NAVIGATION APPARATUS AND GUIDE ROUTE SEARCH METHOD

• US 20110029230A1
• Filed: 03/23/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kimura, Tsuyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09

Abstract

A traffic jam guide image showing traffic jam conditions of a plurality of road sections ahead of a current location of a vehicle is displayed together with a map image during a guidance of a guide route from the current location to a destination. Based on a user operation performed on a touch screen, an object road section in which a search condition is to be changed and the search condition in the object road section are set. A second guide route from the current location to the destination is searched for based on the search condition set for the object road section such that the user has only to perform a simple operation through a touch screen to automatically change the search condition and set the road section to which the changed search condition is applied.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus comprising:

a traffic jam information obtaining unit configured to obtain traffic jam information;

a display control unit configured to perform a control to display a traffic jam guide image showing traffic jam conditions of a plurality of road sections ahead of a current location of a vehicle in an order of closeness to the current location together with a map image based on the traffic jam information obtained by the traffic jam information obtaining unit during a guidance of a guide route from the current location to a destination;

an operation reception unit configured to receive an operation performed on a touch screen by a user when the map image and the traffic jam guide image are displayed by the display control unit;

a search condition setting unit configured to, based on the operation received by the operation reception unit, determine a road section for which a search condition is to be changed, to set the determined road section as an object road section, and to set the search condition in the object road section; and

a guide route search unit configured to change the search condition in the object road section according to the search condition set by the search condition setting unit and then search for a second guide route from the current location to the destination.

2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on an expressway included in the guide route, and

in a case where two of the interchanges are specified by the operation received by the operation reception unit among the plurality of interchanges, the search condition setting unit determines the road section between the two specified interchanges to be the object road section and sets the search condition in the determined object road section to prefer open roads.

3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on an expressway included in the guide route, and

in a case where one of the interchanges is specified by the operation received by the operation reception unit among the plurality of interchanges, the search condition setting unit determines the road section from the specified interchange to the destination to be the object road section and sets the search condition in the determined object road section to prefer open roads.

4. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on an expressway not included in the guide route, and

in a case where one of the interchanges is specified by the operation received by the operation reception unit among the plurality of interchanges, the search condition setting unit determines the road section from the specified interchange to the destination to be the object road section and sets the search condition in the determined object road section to prefer expressways.

5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on an expressway not included in the guide route, and

in a case where two of the interchanges are specified by the operation received by the operation reception unit among the plurality of interchanges, the search condition setting unit determines the road section between the two specified interchanges to be the object road section and sets the search condition in the determined object road section to prefer expressways.

6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the operation reception unit receives a direction input operation performed on the touch screen by the user, and

the display control unit performs a control to display the plurality of road sections to be displayed on the traffic jam guide image by scrolling a screen in a direction specified by the direction input operation received by the operation reception unit.

7. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit performs a control to display a road section located in a jammed section to be shorter than a road section located outside the jammed section among the plurality of road sections to be displayed on the traffic jam guide image based on the traffic jam information obtained by the traffic jam information obtaining unit.

8. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the traffic jam guide image is an indicator image indicative of the traffic jam conditions of the plurality of road sections including jammed sections and non-jammed sections present between the current location and the destination in a form of a bar graph.

9. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the operation reception unit receives a tracing operation performed on the touch screen by the user, and

the search condition setting unit determines the object road section based on the tracing operation received by the operation reception unit and sets the search condition in the determined object road section.

10. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an expressway selection operation receiving unit configured to receive an operation to select any one of a plurality of expressways when the current location is not located on an expressway,

wherein the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on the expressway selected by the operation received by the expressway selection operation receiving unit.

11. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an expressway search unit configured to search for a closest expressway from among expressways present within a predetermined distance from the current location based on a map data in response to a request from the user in a case where the current location is not located on the expressway,

wherein the plurality of road sections displayed on the traffic jam guide image are the road sections among a plurality of interchanges on the expressway searched by the expressway search unit.

12. A guide route search method comprising:

obtaining traffic jam information;

performing a control to display a traffic jam guide image showing traffic jam conditions of a plurality of road sections ahead of a current location of a vehicle in an order of closeness to the current location together with a map image based on the traffic jam information obtained during a guidance of a guide route from the current location to a destination;

receiving an operation performed on a touch screen by a user when the map image and the traffic jam guide image are displayed;

determining a road section for which a search condition is to be changed, setting the determined road section as an object road section, and setting the search condition in the object road section based on the operation received on the touch screen; and

changing the search condition in the object road section according to the search condition set as the object road section and searching for a second guide route from the current location to the destination.