Navigation apparatus and storage medium

• US 9,429,442 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2014
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kamada, Yasunori, Sako, Yoichiro, Hanaya, Hiroyuki, Hayashi, Kazunori, Kon, Takayasu, Tange, Akira, Nakamura, Takatoshi, Onuma, Tomoya
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US14/225,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20140303885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 888 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/532, 701/533, 701/32, 701/24, 348/42, 702/182, 455/41.2, 455/456.3, 356/364, 715/757, 738/630.1, 370/352, 713/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries

Abstract

There is provided a navigation apparatus including an estimation section which estimates first environmental information in a movement route candidate of an object based on observation information observed in real time in the movement route candidate, an acquisition section which acquires second environmental information of a surrounding of the movement route candidate, and a guidance section which guides a movement direction for the object based on the first environmental information estimated by the estimation section and the second environmental information acquired by the acquisition section.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus comprising:

an estimation section which estimates first environmental information in a movement route candidate of an object based on observation information observed in real time in the movement route candidate;

an acquisition section which acquires second environmental information of a surrounding of the movement route candidate; and

a guidance section which guides a movement direction for the object along the movement route candidate based on the first environmental information estimated by the estimation section and the second environmental information acquired by the acquisition section,

wherein the second environmental information is different from the first environmental information, and the second environmental information comprises information which is registered in advance in correlation with a time and a location,

wherein the time corresponds to a time of day at which the movement direction is guided, and the location corresponds to a location of the surrounding of the movement route candidate, and

wherein the estimation section, the acquisition section, and the guidance section are each implemented via at least one processor.

2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the second environmental information includes sun position information and surrounding geographic information at an estimated arrival time of a point included in the movement route candidate.

3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the guidance section is allowed to change the movement direction to be guided in accordance with a change in an estimated arrival time of a point included in the movement route candidate, or in accordance with a change in the first environmental information estimated by the estimation section.

4. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the guidance section guides the movement direction based on a state of the object.

5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the observation information includes information observed by observation apparatuses installed in and near the movement route candidate.

6. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an observation section which observes the observation information of a surrounding of the object,

wherein the estimation section estimates the first environmental information based additionally on the observation information observed by the observation section, and

wherein the observation section is implemented via at least one processor.

7. The navigation apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the observation information includes the observation information observed by other navigation apparatuses present in and near the movement route candidate.

8. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the guidance section estimates an influence amount per unit time or unit distance received from an external environment in a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate, and guides the movement direction based on the estimated influence amount.

9. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the guidance section guides the movement direction by prioritizing a movement route candidate which minimizes or maximizes an integration amount of the estimated influence amount.

10. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the guidance section guides the movement direction by prioritizing a movement route candidate in which the estimated influence amount exceeds or does not exceed a first threshold.

11. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a measurement section which measures an actual integration amount obtained by integrating the influence amount actually received by the object from the external environment; and

a threshold setting section which sets a second threshold of the actual integration amount,

wherein the guidance section guides warning information which shows that the actual integration amount measured by the measurement section has exceeded or is likely to exceed the second threshold set by the threshold setting section, and

wherein the measurement section and the threshold setting section are each implemented via at least one processor.

12. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the observation information is real time information related to sunlight or an ultraviolet ray,

wherein the first environmental information is information related to sunlight or an ultraviolet ray of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate, and

wherein the influence amount is an irradiation amount of emitted sunlight or an ultraviolet ray of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate.

13. The navigation apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the observation information includes images captured in and near the movement route candidate, and

wherein the estimation section estimates the first environmental information based on a shaded region and a sun exposed region recognized from the images.

14. The navigation apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the observation information includes information which shows heights and leaf amounts of trees present in and near the movement route candidate.

15. The navigation apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the observation information includes information which shows moving objects present in and near the movement route candidate.

16. The navigation apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the observation information includes information which shows reflections from reflective bodies in the movement route candidate.

17. The navigation apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the observation information is real time information related to pollen,

wherein the first environmental information is information related to received pollen of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate, and

wherein the influence amount is an amount of a received prescribed type of pollen of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate.

18. The navigation apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein the second environmental information includes information which shows vegetation releasing pollen present in a surrounding of the movement route candidate.

19. The navigation apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein the observation information includes a wind speed and a wind orientation in the movement route candidate.

20. The navigation apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein the observation information is real time information related to wind,

wherein the first environmental information is information related to a received wind amount of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate,

wherein the influence amount is a received wind amount of a case where the object moves in the movement route candidate, and

wherein the guidance section guides the movement direction by prioritizing a movement route candidate in which the estimated influence amount does not exceed the first threshold.

21. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the first environmental information is weather forecast information in the movement route candidate.

22. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a destination setting section which sets a destination,

wherein the movement route candidate is a candidate of a movement route from a present position of the object to the destination, and

wherein the destination setting section is implemented via at least one processor.

23. The navigation apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein the destination setting section is allowed to change the destination in accordance with a change in an estimated arrival time of a point included in the movement route candidate, or in accordance with a change in the first environmental information estimated by the estimation section.

25. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the second environmental information comprises advance-registered information on shaded regions corresponding to the location of the surrounding of the movement route candidate, in correlation with the time of day at which the movement direction is guided.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a method, the method comprising:

estimating first environmental information in a movement route candidate of an object based on observation information observed in real time in the movement route candidate;

acquiring second environmental information of a surrounding of the movement route candidate; and

guiding a movement direction for the object along the movement route candidate based on the estimated first environmental information and the acquired second environmental information,

wherein the second environmental information is different from the first environmental information, and the second environmental information comprises information which is registered in advance in correlation with a time and a location, and

wherein the time corresponds to a time of day at which the movement direction is guided, and the location corresponds to a location of the surrounding of the movement route candidate.