VEHICLE INFORMATION PROVIDING DEVICE

• US 20110112746A1
• Filed: 11/09/2010
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuji Heavy Industries Limited (Subaru Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Heavy Industries Limited (Subaru Corp.)
• Inventors: TAKAZAWA, Atsuyoshi, Kaneko, Norimasa
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

An information processing unit displays a pop-up window in a display area of a display unit when the own vehicle is in an area of a set distance or less away from an extracted intersection, when the own vehicle stops, when a brake switch is ON, and when a display request for an image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection by the driver is recognized. If an accelerator operation is performed in a predetermined way after the pop-up window is displayed, the display of the pop-up window is finished.

Claims

1. A vehicle information providing device comprising:

information transmitting and receiving means for communicating between vehicles;

own vehicle position detecting means for detecting a position of an own vehicle;

map data storing means for storing road map data that can be freely displayed on displaying means;

intersection image data storing means for storing image data for representing traffic conditions of vehicles at least at an intersection on the displaying means; and

processing means for extracting an intersection to be entered by the own vehicle from the road map data, and to generate an image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection using the image data in the intersection image data storing means based on the information obtained by the information transmitting and receiving means and display the image on the displaying means at least when the own vehicle is in an area of a preset distance or less away from a position of the intersection based on the position of the intersection and a position of the own vehicle, and when the own vehicle stops.

2. The vehicle information providing device according to claim 1, wherein

the processing means is configured to extract the intersection to be entered by the own vehicle from the road map data, and to generate the image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection using the image data in the intersection image data storing means based on the information obtained by the information transmitting and receiving means and display the image on the displaying means at least when the own vehicle is in the area of the preset distance or less away from the position of the intersection based on the position of the intersection and the position of the own vehicle, when the own vehicle stops, and when a brake switch is ON.

3. The vehicle information providing device according to claim 2, wherein

the processing means is configured to extract the intersection to be entered by the own vehicle from the road map data, and to generate the image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection using the image data in the intersection image data storing means based on the information obtained by the information transmitting and receiving means and display the image on the displaying means at least when the own vehicle is in the area of the preset distance or less away from the position of the intersection based on the position of the intersection and the position of the own vehicle, when the own vehicle stops, when a brake switch is ON, and when a display request for the image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection by a driver is recognized.

4. The vehicle information providing device according to claim 3, wherein

the display request for the image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection by the driver is recognized at least either when a pre-provided switch is turned ON or when a time period for which the driver views the display detected by a line-of-sight viewing direction detector for the driver that is mounted on the vehicle is equal to or more than a set time.

5. The vehicle information providing device according to claim 1, wherein

the processing means is configured to display the image of traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection on the displaying means, and then finish the display of the image of the traffic conditions of the vehicles at the intersection when an accelerator operation is performed in a predetermined way.

6. The vehicle information providing device according to claim 1, wherein

the processing means is configured to perform map matching on the position of the own vehicle detected by the own vehicle position detecting means with the map data stored in the map data storing means to display the position of the own vehicle on the displaying means, and display the image of the traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection by replacing a part or whole of the map data that is displayed when the image of the traffic conditions of vehicles at the intersection is to be displayed.