JPH04102014A - Voice interaction type car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To establish a system being suitable for use in a multilanguage area such as Europe by knowing from map data that a car is moving across the boundary of a language zone and by changing over the language zone of language data automatically. CONSTITUTION:The destination is inputted beforehand to CPU 1 by a key controller 4 and language data at the time when a car starts are set in the language of a country at the start. First the position of the car is compared with map data stored in a CD-ROM device 8 and it is determined by the CPU 1 whether or not the car goes across a boundary line, on the basis of the map data and outputs of a distance sensor 2 and an azimuth sensor 3. When it is already on the other side of the boundary line, the driver decides whether or not a local language display is to be made. When the local language display is to be made, a local language data file is selected from language data in the device 8 and set and it is displayed in an image display device 6. When the display is to be made with local voice, voice data are altered to the voice data of the local language on the basis of the language data in the device 8 and the voice for navigation is outputted from a voice output device 7 so as to conduct road guidance.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a voice communication system suitable for use in so-called multilingual regions such as Europe, where countries that use many languages are concentrated in a relatively small area. This invention relates to an interactive car navigation system.

[Summary of the invention]

In addition to the map data on the CD-ROM disc used in multilingual areas such as Europe, the present invention provides map data of the boundaries of many linguistic areas and the language of each linguistic area. Record data.

The system detects from the map data that the moving vehicle has crossed the language area boundary, automatically switches the language area of the language data, and outputs audio data tailored to the language area. This is a voice interactive car navigation system that is compatible with the area.

[Conventional technology]

Various types of car navigation systems that use image and audio output have been proposed in consideration of the safety and operability of the driver while the vehicle is in motion.

For example, a car navigation system (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-261108) that outputs information such as pre-prepared directions as audio and image information by interacting with the car navigation system using audio, or a CD-ROM. A car navigation system that records map data and audio data in ROM and outputs route guidance and tourist information as image and audio information (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1999-1-1)
(See Publication No. 73819).

[Invention or problem to be solved]

However, in the car navigation system mentioned earlier, the audio output is limited to the language of one country, and in regions such as Europe where there are many countries that use many languages in a relatively small area, it is difficult to This method was unsuitable for car navigation using voice output when driving across language boundaries.

An object of the present invention is to provide a voice interactive car navigation system suitable for use in a multilingual region such as Europe.

[Means to solve the problem]

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention adds map data on the CD-ROM disk of the CD-ROM device to map data of the boundaries of a large number of language areas and information on the boundaries of each language area. Record linguistic data.

The system detects from the map data that the moving vehicle has crossed the boundaries of language areas, automatically switches the language area of the language data, and outputs audio data tailored to the language area. Configure a voice-interactive car navigation system to support the

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the voice interactive car navigation system stores map data of the boundaries of multiple language areas and language data for each language area in addition to the map data on the CD-ROM disc of the CD-ROM device. The system is configured to record, obtain from map data that a moving vehicle has crossed the boundary of a language area, automatically switch the language area of the language data, and output audio data tailored to the language area. This allows it to be used in multilingual regions such as Europe.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A voice interactive car navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a car navigation system based on self-contained navigation and voice dialogue according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the same.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU), 2 is a distance sensor, 3 is a direction sensor, 4 is a key controller, 5 is a voice input device, 6 is an image display device, 7
8 is an audio output device, and 8 is a CDROM device.

The distance sensor 2 is used to measure the distance traveled by the vehicle and input it to the CPU 1. For example, the distance sensor 2 may measure the distance traveled by detecting the number of rotations of the wheels, or may detect acceleration and integrate it twice. A variety of measurement methods are used, such as: The direction sensor 3 is for detecting the running direction of the vehicle and inputting it to the CPUI, and there are, for example, optical rotation sensors attached to the rotating part of the steering wheel (steering wheel) of the vehicle, and other types of rotation sensors. Either a sensor or an angle sensor is used. The key controller 4 is used to input the travel course to the destination into the CPUI before traveling. The voice input device 5 is for interacting with the car navigation system, and is composed of a microphone 11 and a voice recognition device 12. The above constitutes the input device of the CPU 1.

The image display device 6 is for displaying image data such as maps and photographs for navigation, and is composed of an image processing processor 13 and a color cathode ray tube 14 (hereinafter abbreviated as CRT). It is also possible to replace the CRT 14 with a color liquid crystal display device, and by adopting a color liquid crystal display device, the device can be made more compact. The audio output device 7 is for outputting navigation audio, and is composed of a voice synthesizer 15, an amplifier 16, and a speaker 17. CD-ROM device 8
records various data such as map data, audio data, and navigation data on the built-in CD-ROM disk, and transfers data requested by commands from the CPUI to the CPU.
Navigation is performed by outputting to the UI and performing voice dialogue or outputting images and sounds. This completes the configuration of the CPUI output device.

The CPUI is the core of the voice interactive car navigation system of the present invention, and when a driving course is set from the key controller 4, navigation data of the driving course is stored from a memory (not shown) in the CPUI or a CD-ROM device 8. Call and execute. Each navigation data includes displaying a map on the screen of the image display device 6 along the driving course, displaying characteristic photos near national borders or language area boundaries, or displaying characteristic photographs near national borders or language area boundaries. It is configured to display the distance to the destination, the distance to the destination, and other guidance information, and also to output audio guidance from the speaker 17 of the audio output device 7.

A CD-ROM device 8 stores these map, photo, and audio data, and the CD-ROM disk (not shown) stores conventionally recorded map data,
For example, in addition to the vector data of roads (including types), railways, rivers, lakes, coastlines, etc., vector data of national borders (or language area boundaries, hereinafter referred to as border lines) is added and recorded. has been done. In addition to data such as place names, facility names, and station names, national ID (linguistic region ID) data is also recorded. CD-ROM
The audio data on the disc includes multilingual audio data in various languages.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of a voice interactive car navigation system using self-contained navigation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, the destination is previously input into the CPUI by the key controller 4, and the language data at the time of starting the vehicle is set to the language of the starting country. First, in step 21, the own vehicle position and the CD-R
Compare the map data in the OM device 8. Then, in step 22, the CPU determines whether or not the boundary line has been crossed based on the map data, the outputs of the distance sensor 2, and the direction sensor 3. If the boundary line has not been crossed, the flow is set to N and the current state is maintained. . If the boundary line has been crossed, the driver decides whether or not to proceed with the flow of Y and display the local language in step 23.
input to the CPUI by

If the local language display is not to be performed, the process moves to step 25 according to the flow of N. If you want to display the local language, proceed to step 24 according to the flow of Y, select and set a local language data file from the language data in the CD-ROM device 8, display it on the image display device 6, and proceed to step 25. Transition. In step 25, the driver decides whether or not to output the local language audio, and then selects the CP in the same way as when displaying the local language.
Input into UI.

If the local language audio is not to be output, the current status is maintained using flow N. If the local language audio is to be displayed, follow the flow of Y and proceed to step 26, change the audio data to local language audio data using the language data in the CD-ROM device 8, prepare for voice recognition and voice guidance, In interaction with voice input from the driver, an image such as a map or photograph for navigation is displayed on the image display device 6, and a voice for navigation is output from the voice output device 7 to provide route guidance.

Although the voice interactive car navigation system of the present invention has been explained using a car navigation system using self-contained navigation,
It is also possible to configure a voice interactive car navigation system using GPS car navigation, and it is possible to provide a car navigation system with higher accuracy.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in addition to map data on a CD-ROM disk of a CD-ROM device, map data of the boundaries of a large number of language areas and language data for each language area are recorded, and a moving vehicle is By configuring a voice-interactive car navigation system to obtain information about crossing the boundaries of language areas from map data, automatically switch the language area of the language data, and output audio data tailored to the language area. When using a car navigation system in a multilingual region such as Europe, it is possible to improve the safety and operability of the driver while driving the vehicle.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a voice interactive car navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the same. In the figure: 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 11... 12. ... 13... 14... 15... 16... 17... Central processing unit (CPU) Distance sensor Orientation sensor Key controller Audio input device Image display device Audio output device CD-ROM device Microphone Voice recognition device Image processing processor Color cathode ray tube (CRT) Speech synthesis device Amplifier Speaker

Claims (1)

[Claims] A voice interactive car navigation system that records map data and voice data on a CD-ROM disk of a CD-ROM device, and outputs the map data and voice data while interacting with input voice to provide route guidance. In addition to the map data on the CD-ROM disc, the system records map data of the boundaries of multiple language areas and language data for each language area, and records information on when a moving vehicle crosses the boundaries of language areas. The voice interactive type is characterized in that it is compatible with a large number of language areas by obtaining the information from the map data, automatically switching the language area of the language data, and outputting audio data tailored to the language area. Car navigation system.