Facility retrieval device

• US 8,423,566 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Asai, Masafumi
• Primary Examiner(s): MORRISON, JAY A
• Application Number:
  US13/120,924
• Publication Number:
  US 20110179079A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3611 using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs character input methods in general G06F3/0233
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods

Abstract

A facility retrieval device includes: an input device 4 for inputting instructions; a map information storage device 5 that stores map information and facility information including facility names and facility types; a facility name extraction unit 11 that extracts a facility name in response to an instruction from the input device; a facility retrieval unit 12 that uses the facility name extracted by the extraction unit as a retrieval key to retrieve facilities having names that include the retrieval key from the facility information stored in the storage device; a list generation unit 13 that generates a list listing names of a plurality of facilities having identical names and identical types to the facility extracted by the extraction unit, from among the facilities retrieved by the retrieval unit, on respective single lines as shared facility names; and a display device 8 that displays the list generated by the generation unit.

Claims

1. A facility retrieval device comprising:

an input device that inputs an instruction;

a map information storage device that stores map information and facility information including a facility name and a business type of a facility;

a facility name extraction unit that extracts a facility name in response to an instruction from the input device;

a facility retrieval unit that uses the facility name extracted by the facility name extraction unit as a retrieval key and retrieves facilities from the facility information stored in the map information storage device based on the retrieval key;

a first list generation unit that generates a first list in which facilities having different facility names are listed, by listing together a plurality of facilities which have an identical facility name and an identical business type, on a single line in which a shared facility name and a picture showing the identical business type of the plurality of facilities are arranged, and also listing another facility which does not have the identical facility name and the identical business type, on a single line in which a facility name and a picture showing a business type of the facility are arranged, from among the facilities retrieved by the facility retrieval unit;

a display device that, when displays the first list, displays the picture showing the identical business type, the shared facility name and a scroll function, on a screen in order from left to right;

a position calculation unit that calculates a reference position of a retrieval operation; and

a second list generation unit that, if the shared facility name is selected from the first list displayed on the display device in response to an instruction input from the input device, generates a second list in which the plurality of facilities which have the identical facility name shown by the selected shared facility name and the identical business type are listed in ascending order of distance from the reference position calculated by the position calculation unit,

wherein the display device displays the second list.

2. The facility retrieval device according to claim 1, further comprising a distance/direction calculation unit that calculates distance and direction of retrieved facilities from the reference position calculated by the position detection unit on the basis of the map information stored in the map information storage device,

wherein the second list generation unit generates a list listing facility names of the retrieved facilities together with the distance and the direction calculated by the distance/direction calculation unit.

3. The facility retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein the second list generation unit generates a list of facilities which are retrieved within a predetermined limited range.

4. A facility retrieval method comprising:

inputting, by utilizing an input device, an instruction;

storing map information and facility information including a facility name and a business type of a facility onto a map information storage device;

extracting, by utilizing a facility name extraction unit, a facility name in response to an instruction from the input device;

a facility retrieval step that uses the facility name extracted by the facility name extraction unit as a retrieval key and retrieves facilities from the facility information stored in the map information storage device based on the retrieval key;

a first list generation step that generates a first list in which facilities having different facility names are listed, by listing together a plurality of facilities which have an identical facility name and an identical business type, on a single line in which a shared facility name and a picture showing the identical business type of the plurality of facilities are arranged, and also listing another facility which does not have the identical facility name and the identical business type, on a single line in which a facility name and a picture showing a business type of the facility are arranged, from among the facilities retrieved by the facility retrieval step;

displaying on a display device, when displaying the first list, the picture showing the identical business type, the shared facility name and a scroll function, on a screen in order from left to right;

calculating a reference position of a retrieval operation;

a second list generation step that, if the shared facility name is selected from the first list displayed on the display device in response to an instruction input from the input device, generates a second list in which the plurality of facilities which have the identical facility name shown by the selected shared facility name and the identical business type are listed in ascending order of distance from the calculated reference position; and

displaying the second list on the display device.

5. The facility retrieval method according to claim 4, further comprising calculating distance and direction of retrieved facilities from the calculated reference position on the basis of the map information stored in the map information storage device,

wherein the second list generation step generates a list listing facility names of the retrieved facilities together with the calculated distance and the direction.

6. The facility retrieval method according to claim 4, wherein the second list generation step generates a list of facilities which are retrieved within a predetermined limited range.