NAVIGATION DEVICE AND NAVIGATION METHOD

• US 20160273925A1
• Filed: 03/15/2016
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: TAKAHATA, Seiji, MATSUO, Yuka, Jin, Xin, MAEKAWA, Kazuteru, WATANABE, Kazunori
• Granted Patent: US 10,302,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3819 Road shape data, e.g. outline of a route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3848 Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3878 Hierarchical structures, e.g. layering

Abstract

In a case where a specific position is designated in first road network data, first link group identification data containing a link, on which the specific position is present, is acquired, and a corresponding link group, which is a link group indicated by second link group identification data, corresponding to the first link group identification data, is extracted from second road network data. A corresponding position on a link contained in the corresponding link group, which corresponds to the specific position, is determined, and second information is acquired from second map data based on the corresponding position.

Claims

1. A navigation device that performs guidance by using first map data containing first information, and second map data which is map data for a region in which coordinates of the second map data overlap coordinates of the first map data, and contains second information not contained in the first map data, the device comprising:

a map data storage unit;

a data updating unit;

a corresponding link group extraction unit;

a corresponding position determination unit;

a second information acquisition unit; and

a guiding unit,

wherein the first map data contains first road network data indicating roads based on a connection relationship between multiple links, and first link group identification data identifying a first link group which is a link group formed of multiple continuous links in the first road network data,

wherein the second map data contains second road network data indicating roads based on a connection relationship between multiple links, and second link group identification data identifying a second link group which is a link group formed of multiple continuous links in the second road network data,

wherein a correspondence between the second link group identification data and the first link group identification data is established,

wherein the map data storage unit stores the first map data and the second map data,

wherein the data updating unit is capable of independently updating the first road network data and the second road network data,

wherein, in a case where a specific position is designated in the first road network data, the corresponding link group extraction unit acquires the first link group identification data containing a link on which the specific position is present, and extracts a corresponding link group, which is a link group indicated by the second link group identification data, corresponding to the first link group identification data, from the second road network data,

wherein the corresponding position determination unit determines a corresponding position on a link contained in the corresponding link group, which is a position corresponding to the specific position by making at least one determination of a determination based on attribute information regarding links in the vicinity of the specific position in the first road network data and attribute information regarding links in the vicinity of the specific position in the second road network data, and a determination based on coordinate information regarding the specific position and the attribute information regarding the links in the vicinity of the specific position in the second road network data,

wherein the second information acquisition unit configured to acquire the second information from the second map data based on the corresponding position, and

wherein the guiding unit performs guidance by using the second information acquisition unit.

2. The navigation device according to claim 1,

wherein the attribute information contains information indicating a shape of each link, and

wherein the corresponding position determination unit determines a correspondence between the links in the vicinity of the specific position and the links contained in the corresponding link group by matching the shapes of the links in the vicinity of the specific position in the first road network data with the shapes of the links contained in the corresponding link group, and determines the corresponding position based on the correspondence.

3. The navigation device according to claim 2,

wherein, in a case where shape matching is performed, and no coincident shapes are present, the corresponding position determination unit ends the determination without determining the corresponding position.

4. The navigation device according to claim 1,

wherein the first link group and the second link group corresponding to each other are formed of multiple links which form roads having the same actual road name, and

wherein each of the first link group identification data and the second link group identification data is identification data corresponding to actual road name.

5. The navigation device according to claim 1,

wherein the first map data is two-dimensional map data,

wherein the second map data is three-dimensional map data, and

wherein the second information is information containing at least one of a three-dimensional shape, size, and color of a feature contained in map data.

6. A navigation method by which guidance is performed by using first map data containing first information, and second map data which is map data for a region in which coordinates of the second map data overlap coordinates of the first map data, and contains second information not contained in the first map data, the method comprising:

data updating;

corresponding link group extracting;

corresponding position determining;

second information acquiring; and

guiding,

wherein the first map data and the second map data are stored in a map data storage unit, and the first map data contains first road network data indicating roads based on a connection relationship between multiple links, and first link group identification data identifying a first link group which is a link group formed of multiple continuous links in the first road network data,

wherein the second map data contains second road network data indicating roads based on a connection relationship between multiple links, and second link group identification data identifying a second link group which is a link group formed of multiple continuous links in the second road network data,

wherein a correspondence between the second link group identification data and the first link group identification data is established,

wherein the first road network data and the second road network data can be independently updated by a data updating unit,

wherein, in a case where a specific position is designated in the first road network data, a corresponding link group is extracted in such a way that a corresponding link group extraction unit acquires the first link group identification data containing a link on which the specific position is present, and extracts the corresponding link group, which is a link group indicated by the second link group identification data, corresponding to the first link group identification data, from the second road network data,

wherein a corresponding position is determined in such a way that a corresponding position determination unit determines the corresponding position on a link contained in the corresponding link group, which is a position corresponding to the specific position, by making at least one determination of a determination based on attribute information regarding links in the vicinity of the specific position in the first road network data and attribute information regarding links in the vicinity of the specific position in the second road network data, and a determination based on coordinate information regarding the specific position and the attribute information regarding the links in the vicinity of the specific position in the second road network data, and

wherein the second information is acquired in such a way that a second information acquisition unit acquires the second information from the second map data based on the corresponding position, and

wherein guidance is performed using the second information by a guiding unit.