Aisin Aw Co., Ltd.

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Shinsangyokaihatsu

Kiyohide Kato

Daisuke Tanizaki

Mitsuhiro Nimura

Kensuke Takeuchi

Shino Oonishi

Takaaki Nakayama

Shoji Yokoyama

Kenichi Murata

Shuzo Moroto

Yasunobu Ito

Koji Sumiya

Akimasa Nanba

Kiyokazu Okada

Naokazu Ozaki

Kyoumi Morimoto

Koji Hashimoto

Naoko Sugiura

A route guidance system includes: a current position detecting unit; a display condition determination processing unit that determines, for each of pieces of lane data that correspond to a lane list display section set in a forward direction of a vehicle position, whether a display condition for creating a lane list is satisfied, based on the pieces of lane data; a display setting processing unit that sets a piece of the lane data that satisfies the display condition as a display target; and a list display processing unit that displays the lane list based on the piece of the lane data that has been set as the display target. Thus, the piece of the lane data that satisfies the display condition is set as the display target, and the lane list is displayed based on the piece of the lane data that has been set as the display target. Consequently, the size of the lane list can be prevented from becoming too large.

Route guidance system and route guidance method

A route guidance system includes a current position detection section, a route search section, and a guidance section. The guidance section includes a branch computation section computes the number of branches between a host vehicle location and a guidance location along a specified route. A point guidance section executes route guidance based on the computed number of the branches. The number of branches between the host vehicle location and the guidance location is computed, and the route guidance is executed based on the computed number of the branches, so it is possible to recognize the guidance location simply by counting the number of the branches, regardless of the number of traffic signals that exist between the host vehicle location and the guidance location.

Route guidance systems, methods, and programs detect a current position of a vehicle and search for a route to a destination on the basis of the vehicle position. The systems, methods, and programs set a guidance point at a predetermined distance before a target point on the searched route. If a guidance condition is met, the systems, methods, and programs provide route guidance about the target point when the vehicle reaches the guidance point, the guidance condition being met on the basis of the presence or absence of traffic lights at each of at least one intersection between the guidance point and the target point. If the guidance condition is met, the systems, methods, and programs output route guidance, the content of the route guidance being preset based on the guidance condition.

Route guidance systems, methods, and programs

A vehicle navigation apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes a CDROM (,) for storing all the data required for navigation processing such as maps and voice data, and a buffer (,-,) for accessing CDROM (,) to prepare beforehand a phrase necessary for the navigation guidance. A control device (,) selects appropriate phrases corresponding to the present vehicle position and reads out the selected phrases from the buffer, (,-,) successively, in response to a request signal supplied from a request sensor (,) which is output in response to the driver's request. The thus processed navigation information data is transformed into voice signals through a decoder (,-,) and output from a speaker (,) as a voice response. The control device (,) checks whether or not a phrase prepared in the buffer (,-,) is a frequently used phrase and replaces this phrase with a new phrase if this phrase is not frequently used. Furthermore, the control device (,) sets discriminating flags to the selected phrases and continuously reads out these phrases with the discriminating flags, in a predetermined order, in accordance with the driver's request, so as to execute voice response processing.

Vehicle navigation apparatus providing both automatic guidance and guidance information in response to manual input request

A navigation apparatus reduces route search time while providing guidance in conformity with drivers' preferences, by selectively conducting either a full-range route search or a more limited, local area search, in accordance with detected conditions and responsive to occurrence of an off-route event. For example, the full-range route search is conducted pursuant to a determination that the vehicle has gone straight at a predetermined number of certain intersections where current guidance has directed a turn.

Vehicle navigation apparatus and storage medium

The vehicular navigation system of the present invention includes a present position detector for detecting the present position of a vehicle, an input device for inputting a destination, an information memory for storing road data for searching for an optimal route, a route search system for searching for an optimal route to the destination based on the road data stored in the information memory, a route information converter for converting the route information near the present position of the vehicle to a visually 3-dimensional route information based on configuration of the road by the route search system, and a display for outputting and displaying the route information converted by the route information converter. The present position of the vehicle is detected, and the present position of the vehicle and route information ahead of the present position can be easily confirmed by detecting the present position of the vehicle and by converting the route information of the present position, based on the configuration of the road, to a 3-dimensional road display.

Navigation system for vehicles

A vehicle navigation device provides route guidance by voice or the like in accordance with a preset route. The system includes data storage for storing data such as data relating to a map and route guidance voice data. The system reads out the route voice guidance data from storage and outputs the route voice guidance data directly as voice guidance. An input device allows for inputting information for setting or instructing the route guidance. A current position detector detects current position of the vehicle and a controller sets a route from the current position to a destination, with temporary storage of that set route. A voice data editor edits the combination of phrases of the guidance message relating to an intersection, a diverging point, etc., on the set route in temporary storage. The controller controls the reading out of the voice data from storage in sequential fashion and outputs the read voice data at a predetermined distance before a guide point utilizing the edited combination of phrases.

Voice navigation by sequential phrase readout

A navigation apparatus has an input unit (1), a CPU (2), a display unit (3) and a memory unit (4), the memory unit (4) being a memory such as a CD-ROM in which network data of geographical points, namely destinations and present locations, and information are stored in advance. Also stored are map data (10), an intersection list (11), a destination list (12), road data (13) and a region name list (14), etc. When a destination is designated by an input from the input means (1), the CPU (2) performs an exchange with a program, stored in a ROM (9a), in order to set information for travel to the destination by course exploration in accordance with each geographical point stored in the memory unit (4). This information is stored in a memory such as a RAM (9b). In an embodiment, the RAM (9b) is provided with a non-volatile area for storing departure-point data (east longitude, north latitude, etc.). When an input is made by a reset switch in entering a departure point, the data in this non-volatile area can be rewritten. Data written in are preserved until the reset switch is pressed again and a geographical point is entered. Data will not be erased even if an ignition switch is turned off.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Kiyohide Kato