Navigation device

Abstract

To guide a route that meets a user's preference.SOLUTION: A navigation device includes a positioning section, a storage section, an input section, and a control section. The positioning section detects the current position of a vehicle. The storage section stores road map information. The input section receives input of a destination from a user. The control section sets a scheduled traveling route toward the destination input by the user on the basis of the road map information and preference information of the user, and stores an actual traveling route actually traveled from a point, at which the current position is deviated from the scheduled traveling route to the destination in the storage section when the current position is deviated from the scheduled traveling route. The control section compares the scheduled traveling route from the point, at which the current position is deviated from the scheduled traveling route, to the destination with the actual traveling route according to one or more comparison items, and updates preference information of the user on the basis of a comparison result of the comparison items.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a navigation device. [Background technology]

[0002] A navigation device has been proposed that grasps the user's state from the vehicle's current driving state and past driving data and operation data, proactively obtains guidance information that matches the grasped user's state, and provides it to the user (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, the guidance information is displayed using personified characters or subtitles, and is simultaneously provided by voice. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-193473 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The conventional navigation device described in Patent Document 1 guides the user to a revised route and stopover points, etc., based on the user's condition such as driving duration, driving time zone, etc. However, the suggested route and stopover points, etc. may not necessarily be what the user desires.

[0005] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a navigation device that can guide a user along a route that matches the user's preferences. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A navigation device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a positioning unit that detects a current position of a vehicle, a memory unit that stores road map information, an input unit that receives input of a destination from a user, and a control unit that sets a planned driving route toward the destination input by the user based on the road map information and preference information of the user, and when the current position deviates from the planned driving route, stores in the memory an actual driving route actually traveled from a point where the planned driving route deviates to the destination, compares the planned driving route from the point where the planned driving route deviates to the destination with the actual driving route according to one or more comparison items, and updates the preference information of the user based on the comparison results of the comparison items. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a navigation device that can guide a user along a route that matches the user's preferences. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system including a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a planned driving route and an actual driving route of the navigation device of FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a process executed by a control unit in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the drawings used in the following description are schematic. The dimensions and ratios in the drawings do not necessarily correspond to the actual ones.

[0010] (System Overview) A navigation device 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a device that is installed in a vehicle and displays a map to a user who is a passenger of the vehicle and guides the user along a route to a destination. Vehicles include, but are not limited to, passenger cars, trucks, buses, large and small special purpose vehicles, etc.

[0011] 1, the navigation device 10 may be configured to be able to communicate with various servers 30 outside the vehicle via a communication network 20. However, the presence of the server 30 is not essential. The communication network 20 includes the Internet, a VPN (Virtual Private Network), a mobile communication network, and the like.

[0012] The server 30 can provide traffic information to the navigation device 10. The server 30 includes servers of government agencies in charge of traffic management, road managers, businesses that provide traffic information, and the like. The server 30 can provide road congestion information, congestion information, accident information, and the like. The server 30 can provide traffic volume data for each road. The traffic volume data may include an average number of vehicles traveling on each road per day. The server 30 may also include a server that provides road map information.

[0013] (Configuration of navigation device) The navigation device 10 includes a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, a positioning unit 13, an input unit 14, an output unit 15, and a control unit 16.

[0014] The communication unit 11 can connect to the communication network 20 by wireless communication means and acquire information from the server 30. The wireless communication means includes the fourth generation mobile communication system (4G), the fifth generation mobile communication system (5G), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), and WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). The communication unit 11 may further support Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) and the like. The communication unit 11 may also be configured to be able to receive a traffic information service using broadcast waves such as FM multiplex broadcasting.

[0015] The storage unit 12 includes at least one semiconductor memory, at least one magnetic memory, at least one optical memory, or any combination thereof. The semiconductor memory is, for example, a random access memory (RAM) or a read only memory (ROM). The RAM includes, for example, a static random access memory (SRAM) or a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The ROM includes, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The magnetic memory may include, for example, a hard disk. The optical memory may include, for example, a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), and a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disc (BD). The storage unit 12 functions, for example, as a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 12 stores a program executed by the control unit 16, data used in the operation of the control unit 16, data obtained by the operation of the control unit 16, and the like.

[0016] The storage unit 12 can store road map information. The road map information includes road network information, background map information, facility information, and the like. The road network information expresses the connection and shape of roads using points called nodes and lines called links. The position information of the nodes and links is specified by latitude and longitude. The background map information includes information on the shapes of land, buildings, rivers, and railway lines in the background of the road. The facility information is information on facilities included in the road map. The storage unit 12 may store road map information at all times. The storage unit 12 may temporarily store road map information read, as necessary, from the server 30 that provides the road map via the communication unit 11. The storage unit 12 may also store the route taken by the vehicle on the road map while the vehicle equipped with the navigation device 10 is traveling.

[0017] The storage unit 12 further stores driving preference information for each user of the vehicle equipped with the navigation device 10. The preference information includes information on comparison items that the user prioritizes when selecting a driving route. The preference information is generated based on routes that the user has driven in the past. As an example, the preference information may include priority information for each comparison item, as shown in Table 1. In the example of Table 1, each comparison item is evaluated on a five-point scale with three at the center. The preference information in Table 1 indicates, for example, that the larger the numerical value, the higher the importance of the comparison item. The priority is not limited to five-point scale and may be expressed in any manner. [Table 1]

[0018] The positioning unit 13 detects the position of the vehicle in which the navigation device 10 is mounted. The position detected by the positioning unit 13 can be a position represented by latitude, longitude, etc. The positioning unit 13 can include a receiver compatible with a global positioning system (GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System) that uses artificial satellites. Receivers compatible with the GNSS include a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Using a signal from the GPS receiver, it is possible to obtain information on the latitude and longitude of the current position of the vehicle.

[0019] The input unit 14 accepts input to the navigation device 10. The input unit 14 may include a touch panel formed integrally with the display of the output unit 15 described below, and a microphone that accepts voice input. The touch panel is a device that detects input by touch of the user. The touch panel accepts input in conjunction with the display content of the display. The microphone converts input voice into an electrical signal and outputs it. To convert the electrical signal output by the microphone into text, the navigation device 10 may be configured to perform voice recognition processing in the control unit 16 or the like. The input unit 14 can receive input of a destination from the user.

[0020] The output unit 15 outputs information processed by the navigation device 10 to the user. The output unit 15 includes, for example, a display and a speaker. The display and the speaker may be shared with devices for other purposes in the vehicle. The display is a device that displays an image based on an image signal obtained as a result of processing by the control unit 16. The display may be any of various displays, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence (EL) display, an inorganic electroluminescence (EL) display, and a plasma display panel (PDP). The speaker converts an audio signal into physical vibrations to generate sound in space. The speaker may be an audio speaker installed in the vehicle.

[0021] The control unit 16 includes at least one processor, at least one programmable circuit, at least one dedicated circuit, or any combination thereof. The processor is a general-purpose processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a dedicated processor specialized for a specific process. The programmable circuit is, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The dedicated circuit is, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0022] The control unit 16 controls each part of the navigation device 10 and executes various calculation processes related to the operation of the navigation device 10. The control unit 16 operates each part of the navigation device 10 and makes the navigation device 10 function.

[0023] (Overview of navigation device operation) Next, an overview of the operation of the navigation device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic road map created for the purpose of describing this embodiment. It is assumed that a user travels from a departure point S to a destination G. At the departure point S, the user performs a route search using the navigation device 10. When the navigation device 10 performs a route search, preference information stored in the storage unit 12 is taken into consideration. As a result, it is assumed that a planned driving route R1 from the departure point S through an urban area U to the destination G is set. It is also possible for the navigation device 10 to perform a route search without taking preference information into consideration.

[0024] While the vehicle is traveling, the user may select a route different from the planned traveling route R1 set by the navigation device 10. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the user may deviate from the planned traveling route R1 at branch point D and take a route along the sea, for example. The route that the vehicle actually took is called the actual traveling route R2. The navigation device 10 stores the actual traveling route R2 in the memory unit 12 while the vehicle is traveling.

[0025] After the vehicle passes through the junction C and arrives at the destination G, the navigation device 10 compares the planned driving route R1 from the branch point D onward with the actual driving route R2 according to predetermined comparison items. The predetermined comparison items may be selected from a number of items including, for example, "traveling through toll roads," "shortness of driving distance," "degree of curvature of the route," "driving in urban areas," "number of lanes," "number of passing vehicles," and "scenery."

[0026] The comparison item of "traveling on toll roads" may be evaluated based on whether or not a toll road is used. The comparison item of "shortness of travel distance" may be evaluated based on the length of the route on a road map. The comparison item of "degree of curvature of the route" may be evaluated using the number of right and left turns at intersections on the route and the number of curves with a predetermined angle or more. The comparison item of "driving in urban areas" may be evaluated based on whether or not the route travels in urban areas included in the road map information, or the proportion of urban areas included in the entire route. The comparison item of "number of lanes" may be evaluated based on the proportion of roads with multiple lanes included in the route, etc. The comparison item of "number of vehicles passing through" may be evaluated based on data on the average number of vehicles passing through roads included in the route per day. The data on the number of vehicles may be obtained from an external server 30. The comparison item of "scenery" may be evaluated based on whether or not the route passes through roads, bridges, and elevated roads adjacent to tourist spots, coasts, lakes, etc.

[0027] For example, if the planned driving route R1 includes a toll road and the actual driving route R2 does not include a toll road, the user may tend not to like traveling on toll roads. Therefore, the navigation device 10 stores the information of the comparison result as negative information for "traveling on toll roads." Conversely, if the planned driving route R1 does not include a toll road and the actual driving route R2 includes a toll road, the navigation device 10 stores the information of the comparison result as positive information for "traveling on toll roads."

[0028] Also, if the distance of the actual travel route R2 is longer than the distance of the planned travel route R1, the user may not be very keen on shortening the travel distance. Therefore, the navigation device 10 stores the information of the comparison result as negative information for "short travel distance." Conversely, if the distance of the actual travel route R2 is shorter than the distance of the planned travel route R1, the navigation device 10 stores the information of the comparison result as positive information for "short travel distance."

[0029] Other comparison items can be evaluated in a similar manner. Information on each comparison result may be stored in the storage unit 12 as time-series information. Alternatively, each piece of information may be stored in the storage unit 12 by increasing or decreasing a numerical value that parameterizes the comparison result of each comparison item.

[0030] In the example of Fig. 2, the user avoids the planned driving route R1 that passes through the city U and takes the actual driving route R2 along the sea. Therefore, the comparison result is stored as negative information for "driving in the city" and as positive information for "scenery." The comparison items may include various items other than those mentioned above.

[0031] The navigation device 10 updates the preference information based on the information of past comparison results of comparison items stored in the memory unit 12. The priority in Table 1 may be determined by a predetermined formula or the like based on the total number of positive and negative information for each item. When there are more positive comparison results, the control unit 16 may increase the priority of the evaluation item. When there are more negative comparison results, the control unit 16 may decrease the priority of the evaluation item.

[0032] However, if the output unit 15 of the navigation device 10 indicates that there is a traffic jam on the planned travel route R1, the user may deviate from the planned travel route R1 to avoid the traffic jam. Therefore, when there is a traffic jam on the planned travel route R1, the control unit 16 can be set not to compare the above-mentioned comparison items and not to update the preference information.

[0033] (Processing performed by the control unit) An example of a process flow executed by the control unit 16 of the navigation device 10 will be described below with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows an example of an information processing method executed by the control unit 16. The method disclosed in this specification can be executed by a processor included in the control unit 16 according to a program. Such a program can be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include, but are not limited to, a hard disk, a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, and the like.

[0034] First, the control unit 16 acquires information on the destination G input by the user via the input unit 14 (S01). To allow the user to easily input the destination G, the control unit 16 may provide a function for searching for the destination G from the road map information stored in the storage unit 12. The search for the destination G may use, for example, the address and telephone number of a facility included in the facility information of the road map information.

[0035] The control unit 16 searches for a route from the current position detected by the positioning unit 13 to the destination G acquired in S01, based on the road map information stored in the memory unit 12, and extracts a plurality of routes (S02).

[0036] The control unit 16 ranks the multiple routes based on the preference information (S03). For example, the control unit 16 may rank the multiple routes based on the total score obtained by multiplying the comparison items for each route by a weight corresponding to the priority. The method of ranking based on the preference information is not limited to this, and various methods can be adopted. Note that, depending on the user's settings, the control unit 16 may rank the routes based on criteria such as whether the expected arrival time is early, without using the preference information.

[0037] The control unit 16 determines one route toward the destination G and sets the planned driving route R1 (S04). The control unit 16 may set the route with the highest ranking in S03 as the planned driving route R1. The control unit 16 may also display multiple routes with high rankings in S03 on the display of the output unit 15. In this case, the user selects one route from the multiple routes. The control unit 16 sets the route selected by the user using the input unit 14 as the planned driving route R1.

[0038] When the user starts driving the vehicle equipped with the navigation device 10, the control unit 16 monitors whether the current position measured by the positioning unit 13 is on the planned travel route R1 (S05).

[0039] When the current position is on the planned driving route R1 (S06: Yes), the control unit 16 continues to monitor the driving route (S05) until the vehicle reaches the destination G (S07: No). When the vehicle travels to the end of the planned driving route R1 (S06: Yes) and arrives at the destination G (S07: Yes), the control unit 16 ends the guidance of the driving route.

[0040] When the current position deviates from the planned driving route R1 (S06: No), the control unit 16 checks whether a traffic jam has occurred on the planned driving route R1 (S08). When a traffic jam has occurred on the planned driving route R1 (S08: Yes), the user may have deviated from the planned driving route R1 to avoid the traffic jam. In this case, the actual driving route R2 thereafter is highly likely not to reflect the user's preferences. Therefore, the control unit 16 does not perform any further processing and ends the guidance of the driving route. The control unit 16 may re-search for a driving route and present a new driving route to the user.

[0041] When there is no traffic jam on the planned driving route R1 (S08: No), it is highly likely that the user has deviated from the planned driving route R1 based on his / her own preference. The control unit 16 tracks the movement of the current position information measured by the positioning unit 13 on the road map from the point where the user deviated from the planned driving route R1 to the destination G, and stores it as an actual driving route R2 (S09).

[0042] The control unit 16 continues to store the actual driving route R2 (S09) until the vehicle arrives at the destination G (S10: No). When the control unit 16 determines that the current position coincides with the destination G and the vehicle has arrived at the destination G (S10: Yes), it stops storing the actual driving route R2 and executes a comparison between the planned driving route R1 and the actual driving route R2 (S11). The method of comparison has already been described.

[0043] Based on the comparison result between the planned travel route R1 and the actual travel route R2, the control unit 16 updates the information of the comparison result stored in the storage unit 12. Based on the comparison result, the control unit 16 updates the preference information stored in the storage unit 12 (S12).

[0044] As a result, information on the actual driving route R2 selected by the user according to his / her preference is used for ranking the driving routes from the next time onwards (S02). By storing a large amount of information on the actual routes selected by the user, the navigation device 10 becomes able to guide the user along a driving route that matches his / her preference.

[0045] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and many variations and modifications are possible. For example, the functions included in each means, step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to cause logical inconsistencies, and multiple means or steps can be combined into one or divided. [Explanation of symbols]

[0046] 10 Navigation devices 11 Communications Department 12 Storage section 13 Positioning unit 14 Input section 15 Output section 16 Control section 20. Communication Networks 30 Servers S Departure point G destination D Junction C Confluence point R1 Planned driving route R2 Actual driving route U Urban area

Claims

[Claim 1] A positioning unit that detects a current position of a vehicle; A storage unit for storing road map information; an input unit for receiving a destination input from a user; a control unit that sets a planned driving route toward the destination input by the user based on the road map information and the user's preference information, stores in a storage unit an actual driving route that has actually been traveled from a point where the current position deviates from the planned driving route to the destination when the current position deviates from the planned driving route, compares the planned driving route from the point where the planned driving route deviates from the planned driving route to the destination with the actual driving route in accordance with one or more comparison items, and updates the preference information of the user based on the comparison results of the comparison items; A navigation device comprising:

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