JP2773596B2 - Travel position display 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 travel position display device for displaying the current position of a car or the like on a display device together with a map.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows an outline of a vehicle-mounted traveling position display device. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a direction sensor,
The direction sensor 1 uses a geomagnetic sensor for detecting the absolute running direction of the vehicle and an optical gyro for detecting the relative running direction of the vehicle. Reference numeral 2 denotes a distance sensor that generates a pulse corresponding to the number of rotations of the wheels, and 3 denotes various sensor signals such as an on / off signal of a brake switch, a parking switch, and the like, and a power supply voltage monitoring signal. Reference numeral 4 denotes a sensor signal processing unit for processing sensor signals such as a direction sensor 1 and a distance sensor 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. The GPS receiver 5 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of satellites and performs calculations. By doing so, the position (latitude, longitude) of the receiving point can be obtained. Reference numeral 6 denotes a CD-ROM drive. The CD-ROM drive 6 reads map data from a CD-ROM 7 on which map data is recorded. Reference numeral 8 denotes a display / operation unit provided in the vehicle interior. The display / operation unit 8 is provided on a liquid crystal display 8A for displaying a map, a current traveling position, a direction, and the like of the automobile, and is provided on a front surface of the liquid crystal display 8A. The touch panel 8B includes switches for instructing enlargement and reduction of a display map,
A switch for instructing a route search, a switch for selecting a destination from the place names displayed on the liquid crystal display 8A, and the like are provided. Reference numeral 9 denotes an apparatus main body, which is installed in a trunk room or the like.

Next, the configuration of the apparatus main body 9 will be described.
10 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) for performing various calculations, 11
Is a ROM (Read Only Memory) in which programs for various operations performed by the CPU 9 are stored, 12 is data from the azimuth sensor 1, the distance sensor 2, the GPS receiver 5, the CD-ROM drive 6, etc., and the operation results of the CPU 10, etc. (DRAM), 13 is a backup memory (SRAM) for holding necessary data even when power supply to the apparatus main body 9 is stopped, 14 is characters displayed on the liquid crystal display 8A, A memory (kanji, font ROM) in which patterns such as symbols are stored, 15 is an image processor for forming a display image based on map data or current position data of the vehicle, and 16 is output from the image processor 15 Map data, current position data and kanji, kanji such as town names and road names output from font ROM 14, The liquid crystal display 8 the door synthesized and
A memory (VRAM) for storing an image to be displayed on A, 17
Is an RGB conversion circuit for converting output data of the VRAM 16 into a color signal, and the converted color signal is output from the RGB conversion circuit 17 to the liquid crystal display 8A. 18
Is a communication interface. Liquid crystal display 8A
As shown in FIG. 2, a surrounding map of the current position of the own vehicle is displayed together with a town name and the like, and an own vehicle mark 19 for displaying the current position of the own vehicle is displayed in the display map.

FIG. 4 shows a format of data stored in the CD-ROM 7, and reference numeral 20 denotes a disk label,
1 is a drawing parameter, 22 is figure management information, and 23 and 24
Is a figure leaf, which has background data, character data,
It stores road data and the like, and stores data for each unit map obtained by dividing a topographic map of the whole of Japan by latitude and longitude. In the figure, a figure (level 0) that roughly describes a wide area and a figure (level 0) that describes a narrow area in detail are set. Each leaf is composed of view sets A, B and C describing the same area. View sets A, B, and C describe B in more detail than A and C in more detail than B. Each of the view sets A, B, and C includes view set management information and a plurality of units. Each unit describes a divided area obtained by dividing the area of each view set into a plurality. Each unit includes a unit header, a character layer, a background layer, a road layer, an option layer, and the like. In the character layer, place names, road names, facility names, and the like displayed on the map are recorded, in the background layer, data for drawing roads, facilities, and the like are recorded. In the road layer, as shown in FIG. Stores data on coordinate points (nodes) and lines (links) describing roads including intersections, for example, node numbers of nodes, latitude and longitude, link numbers of links, link distances, and the like. In FIG. 5, circles (○) indicate nodes, and lines between nodes indicate links. A black circle (丸) of the node number: 4 indicates an intersection node. Note that the data recorded in the road layer is not directly involved in the map display, but is used as road network information such as map matching.

[0005] In FIG. 1, the output of the azimuth sensor 1 and the output of the distance sensor 2 are transmitted to the CPU 10 via the sensor processing unit 4.
Sent to The CPU 10 calculates the current position of the vehicle, and obtains the latitude and longitude of the current position. Also GPS
The current position is corrected based on the data from the receiver 5. The map data of the unit corresponding to the current position is read from the CD-ROM 7 by the CD-ROM drive 6 based on the current position obtained in this manner, and the map data is stored in the memory (DRAM) 12 via the communication interface 18. Is stored. A part of the map data stored in the DRAM 12 is read by the CPU 10,
The image data is converted into image data by the image processor 15 and written into the image memory 16. The image data stored in the image memory 16 is converted into color signals by the RGB conversion circuit 17 and sent to the liquid crystal display 8A, where a map of a predetermined range centering on the current position is displayed. If the map data read from the DRAM 12 includes character codes and symbol codes, patterns corresponding to these character codes and symbol codes are read from the kanji and the font ROM 14, so that the liquid crystal display 8A displays the map and place names along with the map. , And a symbol such as school are displayed. In addition, based on the traveling speed and traveling azimuth sequentially obtained with the traveling of the car,
The current position displayed on the liquid crystal display 8A is sequentially changed.

FIG. 2 shows a display example of the liquid crystal display 8A. A road map is displayed, along with place names, intersection names, road names, and the like. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 19 denotes a vehicle mark of the vehicle, and the vehicle mark 19 indicates a current position and a traveling direction of the vehicle.

Next, the map display operation of the above conventional example will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
To select the scale of the map to be displayed on the liquid crystal display 8A. In step B, the map display data of the selected scale is read out from the CD-ROM 7. In step C, a map is drawn on the liquid crystal display 8A based on the data read from the CD-ROM 7. Next, in Step D, the CD-ROM
7, the road network data recorded in the road layer is read, and the road network data and the CPU
The position and orientation of the own vehicle are determined from the current position data obtained by calculation in step 10 (step E), and the own vehicle mark 19 is displayed on the map displayed on the liquid crystal display 8A in step F. FIG. 2 shows a display example on a liquid crystal display 8A in a conventional example.
9 indicates that the vehicle is traveling on the road R.

[0008] However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, as shown in FIG. 2, the intersection next to the currently traveling road R may not be displayed at the selected scale. It is not known whether or not the vehicle will reach the next intersection if the vehicle travels for a distance. By operating the wide area switching button displayed on the screen and turning on the touch switch 8B,
It was necessary to switch to the wide area map shown in FIG.

[0009]

As described above, in the conventional example, depending on the selected scale, the position of the vehicle and the next intersection may not be displayed simultaneously on the screen. In such a case, there is a drawback that the wide area switching button must be manually operated to switch to a wide area map for display.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the related art, and automatically displays the map to be displayed on the liquid crystal display up to the next intersection of the currently running road without manually switching the scale. Another object of the present invention is to provide a travel position display device capable of automatically changing the scale of a map.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a vehicle position detecting means for detecting a vehicle position and a vehicle position corresponding to the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detecting means. Means for reading the map data from the storage means, means for displaying a map on the display means based on the read map data and means for displaying the own vehicle position detected by the own vehicle position detecting means, Determining means for calculating the distance between the position of the vehicle on the road and the next intersection in the traveling direction, and determining whether the position of the vehicle and the next intersection can be simultaneously displayed on the display screen of the display means at the current display scale; And automatically changing the display scale to a display scale that can be displayed at the same time when it is determined that the own vehicle position and the next intersection cannot be displayed simultaneously by the determination means.

[0012]

The present invention is constructed as described above, and calculates the distance between the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detecting means and the next intersection on the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. When it is determined that the vehicle position and the next intersection cannot be displayed simultaneously on the display screen from the distance, the display scale is automatically changed, and the vehicle position and the next intersection are displayed on the display screen. They are displayed at the same time.

[0013]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention.
It will be explained together. FIG. 6 shows a map display process according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, when the scale of the display map is selected in step A, a map leaf and a view set are selected according to the selected scale, a unit corresponding to the own vehicle position is selected, and the map display data is stored in a CD-ROM. ROM
7 (step B). In the next step C, the road network data (FIG. 5) recorded in the road layer of the CD-ROM 7 is read (step C), and the road network data is read from the read road network data and the current position data obtained by the CPU 10. The position and direction of the vehicle on the network are determined (step D). Next, in step E, it is determined whether or not the current display mode is a mode for displaying the next intersection of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling. When the mode for displaying the own vehicle position including the next intersection is selected by the operation button, the process proceeds to step F, where a straight line from the own vehicle position obtained by the CPU 10 to the next intersection X in the traveling direction of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is obtained. Calculate the distance. Intersection X
Are recorded in the road layer of the CD-ROM 7 shown in FIG. 4, and from the coordinates of the intersection and the coordinates of the current position of the own vehicle, a straight line between the current position of the own vehicle and the intersection X is obtained. Distance is required. Next, in step G, it is determined whether or not the next intersection X enters the display screen at the current scale display. In the present embodiment, the vehicle position is displayed at the center of the display screen. Therefore, the determination in step G is, for example, that the straight line distance obtained in step F is １ ／ of the current distance L above and below the display screen. If it is determined that the distance between the current position obtained in step F and the next intersection X is longer than 距離 of the distance L, the process proceeds to step H. Proceed, and map display data of a reduced scale in which the next intersection X of the road on which the vehicle is currently running is within the display screen is displayed.
The map is drawn based on the data read from the D-ROM 7 and read in step I (FIG. 3), and the own vehicle mark 19 is displayed on the display map in step J. In addition, when it is determined NO in step E in FIG.
Alternatively, if the determination is yes in step G, the process proceeds to step I.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the map on the reduced scale at which the next intersection X on the road on which the vehicle is currently running is automatically entered as shown in FIG. 3 without changing the scale by manual operation. Since it is selected and displayed, it is possible to easily determine how far from the current position the vehicle should travel to reach the next intersection.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the scale is automatically changed so that the next intersection of the currently traveling road can be displayed without manually changing the scale of the display map. This eliminates the need for manual operation by the user, and has the advantage that the user can concentrate on driving. Users can also look at the displayed map,
It is possible to easily determine how long the vehicle should travel on the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling to reach the next intersection.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a traveling position display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a display example of the liquid crystal display of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example of the liquid crystal display of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a format of a CD-ROM of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a view showing road data recorded on a CD-ROM of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a display process in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a display process in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 direction sensor 2 distance sensor 5 GPS receiver 6 CD-ROM drive 7 CD-ROM 8 display / operation unit 8A liquid crystal display 8B touch panel 9 device body 10 CPU 15 image processor

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-53498 (JP, A) JP-A-4-315191 (JP, A) JP-A-6-34384 (JP, A) JP-A-2-57910 (JP) JP-A-3-136197 (JP, A) JP-A-3-150699 (JP, A) JP-A-2-275309 (JP, A) JP-A-61-66919 (JP, A) JP-A-6-194182 (JP, A) JP-A-4-218167 (JP, A) JP-A-5-87583 (JP, A) JP-A-6-265366 (JP, A) JP-A-5-197338 (JP, A A) JP-A-5-72971 (JP, A) JP-A-4-320291 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G09B 29/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle position detecting means for detecting a vehicle position, a means for reading map data corresponding to the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detecting means from a storage means, and the read map data. Means for displaying a map on the display means based on the vehicle and displaying the own vehicle position detected by the own vehicle position detecting means, and between the own intersection of the current traveling road and the next intersection in the traveling direction. Calculating the distance, judging means for judging whether or not the own vehicle position and the next intersection can be simultaneously displayed on the display screen of the display means at the current display scale, and simultaneously judging the own vehicle position and the next intersection by this judging means A travel position display device comprising: a scale automatic change unit that automatically changes to a display scale that can be displayed simultaneously when it is determined that the display cannot be performed. 2. The display means displays the vehicle position and the next intersection.
A contractor having a selection means for selecting whether or not to display
The travel position display device according to claim 1. 3. The vehicle position is displayed at the center of the display screen of the display means.
In the display format to be displayed, the next
The distance between the intersection and the top and bottom of the map displayed on the display screen
The determination means determines whether the distance is longer than 1/2 of the distance
The travel position display device according to claim 1, wherein: