
The program controls the computer,
Let the vehicle position detection process to detect the vehicle position,
Causing the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detection process to perform a road determination process for determining which road among the roads stored in the road information storage means;
Have the weather information acquisition process to acquire weather information,
Let the date and time acquisition process to get the date and time,
A process of associating the road determined in the road determination process with the weather information acquired in the weather information acquisition process and the date acquired in the date acquisition process in a predetermined statistical weather information storage unit is performed. Let
A navigation apparatus control program for performing route calculation processing for calculating a route based on information stored in the statistical weather information storage means and road information stored in the road information storage means.   The navigation apparatus control program according to claim 9, wherein in the weather information acquisition process, an air temperature detection process for detecting an air temperature around the host vehicle is performed.   The control program for a navigation device according to any one of claims 9 to 10, wherein in the weather information acquisition process, a broadcast reception process for receiving and acquiring an external broadcast is performed. In the meteorological information acquisition process, the statistical weather is converted into meteorological information data by converting the meteorological information into a point for evaluation according to the road link that is road information of the corresponding place, the date, and the time zone. Memorize it in the information storage means,
In the route calculation process,
When the route calculation is to be performed, among the weather information data stored in the statistical weather information storage means, the date matches the current time zone within a predetermined number of days before and after the current date within a predetermined number of years. For weather information, obtain the point for each road link, calculate the average value, let the statistical processing to set the weighting value according to the average value of this point,
The control program for a navigation device according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the route calculation is performed so as to prioritize or exclude road links according to superiority or inferiority of the weighting value.

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