Vehicle navigation system and recording medium

• US 6,269,303 B1
• Filed: 08/07/1998
• Issued: 07/31/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Tomioka, Norihiro, Watanabe, Kazuyuki, Fukaya, Takaharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIPALA, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US09/131,333
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/200, 701/201, 701/202, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211, 340/988, 340/995
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries

Abstract

The invention provides a system which can select a less crowded road as a road section of a guidance route. The vehicle navigation system executes a route search from a departing point or the present position of the vehicle to the destination and provides guidance for the guidance route, taking into account whether a road is in a city area or a suburban area. The vehicle navigation system includes an information memory for storing map information for each road section, a route search routine for searching for a route from the present position to the destination based on map information stored in the information memory, and a decision routine for determining whether a road to be searched is in a city area or in a suburban area, and wherein the route search searches for a route by weighting the roads which are determined to be in the city area in order to give a lower preference thereto.

Claims

1. A vehicle navigation system comprising:

an information memory containing stored road data for each section of roads sectioned by nodes, said road data including information indicating whether or not individual road sections are within a city area;

route search means for searching to determine a guidance route from a point of departure or the present position of a vehicle to a destination based on the road data stored in said information memory means,

said route search means, in searching for said guidance route, giving weight to the road sections not in the city area, on the basis of said information, in order to give greater preference to the road sections not in the city area as compared to road sections in the city area.

2. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 1, wherein said information is road attribute data which identifies individual road segments as either being in the city area or not.

3. A vehicle navigation system comprising:

an information memory containing stored road data for each section of roads sectioned by nodes, and information identifying individual road sections as belonging or not belonging to a limited area; and

route search means for searching to determine a guidance route from a point of departure or the present position of a vehicle to a destination based on the road data stored in said information memory means, said route search means, in searching for said guidance route, on the basis of said information, assigning search costs to the road sections within the limited area and conducting said searching with weighing of the assigned search costs.

4. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 3, wherein said information is map coordinate information.

5. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 3, wherein said limited area is a city area or a suburban area.

6. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 4, wherein said limited area is a city area or a suburban area.

7. A memory medium for a vehicle navigation system comprising encoded thereon:

road data for each section of roads sectioned by nodes, said road data including information indicating whether or not individual road sections are within a city area; and

a program for searching to determine a guidance route from a point of departure or the present position of a vehicle to a destination based on the road data stored in said information memory means,

said route search means, in searching for said guidance route, giving weight to the road sections not in the city area, on the basis of said information, in order to give greater preference to the road sections not in the city area as compared to road sections in the city area.

8. A memory medium for a vehicle navigation system comprising, encoded thereon:

road data for each section of roads sectioned by nodes, said information identifying individual road sections as belonging or not belonging to a limited area; and

a program for searching to determine a guidance route from a point of departure or the present position of a vehicle to a destination based on the road data stored in said information memory means, said route search means, in searching for said guidance route, on the basis of said information, assigning search costs to the road sections within the limited area and conducting said searching with weighing of the assigned search costs.