Satellite navigation controller

• US 20050222768A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Tauchi, Nobutaka, Tanino, Hideki, Mutoh, Katsuhiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/214
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/32 Multimode operation in a single same satellite system, e.g. GPS L1/L2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/33 Multimode operation in different systems which transmit time stamped messages, e.g. GPS/GLONASS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/396 Determining accuracy or reliability of position or pseudorange measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled

Abstract

A navigation device changes a position determination accuracy of a receiver for satellite navigation to a higher accuracy in the following cases: when the subject vehicle approaches a destination, the subject vehicle runs on a road not described in map information, when the subject vehicle approaches an intersection at which the road is branched at a narrow angle within a predetermined distance, when the subject vehicle is running on a narrow street, when the subject vehicle is running on one of adjacent parallel roads, when self-contained sensors are calibrated, and other like occasions. In the other cases, the navigation device changes the position determination accuracy of the receiver to a low accuracy. When the receiver is caused to execute low-accuracy position determination, power supply to receiver'"'"'s operation required only for high-accuracy position determination is prohibited.

Claims

1. A satellite navigation controller that controls a receiver for satellite navigation, wherein the receiver is able to execute position determination with a plurality of accuracies based on signals from satellites for satellite navigation, the satellite navigation controller comprising:

a determining unit that determines, of the pluratlity of accuracies, a given accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination; and

a controlling unit that causes the receiver to execute position determination with the given accuracy and further prohibits decoding signals from the satellites for executing position determination with other accuracies excluding the given accuracy.

2. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the controlling unit further interrupts power supply to parts for executing position determination with the other accuracies excluding the given accuracy and thereby prohibits the receiver from executing position determination with the other accuracies excluding the given accuracy.

3. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein, to calibrate a position of the vehicle computed by a self-contained navigation, the determining unit determines an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

4. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein, based on a fact that the vehicle is in a position close to an intersection at which a road is branched at a narrow angle, the determining unit determines for displaying a positional relation between the road and the vehicle an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

5. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein, based on a fact that the vehicle is running on a narrow street, the determining unit determines for displaying a positional relation between the narrow street and the vehicle an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

6. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein based on a fact that the vehicle is running on any adjacent parallel road of a plurality of adjacent parallel roads, the determining unit determines, for displaying a positional relation between the any adjacent parallel road and the vehicle, an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

7. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein, based on a fact that a key switch for the vehicle is in one of an ACC position and an off position, the determining unit determines an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

8. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein the determining unit determines an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy is based on a selecting operation by an occupant of the vehicle.

9. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used, and

wherein, when the determining unit determines an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy, a maximum extraction range for map matching is narrowed.

10. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1, further comprising:

a display unit that displays a position of a vehicle where the satellite navigtion controller is mounted,

wherein, based on a fact that the display unit does not display the position of the vehicle on a map, the determining unit determines an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not higher than a predetermined accuracy.

11. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1, mounted in a vehicle when used and further comprising:

a display unit that displays a position of the vehicle on a map; and

a detecting unit that detects whether the satellite navigation controller is connected to equipment in the vehicle or not,

wherein, based on a fact that the detecting unit detects that the satellite navigation controller is not connected, the determining unit determines, for causing the display unit to display the position of the vehicle on a map, an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination when the vehicle stops, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not higher than a predetermined accuracy.

12. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation control is mounted in a vehicle when used,

wherein based on a fact that the vehicle approaches a preset destination within a predetermined distance, the determining unit for computing a positional relation between the destination and the vehicle, an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

13. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used,

wherein, based on a fact that the vehicle is running on a certain road that is not described in map information, the determining unit determines for generating position information of the certain road an accuracy with which the receiver should be caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than a predetermined accuracy.

14. The satellite navigation controller of claim 1,

wherein the satellite navigation controller is mounted in a vehicle when used,

wherein based on a fact that the vehicle is running on a given road described on a map based on position determination with an accuracy that is not higher than a predetermined accuracy, the determining unit determines for generating position information of the given road an accuracy with which the receivr is caused to execute position determination, wherein the determined accuracy of the plurality of accuracies is not lower than the predetermined accuracy.