Apparatus and method for navigating mobile body using road map displayed in form of bird's eye view
First Claim
1. An apparatus for navigating a mobile body, comprising:
- a) storing means for storing a plurality of road map data, each road map data stored therein being formed on a two-dimensional plane and having a predetermined level of detail;
b) graphical drawing means for graphically drawing at least any one of the road map data stored in said storing means which is related to a present position of the mobile body and a destination which the mobile body is finally to reach on a display image screen in a form of a bird'"'"'s eye view,said graphical drawing means varying the level of detail of the road map data graphically drawn thereby according to a display position for said road map data on the display image screen; and
c) a display unit, having the display image screen, to operatively display the graphically drawn road map data in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on the display image screen so that the graphically drawn road map data is viewed approximately three-dimensionally with an appearance of depth given to a viewer of the display image screen.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In apparatus and method for navigating a mobile body such as an automotive vehicle along a set route of travel, a road map stored in an external large-capacity memory unit such as a CD-ROM on a two-dimensional plane is graphically drawn on a display frame of an image screen with a degree of particulars of the road map data varied according to a displayed position of the image screen with respect to the display frame so that the graphically drawn road map in a form of a bird'"'"'s eye view is viewed three-dimensionally with a feeling of depth given to a viewer. In an embodiment, as the displayed position of the image screen becomes upper with respect to the display frame, the degree of the particulars becomes lower.
86 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An apparatus for navigating a mobile body, comprising:
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a) storing means for storing a plurality of road map data, each road map data stored therein being formed on a two-dimensional plane and having a predetermined level of detail; b) graphical drawing means for graphically drawing at least any one of the road map data stored in said storing means which is related to a present position of the mobile body and a destination which the mobile body is finally to reach on a display image screen in a form of a bird'"'"'s eye view, said graphical drawing means varying the level of detail of the road map data graphically drawn thereby according to a display position for said road map data on the display image screen; and c) a display unit, having the display image screen, to operatively display the graphically drawn road map data in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on the display image screen so that the graphically drawn road map data is viewed approximately three-dimensionally with an appearance of depth given to a viewer of the display image screen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A navigating apparatus comprising:
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a) present position detecting means for detecting a present position of a mobile body and a forwarding direction toward which the mobile body moves at the present position thereof; b) initial display parameter value setting means for previously setting the detected present position and display parameters thereinto as initial values; c) direction of line of sight determining means for determining a direction of line of sight for a perspectively projected image on the basis of at least the detected forward direction; d) view point position determining means for determining a position of a view point on which the direction of line of sight is based as a function of at least the information of the forwarding direction detected by the present position detecting means; e) road map data storing means for storing at least a road map data expressed with a two-dimensional X-Y plane as a reference; f) coordinate transforming means for executing a coordinate transformation of the road map data stored in said road map storing means on the basis of at least the determined direction of line of sight and the determined view point into a bird'"'"'s eye view so as to generate the bird'"'"'s eye view therefrom; g) display means for receiving the display data of the bird'"'"'s eye view and for displaying the bird'"'"'s eye view on its image screen; and h) graphical drawing means for graphically drawing any one of road map data stored in said road map data storing means and having a relatively high level of detail in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on a relatively low positioned region of the image screen through said display means and for graphically drawing another road map data stored in the road map data storing means and which is adjacent to the road map having the relatively high level of detail, said other road map data having a relatively low level of detail being graphically drawn in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on a relatively high positioned region of the image screen through said display unit, so that a whole displayed road map is in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view as an approximately three-dimensional image with an appearance of depth given to a viewer.
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30. A method for navigating a mobile body along a set route of travel, comprising the steps of:
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a) storing a plurality of road map data, each stored road map data being formed on a two-dimensional plane and having a predetermined level of detail; b) graphically drawing at least any one of the stored road map data which is related to a present position of the mobile body and a destination which the mobile body is finally to reach on a display image screen in a form of a bird'"'"'s eye view and varying the drawn level of detail according to a display position of the road map data on the display image screen; and c) displaying the graphically drawn road map data in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on the display image screen so that the graphically drawn road map data is viewed approximately three-dimensionally to give an appearance of depth to a viewer.
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31. An apparatus for navigating a mobile body, comprising:
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a) storing means for storing a plurality of road map data, each road map data stored in said storing means including information having a predetermined degree of particularity of details of the road map data; b) graphical drawing means for graphically drawing at least any one of the road map data stored in said storing means which is related to a present position of the mobile body and a destination which the mobile body is finally to reach on a display image screen in a form of a bird'"'"'s eye view, said graphical drawing means drawing said any one of the road map data with a degree of particularity of details which is determined by a display position thereof on the display image screen; and c) a display unit including said display image screen; d) said display unit operatively displaying the graphically drawn road map data in the form of the bird'"'"'s eye view on said display image screen thereof so that the graphically drawn road map data is viewed approximately three-dimensionally with an appearance of depth given to a viewer of the display image screen.
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Specification