Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Kunio Miura

Kazushi Akutsu

Kazuaki Minami

Takashi Ono

Koshi Hasebe

Shinji Ohyama

Yoji Ito

Kiyoshi Hara

Yozo Inoue

Shinzo Totani

Kazuo Muramoto

A vehicle navigator is disclosed, in which in response to a storage command signal generated by the turning on of a storage switch, the present position data of a vehicle corresponding to the present cursor position is stored in a memory. In response to a set command signal subsequently generated by the turning on of a set switch, the running track data between the latest position stored and the present cursor position is stored in the memory, so that the running track is additionally displayed on a road map display device.

Navigator for vehicles

In a vehicle-mounted navigator, a control unit reads map data from a memory unit and displays a corresponding road map on a CRT display unit. In response to signals from a distance sensor and a direction sensor, the present position in relation to the running of the automotive vehicle is computed to display by superimposition the present position on the road map display of the display unit. When the computed present position has reached to a predetermined portion of an adjacent area, the map data of the road map adjacent to the road map on display is read from the memory unit and a corresponding road map is displayed on the display unit manually or automatically. In accordance with this updated display, the present position display is moved to a corresponding position on the updated road map display.

Vehicle-mounted navigator

In a navigator for use on a road vahicle, a memory is responsive to an external switch operation to preliminarily store any specific point on a map and a controller is responsive to the generation of a move command to move a cursor indicative of the present position of the vehicle to the specific point stored in the memory. In this way, by preliminarily entering any specific point into the memory, it is possible to easily set the position of the vehicle to the stored specific point.

An automotive navigator using a microcomputer displays a car position by a cursor on a road map displayed on a CRT screen. The navigator uses a cassette tape which stores a plurality of road map data and several kinds of reduced map data and expanded map data. It also uses a group of manual switches including a switch for changing the displayed area, a switch for selecting an expanded map or reduced map and a switch for moving the cursor position. Necessary data are displayed on the screen by the state of each switch. A region corresponding to the cursor position is displayed by the expanded map.

Electronic navigator for automotive vehicles

In a navigation system arranged to display a road map in accordance with road map information from a cassette tape, and the present location of a motor vehicle equipped with the navigation system, a cassette tape distinguishing circuit is provided to a cassette tape player which picks up the road map information from a predetermined cassette having a window at given portion of the cassette housing. A switching circuit is responsive to the cassette tape distinguishing circuit so that the output data of the cassette tape is processed to display a given map only when a cassette carrying road map information is loaded in the cassette tape player. In the case a normal cassette carrying audio signals, such as music, is loaded the picked up audio signal is transmitted to an amplifier so that sound reproduction is effected. Thus, a single cassette player can be used in common as both a part of the navigation system and a part of a sound reproduction system.

Growing community of inventors

Okazaki, Japan

Kunio Miura