Navigation apparatus

• US 8,825,406 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2010
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumon, Hitoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US13/977,355
• Publication Number:
  US 20130289875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,344 Days
• Field of Search: 701/533
• US Class Current: 701/533
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3632 Guidance using simplified or iconic instructions, e.g. using arrows G01C21/365 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/365 Guidance using head up displays or projectors, e.g. virtual vehicles or arrows projected on the windscreen or on the road itself
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/344 with head-mounted left-right displays

Abstract

A navigation apparatus that performs route guidance to a destination includes a display unit that displays an image so as to be superimposed on a field of view of a driver and a control unit that displays an image of a guidance object for route guidance on the display unit such that the guidance object moves along a route in advance, thereby performing the route guidance. The control unit displays an image of an object different from a vehicle as the guidance object.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus that performs route guidance to a destination, comprising:

a display unit that displays an image so as to be superimposed on a field of view of a driver; and

a control unit that displays an image of a guidance object for the route guidance on the display unit such that the guidance object moves along a route in advance, thereby performing the route guidance,

wherein the control unit stereoscopically displays the guidance object using a parallax image, and

when there is a vehicle in front at an intersection where a right or left turn is guided, the control unit displays the guidance object above the intersection without an overlap between the guidance object and the vehicle in front.

2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit displays an image of an object which moves in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction as the guidance object.

3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit displays an image of a floating object as the guidance object.

4. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit displays an image of an object which moves forward while shaking as the guidance object.

5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines whether the guidance object overlaps an object around a host vehicle and displays the guidance object at a position different from that of the object around the host vehicle so as to deviate from the object, thereby performing the route guidance, when it is determined that the guidance object overlaps the object around the host vehicle.

6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit displays the image of the guidance object on the display unit such that the guidance object is stopped at an intersection where a right or left turn is guided while facing a direction in which it gets out of the intersection and moves in the direction in which it gets out of the intersection, thereby performing the route guidance.

7. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit changes the kind of the guidance object displayed on the display unit in response to an operation of the driver.

8. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein, when the host vehicle approaches the intersection where the right or left turn is guided, the control unit displays the guidance object such that the guidance object reaches the intersection earlier than the driver.

9. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein, when there is a vehicle in front, the control unit displays the guidance object such that the guidance object moves on a rear side of the vehicle in front, as viewed from the driver, without overlapping the vehicle in front.