MAP UPDATE DATA SUPPLY DEVICE AND MAP UPDATE DATA SUPPLY PROGRAM

• US 20130006925A1
• Filed: 03/07/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sawai, Kimiyoshi, Watanabe, Kazunori, Atarashi, Yasutaka, Watanabe, Takayuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,990,012 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3815 Road data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3859 Differential updating map data
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/387 Organisation of map data, e.g. version management or database structures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3878 Hierarchical structures, e.g. layering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A map update data supply device includes: a request update data extraction unit that based on an update request extracts a request update section, and a latest version of an overwrite update data file for overwrite updating; and a safeguard update data extraction unit that extracts a safeguard update section that safeguards a network between adjacent sections, and up to an update safeguard version of a difference update data file, wherein the extracted data files are supplied to a navigation device.

Claims

1. A map update data supply device that supplies data for updating a map database to a navigation device that has the map database, with the map database including at least road network information and divided into a plurality of sections, the map update data supply device comprising:

an update map database that manages per section versions of an update data file of the map database, and stores per section an overwrite update data file that is an update data file for overwrite updating to a latest version, has the same format as the map database has, and includes all data constituting a map within a section as the map database includes, and a difference update data file that is an update data file for difference updating to a particular version;

a request update data extraction unit that, based on an update request from the navigation device, extracts a request update section that is a section subjected to an overwrite update, and extracts for each request update section the overwrite update data file as a first supply data file that is a data file to be supplied to the navigation device;

a safeguard update data extraction unit that, if all the request update sections are updated by the overwrite update data file, extracts a safeguard update section that is a section requiring a difference update to safeguard a road network connection between adjacent sections, and extracts for each safeguard update section the difference update data file up to an update safeguard version, which is a version requiring a difference update to safeguard the road network connection, as a second supply data file that is a data file to be supplied to the navigation device; and

a data supply unit that supplies to the navigation device the first supply data file for each request update section extracted by the request update data extraction unit, and the second supply data file for each safeguard update section extracted by the safeguard update data extraction unit.

2. The map update data supply device according to claim 1, wherein

the request update data extraction unit extracts up to the latest version of the difference update data file for each request update section,

an update time determination unit is further provided that compares the overwrite update data file and up to the latest version of the difference update data file for each request update section to determine which carries a shorter update time, and the request update data extraction unit, if the update time determination unit determines that the update time carried by up to the latest version of the difference update data file is shorter than the update time carried by the overwrite update data file, extracts for the request update section up to the latest version of the difference update data file in place of the overwrite update data file as the first supply data file.

3. The map update data supply device according to claim 1, wherein

the data supply unit comprises at least two selectable data supply methods whose communication costs differ depending on a volume of data, and

the request update data extraction unit, if the data supply method with the higher communication cost is selected, extracts up to the latest version of the difference update data file in place of the overwrite update data file as the first supply data file.

4. The map update data supply device according to claim 2, further comprising:

an integrated data generation unit that integrates per request update section up to the latest version of all the difference update data files for each request update section extracted by the request update data extraction unit, and generates a request update integrated data file that serves as a data file for one difference update, wherein

the update time determination unit performs processing such that an update time carried by the request update integrated data file is used for comparison in place of up to the latest version of the difference update data file, and

the request update data extraction unit performs processing such that the request update integrated data file is extracted in place of up to the latest version of the difference update data file as the first supply data file.

5. The map update data supply device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an integrated data generation unit that integrates up to the update safeguard version of all the difference update data files for each safeguard update section extracted by the safeguard update data extraction unit, and generates a safeguard update integrated data file that serves as a data file for one difference update, wherein

the safeguard update data extraction unit extracts the safeguard update integrated data file in place of up to the update safeguard version of all the difference update data files as the second supply data file.

6. The map update data supply device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a version table that stores, as a safeguard version and associated with a section group that is a combination of a section and a section adjacent thereto in the update map database, a version of the difference update data file for a section when safeguarding of a road network connection between the sections that constitute the section group is required, wherein

the safeguard update data extraction unit extracts the safeguard update section based on the version table, the request update section and the latest version of the request update section, and acquires information on the update safeguard version for each safeguard update section to extract up to the update safeguard version of the difference update data file.

7. A map update data supply program that supplies data for updating a map database to a navigation device that has the map database, with the map database including at least road network information and divided into a plurality of sections, the map update data supply program characterized by executing in a computer the steps of:

using an update map database that manages per section versions of an update data file of the map database, and stores per section an overwrite update data file that is an update data file for overwrite updating to a latest version, has the same format as the map database has, and includes all data constituting a map within a section as the map database includes, and a difference update data file that is an update data file for difference updating to a particular version;

extracting, based on an update request from the navigation device, a request update section that is a section subjected to an overwrite update, and extracting for each request update section the overwrite update data file as a first supply data file that is a data file to be supplied to the navigation device;

extracting, if all the request update sections are updated by the overwrite update data file, a safeguard update section that is a section requiring a difference update to safeguard a road network connection between adjacent sections, and extracting for each safeguard update section the difference update data file up to an update safeguard version, which is a version requiring a difference update to safeguard the road network connection, as a second supply data file that is a data file to be supplied to the navigation device; and

supplying to the navigation device the first supply data file for each request update section, and the second supply data file for each safeguard update section.