JPH07146152A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a navigation device capable of re-listening voice guidance as needed. [Structure] A GPS receiving unit 1 that creates position information based on a signal from an artificial satellite, a map information reading unit 3 that reads map information from a recording medium in which map information is stored, and the read map information is displayed on a screen. The display unit 4, a voice data processing unit 6 for processing voice data corresponding to the map information and outputting it as voice guidance, and an input unit 5 for inputting various kinds of information, and the control unit controls overall control of each department. The voice guidance information stored in the buffer 8 is output as voice guidance by the operation of the input unit 5 and the control section 7 that stores the voice guidance already output as voice guidance information in the buffer 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device having a voice guidance function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, navigation devices using a GPS (Global Positioning System) have been used for navigation to destinations in automobiles and the like. This detects the position of the own vehicle based on the signal sent from the artificial satellite and creates position information, for example, C
The vehicle position is displayed on a liquid crystal screen or the like by superimposing it on map information (terrain and road information) stored in a large-capacity recording medium such as a D-ROM. Then, there is also one having a voice guidance function for performing voice guidance during operation based on the set route.

A conventional navigation device will be described below. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional navigation device. The GPS receiving unit 1 detects the position of the own vehicle based on the signal from the artificial satellite and creates position information, and is composed of a central processing unit, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The control unit 2 is notified. The position information transmitted from the GPS receiving unit 1 is superimposed by the control unit 2 with the map information read from the CD-ROM or the like by the map information reading unit 3 and displayed on the liquid crystal display or the like of the display unit 4. Therefore, the user operates the touch panel or the keyboard of the input unit 5 to input two points, that is, the departure point and the arrival point as the designated points, and
A map information selection display process is performed to select and display map information corresponding to the route connecting the points, and the map information is displayed on the screen of the display unit 4. Then, if the voice guidance function is set by operating the input unit 5, the voice data processing unit 6 composed of a voice synthesis LSI, an amplifier, a speaker and the like is controlled by the control unit 2 to follow the selected traveling route. Based on the map, voice data corresponding to the map information is processed, and voice guidance processing is performed for each important point while traveling.

An example of the conventional voice guidance processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart showing the voice guidance processing of the conventional navigation apparatus of FIG. 6 and the drawings showing the display screen of the conventional navigation apparatus of FIGS. 7 and 8. To do.

First, the input unit 5 is operated to cause the control unit 2 to read the map information around the destination from the map information reading unit 3 and display it on the screen of the display unit 4 (step 1).
Roads in the displayed area (for example, national highway No. 3) are represented as polygonal line information by a set of a plurality of consecutive points having latitude / longitude information. Next, the user operates the input unit 5 to input two points, the departure point S and the arrival point E, on the road (step 2). Departure point S, arrival point E 2
When the input of the points is completed, the control unit 2 searches all routes connecting the two points as a polygonal line connecting the points in the certain area (step 3).

As shown in FIG. 7, the actual display screen is such that 6 points of information are connected by a → b → c → d → e → f for national roads, and b → h and e → i are connected for prefectural roads. 2 points with the information of 2 points, and the highway connects the interchange g →
Departure point S and arrival point E based on the information of 4 points h → i → j
Is displayed to include.

Next, a route is obtained for each route as a search result (step 4), and the route with the shortest distance is selected from the obtained routes. For example, if there is a road designation condition "highway", it is designated. "Highway" that is a road
The route with the shortest distance including is selected (step 5).

As shown in FIG. 8, the actual display screen is as follows: departure point S → b → h → i → e → arrival point E, and the user
By following the route (highway) selected here, the shortest course can be traveled.

On the route from the starting point S via the point b to the prefectural road toward the interchange h, the point b, which is a branch point between the national road and the prefectural road, is one of the important points during running. Each time the running control unit 2 approaches such a key point, it determines whether or not a new key point is within a predetermined range (step 6). After controlling the data processing unit 6 and synthesizing the voice data corresponding to the map information based on the selected driving route by the voice synthesizing LSI and amplifying by the amplifier, for example, "If you turn right at the intersection 200 m ahead, you will enter the prefectural road. Masu. ”And a series of voice guidance (step 7). Usually, in a series of voice guidance, the wording sent from the speaker is repeated twice, but this may be stopped once, or any other number of times. The processing from step 6 to step 7 surrounded by a broken line is continuously repeated until a new important point is reached until the vehicle arrives at the arrival point E, and a series of voice guidance corresponding to the map information of the traveling route is displayed. (Step 8).

[0010]

However, in such a conventional structure, a series of voice guidance is performed only once for each important point such as a branch point. Therefore, if you miss the voice guidance because you concentrate too much on noise and driving operations, you cannot hear the voice guidance again, and if the approaching important point is an important branch point or highway interchange, There was a problem that if the wrong judgment was made, the vehicle could go off the driving route significantly.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and to provide a navigation device capable of rehearsing voice guidance as needed.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a map information from a GPS receiving section which creates position information based on a signal from an artificial satellite and a recording medium in which map information is stored. A map information reading section for reading
A display unit that displays the positional information created by the PS receiving unit and the read map information on the screen, a voice data processing unit that processes voice data corresponding to the map information and outputs it as voice guidance, and an input unit that inputs various information. And a control unit that controls the respective units and stores the output voice guidance as voice guidance information, and outputs the stored voice guidance information as voice guidance by operating the input unit.

[0013]

With this configuration, when a user misses a series of voice guidances, the voice guidance information can be re-output as necessary based on the stored voice guidance information.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, in which the same parts as those in the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The GPS receiving unit 1 detects the position of the own vehicle based on the signal from the artificial satellite, creates position information, and transmits it to the control unit 7 including a central processing unit, ROM, RAM and the like. In the control unit 7, a part of the RAM is used as a buffer 8 to store the output voice guidance as voice guidance information. The position information transmitted from the GPS receiving unit 1 is superimposed by the control unit 7 with the map information read from the CD-ROM or the like by the map information reading unit 3 and displayed on the liquid crystal display or the like of the display unit 4. Therefore, the user operates the touch panel or the keyboard of the input unit 5 to input two points, that is, a departure point and an arrival point as designated points, to select and display map information corresponding to a route connecting the two points. The map information selection display process is performed and the map information is displayed on the screen of the display unit 4. Then, if the voice guidance function is set by operating the input unit 5, the voice data processing unit 6 composed of a voice synthesis LSI, an amplifier, a speaker and the like is controlled by the control unit 2 to follow the selected traveling route. Based on the map, voice data corresponding to the map information is processed, and voice guidance processing is performed for each important point while traveling.

Referring to FIG. 2 which is a flow chart showing the voice guidance processing of the navigation device in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 which are views showing the display screen of the navigation device in the embodiment of the present invention. An example of voice guidance processing in the present invention will be described.

First, the input section 5 is operated to cause the control section 7 to read the map information around the destination from the map information reading section 3 and display it on the screen of the display section 4 (step 9).
Any road within the displayed area (eg National Highway 3)
Is represented as polygonal line information by a set of a plurality of consecutive points having latitude / longitude information. Next, the user operates the input unit 5 to input two points, the departure point S and the arrival point E, on the road (step 10). When the input of the two points of the departure point S and the arrival point E is completed, the control unit 7 searches for all routes connecting the two points as a polygonal line connecting the points within a certain area (step 11).

As shown in FIG. 3, the actual display screen is such that six points of information are connected by a → b → c → d → e → f for national roads, and b → h and e → i are connected for prefectural roads. 2 points with the information of 2 points, and the highway connects the interchange g →
Departure point S and arrival point E based on the information of 4 points h → i → j
Is displayed to include.

Next, a route is obtained for each route as a search result (step 12), and the route with the shortest distance is selected from the obtained routes. For example, "highway"
If there is such a road designation condition, the route with the shortest distance including the designated highway "highway" is selected (step 1
3).

As shown in FIG. 4, the actual display screen is as follows: departure point S → b → h → i → e → arrival point E, and the user
By following the route (highway) selected here, the shortest course can be traveled.

On the route from the starting point S via the point b to the prefectural road toward the interchange h, the point b, which is a branch point between the national road and the prefectural road, is one of the important points during the running. Each time the running control unit 7 approaches such a key point, it determines whether or not a new key point is within a predetermined range (step 14). After controlling the data processing unit 6 and synthesizing the voice data corresponding to the map information based on the selected driving route by the voice synthesizing LSI and amplifying by the amplifier, for example, "If you turn right at the intersection 200 m ahead, you will enter the prefectural road. Masu. ”And a series of voice guidance (step 15). Usually, in a series of voice guidance, the wording sent from the speaker is repeated twice, but this may be stopped once, or any other number of times. The process up to this point is the same as in the conventional example.

Next, after performing a series of voice guidance, the control unit 7 temporarily stores voice data or address information storing voice data in the buffer 8 as voice guidance information (step 16). The previous voice guidance information is stored in this buffer 8 unless new voice guidance is performed, but if the buffer 8 is divided into several pieces, the voice guidance information a few times before is also stored. It is also possible. During driving, there is a case where a series of voice guidances are missed due to noise and concentration on driving operations, and the process branches thereafter depending on whether or not the voice guidances are missed (step 17). If the user misses the voice guidance, the input unit 5 is operated to control the voice data processing unit 6 based on the voice guidance information stored in the buffer 8 of the control unit 7 to execute a series of voice guidance again. After that, the process proceeds to the next step (step 18).
If you hear the voice guidance, proceed to the next step. The processing from step 14 to step 18 surrounded by a broken line is continuously repeated until reaching a new important point until the arrival point E is reached, and a series of voice guidance corresponding to the map information of the traveling route is displayed. Done (Step 1
9).

As described above, the voice guidance information of the voice guidance performed immediately before is stored in the buffer 8 of the control unit 7 so that even if the voice guidance is missed, the voice guidance can be heard again as necessary. Therefore, it is possible to avoid making a wrong course even at an important branch point.

[0024]

When the navigation device of the present invention misses a series of voice guidance, it can re-output as voice guidance as needed based on the stored voice guidance information.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a voice guidance process of the navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display screen of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display screen of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional navigation device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing voice guidance processing of a conventional navigation device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display screen of a conventional navigation device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display screen of a conventional navigation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 GPS receiving section 2 Control section 3 Map information reading section 4 Display section 5 Input section 6 Voice data processing section 7 Control section 8 Buffer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A GPS receiving section for creating position information based on a signal from an artificial satellite, a map information reading section for reading map information from a recording medium in which map information is stored, and the GP.
S Display unit for displaying position information created by the receiving unit and read map information on the screen, voice data processing unit for processing voice data corresponding to the map information and outputting it as voice guidance, and input unit for inputting various information And a control unit that is responsible for overall control of the respective units and stores the output voice guidance as voice guidance information, and outputs the stored voice guidance information as voice guidance by operating the input unit. .