Navigation system and storage medium

• US 6,694,255 B1
• Filed: 05/23/2000
• Issued: 02/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), DENSO Corporation, Fujitsu Ten Limited (DENSO Corporation), Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujimoto, Hidetoshi, Tooyama, Yasuhiro, Suzuki, Hidenobu, Ichimura, Atsushi, Ogawa, Isao, Kainuma, Mamoru, Kimura, Masahiro, Sugimoto, Hironobu, Takeuchi, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US09/576,216
• Time in Patent Office: 1,365 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995, 731/78.R
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance

Abstract

Branch-point image data has coordinates added thereto according to the distance from a branch point such as an intersection. When the vehicle is within a predetermined distance from a branch point on a suggested route, the coordinates of the present position of the vehicle and the coordinates added to the branch-point image data are compared to locate the present position on the image data, and a present-position mark is displayed superimposed on the branch-point image data. The displayed present-position mark moves according to the distance between the vehicle and the branch point.

Claims

1. A navigation system comprising:

present-position detecting means for detecting a present position of a vehicle;

input means for entering a destination and information;

information storage means for storing data, said data including branch-point image data having coordinates added thereto according to a distance from a branch point, and road data, said data also including node data;

display means for displaying route guidance information;

route search means for searching for a route to the destination on a basis of the information entered by said input means and the data stored in said information storage means;

control means reading said branch-point image data when the vehicle is within a predetermined distance from a branch point on a route found by said route search means and outputting said branch-point image data to said display means to display a present-position mark superimposed on said branch-point image data on a basis of coordinates of the present position detected by said present-position detecting means and the coordinates added to said branch-point image data; and

said control means reading said node data and outputting said node data to said display means so that a map prepared according to the node data is displayed.

2. A navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the present-position mark is displayed so as to move according to a distance from the vehicle to the branch point.

3. A navigation system according to claim 1, wherein said image data has a flag indicating whether or not said image data has coordinates added thereto according to a distance from a branch point such as an intersection.

4. A navigation system according to claim 1, wherein said image data includes data concerning a size thereof when it is expanded, and has a coordinate offset from a specific coordinate point to a display reference point.

5. A storage medium having a program comprising the steps of:

detecting a present position;

storing data necessary for route guidance, said data including branch-point image data having coordinates added thereto according to a distance from a branch point and said data including node data;

searching for a route and displaying route guidance information;

comparing coordinates of the detected present position with the coordinates added to said branch-point image data when the present position is within a predetermined distance from a branch point on a route found by said searching step, and displaying a present-position mark superimposed on said branch point-image data; and

reading said node data and displaying a map prepared according to the node data.

6. A storage medium comprising:

branch-point image data having coordinates added thereto according to a distance from a branch point; and

wherein said image data includes data concerning a size thereof when it is expanded, and has a coordinate offset from a specific coordinate point to a display reference point.