Navigation system and lane information display method

• US 8,467,962 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Auto Tech Group LLC
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Irie, Takashi, Komatsu, Naomiki, Akashi, Yoshiki, Nishibashi, Kumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US12/528,329
• Publication Number:
  US 20100017117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,024 Days
• Field of Search: 701532-533, 701/400, 701/431, 701/437, 701/409, 701/428, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.19, 340/995.2
• US Class Current: 701/431
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B

Abstract

A navigation system includes a lane information acquiring unit 27 for acquiring both the number of lanes of a road which forms an intersection, and lane information which defines a road branching off from each of the lanes, a lane direction determining unit 28 for determining the direction of each of the lanes on the basis of both the lane information acquired by the lane information acquiring unit, and a road attribute of an incoming road coming into the intersection and a road attribute of an outgoing road extending from the intersection, the road attributes of the incoming and outgoing roads being included in map data acquired by a map data acquiring unit, and a lane information display unit 29 for displaying the direction of each of the lanes determined by the lane direction determining unit with an arrow.

Claims

1. A navigation system comprising:

a display device that displays a lane guidance map representing direction of lanes of a road; and

a processing device that controls the display device to display the lane guidance map, the processing device including;

a map data acquiring unit configured to acquire map data;

a lane direction determining unit configured to

select one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a road type of an incoming road coming into an intersection defined by the map data acquired by the map data acquiring unit and a number of outgoing roads extending from the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using both road types and the number of the outgoing roads, and

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

a lane information display unit configured to display the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination of the lane direction determining unit.

2. A navigation system comprising:

a display device that displays a lane guidance map representing direction of lanes of a road; and

a processing device that controls the display device to display the lane guidance map, the processing device including;

a map data acquiring unit configured to acquire map data;

a lane direction determining unit configured to

select one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the map data acquired by the map data acquiring unit and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using road classes of the incoming road and the outgoing roads, and

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

a lane information display unit configured to display the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination of the lane direction determining unit.

3. A navigation system comprising:

a display device that displays a lane guidance map representing direction of lanes of a road; and

a processing device that controls the display device to display the lane guidance map, the processing device including;

a map data acquiring unit configured to acquire map data;

a lane direction determining unit configured to

select one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the map data acquired by the map data acquiring unit and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using road names or numerical identifier of the incoming road and the outgoing roads, and

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

a lane information display unit configured to display the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination of the lane direction determining unit.

4. A navigation system comprising:

a display device that displays a lane guidance map representing direction of lanes of a road; and

a processing device that controls the display device to display the lane guidance map, the processing device including;

a map data acquiring unit configured to acquire map data;

a lane direction determining unit configured to

select one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the map data acquired by the map data acquiring unit and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using the number of the outgoing roads, and

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

a lane information display unit configured to display the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination of the lane direction determining unit.

5. A navigation system comprising:

a display device that displays a lane guidance map representing direction of lanes of a road; and

a processing device that controls the display device to display the lane guidance map, the processing device including;

a map data acquiring unit configured to acquire map data;

a lane direction determining unit configured to

select one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the map data acquired by the map data acquiring unit and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using connection relations among the outgoing roads, and

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

a lane information display unit configured to display the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination of the lane direction determining unit.

6. A lane information display method of displaying arrows on a lane guidance map by a display device of a navigation system, the arrows representing direction of lanes in outgoing roads which extend from an intersection, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring map data;

selecting one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a road type of an incoming road coming into an intersection defined by the acquired map data and a number of outgoing roads extending from the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using both road types and the number of the outgoing roads;

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

displaying the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination.

7. A lane information display method of displaying arrows on a lane guidance map by a display device of a navigation system, the arrows representing direction of lanes in outgoing roads which extend from an intersection, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring map data;

selecting one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the acquired map data and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using road classes of the incoming road and the outgoing roads;

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

displaying the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination.

8. A lane information display method of displaying arrows on a lane guidance map by a display device of a navigation system, the arrows representing direction of lanes in outgoing roads which extend from an intersection, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring map data;

selecting one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the acquired map data and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using road names or numerical identifier of the incoming road and the outgoing roads;

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

displaying the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination.

9. A lane information display method of displaying arrows on a lane guidance map by a display device of a navigation system, the arrows representing direction of lanes in outgoing roads which extend from an intersection, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring map data;

selecting one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the acquired map data and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using the number of the outgoing roads;

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

displaying the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination.

10. A lane information display method of displaying arrows on a lane guidance map by a display device of a navigation system, the arrows representing direction of lanes in outgoing roads which extend from an intersection, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring map data;

selecting one of determination processes to determine direction of arrows to be displayed on the lane guidance map, wherein the selection is made in accordance with a number of outgoing roads extending from an intersection defined by the acquired map data and connection angle between the outgoing roads and an incoming road coming into the intersection, wherein the direction of the arrows represent direction of lanes in the outgoing roads, and wherein the determination processes include a determination process using connection angles between the incoming road and the outgoing roads and another determination process using connection relations among the outgoing roads;

determine the direction of the arrow to be displayed in the lane guidance map in accordance with the selected determination process; and

displaying the arrows representing the direction of the lanes of the outgoing roads on the lane guidance map in accordance with a result of the determination.