Navigation apparatus, vehicle lending system, and vehicle lending method

• US 7,822,548 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakashima, Hiroshi, Ogawa, Yoji, Hisada, Ikunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): JEN, MINGJEN
• Application Number:
  US11/752,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20070276585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• Field of Search: 701/209, 701/211, 340/995.23, 340/995.24
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

A navigation apparatus of the invention includes a display portion that displays a guidance screen and a removably installed recording medium, the navigation apparatus being provided in a vehicle and guiding the vehicle along a guidance path. When candidate site data created in an external apparatus has been stored on the storage medium, a screen for selectively setting the end point of the guidance path based on the candidate site data is displayed in the display portion, and when setting the end point, a guidance path that arrives at the end point is calculated. The candidate site data includes information related to one or a plurality of locations that have been designated in advance by a user of the navigation apparatus, and the end point is selected from the one or plurality of locations.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus comprising a display portion that displays a guidance screen, a removably installed recording medium, and a CPU judging whether or not candidate site data created by an external apparatus is stored on the recording medium when the recording medium is installed, the navigation apparatus being provided in a vehicle and guiding the vehicle along a guidance path;

wherein

when the candidate site data is stored on the recording medium, a selection screen for selectively setting an end point of the guidance path is displayed in the display portion based on the candidate site data,

when the end point is set, a guidance path that arrives at the end point is calculated,

the candidate site data includes information related to one or a plurality of locations that are designated in advance before the recording medium is installed, and the end point is selected from the one or a plurality of locations via the selection screen, and,

when the candidate site data is not stored on the recording medium, an operating screen in which the end point is searched for or set by entering characters is displayed in the display portion.

2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the candidate site data further includes information related to one or a plurality of related locations that satisfy a predetermined positional relationship with the one or a plurality of locations, and

the end point is selected from the one or a plurality of locations and the one or a plurality of related locations.

3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the candidate site data includes information related to a classification for each of the one or a plurality of related locations, and in the display portion, the one or a plurality of related locations are shown differentiated according to those classifications.

4. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the candidate site data has been deleted from the storage medium, the operating screen is displayed.

5. A vehicle lending system including a user terminal used by a user that desires lending of a vehicle, a server apparatus that receives an application for lending of the vehicle sent from the user terminal, a store terminal disposed in a store that will lend the vehicle, and a navigation apparatus installed in the vehicle, the user terminal and the server apparatus being communicably connected to each other, the server apparatus and the store terminal being communicably connected to each other, and a recording medium being removably installed in the store terminal and the navigation apparatus;

wherein

the user terminal transmits to the server apparatus, in addition to the application for lending of the vehicle, one or a plurality of items input to the user terminal and related to one or a plurality of locations,

the server apparatus creates candidate site data that the navigation apparatus refers to in order to identify the one or a plurality of locations based on the one or a plurality of items, and transmits the candidate site data to the store terminal, and

the navigation apparatus, when the recording medium is in a state where storing the candidate site data has been installed, displays a screen for selectively setting an end point of a guidance path from the one or a plurality of locations.

6. The vehicle lending system according to claim 5, wherein

the server apparatus selects one or a plurality of related locations that satisfy a predetermined relationship with the one or a plurality of locations, and creates candidate site data including the one or a plurality of related locations in addition to the one or a plurality of locations, and

in the navigation apparatus, the end point is selected from the one or a plurality of locations and the one or a plurality of related locations.

7. A vehicle lending method of lending a vehicle in which a navigation apparatus has been installed to a user, the method comprising:

a step of receiving an application for lending of the vehicle sent from a terminal, the application received in a server apparatus communicably connected to the terminal;

a step of, when the server apparatus has received, in addition to the application, one or a plurality of items input to the user terminal and related to one or a plurality of locations, creating candidate site data that the navigation apparatus refers to in order to identify the one or a plurality of locations based on the one or a plurality of items, the candidate site data being created in the server apparatus;

a step of transmitting the candidate site data created in the server apparatus to a terminal disposed in a store where the vehicle will be lent and communicably connected to the server apparatus;

a step of storing the candidate site data received by the store terminal in the navigation apparatus; and

a step of allowing the user using the navigation apparatus to selectively set an end point of a guidance path from the one or a plurality of locations based on the candidate site data.

8. The vehicle lending method according to claim 7, wherein

the method includes a step of selecting one or a plurality of related locations that satisfy a predetermined positional relationship with the one or a plurality of locations, and creating the candidate site data so as to include the one or a plurality of related locations in addition to the one or a plurality of locations, the candidate site data being created in the server apparatus, and

in the navigation apparatus, it is possible to selectively set the end point from the one or a plurality of related locations in addition to the one or a plurality of locations.

9. A combination of a navigation apparatus and an external apparatus, the navigation apparatus being provided in a vehicle and guiding the vehicle along a guidance path, and the external apparatus creating candidate site data to be used in the navigation apparatus;

wherein

the navigation apparatus comprises a display portion that displays a guidance screen, a removably installed recording medium, and a CPU judging whether or not the candidate site data is stored on the recording medium when the recording medium is installed,

when the candidate site data is stored on the recording medium, a selection screen for selectively setting an end point of the guidance path is displayed in the display portion based on the candidate site data,

when the end point is set, the navigation apparatus calculates a guidance path that arrives at the end point,

the candidate site data includes information related to one or a plurality of locations that are designated in advance before the recording medium is installed, and the end point is selected from the one or a plurality of locations via the selection screen,

when the candidate site data is not stored on the recording medium, an operating screen in which the end point is searched for or set by entering characters is displayed in the display portion, and

the external apparatus comprises a database related to locations and creates the candidate site data by searching for content stored in the database.

10. The combination according to claim 9, wherein the external apparatus is capable of transmitting the candidate site data to a terminal that is communicably connected to the external apparatus, the recording medium being removably installed in the terminal.