On-vehicle navigation system having route searching function

• US 6,448,908 B1
• Filed: 07/06/1998
• Issued: 09/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Incorporated (Pioneer Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Incorporated (Pioneer Corporation)
• Inventors: Hijikata, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): SWARTHOUT, BRENT
• Application Number:
  US09/110,397
• Time in Patent Office: 1,527 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/990, 340/995, 701/201, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211
• US Class Current: 340/995.19
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard

Abstract

An on-vehicle navigation system having a route searching function for automatically selecting a guiding route to a destination in consideration of run experiences of the user. Run experience data indicative of the run experience is formed every road unit which the vehicle has run and is stored, a plurality of traveling routes which a vehicle can run between a start point and the destination are searched for and weights of the road units in the traveling route and the corresponding run experience data is obtained from memory for each of the plurality of traveling routes in the route searching operation, the weight of each road unit in the traveling route is corrected by the corresponding run experience data for each of the plurality of traveling routes, a sum value of the corrected weights corresponding to the road units in the traveling route is calculated for each of the plurality of traveling routes, and a traveling route of which sum value is the minimum is selected from the plurality of traveling routes. The route including the roads which the user has run previously is preferentially selected as a guiding route, so that a route search which makes the most of the run experience of the user is performed.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle, comprising:

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said mobile vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means; and

a route searching means for searching for a preferred travel route by using said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detecting means, said data of road units stored in said storage means, and said running experience data previously stored in said running road storing means.

2. The navigation apparatus of claim 1, wherein said running experience data is retained by said running road storing means even after said mobile vehicle travels past said road unit.

3. A navigation apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said route searching means searches for said preferred travel route by giving priority to shortness of a total running distance of each travel route.

4. A navigation apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said route searching means searches for said preferred travel route by giving priority to fewness of a total number of left and right turns of each travel route.

5. A navigation apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said route searching means searches for said preferred travel route by giving priority to broadness of widths of road units constituting each travel route.

6. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle comprising:

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said mobile vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means; and

a route searching means for searching for a preferred travel route by using said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detecting means, said data of road units stored in said storage means, and said running experience data previously stored in said running road storing means,

wherein said running road storing means stores the number of times of running on each road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said running road experience data, and wherein said route searching means searches for said preferred travel route by using said number of times of running on each road unit.

7. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle, comprising:

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said motor vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means and a number of times of running of said mobile vehicle on said road unit; and

a route searching means for searching for a preferred travel route by using said data of road units stored in said storage means, and said running experience data previously stored in said running road storing means, wherein said route searching means searches for the preferred travel route by giving priority to road units having higher numbers of times of running.

8. The navigation apparatus of claim 7, wherein said running experience data is retained by said running road storing means even after said mobile vehicle travels past said road unit.

9. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle, comprising;

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said mobile vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means and a running speed of said mobile vehicle on said road unit; and

a route searching means for searching for a travel route by using said data of road units stored in said storage means, and said running experience data previously stored in said running road storing means.

10. The navigation apparatus of claim 9, wherein said running experience data is retained by said running road storing means even after said mobile vehicle travels past said road unit.

11. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle, comprising:

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said mobile vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means and a running time of said mobile vehicle on said road unit; and

a route searching means for searching for a travel route by using said data of road units stored in said storage means, and said running experience data previously stored in said running road storing means.

12. The navigation apparatus of claim 11, wherein said running experience data is retained by said running road storing means even after said mobile vehicle travels past said road unit.

13. A navigation apparatus for guiding a travel route of a mobile vehicle, comprising:

storage means for storing data of road units;

position detection means for detecting a present position of said mobile vehicle;

road unit determining means for determining a road unit on which said mobile vehicle is running based on said present position of said mobile vehicle detected by said position detection means;

running road storing means operable to store running experience data for said road unit determined by said road unit determining means as said mobile vehicle travels on said road unit determined by said road unit determining means and a number of times of running, a running time, and a running speed of said mobile vehicle on said road unit;

selecting means for selecting at least one of said number of times of running, said running time, and said running speed from said running experience data; and

a route searching means for searching for a travel route by using said data of road units stored in said storage means, and running experience data selected by said selecting means.

14. The navigation apparatus of claim 13, wherein said running experience data is retained by said running road storing means even after said mobile vehicle travels past said road unit.