Navigation apparatus

• US 20050004747A1
• Filed: 11/25/2002
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Tottori Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Tottori Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Abe, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,512,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport

Abstract

A navigation apparatus includes notification means for notifying an advance direction at a branching point in a route guiding, storage means for storing a plurality of moving methods and notification methods corresponding to the respective moving methods, input means for selecting one of the plurality of moving methods stored in the storage means, and control means for causing the notification means to perform notification by the notification method corresponding to the moving method selected by the input means. Thus, it is possible to easily set a route guiding such as a distance to the branching point where guiding is started for each of the moving methods and a sound volume.

Claims

1. (Canceled)

2. (Canceled)

3. (Canceled)

4. (Canceled)

5. (Canceled)

6. (Canceled)

7. (Canceled)

8. A navigation apparatus comprising:

notifying means for notifying, by one of a plurality of notifying methods, of a direction in which to travel at a branch point as guidance along a travel route;

storing means for storing, as corresponding respectively to the plurality of notifying methods, a plurality of modes of traveling in which the navigation apparatus can travel;

inputting means for selecting one from the plurality of modes of traveling stored by the storing means; and

controlling means for controlling the notifying means to notify by the notifying method corresponding to the selected mode of traveling.

9. A navigation apparatus as claimed in claim 8,

wherein the inputting means selects from, as the plurality of modes of traveling, at least two of the following modes of traveling:

traveling by car, by motor bicycle, by bicycle, and on foot.

10. A navigation apparatus as claimed in claim 8,

wherein the plurality of notifying methods differ from one another in a distance to the branch point at which notification is started.

11. A navigation apparatus comprising:

outputting means for outputting music and sounds;

storing means for storing a plurality of modes of traveling and a plurality of sound volume levels corresponding respectively thereto;

inputting means for selecting one from the plurality of modes of traveling stored by the storing means; and

sound volume controlling means for controlling the outputting means to operate with the sound volume level corresponding to the mode of traveling selected by the inputting means.

12. A navigation apparatus comprising:

map information storing means for storing map information; and

controlling means for performing map matching to find a current position in roads stored by the map information storing means, the navigation apparatus further comprising;

storing means for storing a plurality of modes of traveling in which the navigation apparatus can travel and, for each of those modes of traveling, whether or not to perform map matching,

wherein the controlling means performs map matching when a mode of traveling selected by inputting means for selecting from the plurality of modes of traveling is traveling by car or by motor bicycle, and does not perform map matching when the mode of traveling selected by the inputting means is traveling by bicycle or on foot.