Navigation device, digital map display system, digital map displaying method in navigation device, and program

• US 6,772,063 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2002
• Issued: 08/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Tatsuya, Watanabe, Yoshinori, Ihara, Koji, Sahara, Hitomi, Kuribayashi, Atsushi, Tsukada, Takeshi
• Primary Examiner(s): ARTHUR JEANGLAUDE, GERTRUDE
• Application Number:
  US10/233,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20030050753A1
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/207-208, 701/211-212, 701/209, 701/213, 701/214, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/992
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map

Abstract

A navigation device including a registration unit for registering an index designated by a user'"'"'s operation and data of a spot coordinate in association with each other, and a display for displaying a plurality of registered indexes as a list, the display displaying, together with the list, a digital map of a spot coordinate corresponding to an active index selected from the list of indexes.

Claims

1. A navigation device for displaying a current position and a digital map based on map data made up of electronic information, the device comprising:

registration means for registering an index of spot information designated by an operation of a user, in which each spot information has a map coordinate associated therewith; and

display means for displaying as a list a plurality of indexes registered by the registration means, wherein

the display means displays, together with the list, a digital map using the map coordinate corresponding to an index selected from the plurality of indexes.

2. The navigation device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising extraction means for extracting the digital map of the selected index fed to the display means from stored map data using the map coordinate.

3. The navigation device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display means displays additional information about a vicinity of the spot information together with the digital map.

4. The navigation device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the additional information is information acquired from outside the navigation device via a network.

5. A digital map display system for displaying a digital map based on map data made up of electronic information, the system comprising:

registration means for registering an index of a predetermined spot in the digital map in accordance with an operation of a user; and

display means for displaying a plurality of indexes registered by the registration means in response to a request from the user, wherein

the display means displays an image associated with a predetermined index selected by the user from the plurality of indexes, together with the plurality of indexes displayed by the display means.

6. The digital map display system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the registration means registers data of the spot coordinate of a predetermined spot together with the plurality of indexes, and

the display means displays a digital map extracted from the map data on the basis of the spot coordinate.

7. A digital map displaying method in a navigation device for displaying a current position and a digital map based on map data made up of electronic information, the method comprising:

a step of registering in a database an index of spot information designated by an operation of a user, in which each spot information has a map coordinate associated therewith;

a step of displaying a plurality of indexes as a list;

a step of reading, from the database, data of a map coordinate associated with an index selected from the list;

a step of extracting map data corresponding to the data of the map coordinate read in the step of reading; and

a step of displaying a digital map based on the map data extracted in the step of extracting together with the list.

8. The digital map displaying method in a navigation device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the step of displaying the digital map includes setting a display of the digital map together with the list so that the spot information is substantially at a center of the digital map.

9. A program for use in a navigation device, wherein the program causes the navigation device to execute:

a function to register in a database an index of spot information designated by an operation of a user in which each spot information has a map coordinate associated therewith;

a function to display a plurality of indexes as a list;

a function to read, from the database, data of a map coordinate associated with an index selected from the list;

a function to extract map data corresponding to the data of the map coordinate read by the function to read; and

a function to display a digital map based on map data extracted by the function to extract together with the list.