Display control unit, display control method and program

Abstract

To appropriately prevent a misunderstanding such as a possibility of arriving close to a periphery of a cruisable range even if an expressway is used.SOLUTION: A display control unit includes: a current position acquisition part configured to acquire a current position of a mobile body; a map information acquisition part configured to acquire map information including multiple types of roads; and a display control part configured to display, on a display part, a cruisable range being a reachable range for the mobile body from the current position, according to a residual energy amount possessed by the mobile body, together with the map information. The display control part prevents at least part of a road of a predetermined road type existing within the cruisable range from being displayed on the display part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of displaying a sustainable range.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a technique of estimating a sustainable distance based on the remaining capacity of a battery of an electric vehicle and displaying a sustainable range (reachable range) on a map is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Disclosure of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] By the way, in an electric vehicle, when driving on a highway, the power consumption tends to significantly decrease. Therefore, there is a possibility that a place that can be reached when using ordinary roads may not be reached when using a highway. Usually, the sustainable range includes such places that can be reached when using ordinary roads but cannot be reached when using a highway. For example, places near the outer periphery in the sustainable range are likely to be reachable when using ordinary roads but not when using a highway. However, the conventional display of the sustainable distance may sometimes cause misunderstandings such as that it is possible to reach places near the outer periphery in the sustainable range even when using a highway.

[0005] As an example of the problems to be solved by the present invention, the above is mentioned. The main object of the present invention is to provide a display control device or the like that can appropriately suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as that it is possible to reach places near the outer periphery in the sustainable range even when using a highway.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The invention according to claim 1 is a display control device, comprising: a display control unit configured to display, on a display unit together with map information, a range within reach from the current position of the mobile body, which is a range within which the mobile body can continue to travel, based on the remaining amount of energy held by the mobile body; and a notification control unit configured to cause a notification unit to notify a user that there is a possibility that the mobile body cannot reach a location within the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel even when the mobile body travels on a road of a predetermined road type, when the display control unit displays the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel on the display unit together with the map information.

[0007] The invention according to claim 4 is a display control method executed by a display control device, comprising: a display control step of displaying, on a display unit together with map information, a range within reach from the current position of the mobile body, which is a range within which the mobile body can continue to travel, based on the remaining amount of energy held by the mobile body; and a notification control step of causing a notification unit to notify a user that there is a possibility that the mobile body cannot reach a location within the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel even when the mobile body travels on a road of a predetermined road type, when the display control step displays the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel on the display unit together with the map information.

[0008] The invention according to claim 5 is a program executed by a display control device including a computer, the program causing the computer to function as: a display control unit configured to display, on a display unit together with map information, a range within reach from the current position of the mobile body, which is a range within which the mobile body can continue to travel, based on the remaining amount of energy held by the mobile body; and a notification control unit configured to cause a notification unit to notify a user that there is a possibility that the mobile body cannot reach a location within the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel even when the mobile body travels on a road of a predetermined road type, when the display control unit displays the range within which the mobile body can continue to travel on the display unit together with the map information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

[0010] In one aspect of the present invention, the display control device includes a current - position acquisition unit that acquires the current position of the moving body, a map - information acquisition unit that acquires map information including a plurality of types of roads, and a display control unit that causes the display unit to display, together with the map information, a range of travel that is the range reachable from the current position of the moving body based on the remaining amount of energy possessed by the moving body. The display control unit does not cause at least a part of the roads of a predetermined road type existing within the range of travel to be displayed on the display unit.

[0011] In the above - described display control device, the current - position acquisition unit acquires the current position of the moving body (for example, an electric vehicle), and the map - information acquisition unit acquires map information including a plurality of types of roads (roads of a predetermined road type and roads other than the predetermined road type). Then, the display control unit obtains the range of travel based on the remaining amount of energy possessed by the moving body, and causes the display unit to display the range of travel together with the map information. In this case, the display control unit makes at least a part of the roads of a predetermined road type existing within the range of travel non - display. For example, the roads of the predetermined road type are expressways or motorways. According to the above - described display control device, it is possible to appropriately suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as that any type of road can be used to reach a location within the range of travel. For example, it is possible to appropriately suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as that it is possible to reach a location near the outer periphery of the range of travel even by using an expressway.

[0012] In the above-described display control device, preferably, the map information includes a first layer in which information on roads of the predetermined road type is stored and a second layer in which information on roads other than the predetermined road type is stored. When the display control unit displays the navigable range, at least a part of the information stored in the first layer is not displayed.

[0013] Also preferably, the above-described display control device further includes a notification control unit that causes the notification unit to notify the user that there is a possibility that a location within the navigable range cannot be reached even when the moving body travels on a road of the predetermined road type. Thereby, it is possible to more effectively suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as the misunderstanding that it is possible to reach near the outer periphery of the navigable range even when using an expressway.

[0014] In another aspect of the present invention, the server device includes a current position acquisition unit that acquires the current position of the moving body, a map information acquisition unit that acquires map information including a plurality of types of roads, and a calculation unit that calculates a navigable range, which is a range reachable by the moving body from the current position, based on the remaining energy amount of the moving body, an image generation unit that generates image information obtained by removing at least a part of the road information of a predetermined road type existing within the navigable range from an image in which the navigable range is displayed on the map information, and a transmission unit that transmits the image information generated by the image generation unit to the terminal device.

[0015] In another aspect of the present invention, a display control method executed by a display control device includes a current position acquisition step of acquiring the current position of the moving body, a map information acquisition step of acquiring map information including a plurality of types of roads, and a display control step of displaying, on a display unit together with the map information, a navigable range, which is a range reachable by the moving body from the current position, based on the remaining energy amount of the moving body. In the display control step, at least a part of the roads of a predetermined road type existing within the navigable range is not displayed on the display unit.

[0016] In another aspect of the present invention, a program executed by a display control device including a computer includes a current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of a moving body, a map information acquisition means for acquiring map information including a plurality of types of roads, and a display control means for causing the display unit to display, together with the map information, a navigable range that is a range reachable by the moving body from the current position based on the remaining amount of energy possessed by the moving body, and causing the computer to function as the display control means, the display control means not displaying at least a part of a road of a predetermined road type existing within the navigable range on the display unit.

Embodiment

[0017] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0018] <Device Configuration> FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a navigation device 1 according to this embodiment. The navigation device 1 can be, for example, a stationary navigation device installed in a vehicle, a PND (Portable Navigation Device), or a mobile phone such as a smartphone. In a preferred example, the navigation device 1 is mounted on an electric vehicle (EV vehicle). Hereinafter, the case where the navigation device 1 is applied to an electric vehicle will be taken as an example. Note that an electric vehicle may sometimes be simply referred to as a "vehicle".

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation device 1 mainly includes an autonomous positioning device 10, a GPS receiver 18, a system controller 20, a disk drive 31, a data storage unit 36, a communication interface 37, a communication device 38, a display unit 40, an audio output unit 50, and an input device 60.

[0020] The self-positioning device 10 includes an acceleration sensor 11, an angular velocity sensor 12, and a distance sensor 13. The acceleration sensor 11 is composed of, for example, a piezoelectric element, detects the acceleration of the vehicle, and outputs acceleration data. The angular velocity sensor 12 is composed of, for example, a vibrating gyro, detects the angular velocity of the vehicle when the vehicle changes direction, and outputs angular velocity data and relative azimuth data. The distance sensor 13 measures a vehicle speed pulse composed of a pulse signal generated as the wheels of the vehicle rotate.

[0021] The GPS receiver 18 receives a radio wave 19 that conveys downlink data including positioning data from a plurality of GPS satellites. The positioning data is used to detect the absolute position (current position) of the vehicle from latitude and longitude information, etc. Note that the current position used for various controls and processes is not limited to using the value obtained from the GPS receiver 18, and a value obtained based on the value obtained from the GPS receiver 18 and / or the value obtained from the self-positioning device 10 may also be used.

[0022] The system controller 20 includes an interface 21, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 22, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 23, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, and controls the entire navigation device 1.

[0023] The interface 21 performs interface operations with the acceleration sensor 11, the angular velocity sensor 12, the distance sensor 13, and the GPS receiver 18. Then, vehicle speed pulses, acceleration data, relative azimuth data, angular velocity data, GPS positioning data, absolute azimuth data, etc. are input from these to the system controller 20. The CPU 22 controls the entire system controller 20. For example, based on map information stored in the data storage unit 36, etc., the CPU 22 obtains a guiding route (guidance path) to the destination and performs route guidance based on the guiding route. Details of the processing and control performed by the CPU 22 in this embodiment will be described later. The ROM 23 has a non-volatile memory (not shown) etc. in which a control program for controlling the system controller 20 is stored. The RAM 24 can store various data such as route data preset by the user via the input device 60 in a readable manner and provide a working area for the CPU 22.

[0024] The system controller 20, a disk drive 31 such as a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive, a data storage unit 36, a communication interface 37, a display unit 40, an audio output unit 50, and an input device 60 are interconnected via a bus line 30.

[0025] Under the control of the system controller 20, the disk drive 31 reads and outputs content data such as music data and video data from a disk 33 such as a CD or a DVD. Note that the disk drive 31 may be either a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive, or a drive compatible with both CDs and DVDs.

[0026] The data storage unit 36 is composed of, for example, an HDD, etc., and is a unit that stores map information (map data), information necessary for obtaining the navigable range, etc. For example, the map information is information including data of links (roads), data of nodes (intersections, etc.), data of road types (general roads, highways, etc.) for each road.

[0027] The communication device 38 is composed of, for example, an FM tuner, a beacon receiver, a mobile phone, a dedicated communication card, etc., and receives various kinds of information. The interface 37 performs the interface operation of the communication device 38 and inputs the information received by the communication device 38 to the system controller 20 or the like.

[0028] The display unit 40 displays various display data on a display unit such as a display under the control of the system controller 20. Specifically, the system controller 20 reads map information from the data storage unit 36. The display unit 40 displays a map image or the like corresponding to the map information read from the data storage unit 36 by the system controller 20 on the display screen. The display unit 40 includes a graphic controller 41 that controls the entire display unit 40 based on control data sent from the CPU 22 via the bus line 30, a buffer memory 42 that consists of a memory such as VRAM (Video RAM) and temporarily stores image information that can be immediately displayed, a display control unit 43 that controls the display of a display 44 such as a liquid crystal based on the image data output from the graphic controller 41, and the display 44. The display 44 functions as an image display unit and is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device with a diagonal size of about 5 to 10 inches and is mounted near the front panel inside the vehicle.

[0029] The audio output unit 50 includes a D / A (Digital to Analog) converter 51 that performs D / A conversion on the audio digital data sent from the CD-ROM drive 31 or the DVD-ROM 32, or the RAM 24 or the like via the bus line 30 under the control of the system controller 20, an amplifier (AMP) 52 that amplifies the audio analog signal output from the D / A converter 51, and a speaker 53 that converts the amplified audio analog signal into sound and outputs it inside the vehicle.

[0030] The input device 60 is composed of keys, switches, buttons, remote controls, voice input devices, etc. for inputting various commands and data. The input device 60 is arranged around the front panel of the main body of the in-vehicle electronic system mounted in the vehicle and around the display 44. Also, when the display 44 is a touch panel type, the touch panel provided on the display screen of the display 44 also functions as the input device 60.

[0031] <Display control method> Next, the display control method performed by the CPU 22 in the navigation device 1 in this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the CPU 22 obtains a travelable range, which is the range reachable from the current position by the electric vehicle, based on the remaining energy of the battery of the electric vehicle, etc., and overlays and displays the travelable range on the map image. And in this embodiment, when the travelable range is displayed on the map image in this way, the CPU 22 hides the highway in the map image and displays only the general roads.

[0032] Note that the general road corresponds to the "road other than the predetermined road type" in the present invention and means a road other than the national expressway and the motorway. Also, the highway corresponds to the "road of the predetermined road type" in the present invention and means the national expressway or the motorway.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 2, the reason for performing the above display control will be described. FIG. 2 shows an example of an image (hereinafter referred to as a "travelable range display image") 70 in which the travelable range is displayed on the map image. Here, a general travelable range display image 70 is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, in the travelable range display image 70, the travelable range 72 from the current position 73 is overlaid and displayed on the map image 71 with the current position 73 as a reference. The map image 71 includes general roads and highways. Note that in FIG. 2, the general roads are shown by solid lines and the highways are shown by broken lines, but the display of the general roads and highways is not limited to this, and the general roads and highways may be displayed in different colors.

[0034] Here, in the case of an electric vehicle, when driving on a highway, the power consumption significantly decreases. In other words, when driving on a highway, the cruising range tends to be considerably shortened. Therefore, there is a possibility that a place that can be reached when using ordinary roads may not be reached when using a highway. Usually, the cruising range 72 includes such places that can be reached when using ordinary roads but not when using a highway. In other words, a place that can be reached when using ordinary roads but not when using a highway is included in the cruising range 72. For example, a place (see the dashed-line area Ar1) where ordinary roads and a highway overlap near the outer periphery of the cruising range 72 can be reached when using ordinary roads, but is likely not to be reached when using a highway. However, in the cruising range display image 70 as shown in FIG. 2, there is a possibility of causing a misunderstanding that a place such as the dashed-line area Ar1 can be reached even when using a highway.

[0035] Therefore, in this embodiment, a cruising range display image that can suppress the occurrence of the above misunderstanding is displayed. Specifically, in this embodiment, it is considered that a misunderstanding occurs when displaying the cruising range by displaying a highway on the map image. When displaying the cruising range, the highway in the map image is made non-displayed.

[0036] Here, the control performed by the CPU 22 in realizing the above-described display will be specifically described. First, the CPU 22 obtains a reachable range, i.e., a cruising range, which is a range reachable by the electric vehicle from the current position, based on the remaining energy of the battery of the electric vehicle and the like. On the other hand, the map information is composed of a first layer in which highway information is stored and a second layer in which general road information is stored, and such map information is stored in the data storage unit 36. That is, the map information regarding highways and the map information regarding general roads are stored as separate layers. Then, when the CPU 22 displays the obtained cruising range on the map image, it refers to the map information stored in the data storage unit 36, makes the highway information stored in the first layer non-displayed, and displays only the general road information stored in the second layer.

[0037] In this way, the CPU 22 corresponds to an example of the "current position acquisition unit", "map information acquisition unit", and "display control unit" in the present invention. That is, the CPU 22 corresponds to an example of the "display control device" in the present invention.

[0038] Incidentally, the CPU 22 can obtain the achievable range by, for example, the following method. First, the CPU 22 searches for a plurality of reachable points that are points reachable from the current position of the electric vehicle based on the map information, the remaining energy of the battery of the electric vehicle, and the energy consumed when the electric vehicle travels. In this case, for the energy consumed when the electric vehicle travels, for example, the CPU 22 obtains it based on the energy consumed when the electric vehicle stops in a state where the drive source of the electric vehicle is operating, the energy consumed and recovered during acceleration and deceleration of the electric vehicle, the energy consumed due to resistance generated during travel of the electric vehicle, and the like. When obtaining these energies, the CPU 22 uses various parameters such as the characteristics of the electric vehicle (vehicle weight, motor generator specifications, etc.), the deterioration state of the battery, the usage state of electrical components in the electric vehicle, the usage state of the air conditioner, the number of passengers in the electric vehicle, the gradient of the road, the road type, the presence or absence of traffic jams, and the driving style of the driver. Then, based on the plurality of reachable points searched as described above, the CPU 22 identifies whether the electric vehicle can reach each of the plurality of regions (mesh regions) into which the map is divided, and the achievable range of the electric vehicle is obtained according to the identification result. Note that the method of obtaining the achievable range is not limited to this method, and various other known methods can also be applied.

[0039] Basically, the above-mentioned achievable range is obtained using information on both general roads and highways. That is, the achievable range is obtained considering the use of not only general roads but also highways. However, the method of obtaining the achievable range is not limited to using information on both general roads and highways, and the achievable range may be obtained using only the information on general roads. That is, the achievable range when traveling using only general roads without using highways may be obtained. However, the achievable range obtained using only the information on general roads generally tends to have substantially the same shape as the achievable range obtained using information on both general roads and highways.

[0040] FIG. 3 shows an example of the range - available display image 80 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, similar to the range - available display image 70 described above, in the range - available display image 80 according to this embodiment, on the map image 81 with the current position 83 as a reference, the range - available range 82 from the current position 83 is superimposed and displayed. However, in the range - available display image 80 according to this embodiment, different from the range - available display image 70, the highway is not included in the map image 81. That is, in this embodiment, in the map image 81, only general roads (shown by solid lines) are displayed, and the highway is not displayed. Although the highway is not displayed in FIG. 3, when the highway is to be displayed, it is shown by a dashed line. However, it is not limited to showing general roads by solid lines and highways by dashed lines, and general roads and highways may be displayed in different colors.

[0041] According to such a range - available display image 80, it is possible to appropriately suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as the idea that even if the highway is used, it is possible to reach a location near the outer periphery of the range - available range 82.

[0042] <Modification Example> Hereinafter, modification examples suitable for the above - described embodiment will be described. Note that the following modification examples can be arbitrarily combined and applied to the above - described embodiment.

[0043] (Modification Example 1) Modification Example 1 is to display that there is a possibility that even if driving on the highway, it may not be possible to reach a location within the range - available range 82 when the range - available display image 80 shown in the above - described embodiment is displayed. (Hereinafter, it is also simply referred to as "warning".) That is, in Modification Example 1, the user is warned that there is a possibility that even if driving on the highway, it may not be possible to reach a location within the range - available range 82.

[0044] Specifically, in Modification 1, when the highway is included within the required achievable range 82, the CPU 22 causes a warning to be displayed. For example, as described above, when searching for a plurality of reachable points in determining the achievable range 82, the CPU 22 causes a warning to be displayed if a highway node (such as an interchange) is included among the searched reachable points. On the other hand, when no highway node is included among the searched reachable points, the CPU 22 does not cause a warning to be displayed. In this way, the CPU 22 corresponds to an example of the "notification control unit" in the present invention.

[0045] FIG. 4 shows an example of the achievable range display image 80a according to Modification 1. As shown in FIG. 4, in the achievable range display image 80a according to Modification 1, a message box 85 indicating that "when using the highway, the battery may run out even within the achievable range" is displayed on the achievable range display image 80 shown in the above embodiment. By displaying such a message box 85, it is possible to more effectively suppress the occurrence of misunderstandings such as the ability to reach a location near the outer periphery of the achievable range 82 even when using the highway.

[0046] In addition, in FIG. 4, an example of displaying the message box 85 on the image showing the map image 81 and the achievable range 82 is shown, but only the message box 85 may be displayed without displaying the map image 81 and the achievable range 82.

[0047] Moreover, the display of the warning is not limited to the above, and a warning may be output by voice. For example, a warning such as "when using the highway, the battery may run out even within the achievable range" can be output by voice.

[0048] (Modification 2) In the above-described embodiment, when the navigable range 82 is displayed on the map image 81, all highways in the map image 81 are made non-displayed (see FIG. 3), but only a part of the highways in the map image 81 may be made non-displayed. For example, only the highways included in the navigable range 82 can be made non-displayed, and the highways not included in the navigable range 82 can be displayed.

[0049] FIG. 5 shows an example of the navigable range display image 80b according to the second modification. As shown in FIG. 5, in the navigable range display image 80b according to the second modification, only some highways are made non-displayed. Specifically, only the highways included in the navigable range 82 in the map image 81b are made non-displayed, and the highways not included in the navigable range 82 in the map image 81b are displayed.

[0050] In addition, in still another example, only the portions of the highways that are available within the navigable range 82 (the portions of the highways determined to be drivable when determining the navigable range 82) can be displayed, and the other portions of the highways can be made non-displayed.

[0051] (Second Modification) In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the navigation device 1 is shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The present invention can also be applied to a server device that can communicate with a predetermined terminal device.

[0052] FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system according to the third modification. As shown in FIG. 6, the system includes a server device 200 and a terminal device 300. The server device 200 is configured to be communicable with the terminal device 300 and includes a CPU 200a and the like. For example, the terminal device 300 corresponds to a portable terminal such as a smartphone, a navigation device, a head-up display, or the like. Further, the terminal device 300 is mounted on a moving body such as a vehicle, for example.

[0053] In Modification 3, the CPU 200a in the server device 200 acquires the current position of the vehicle from the terminal device 300 or the like, and acquires map information including a plurality of types of roads from a storage unit (not shown) in the terminal device 300 or the server device 200. Further, the CPU 200a acquires the remaining energy amount possessed by the vehicle (such as the remaining energy amount of the battery of an electric vehicle), and calculates the range that can be traveled based on the remaining energy amount. Then, the CPU 200a generates image information in which at least a part of the highway within the range that can be traveled is made non-displayed from the image in which the range that can be traveled is displayed on the map image, and transmits the image information to the terminal device 300. As described above, when the present invention is applied to the server device 200, the CPU 200a in the server device 200 functions as the "current position acquisition unit", "map information acquisition unit", "calculation unit", "image generation unit", and "transmission unit" in the present invention.

[0054] Note that the realization of the components according to the present invention is not limited to being realized by a single server device 200, and the components according to the present invention may be realized by a plurality of server devices cooperating to perform processing and control.

[0055] (Modification 4) The present invention is not limited to application to electric vehicles. The present invention can be applied to various moving bodies other than electric vehicles. For example, the present invention can also be applied to moving bodies that use fossil fuels. In that case, the range that can be traveled may be obtained based on the remaining amount of fossil fuel possessed by the moving body.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0056] 1 Navigation device 22 CPU 36 Data storage unit 44 Display

Claims

[Claim 1] a display control unit that displays, on a display unit, a range that can be reached from a current position of the moving object, together with map information, based on a remaining amount of energy held by the moving object; a notification control unit that, when the display control unit causes the display unit to display the range together with the map information, notifies a user by a notification unit that if the moving object travels on a road of a predetermined road type, it may be impossible to reach a location even if it is within the range; and A display control device comprising:

Images