Travel guiding apparatus for vehicle

• US 5,521,826 A
• Filed: 12/21/1994
• Issued: 05/28/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Yoshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Gary
• Application Number:
  US08/361,013
• Time in Patent Office: 524 Days
• Field of Search: 364/443, 364/444, 364/449, 73/178 R, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3446 Details of route searching algorithms, e.g. Dijkstra, A*, arc-flags, using precalculated routes
• 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

Disclosed is a vehicle travel guiding apparatus for searching a course having the least cost of line segments between a start and a target points preset on a road map indicated on a display screen according to digitized map data, wherein when a plurality of courses are searched one by one by priority of smaller cost of line segments'"'"' for the purpose of selecting an optimal course with due consideration of traffic conditions, the segments'"'"' cost of the last searched course is apparently increased before searching next one so as to eliminate the possibility of selecting the like course again.

Claims

1. A vehicle travel guiding system comprising:

a distance sensor for sensing distance travelled by the vehicle;

a direction sensor for sensing the direction of travel of the vehicle;

a travelling course memory for sequentially storing continuously changing data on the vehicle'"'"'s location;

a map memory for storing digitized road map data;

a display for indicating a road map reproduced on the basis of the road map data and for indicating the current location and direction of the vehicle; and

a processor linked to the distance sensor, direction sensor, travelling course memory, and map memory, and the display, for determining the location of the vehicle, the processor having;

course selecting means for selecting a first course of travel comprising sequentially connected road segments, with each road segment in the first course assigned a cost based on at least one travel parameter; and

cancelling means actuated by a vehicle operator or passenger for cancelling the first course of travel and automatically selecting a second course of travel substantially different from the first course of travel, by uniformly increasing the assigned cost of each road segment in the first course of travel by multiplying the cost of each such road segment by the sum of a weight Y and a weight coefficient X wherein X≧

1.0 and Y≧

0.0 and are selected to have the second course of travel be substantially different from the first course.

2. The vehicle travel guiding system of claim 1, wherein the travel parameter is selected from the group consisting of distance;

road width;

user tax;

traffic conditions;

travelling time; and

a combination thereof.

3. A vehicle travel guiding system for searching a course made up of line segments, between a start point and a target point on a road map indicated on a display screen according to digitized map data including data on the positions of the tip points of line segments and connecting nodes obtained by approximating a figure of actual roadway with the line segments, and with each line segment assigned a cost based on at least one travel parameter, and with the system searching for a course having a minimum cost comprising:

cancelling means manually engaged by the operator for cancelling the searched course having a least cost of line segments;

cost increasing means, responsive to the cancelling means, for automatically increasing the cost of each of the line segments in the searched course; and

secondary searching means for searching a second course having a least line segment costs, from among all of segments of the digitized map data including the segments of the first course having increased costs.

4. A vehicle travel guiding apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the cost of each line segment is directly proportional to distance.

5. A vehicle travel guiding apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the cost of each line segment is directly proportional to travelling time.

6. A vehicle travel guiding apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the cost of each line segment is proportional to a combination of distance and required travelling time.

7. A vehicle travel guiding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the cost of each line segment is proportional to a combination of the distance, the required travelling time and roadway characteristics of the segment.

8. A vehicle travel guiding system comprising:

a) a distance sensor for sensing distance travelled by the vehicle;

b) a direction sensor for sensing the direction of travel of the vehicle;

c) a travelling course memory for sequentially storing continuously changing data on the vehicle'"'"'s location;

d) a map memory for storing digitized road map data;

e) a display for indicating a road map reproduced on the basis of the road map data and for indicating the current location and direction of the vehicle;

f) a processor having;

1) means for identifying line segments from the map data;

2) means for assigning a cost to each line segment identified, based on at least one travel parameter;

3) means for selecting a first route of line segments connecting a starting point and a destination point, having a minimum cost;

4) means for cancelling the first route, operable by an occupant of the vehicle, after reviewing the first route on the display;

5) means for automatically increasing the cost of each line segment in the first route by a preselected amount, responsive to the means for cancelling; and

6) means for selecting a second route of line segments having a minimum cost, responsive to the cancelling means, from among the identified line segments, including the line segments of the first route having increased costs.