Navigation device

• US 5,850,618 A
• Filed: 12/28/1995
• Issued: 12/15/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Suetsugu, Masahiro, Kondo, Hiroaki, Morimoto, Kyoumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US08/579,675
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• Field of Search: 364/449.3, 364/449.4, 364/449.5, 364/449.6, 364/460, 364/444.1, 364/444.2, 364/443
• US Class Current: 701/210
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

Goals desired by a user are searched based on the search reference data that serve as reference for searching the goals, the order of priority of the goals is determined from a relationship between the data of goals and the data of a reference position, and the data of the thus determined order of priority are indicated. Even when the car is running, therefore, the user is allowed to easily select within a short time the goals that conform to his desire with reference to the order of priority. Accordingly, the user can devote himself to driving. When the goals are to be indicated, a map scale is so determined that the goals are indicated in a predetermined number or in a number not less than the predetermined number, and the goals are indicated on the map of this scale. Therefore, the scale of the map picture indicating the goals is automatically so adjusted, and can be easily discerned by the user. Therefore, the user is liberated from the need to manually adjust the reduced scale.

Claims

1. A navigation device comprising:

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other;

reference position storage means for storing data of reference positions used during searching of the plurality of goals stored in said goal storage means;

search reference data generating means for generating search reference data that serves as a reference for searching the plurality of goals stored in said goal storage means;

goal data reading means for searching and reading the data descriptive of the plurality of goals or the data related to the plurality of goals from said goal storage means which correspond to the search reference data generated by said search reference data generating means;

reference position data reading means for reading reference position data from said reference position storage means;

priority order determining means for determining an order of priority of the plurality of goals based on a relationship between the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means and the reference position data read by said reference position data reading means; and

display means for displaying a plurality of goals according to the search reference data with information related to the order of priority determined by said priority order determining means.

7. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said priority order determining means further determines the order of priority based upon road data input from at least one external unit via at least one communication medium and upon data related to courses to the plurality of goals such as local data.

8. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said display means displays the order of priority together with marks representative of the plurality of goals which correspond to the search reference data in a map picture, indicates the order of priority in the form of a list on said display means and indicates the order of priority by changing, depending on the order of priority, color of the marks of the plurality of goals indicated on the map picture on said display means.

13. The navigation device according to claim 1, comprising input means including voice input devices, a touch panel mounted on an indication surface of said display means and switches, wherein data related to an operation carried out by a system user is input through said input means and data related to the reference position or the search reference data are input through said input means.

14. The navigation device according to claim 1, further comprising reference position data changing means for changing the data related to a reference position read by said reference position data reading means depending upon predetermined conditions such as a kind of road on which a vehicle is running, running speed and data related to a network of roads.

15. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the search reference data comprises data input from an external unit concerning an upper limit and lower limit, designated range, particular goals that are selected and designated, particular goals that are excluded, kind of the goals and nature of the goals, data input by a system user through manual operation and data that has been stored in advance.

16. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the reference position is a present position or a position remote from the present position.

17. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the reference position is fixed.

18. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the reference position can be corrected or changed.

19. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a relationship between the data of the plurality of goals and the reference position data is a geographical relationship related to distance and direction or is a relationship of contents of the data of the plurality of goals.

20. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the data descriptive of the plurality of goals are related to kinds of facilities, kinds of buildings, kinds of topography, kinds of contents of goals, or positions, altitudes, depths, sizes, attributes, characters or natures of the goals.

21. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the goals are places that had not been regarded to be the goals before departure and are places where a system user wants to visit.

22. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the search reference data includes data for searching the goals on a route to a final goal and from a range excluding the route.

2. A navigation device comprising:

map data storage means for storing map data;

map data reading means for reading the map data from said map data storage means;

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to the each other;

first search reference data storage means for storing a range of designated contents for distinguishing the plurality of goals;

first search reference data reading means for reading the range of the designated contents from said first search reference data storage means;

second search reference data storage means for storing a geographical range including a present position or a designated reference position as second search reference data;

second search reference data reading means for reading the geographical range from said second search reference data storage means;

goal data reading means for searching and reading from said goal storage means the data descriptive of the plurality of goals that conform to the range of the designated contents read by said first search reference data reading means and the geographical range read by said second search reference data reading means;

priority order determining means for determining an order of priority for the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means according to the geographical range or the range of the designated contents;

display means for displaying information;

goal indication means for indicating the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means on the information displayed on said display means;

priority order indication means for indicating, on the information displayed on said display means, information related to the order of priority determined by said priority order determining means in relation to the plurality of goals indicated by said goal indication means;

goal selection means for enabling user selection of a desired goal from the plurality of goals indicated by said goal indication means;

goal storage means for storing data indicative of the desired goal selected via said goal selection means;

route setting means for setting a route to the desired goal represented by the data stored by said goal storage means;

route indication means for indicating the route set by said route setting means on the information displayed on said display means; and

guide means for guiding the route indicated by said route indication means.

3. A navigation device comprising:

map data storage means for storing map data;

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other;

first search reference data generating means for generating first search reference data that serves as a search reference for the data descriptive of the plurality of goals, or for the data related to the plurality of goals, for searching for candidate goals of the plurality of goals stored in said goal storage means;

second search reference data generating means for generating second search reference data that serves as a search reference of a present position or of a designated reference position;

goal data reading means for searching and reading as the candidate goals the data descriptive of the plurality of goals from said goal storage means according to the first and second search reference data generated by said first and second search reference data generating means;

reduced scale determining means for automatically determining a reduced scale of a map picture which indicates a predetermined number of, or not less than a predetermined number of, the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means; and

goal indication means for displaying the map picture at the reduced scale determined by said reduced scale determining means by using map data read from said map data storage means and for indicating on the map picture the data descriptive of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means.

9. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said map data storage means stores a plurality of map data of different reduced scales for a same area and said reduced scale determining means stepwisely changes the reduced scale starting from the reduced scale of a map that had been indicated when an operation for setting the plurality of goals is started by a system user and determines a suitable reduced scale of the map picture.

10. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said map data storage means stores a plurality of map data of different reduced scales for a same area and said reduced scale determining means stepwisely changes the reduced scale starting from a minimum scale and determines a suitable reduced scale of the map picture.

11. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said reduced scale determining means determines the reduced scale of the map picture depending upon a goal which is the remotest from the present position or from the reference position among the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means.

12. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said reduced scale determining means selects a map picture for indicating the plurality of goals of a number not less than 2 or of a predetermined number read by said goal data reading means and further reduces the scale of the map picture when the plurality of goals of a number not less than 2 or of the predetermined number read by said goal data reading means are included in a small area set in the map picture.

4. A navigation device comprising:

map data storage means for storing map data;

map data reading means for reading the map data from said map data storage means;

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other;

first search reference data storage means for storing a range of designated contents for distinguishing the plurality of goals;

first search reference data reading means for reading the range of the designated contents from said first search reference data storage means;

second search reference data storage means for storing a geographical range including a present position or a designated reference position as second search reference data;

second search reference data reading means for reading the geographical range from said second search reference data storage means;

goal data reading means for searching and reading from said goal storage means the data descriptive of the plurality of goals that conform to the range of designated contents read by said first search reference data reading means and the geographical range read by said second search reference data reading means;

relative position calculation means for finding a relative positional relationship for the present position or for the designated reference position in relation to the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

reduced scale determining means for automatically determining a reduced scale of a map picture which indicates a predetermined number of, or not less than a predetermined number of, the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means depending upon the relative positional relationship of the plurality of goals determined by said relative position calculation means;

display means for displaying an image;

goal indication means for indicating on the image displayed on said display means the map picture of the reduced scale determined by said reduced scale determining means by using the map data read by said map data reading means and for indicating on the map picture the data descriptive of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

goal selection means for enabling user selection of a desired goal from the plurality of goals indicated by said goal indication means;

goal storage means for storing data indicative of the desired goal selected via said goal selection means;

route setting means for setting a route to the desired goal represented by the data stored by said goal storage means;

route indication means for indicating the route set by said route setting means on the image displayed on said display means; and

guide means for guiding the route indicated by said route indication means.

5. A navigation device comprising:

map data storage means for storing map data;

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other;

first search reference data generating means for generating first search reference data that serves as a search reference for the data descriptive of the plurality of goals or the data related to the plurality of goals during searching of the plurality of goals stored in said goal storage means;

second search reference data generating means for generating second search reference data that serves as a search reference of a present position of a designated reference position;

goal data reading means for searching and reading the data descriptive of the plurality of goals from said goal storage means according to the first and second search reference data generated by said first and second search reference data generating means;

reduced scale determining means for automatically determining a reduced scale of a map picture which indicates a predetermined number of, or not less than a predetermined number of, the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

goal indication means for displaying the map picture at the reduced scale determined by said reduced scale determining means by using map data read from said map data storage means and for indicating on the map picture the data descriptive of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

priority order determining means for determining an order of priority of the plurality of goals based on a relationship between the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means and the second search reference data generated by said second search reference data generating means; and

display means for displaying a plurality of goals according to the first search reference data with information related to the order of priority determined by said priority order determining means.

6. A navigation device comprising:

map data storage means for storing map data;

map data reading means for reading the map data from said map data storage means;

goal storage means for storing data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other;

first search reference data storage means for storing a range of designated contents for distinguishing the plurality of goals;

first search reference data reading means for reading the range of the designated contents from said first search reference data storage means;

second search reference data storage means for storing a geographical range including a present position or a designated reference position as second search reference data;

second search reference data reading means for reading the geographical range from said second search reference data storage means;

goal data reading means for searching and reading from said goal storage means the data descriptive of the plurality of goals that conform to the range of the designated contents read by said first search reference data reading means and the geographical range read by said second search reference data reading means;

relative position calculation means for finding a relative positional relationship for the present position or for the designated reference position in relation to the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

reduced scale determining means for automatically determining a reduced scale of a map picture which indicates a predetermined number of, or not less than a predetermined number of, the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means depending upon the relative positional relationship of the plurality of goals determined by said relative position calculation means;

priority order determining means for determining an order of priority for the data of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means depending upon correspondence with the geographical range or the range of the designated contents;

display means for displaying an image;

goal indication means for indicating, on the image displayed on said display means, the map picture at the reduced scale determined by said reduced scale determining means by using map data read by said map data reading means and for indicating on the map picture the data descriptive of the plurality of goals read by said goal data reading means;

priority order indication means for indicating, on the image displayed on said display means, information related to the order of priority determined by said priority order determining means in relation to the plurality of goals indicated by said goal indication means;

goal selection means for enabling user selection of a desired goal from the plurality of goals indicated by said goal indication means;

goal storage means for storing data indicative of the desired goal selected via said goal selection means;

route setting means for setting a route to the desired goal represented by the data stored by said goal storage means;

route indication means for indicating the route set by said route setting means on the image displayed on said indication means; and

guide means for guiding the route indicated by said route indication means.

23. A navigation system comprising:

a memory for storing map data and descriptive data of a plurality of navigation goals;

display means for displaying map images;

reference point selection means for enabling user selection of a reference point;

reference data input means for enabling user selection of reference data indicative of a desired category of navigation goals; and

control means for retrieving from said memory navigation goals which correspond to the user selected reference data, prioritizing the retrieved navigation goals to provide priority data and generating the map images in accordance with the stored map data,

the displayed map images being centered at the user selected reference point, the retrieved navigational goals being illustrated on the displayed map images with the corresponding priority data.

24. The navigation system of claim 23, wherein said control means automatically selects a scale of the displayed map images such that at least a predetermined number of the retrieved navigational goals are displayed.

25. A storage media which stores computer programs comprising:

first processing means for generating search reference data that serves as a reference for search during searching of a plurality of goals stored in a goal storage unit which stores data descriptive of the plurality of goals and data related to the plurality of goals in relation to each other;

second processing means for searching and reading the data descriptive of the plurality of goals or the data related to the plurality of goals from said goal storage unit according to the search reference data generated by said first processing means;

third processing means for reading reference position data from a reference position storage unit which stores data of reference positions used during searching of the plurality of goals stored in said goal storage unit;

fourth processing means for determining an order of priority of the plurality of goals based on a relationship between the data of the plurality of goals read by said second processing means and the reference position data read by said third processing means; and

fifth processing means for displaying the plurality of goals according to the search reference data with information related to the order of priority determined by said fourth processing means.

26. A storage media which stores computer programs comprising:

first processing means for reading map data from a map data storage unit which stores map data;

second processing means for reading a range of designated contents from a first search reference data storage unit which stores the range of designated contents for distinguishing a plurality of goals;

third processing means for reading a geographical range from a second search reference data storage unit which stores the geographical range including a present position or a designated reference position as second search reference data;

fourth processing means for searching and reading from a goal storage unit which stores data descriptive of a plurality of goals and data related to a plurality of goals in relation to each other, the data descriptive of the plurality of goals that conform to the range of the designated contents read by said second processing means and the geographical range read by said third processing means;

fifth processing means for determining an order of priority for the data of the plurality of goals read by said fourth processing means according to the geographical range or the range of the designated contents;

sixth processing means for indicating the plurality of goals read by said fourth processing means on a display which displays information;

seventh processing means for indicating, on the information displayed on said display, information related to the order of priority determined by fifth processing means in relation to the plurality of goals indicated by said sixth processing means;

eighth processing means for enabling user selection of a desired goal from the plurality of goals indicated by said sixth processing means;

ninth processing means for setting a route to the desired goal represented by the data stored by said goal storage unit which stores data indicative of the desired goal selected via said eighth processing means;

tenth processing means for indicating the route set by said ninth processing means on the information displayed on said display; and

eleventh processing means for guiding the route indicated by said tenth processing means.

27. A storage media which stores computer programs comprising:

first processing means for generating first search reference data that serves as a search reference for data descriptive of a plurality of goals, or for data related to a plurality of goals, and for searching for candidate goals of the plurality of goals stored in a goal storage unit which stores data descriptive of the plurality of goals and data related to the plurality of goals in relation to each other;

second processing means for generating second search reference data that serves as a search reference of a present position or of a designated reference position;

third processing means for searching and reading as the candidate goals the data descriptive of the plurality of goals from said goal storage unit according to the first and second search reference data generated by said first processing means and said second processing means;

fourth processing means for automatically determining a reduced scale of a map picture which indicates a predetermined number of, or not less than a predetermined number of, the data of the plurality of goals read by said third processing means; and

fifth processing means for displaying the map picture at the reduced scale determined by said fourth processing means by using map data read from a map data storage unit which stores map data and for indicating on the map picture the data descriptive of the plurality of goals read by said third processing means.