Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Pioneer Corporation

Takashi Kashiwazaki

Atsuhiko Fukushima

Hitoshi Ando

Masayuki Hosoi

Morio Araki

Satoshi Odagawa

Kazuhiro Akiyama

Yoshiyuki Takizawa

Tomomitsu Takano

Norihiko Itoh

Junji Kobayashi

Masaki Saito

Kazumi Kuriyama

Koji Shimoda

An image processing apparatus is provided with: an image taking device ( ) for taking an image in a forward direction of a movable body and outputting an image signal corresponding to the taken image; a movement vector detecting device ( ) for detecting a movement vector for each area of the image taken by the image taking device, on the basis of the image signal while the movable body is moving; and a distance calculating device ( ) for setting a standard line at a predetermined image position crossing a road edge with respect to the image taken by the image taking device, and calculating the distance to the road edge on the basis of a distribution of the movement vector on the standard line.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, navigation apparatus, program storage device and computer data signal embodied in carrier wave

An image processing apparatus is provided with: an image taking device (,) for taking an image on a side of a movable body and outputting an image signal corresponding to the taken image; a movement vector detecting device (,) for detecting a movement vector for each area of the image taken by the image taking device, on the basis of the image signal while the movable body is moving; and a distance calculating device (,) for judging a spatial changing rate of a magnitude of the detected movement vector and calculating the distance to a road edge on the basis of the spatial changing rate.

An onboard navigation system detects a condition that a recognized present position of the vehicle belongs to a map of a peripheral part of a region covered by map data groups recorded on a recording disc. If a changer type driver is used as a player for reproducing map data, the recording disc being played is changed to a new disc in response to the detection of the above described condition. If a single driver is used, identification information of a corresponding disc is displayed. With these features, the disc being played is quickly changed to a required new disc.

Onboard navigational system

A plurality of preset palette data are stored in a ROM. User palette data are input through an RS232C interface and stored in a nonvolatile RAM. Based on an instruction from a user and other information such as a signal indicating the status of an illumination switch, a MPU selects one of the palette data and sets the selected palette data in a look-up table. Image data representing a map, present position, etc. is converted into color data by the look-up table, and then to an analog video signal for a color CRT. A display can be made using the palette data prepared by the user.

Navigation apparatus capable of changing color scheme of a displayed

A navigation device is provided with: a device for measuring a present position of a movable body equipped with the navigation device; a device for displaying map information; a device for storing destination information including at least positional information of a destination to which the movable body is scheduled to move, and an estimated time to arrive at the destination; and a control device for controlling the displaying device to display the map information, which corresponds to the measured present position, and display the measured present position on the displayed map information, selecting destination information, which corresponds to a destination located in the displayed map information, from the stored destination information, and controlling the displaying device to display the selected destination information on the displayed map information.

Navigation device

There is disclosed a navigation system adapted to support driving of a moving body such as an automotive vehicle. This navigation system determines a present position of a moving body in which the navigation system is mounted to display map information corresponding to the position of the moving body and the determined present position, and to store, as locus data, information of a route through which the moving body is advanced to display a movement route in map information. Storing of locus data is carried out by detecting a traveling azimuth to judge a change in the traveling azimuth to thereby compress locus data only to data in a predetermined range before and after the position where the azimuth is changed. Further, coordinate values in a map at the azimuth changed position and traveling azimuth data before and after the azimuth changed position are stored as locus data. In addition, locus data in an instructed collection zone are stored or preserved with respect to a plurality of zones to display a movement route through which the moving body run in the past by locus data in a designated zone thereof.

Navigation system utilizing locus data compression

A navigation apparatus having a GPS receiver obtain coordinates of the current position. A key point or points close to the current position are retrieved from a recording medium attached to the apparatus. The distance and direction from the current position with respect to the retrieved point are computed. The name of the retrieved point is then displayed along with the distance and direction with respect thereto.

Simplified navigation apparatus

A one-day schedule data representing a plurality of destination information each including a location of a destination and its scheduled arrival time is stored in advance in a nonvolatile RAM of a controller. As a vehicle moves, the controller selects, at predetermined time intervals, the destination information of the destination having the scheduled arrival time closest to the present time among the destinations that have not been reached yet.

Navigation apparatus

An on-board navigation apparatus which uses a driver having a changer function to selectively reproduce any of music- and map-containing storage media. When it becomes necessary to read map data during reproduction of a music-containing medium, the current medium is replaced with the applicable map-containing medium upon arrival of an intra-music interval. This allows one driver driving both music and map data media to read map data without interrupting the piece of music being reproduced.

On-board navigation system capable of switching from music storage

An onboard navigation system for displaying a map in a scrolling manner while a mark showing the position of the vehicle is fixed. The system is adapted so that the fixed display position of the mark indicating the vehicle's position can be set at an arbitrary selected position, satisfying a user's demand for viewing a map of an area further ahead of the vehicle in the direction of the vehicle's movement.

Onboard navigation system

An on-board navigation apparatus having a GPS receiver detects a difference between the current and the previous values of the estimated current position in terms of the longitude and latitude information gained from GPS data. The difference is added to the coordinates of the previously established position, the result being taken for the coordinates of the estimated current position. This makes it possible to estimate the current position coordinates accurately even if the accuracy of GPS data is not high enough. When the GPS receiver is in a two-dimensional measuring state, the coordinates of the estimated current position are obtained from a manually or automatically designated elevation value and from the GPS data. This allows the current position coordinates to be estimated with accuracy even if the accuracy of GPS data has dropped due to the two-dimensional measuring instead of a three-dimensional measuring.

On-board navigation apparatus

A road data generating method for use in an on-board navigation system. Points on roads in a map are expressed in numerical form and memorized as map data previously, and co-ordinates of the present position of the vehicle and the compass direction of the movement of the vehicle are detected and the distance to a point on a road nearest to the present position and the angle of the road at that point are determined on the basis of the map data, as decision values for the generation of road data, every time a certain distance is traveled by the vehicle. Judgment is made as to whether or not there already is registered learning data in the vicinity of the present position when the decision values exceed the predetermined values, and standard deviations of the distance and the angle with respect to the registered learning data are calculated when there is the registered learning data. The registered learning data is registered as the road data if the standard deviations are equal to or smaller than predetermined values.

Road data generating method for use in an on-board navigation system

A display device applied to a navigation system for a vehicle displaying map information by using a color pallet. The device comprises means for supplying at least a signal distinguishing a bright and a dark environment according to the degree of brightness degree in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. Color pallets have their contents changed according to the information from the supply means. The contents of the registers are changed so that a degree of brightness of background color of a display unit is decreased to less than a decreased degree of brightness of colors displaying the information on the display unit when the output information of the supply means changes from the brightness to the darkness.

Variable-brightness display for use in a navigation system for a vehicle

A momentarily changing position of a travelling vehicle is correctly identified by a vehicular nagivation system on which a magnetism sensor, angular velocity sensor, travel distance sensor and global positioning system are mounted. The current position of the vehicle is identified by, for example, storing data of a road on a map in the form of numerical values, measuring a predetermined distance which the vehicle has travelled and computing the current position on the road based upon the predetermined distance thus measured.

Method for identifying current position of vehicle

An on-board navigation system for motor vehicles comprises a first storage medium in which map data in digital form is stored, a control device for gathering map data of a region having a given area including a present location of the vehicle from a first storage medium, and to display a map on a display screen on the basis of the gathered map data, and a second storage medium of non-volatile type into and from which data is written and read-out. The control device is operative to memorize, at the time of the turn-off of a power supply of the vehicle, data gathered immediately before a fall of the power in the second storage medium, and to display the map at the time of a rise-up of the power supply on the basis of the data memorized in the second storage medium.

Growing community of inventors

Kawagoe, Japan

Takashi Kashiwazaki