Alpine Electronics, Inc.

Alpine Technologies Inc.

Shinobu Doi

Tien Vu

A method detects a particular freeway-ramp-freeway situation in a calculated route and corrects the route by replacing the freeway-ramp-freeway situation with all-freeway segments. The method includes the steps of: establishing a calculated route to a destination; examining the calculated route to detect whether there is a first point where the calculated route exits a freeway and a second point where the calculated route enters a freeway; evaluating map data to determine whether the freeway exited and the freeway entered are the same freeway; and replacing road segments of the calculated route between the first point and the second point constituting the freeway-ramp-freeway situation with freeway segments between the first point and the second point, thereby avoiding the freeway-ramp-freeway situation.

Method and apparatus for detecting and correcting freeway-ramp-freeway situation in calculated route

A navigation device and a guide route search method prevents searching for a detour route, and shortens the time required for setting an eventual guide route. A first partial route is extracted from a first guide route found in accordance with map data divided into three hierarchical levels, based on information about a road network. The first guide route is the route from the current location to a destination. A second partial route is obtained by performing a route search between the nodes at opposite ends of the first partial route, based on the map data containing the lowest level. A second guide route is obtained by replacing the first partial route in the first guide route with the second partial route, and is set as the eventual guide route.

Navigation device and guide route search method

When an input mode is switched from input of a first-type character written in a first character input direction into input of a second-type character written in a second character input direction opposite to the first character input direction, a displayed cursor is moved in the second character input direction in response to progression of input of second-type characters. At that time, first display-position movement processing is performed so that a display position of each character input before the switching is moved in the second character input direction in response to the progression of input of second-type characters with a display position of a second-type character input after the switching being fixed.

Cursor display method and character input apparatus

A navigation device and a traffic line display method which make a user reliably recognize the relationships between traffic lines and roads when the traffic lines are displayed so as to correspond to the roads which are positioned near one another in a concentrated manner or connected to one another are provided. When the roads currently displayed include roads which belong to a certain road type and which are positioned near one another within a predetermined distance or connected to one another and when at least one of the roads has heavy traffic, the vicinity/connection roads positioned near one another within a predetermined distance or connected to one another and the corresponding traffic lines are clearly distinguished from one another by displaying the roads and the corresponding traffic lines so as to be visually separate from one another. Accordingly, the relationships between the traffic lines and roads are reliably recognized.

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Fukushima, Japan

Shinobu Doi