Route selecting method, route selecting system, and recording medium

• US 20010004725A1
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Published: 06/21/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yagyu, Takeshi
• Granted Patent: US 6,456,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/210
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles

Abstract

There are provided a route selecting method, a route selecting system, and a recording medium capable of selecting a route in which a road on which a user has traveled is suitably reflected.

A section traveling route generation portion 6 receives a traveling track of a vehicle detected by a current position and traveling track detection portion 2 and an optimum route searched for by an optimum route searching portion 5, and compare the traveling track and the optimum route, to extract different road sections as section traveling routes. A section traveling route storage portion 7 stores the extracted section traveling route and its attribute information. A crossing section examination portion 8 first examines, in the case of guiding, whether or not the section traveling route taking as a section a part, between two arbitrary points, of the optimum route searched for by the optimum route searching portion 5 exists in the section traveling route storage portion 7, and extracts the section traveling route from the section traveling route storage portion 7 when the section traveling route exists. A guiding route generation portion 9 replaces the part, between the two points, of the optimum route with the section traveling route on the basis of the optimum route and the extracted section traveling route, to generate a guiding route.

Claims

1. A route selecting method for selecting an optimum route on a map in the travel of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

searching for an optimum route between two points using map data required to select a route;

collecting traveling tracks on which the vehicle travels;

comparing said optimum route searched for and said traveling tracks collected, to store only different route parts on the traveling tracks as section traveling routes;

when a user is guided, comparing said optimum route searched for and all of said section traveling routes stored, to examine whether the section traveling route crossing the optimum route (hereinafter referred to as a crossing section traveling route) exists;

replacing, with respect to said crossing section traveling route examined, a section on said optimum route which crosses the crossing section traveling route with a corresponding part of the crossing section traveling route, to generate a guiding route; and

guiding the user using said guiding route generated.

2. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said guiding step comprises the step of displaying, when said guiding route is displayed, said optimum route, together with the guiding route, in such a manner that they can be distinguished.

3. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of deleting, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

4. The route selecting method according to

claim 2

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of deleting, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

5. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of accumulatively storing the number of times the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said generating step comprises the step of using, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route on which the vehicle travels not less than a particular number of times.

6. The route selecting method according to

claim 5

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of reducing, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the number of times the vehicle travels on the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

7. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, further comprising the step of

examining whether the section traveling route including a current position of the vehicle and having a point crossing said guiding route in the travel direction is stored on the basis of said traveling tracks collected and said guiding route generated, and generating, when the section traveling route exists, a new guiding route from the current position to a destination point using the section traveling route and said guiding route,

said guiding step comprising the step of guiding the user using said new guiding route generated when it is determined that the current position of the vehicle deviates from said guiding route.

8. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of storing circumstances where the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said generating step comprises the step of using, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route whose circumstances stored at said storing step conform to the current circumstances.

9. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, further comprising the step of

inputting a route (a traveling track) on which a user desires to travel on a map,

said storing step comprising the step of finding said section traveling route using the traveling track inputted at said inputting step in place of the traveling tracks collected at said collecting step.

10. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of individually storing said section traveling route for each user, and

said examining step and said generating step each comprise the step of performing processing using only said section traveling route corresponding to the user.

11. The route selecting method according to

claim 1

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of determining said section traveling route to be stored in accordance with judgment given from the user.

12. A route selecting system for selecting an optimum route on a map in the travel of a vehicle, comprising:

a map data storage portion for storing map data required to select a route;

a current position and traveling track detection portion for finding a current position and a traveling track of the vehicle;

an information input portion for inputting particular information (a destination point and a departure point of a route, a current time zone and day of the week, an expected time zone and day of the week of departure/arrival, and the like.) in accordance with an instruction issued by a user;

an optimum route searching portion for searching for an optimum route between two points using said map data and said particular information;

a section traveling route generation portion for comparing the optimum route searched for by said optimum route searching portion and the traveling track found in said current position and travelling track detection portion, to extract only different route parts on the traveling track as section traveling routes;

a section traveling route storage portion for storing said section traveling routes;

a crossing section examination portion for, when the user is guided, comparing the optimum route searched for by said optimum route searching portion and all of said section traveling routes stored in said section traveling route storage portion, to examine whether the section traveling route crossing the optimum route (hereinafter referred to as a crossing section traveling route) exists;

a guiding route generation portion for replacing, with respect to said crossing section traveling route examined by said crossing section examination portion, a section on said optimum route which crosses the crossing section traveling route with a corresponding part of the crossing section traveling route, to generate a guiding route; and

a map display output portion for guiding the user using said guiding route generated by said guiding route generation portion.

13. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said map display output portion displays, when said guiding route is displayed, said optimum route, together with the guiding route, in such a manner that they can be distinguished.

14. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said section traveling route generation portion deletes, with respect to said section traveling route already stored in said section traveling route storage portion (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

15. The route selecting system according to

claim 13

, wherein

said section traveling route generation portion deletes, with respect to said section traveling route already stored in said section traveling route storage portion (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

16. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said section traveling route storage portion accumulatively stores the number of times the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said guiding route generation portion uses, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route on which the vehicle travels not less than a predetermined number of times.

17. The route selecting system according to

claim 16

, wherein

said section traveling route generation portion reduces, with respect to said section traveling route already stored in said section traveling route storage portion (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the number of times the vehicle travels on the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

18. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, further comprising

a return route selection portion receiving said current position found by said current position and traveling track detection portion and said guiding route generated by said guiding route generation portion, to examine whether the section traveling route including the current position and having a point crossing said guiding route in the travel direction exists in said section traveling route storage portion, and generate, when the section traveling route exists, a new guiding route from the current position to a destination point using the section traveling route and said guiding route,

said map display output portion guiding the user using said new guiding route generated by said return route selection portion when it is determined that the current position of the vehicle deviates from said guiding route.

19. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said section traveling route storage portion stores circumstances where the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said guiding route generation portion uses, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route whose circumstances stored in said section traveling route storage portion conform to the current circumstances.

20. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, further comprising

a travelling track input portion for inputting a route (a traveling track) on which a user desires to travel on a map,

said section traveling route generation portion using the traveling track inputted to said traveling track input portion in place of the traveling tracks found by said current position and traveling track detection portion, to extract said section traveling route.

21. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said section traveling route storage portion individually stores said section traveling route for each user, and

said crossing section examination portion and said guiding route generation portion each perform processing using only said section traveling route corresponding to the user.

22. The route selecting system according to

claim 12

, wherein

said section traveling route storage portion determines said section traveling route to be stored in accordance with judgment given from the user.

23. A recording medium having a program executed in a computer recorded thereon, the program at least comprising the steps of:

searching for an optimum route between two points using map data required to select a route;

collecting traveling tracks on which a vehicle travels;

comparing said optimum route searched for and said traveling tracks collected, to store only different route parts on the traveling tracks as section traveling routes;

when a user is guided, comparing said optimum route searched for and all of said section traveling routes stored, to examine whether the section traveling route crossing the optimum route (hereinafter referred to as a crossing section traveling route) exists;

replacing, with respect to said crossing section traveling route examined, a section on said optimum route which crosses the crossing section traveling route with a corresponding part of the crossing section traveling route, to generate a guiding route; and

guiding the user using said guiding route generated.

24. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said guiding step comprises the step of displaying, when said guiding route is displayed, said optimum route, together with the guiding route, in such a manner that they can be distinguished.

25. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of deleting, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

26. The recording medium according to

claim 24

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of deleting, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

27. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of accumulatively storing the number of times the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said generating step comprises the step of using, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route on which the vehicle travels not less than a predetermined number of times.

28. The recording medium according to

claim 27

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of reducing, with respect to said section traveling route already stored (hereinafter referred to as existing section traveling route), the number of times the vehicle travels on the existing section traveling route when the vehicle newly travels on a different route in the same section (from the same start point to the same end point) as the existing section traveling route.

29. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, further comprising the step of

examining whether the section traveling route including the current position of the vehicle and having a point crossing said guiding route in the travel direction is stored on the basis of said traveling tracks collected and said guiding route generated, and generating, when the section traveling route exists, a new guiding route from the current position to a destination point using the section traveling route and said guiding route,

said guiding step comprising the step of guiding the user using said new guiding route generated when it is determined that the current position of the vehicle deviates from said guiding route.

30. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of storing circumstances where the vehicle travels on said section traveling route, together with the section traveling route, and

said generating step comprises the step of using, for the replacement, only said crossing section traveling route whose circumstances stored in said storing step conform to the current circumstances.

31. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, further comprising the step of

inputting a route (a traveling track) on which a user desires to travel on a map,

said storing step comprising the step of finding said section traveling route using the traveling track inputted at said inputting step in place of the traveling tracks collected at said collecting step.

32. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of individually storing said section traveling route for each user, and

said examining step and said generating step each comprise the step of performing processing using only said section traveling route corresponding to the user.

33. The recording medium according to

claim 23

, wherein

said storing step comprises the step of determining said section traveling route to be stored in accordance with judgment given from the user.