Travelable area display device

• US 9,097,546 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2012
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kanno, Hideyuki, Ota, Satomi, Satou, Kouji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): MAZZARA, ANNE MARIE
• Application Number:
  US14/241,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20140379253A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 701/439
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635

Abstract

A travelable area display device according to the present invention is configured to compute a travelable distance from an optional spot, specify a feature spot which a driver can recognize on die basis of accumulated movement history information of a vehicle, and simultaneously display on a map in an in-vehicle screen a travelable area which is specified by the travelable distance, and the specified feature spot.

Claims

1. A travelable area display device comprising:

an accumulating database configured to accumulate movement history information of a vehicle;

a computing portion configured to

compute a travelable distance from a current spot, and

specify a feature spot recognizable to a user based on the accumulated movement history information; and

a display portion configured to

simultaneously display, on a map in an in-vehicle screen, a line map sectionalizing an inner side and an outer side of a travelable area which is specified by the computing portion, and the feature spot which is specified by the computing portion, and

display the feature spot regardless of the inner side and the outer side of the line map.

2. The travelable area display device according to claim 1,

wherein the display portion is configured to display the feature spot within a predetermined distance from an area end portion of the travelable area.

4. The travelable area display device according to claim 1,

wherein the accumulating database is configured to store information relating to at least one of a spot registered in a navigation system, a spot set by the user as a target spot for a predetermined number of times from a given position, a spot visited at least a predetermined number of times from a given position without being set as a target spot, a spot captured in the accumulated movement history information within a predetermined number of days beforehand, a spot to which the vehicle has traveled with a residual battery amount equivalent to a current battery residual amount, and a spot visited with a predetermined electric power.

5. The travelable area display device according to claim 1, wherein the computing portion is configured to compute the travelable distance based on traffic information and slope information.

3. A travelable area display method comprising:

computing a travelable distance from a current spot;

accumulating movement history information of a vehicle;

specifying a feature spot recognizable to a user based on the accumulated movement history information; and

simultaneously displaying, on a map in an in-vehicle screen, a line map sectionalizing an inner side and an outer side of a travelable area which is specified by the computed travelable distance, and the specified feature spot,

wherein the feature spot is displayed regardless of the inner side and the outer side of the line map.