Map information system capable of displaying layout information

• US 5,448,696 A
• Filed: 12/27/1993
• Issued: 09/05/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Korea Electric Power Corporation (Government of South Korea), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Korea Electric Power Corporation (Government of South Korea), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kawamura, Fumio, Suzuki, Kazuyuki, Takei, Shirou, Chikada, Nobuyuki, Shimada, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smith, Michael
• Application Number:
  US08/173,469
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 395/129, 395/147, 395/155-161, 395/121, 395/120, 395/119, 340/990, 340/995
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models

Abstract

A method for displaying information and system includes the steps of displacing map data on the screen of a display unit, displaying layout data representing one or more segments of a certain floor in each of the one or more structure elements of the map data displayed on a first designated portion, on a second designated portion of the screen in response to a layout display instruction, and displaying attribute data corresponding to each of the one or more segments of the floor.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a layout of divisions of floors of a building in a map information system, comprising the steps of:

providing map data including two-dimensional map data with respect to one or more buildings, and two-dimensional map data with respect to at least two floors for at least one of said buildings, division data representing divisions of each floor of each building and attribute data representing three-dimensional characteristics for each building;

displaying a map in a first window of a display unit in response to a map display instruction based on said map data;

designating a particular building and a floor to generate a first layout display instruction; and

displaying a layout of divisions of the designated building at the designated floor and attributes associated therewith in a second window of the screen, in response to the first layout display instruction based on the division data and the attribute data.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said providing map data step includes the steps of:

providing a division entity object and an attribute entity object for division data and attribute data in correspondence to each division and each attribute, respectively, the division entity object including division data for the division and a procedure for representing a division based on the division data, and the attribute entity object including attribute data for an attribute and a procedure for drawing the attribute based on the attribute data; and

providing lower relation objects each of which relates a division entity object to a corresponding attribute entity object and an upper relation object which relates lower relation objects for each floor of the particular building; and

wherein said steps of displaying a layout includes the steps of;

issuing the first layout display instruction to the upper relation object;

issuing messages from the upper relation object to the lower relation objects; and

executing the procedures of the division entity object and the attribute entity object for each division.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said providing map data step further includes the step of providing a building entity object for each building and a map relation object related to the building entity objects, each building entity object including map data for the building and a procedure for drawing the building based on the map data;

and

wherein said step of displaying a map includes the steps of;

issuing a map display instruction to a map relation object; and

executing procedures of the building entity objects in accordance with a message from the map relation object.

4. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

designating another floor of the designated building to generate a second layout display instruction; and

displaying another layout of divisions of the designated building at the designated other floor and attributes associated therewith in a third window in response to the second layout display instruction based on the division data and the attribute data.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second window is overlapped in the same area as that in which the particular building is displayed;

and

wherein said designating step further includes the step of detecting from the map data the area in which to set the second window; and

wherein said step of displaying a layout includes the step of overlapping displaying the layout of the divisions and the attributes on the display of the particular building.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein sizes of said divisions of the displayed layout data are equal to each other.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein the attribute data includes size data representing a size of each division;

and

wherein said step of displaying a layout includes the step of displaying a layout of divisions based on size data.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a map includes the steps of:

converting the two-dimensional map into a three-dimensional map from an oblique view point in response to the map display instruction based on the map data and height data for each building, the attribute data including the height data; and

displaying the converted three-dimensional map in the first window; and

wherein said step of displaying a layout includes the steps of converting, in response to the first layout display instruction, the layout of divisions in accordance with the oblique view point; and

displaying the converted layout in the second window which is provided at an adjacent area to the particular building with the same height as the designated floor.

9. A map information system for displaying a layout of divisions of floors of a building on a map, comprising:

a map data base for storing map data including a map with respect to figures of one or more buildings and maps with respect to at least two floors for at least one of said buildings.;

a layout data base for storing layout data representing a layout of divisions of said at least one of said buildings at each floor;

display means for displaying data inputted thereto; and

display control means for retrieving map data from the map data base to output the map data to said display means for display of a map in a first window on said display means, in response to a map display instruction, and retrieving from said layout data base layout data for a particular floor of a particular building in response to a layout display instruction to output the retrieved layout data to said display means for display of the layout of divisions in a second window, the layout display instruction including at least information of a particular floor of a particular building.

10. A map information system according to claim 9, wherein said layout data base stores layout data as division entity objects each of which includes division data representing a division of a floor of a building and a procedure for outputting the division data to said display means in response to draw message, said map information system further comprising:

an object base for storing layout relational objects each of which relates division entity objects for a floor of a building and generates a draw message in response to the layout display instruction, and wherein said display control means includes means for issuing the layout display instruction to a layout relational object associated with a particular floor of a particular building and transferring the draw message to a relational object.

11. A map information system according to claim 9, wherein said display control means includes means for overlapping the second window on an area in said first window.

12. A map information system according to claim 11, wherein said display control means includes means for outputting the layout data to said display means such that sizes of the displayed divisions are equal to each other.

13. A map information system according to claim 11, wherein said display control means further comprises:

means for retrieving from said layout data base layout data for another particular floor of the particular building in response to a layout display updating instruction to output the same layout data to said display means for display of the same layout data in a third window, the layout display updating instruction including at least information of the other particular floor of the particular building.

14. A map information system according to claim 13, wherein the layout data includes data representing sizes of division and said display control means includes means for outputting layout data to said display means such that a layout of divisions is displayed in the second window with the sizes based on size data.

15. A map information system according to claim 9, wherein said layout data base stores layout data as division entity objects each of which includes division data representing a division of a floor of a building and a procedure for outputting division data to said display means in response to a draw message;

said map information system further comprising;

an attribute data base for storing attribute entity objects each of which includes attribute data representing an attribute for each division of each floor of each building; and

an object base for storing layout relational objects each of which relates division entity objects and attribute entity objects for a floor of a building and generates a draw message in response to a layout display instruction, and wherein said display control means includes means for issuing a layout display instruction to a layout relational object associated with a particular floor of a particular building and transferring the draw message to division entity objects and attribute entity objects associated with the layout relational object.

16. A method of displaying a layout of divisions of floors of a building in a map information system, comprising the steps of:

providing map data including two-dimensional map data with respect to one or more buildings, and two-dimensional map data with respect to at least two floors for at least one of said buildings, division data representing divisions of each floor of each building and attribute data representing three-dimensional characteristics for each building;

displaying a map in a first window of a display unit in response to a map display instruction based on said map data;

designating a particular building and a floor to generate a first layout display instruction; and

displaying a layout of divisions of the designated building at the designated floor and attributes associated therewith in a second window of the screen, in response to the first layout display instruction based on the division data and the attribute data wherein the second window overlaps the same area as that in which the particular building is displayed such that a layout includes an overlapping display of the divisions and the attributes on the display of the particular building.

17. A map information system for displaying a layout of divisions of a floor of a building on a map, comprising:

a map data base for storing map data including a map with respect to figures of one or more buildings and maps with respect to at least two floors for at least one of said buildings;

a layout data base for storing layout data representing a layout of divisions of said at least one of said buildings at each floor;

display means for displaying data inputted thereto; and

display control means for retrieving map data from the map data base to output the map data to said display means for display of a map in a first window on said display means, in response to a map display instruction, and retrieving from said layout data base layout data for a particular floor of a particular building in response to a layout display instruction to output the retrieved layout data to said display means for display of the layout of divisions in a second window, the layout display instruction including at least information of a particular floor of a particular building wherein said display control means includes means for overlapping the second window on an area in said first window.