Car navigation system

• US 20040236507A1
• Filed: 03/03/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Tanizaki, Masaaki, Shimada, Shigeru, Maruyama, Kishiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

A car navigation system by which a user can easily grasp a drop-in target in the course of a route. In a summary road map displayed in a two- or one-window display representation, contents of a two-dimensional road map is properly selected and simplified, roads are made linear, roads connected to an intersection are made orthogonal so that the user can easily see it, the position of a vehicle is expressed by a mark, and even the running route is expressed with a predetermined color or the like. Accordingly, the system offers the user such a display form as able to easily refer to. When the user specifies a target at which the user wants to drop in, the drop-in target is displayed at a corresponding position on the summary road map in the form of a land mark.

Claims

1. A car navigation system for detecting a position of a vehicle and displaying a road map of an area for the detected vehicle position together with a mark indicative of the vehicle position and a route along which the vehicle is to run, said system comprising:

means for displaying a summary road map corresponding to an area requested by a user,

wherein the summary road map is displayed by properly selecting display contents of a two-dimensional map and simplifying a main road including the vehicle running route.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a land mark specified by the user is displayed in said summary road map.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle position is displayed by a mark in said summary road map.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein roads displayed in said summary road map are displayed as made linear and roads which meet at an intersection are displayed as made orthogonal to each other.

3. A car navigation system for detecting a position of a vehicle and displaying a two-dimensional road map of an area for the detected vehicle position together with a mark indicative of the vehicle position and a route along which the vehicle is to run, said system comprising:

means for searching for a route between the detected vehicle position and a specified departure position or the vehicle position and a specified target position and along which the vehicle is to run under set conditions; and

means for displaying a summary road map in which the searched route is expressed by a broken line.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said searching means also searches for another route between said departure position and said target position under conditions other than said set conditions, and said display means displays all the other routes searched for by said searching means by simplified broken lines.

5. The system according to claim 3, further comprising communication means for receiving traffic information, and wherein the traffic information received by the communication means is displayed on said summary road map with respect to the corresponding route displayed thereon.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein a detour passable from said vehicle position is simultaneously displayed.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein, when said communication means receives traffic information relating to said vehicle running route, the system automatically changes a current mode to another mode to display said summary road map including said passable detour.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said summary road map including said passable detour is displayed in two windows together with the road maps so far displayed before the summary road map is displayed.

9. A car navigation system comprising:

means for acquiring a current position of a vehicle;

means for inputting a target position;

means for searching for a route along which the vehicle is to run on the basis of the acquired current vehicle position and the inputted target position;

means for displaying the searched running route; and

means for displaying a summary road map from the current vehicle position on the running route searched for based on the current position to a main intersection,

wherein, when the current vehicle position arrives at a position within a predetermined range, the system displays the summary road map with the current vehicle position expressed as a departure position and the main intersection expressed as a target position.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said predetermined range is broader than a display range of a magnified road map displayed for said main intersection.