JPH0791970A - Portable type navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to display map information in the direction always oriented to the bearing by detecting the bearing by magnetism to rotate or control the map information to be displayed according to a deviation angle between the bearing information detected and a reference bearing of the map information stored and displayed. CONSTITUTION:The current position is calculated by a GPS own position detecting means 15 based on a GPS(global positioning system) radiowave from a satellite as received with an antenna 16. Bearing information is detected from sensor information obtained from a magnetic sensor 110 and bearing information from a bearing detection means 19 are detected. Moreover, map information to be displayed on a display device 112 is stored in a compact disc(CD) 18. The map information is converted into a data which is read out of a CPU 10 through a CD control section 17. Then, the map information to be displayed is rotated or controlled according to a deviation angle of the sensor information obtained from the sensor 110 and the bearing information detected from the bearing detection means 19 from a reference bearing of the map information to be displayed on the display device 112.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable navigation device using GPS (Global Positioning System).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A global positioning system called GPS is in widespread use as a self-position measuring device for navigation of automobiles and ships. These devices measure their own position measured in real time by GPS together with electronic map information stored in an electronic medium such as a CD-ROM on a CRT or L
It is a navigation device that can confirm a route to be traveled on a map by displaying it on a CD (liquid crystal display device). This navigation device has been developed as a portable device as the electronic device has become smaller and lighter.

[0003]

The uses of the portable GPS device, as represented by mountain climbing and orienteering, are as follows.
It is often used when the user moves on foot. In the case of this application, considering that the compass and the mountain map have been important tools for mountaineering in the past, it is convenient that the portable GPS device has the same function. However, a GPS device developed for automobiles and ships, which is simply a small-sized and lightweight GPS device, is effective in displaying map information, but has a drawback that it has no function equivalent to a compass. It was Therefore, a compass is used together, and when using, it is troublesome to change the orientation of the GPS device so that the orientation of the map information displayed on the display screen of the GPS device matches the orientation obtained using the compass. There was a problem that it cost.

FIG. 6 shows a display example of a conventional portable GPS device. In the map information of the road map, the own position mark 20 indicating the current position is drawn in the center of the display device, and with this as a reference, the direction of "north" is always "heaven" of the display device.
Displayed according to the direction. However, the actual "North"
The azimuth is different from the "heaven" direction of the display device as indicated by the needle of the N pole of the compass 22 in FIG. 6, and in FIG. 6, the diagonally right direction is "North". In this way, since the display direction and orientation of the map do not match, a compass must be carried as a means of knowing the orientation, and further, while comparing the orientation obtained by the compass and the display content of the map. Will be used.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A portable navigation device of the present invention stores a map information, a display means for displaying the map information stored in the storage means, and magnetically detects an azimuth. An azimuth detecting means, and a display control means for rotating and controlling the map information displayed by the display means according to a deviation angle between the azimuth information detected by the azimuth detecting means and the reference azimuth of the map information displayed by the display means. ing.

[0006]

According to the portable navigation device of the present invention, the azimuth detecting means detects the azimuth, and the map information displayed on the display means is controlled according to the deviation angle between the azimuth and the reference azimuth of the map information displayed by the display means. The rotation is controlled by means. In this way, map information that matches the orientation can be automatically obtained.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a portable navigation device of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
It is a block diagram showing the composition of the portable navigation device in one example of this invention. Here, the CPU 10
Performs logical judgment and calculation according to the flowchart shown in FIG. A read-only memory (ROM) 11 has a program storage area in which a control program according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and a program for controlling the entire system for CD (compact disc) control and display control are stored. ing.

Reference numeral 12 is a main memory for storing data read from a compact disc such as map information for displaying a map, in addition to the storage area required for the control shown in FIG. The operation button management unit 13
The button information when the operation button 14 is operated is managed. Reference numeral 15 is a GPS own position detecting means, and the antenna 1
GPS radio waves from the satellite obtained from 6 are received, and the current position is calculated based on the received GPS radio waves. Reference numeral 18 denotes a compact disc, in which map information to be displayed on the display device is stored. The map information is sent to the CPU 10 through the CD control unit 17.
Is converted into data that can be read from. A display control unit 111 performs display control and rotation control when the map information stored in the main memory 12 is displayed on the display device 112 which is a display unit. A magnetic sensor 110 is used as a means for detecting the azimuth, and azimuth information is obtained through the azimuth detecting means 19. Reference numeral 113 is a system bus.

FIG. 3 shows a state of map information displayed on the display device 112. The figure shows the rotation control of the display.
This is an example of electronically controlling rotation of map information displayed on the screen of the display device 112. The own position mark 20 indicating the current position displayed in the center of the display device 112 is used as the center of rotation and an angle α shown to the right with respect to the “top” direction of the display device.
The map is drawn on the display device 112 by rotating by (30).

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the rotation control is mechanically applied to the display device 112 itself. The display device 112 is rotated by the angle α (30) shown in the right direction with respect to the “top” direction of the display device 112 with the own position mark 20 as the center of rotation. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG.
The display device 112 is supported by the display device support shaft 50, and the display device support shaft 50 is driven by a motor to rotate, thereby controlling the rotation of the display device 112. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the portable navigation device of the present invention, the displayed map information always matches the direction regardless of the device direction.

The control procedure in the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows a procedure for detecting the azimuth and the rotation amount in order to realize the rotation-controlled map display for the map information, and performing the rotation control of the map display based on the result. 4 is a control procedure in the case of the configuration shown in FIG. Step 1
Then, based on the radio waves from the satellite received by the antenna 16,
The current position is calculated using the GPS self-position detecting means 15. In step 2, the range of the map to be drawn when the current position obtained in step 1 is positioned at the center of the map to be drawn is determined based on the scale of the map display. In step 3, a variable β that stores the rotation angle is initialized to 0. In step 4, the “north” direction is detected from the sensor information obtained from the magnetic sensor 110 and the direction detecting means 19. Step 5 is a process of calculating the deviation between the north direction and the current “heaven” direction of the device to obtain the rotation angle α (30). Step 6 branches the control depending on whether or not the rotation angle α (30) has changed. If the angle α obtained in step 5 is different from the stored contents of the angle variable β, it means that the orientation of the device in the “top” direction has changed, and in step 7, the map is rotated by the angle α. Drawing on the display device 112. This causes the north direction of the map to match the actual direction. If the content of β is the same as the content of α, it is not necessary to update the map display, and the process proceeds to step 4. In step 8, the angle α is stored in the variable β,
Prepare for comparison with the next rotation angle.

[0012]

Since the portable navigation device of the present invention can always display the map information in the direction that coincides with the direction, it is troublesome to use the compass to know the direction and the direction and the map information indicated by the compass are displayed. This has the effect of saving the trouble of adjusting the map orientation while comparing the orientation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a portable navigation device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control flowchart showing the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of a first specific example of the portable navigation device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of a second specific example of the portable navigation device of FIG.

5 is a sectional view of the second specific example shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 CPU 11 ROM 12 Main Memory 13 Operation Button Management Section 14 Operation Button 15 GPS Own Position Detection Means 16 Antenna 17 CD Control Section 18 Compact Disk 19 Orientation Detection Means 110 Magnetic Sensor 111 Display Control Section 112 Display Device 113 System Bus 20 Own Position Mark 21 housing 22 compass 30 displacement angle 50 display device support shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing map information, a display unit for displaying the map information stored in the storage unit, a direction detecting unit for detecting a direction by magnetism, and a direction detecting unit for detecting the direction. A portable navigation device comprising: display control means for controlling rotation of the map information displayed by the display means in accordance with a deviation angle between the azimuth information and the reference azimuth of the map information displayed by the display means. 2. The portable navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means electronically controls rotation of the map information displayed on the screen of the display means. 3. The portable navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means mechanically controls the orientation of the display means.