Map display apparatus, map display method and navigation system

• US 20060178827A1
• Filed: 02/07/2006
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clarion Co., Ltd. (Faurecia SA)
• Original Assignee: Xanavi Informatics Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Aoyama, Noriaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,844,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker

Abstract

A map display apparatus that displays a map includes: a display device; a touch panel disposed over a screen at the display device; and a control device that controls display at the display device with a signal input from the touch panel, and: the control device displays at the display device a map and a plurality of buttons used to adjust a scaling factor of the map, makes a decision as to whether or not the touch panel has been pressed at a position corresponding to one of the plurality of buttons, makes a decision as to whether or not a finger having pressed the touch panel has been moved to a specific position and displays, together with the map, a wide-area map at a scaling factor smaller than the scaling factor of the map if the finger having pressed the touch panel is judged to have been moved to the specific position.

Claims

1. A map display apparatus that displays a map, comprising:

a display device;

a touch panel disposed over a screen at the display device; and

a control device that controls display at the display device with a signal input from the touch panel, wherein;

the control device displays at the display device a map and a plurality of buttons used to adjust a scaling factor of the map, makes a decision as to whether or not the touch panel has been pressed at a position corresponding to one of the plurality of buttons, makes a decision as to whether or not a finger having pressed the touch panel has been moved to a specific position and displays, together with the map, a wide-area map at a scaling factor smaller than the scaling factor of the map if the finger having pressed the touch panel is judged to have been moved to the specific position.

2. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the specific position is a position corresponding to a display position of the map; and

upon deciding that the finger having pressed the touch panel has been moved to the position corresponding to the display position of the map, the control device displays the wide-area map over a part of an area where the map is displayed.

3. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control device displays the plurality of buttons on either side of an area where the map is displayed; and

upon deciding that the finger having pressed the touch panel has been moved to a position corresponding to a display area where the map is displayed and then has been lifted, the control device displays the wide-area map over a part of the map on display.

4. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control device displays the wide-area map at a scaling factor designated to one of the buttons initially pressed by the finger.

5. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control device sustains the scaling factor for the map unchanged after the wide-area map is displayed.

6. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control device brings up the wide-area map as a semitransparent display.

7. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

upon deciding that one of the buttons has been pressed over a predetermined length of time or longer or that one of the buttons has been pressed twice or more in succession, the control device displays the map by adjusting the scaling factor for the map to the scaling factor designated to the pressed button.

8. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the control device displays the plurality of buttons over two rows running along one side of an area where the map is displayed; and

upon deciding that a position at the touch panel corresponding to a button disposed in an outer row has been pressed, the control device invalidates a signal generated in response to pressing a position at the touch panel corresponding to, at least, a button disposed in an inner row.

9. A map display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

upon deciding that a position at the touch panel corresponding to a given point in the wide-area map has been pressed, the control device switches the displayed map to a map of an area around the point on the wide-area map having been pressed without altering the scaling factor.

10. A navigation system comprising:

a map display apparatus according to claim 1.

11. A map display method for displaying a map at a display device that includes a touch panel disposed over a screen thereof, comprising:

displaying a map and a plurality of buttons used to adjust a scaling factor of the map;

making a decision as to whether or not a position on the touch panel corresponding to one of the plurality of buttons has been pressed and a finger having pressed the position on the touch panel has been moved to a specific position; and

displaying a wide-area map at a scaling factor smaller than a scaling factor of the map upon deciding that the finger having pressed the position on the touch panel has been moved to the specific position.