L, ,_/DPLC f
Contents
1. 404 OK to Proceed OR CALL gt ENTER OK to Proceed OK to Proceed SEARCH THE GUIDE ROUTE TO THE OFF ROAD POINT 405 ENTRANCE AND DISPLAY 410 MAKE THE MOBILE TELEPHONE AT THE DESTINATION HUT CALL AUTOMATICALLY SEARCH THE GUIDE ROUTE AND DISPLAY END 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 13 of 13 US 6 356 837 EXPLANATORY CHART OF THE DESTINATION INPUT METHOD BY THE Address Book FIG 13 A FIG 13 E Map Cuso YAOHAN COSTA MESA CA ORANGE CNTY MSM OF ART S C AIRPORT TRIANGLE SQUARE COSTAMESA BUT oen RAGING WATERS SAN DIMAS SAN ALPINE TORRANCE CA FOUNTAIN VALLEY REGIONAL HO ALPINE 19145 GRAMERCY PL TORRANCE CA BY Shortest Route METHOD OK to Proceed Save in Address Book Add to Today s Plan 4 pu OK to Proceed US 6 356 837 B1 1 NAVIGATION SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a navigation system more specifically to a navigation system that stores trail data of a vehicle traveling off road displays the off road travel trail of the vehicle appropriately on a display screen and sets a destination by means of the off road travel trail data A navigation system detects the position of a vehicle and reads out map data of the area surrounding the vehicle from a map storage medium such as a CD ROM or a DVD displays the image of the map data on a display scree2. OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL DATA GENERATING UNIT OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL STORAGE UNIT POSITION MEASUREMENT UNIT OFF ROAD ON ROAD MEMORY CAPACITY MONITORING UNIT TRAVEL STATE MONITORING UNIT DISPLAY SEARCH UNIT IM1 OK to Proceed HUT ENTRANCE PT2 IM2 HUT 4 NIR US 6 356 837 B1 Sheet 2 of 13 Mar 12 2002 U S Patent qoz SOVAYSINI 741 LSM TUVAL 9904 3340 NOILLVDINAWINOD 151 5533909 62 ASOWSW 008 56384009 Na 02 TVYL TSAVYL LN38802 8l ED 3aino 149 5 6l DI AW a AVldsia 5 HOLVH3N39 YOLINOW 5 1SI1 nN3NW 0 92 lt 5 AMOWSW Weu aI TIOHLNOS NOLLVABIOJNI dv Gc 22 TOYLNOD NOILISIAVN 9 SOVSYSLINI IOH LNOO SLOWSY LINNA IOYLNOD SLOWSY IN3MWdino 3 AN3W3MfISV 3A NOILISOd M3 TIOH LNOO ei NOLLVSIAVN SHL 40 INVHOVIQ 20718 lt 914 v Ih 3NOHd 131 3 I8ONWO1LnV 110 d 3HVM3OS H24V3S 399 303 SYVMLIOS SNIHOLINOIN ALIoVdV2 AYOWSW SNINIVIA3 SYVMLIOS AVIdSIO SOVHOLS 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 3 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 3 CONSTRUCTION OF THE ADDRESS BOOK MEMORY ADL ADDRESS LIST POSITION
3. 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 synthesizes various images and outputs 26 a display monitor that displays images outputted from the image synthesizer 27 a voice guide unit that provides the distance and orientation to an intersection by voice and 28 a com munication interface connected with external mobile tele phone CTL b Address Book FIG 3 is a chart illustrating the construction of the address book memory that stores the address list ADL and the off road trail list TRL The address list ADL holds in association with the names of points the address names addresses telephone numbers position data of points data of longitude and latitude and trail pointers that indicate storage locations of travel trail data The points include points outside the off road area and points inside the off road area The points outside the off road area are registered by the user while setting the destination and the points inside the off road area are registered automatically or by the user during traveling off road There do not exist travel trail data for points outside the off road area in this case the trail pointer does not have any meaning and there do not exist address data for points inside the off road area The off road trail list TRL holds a plurality of off road travel trails TRAIL 1 TRAIL 2 Each of the off road travel trails includes 1 a number point number N of discrete vehicle position data 2
4. Lena Address TEL NO LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE _ p e R 2 AA 22202011 ee HUT OFF ROAR TRAIL LIST RL NUMBER OF POINTS AM A2 N LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 4 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 4 PROCESSING FLOW OF STORING OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL DATA START ON OFF SETTING OF AUTOMATICALLY STORING OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL DATA 5 STORE POSITION DATA OF OFF ROAD POINT AUTOMATIC STORAGE YES STORE DISPLAY TRAVEL TRAIL 106 gt ON 107 STOP MAP MATCHING NO YES 101 104 105 117 REGISTERING OF NO STORE DISPLAY ON ROAD POINT yes POINTS INSIDE THE TRAVEL TRAIL OFF ROAD POINT OFF ROAD AREA 118 TRAIL OFF 2 INPUT THE POINT NAME 49 INSIDE THE OFF ROAD STORE ON ROAD POINT AREA NO STORE THE POINT NAME AND POSITION INSIDE THE OFF ROAD AREA STORE TRAVEL TRAIL YES INPUT THE POINT NAME INSIDE THE OFF ROAD AREA STORE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL 141 113 STORE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL END 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 5 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 EXAMPLE OF SETTING THE STORAGE METHOD Auto OF OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL DATA Setup Option Route Trai 0 2 FIG 518 FIG 5 pr FIG 5 C Auto 5 FIG 5 D 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 6 of 13 US 6
5. discrete vehicle position data data of latitude and longitude 3 position data of an off road point point of deviation from an on road travel 4 position data of an on road point point of return from an off road travel 5 date of travel and the like Here the system navigation control unit recognizes the off road point and the on road point as entrances to the off road area c Storage Processing Of The Off Road Travel Trail FIG 4 illustrates a processing flow of storing off road travel trail data The user sets in advance whether to auto matically generate and register the off road travel trail or to generate and store the off road travel trail only when the user so instructs step 101 As shown in FIG 5 for example the user operates the remote control unit and displays the main menu selects Setup to display the submenu in FIG 5 and selects Display Setup Then the system presents the submenu in FIG 5 C and the user selects Trail to display the submenu Auto Manual for setting the storage method in FIG 5 D The user selects and sets a desired storage method out of Auto or Manual After setting the storage method of the off road travel trail if the user drives the vehicle step 102 the navigation control unit 17 will refer to the map and the vehicle position to check whether or not the vehicle goes off road step 103 If the vehicle deviates from the road so as to be
6. 12 US006356837B1 United States Patent Yokota et al 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 356 837 B1 Mar 12 2002 54 75 73 21 22 51 52 58 56 NAVIGATION SYSTEM Inventors Tatsuo Yokota Torrance Hikaru Wako Redondo Beach both of CA US Assignee Alpine Electronics Inc Tokyo JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days Appl No 09 813 230 Filed Mar 19 2001 Int C EE 06 165 00 WSC ee e 701 208 701 213 701 210 Field of Search 701 208 209 701 21 212 213 207 25 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 897 792 A 5 189 430 A 1 1990 Hosoi 2 1993 Yano et al 6 253 150 6 2001 Nakamura 701 208 6 269 305 B1 7 2001 Yamashita 701 209 6 278 938 B1 8 2001 Alumbaugh 701 208 6 289 278 9 2001 Endo et al 702 208 6 292 749 B2 9 2001 Kohli 701 213 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Richard M Camby 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Brinks Hofer Gilson amp Lione 57 ABSTRACT A travel state monitoring unit monitors whether the vehicle position deviates from a road so as to be in the off road travel state on the basis of the map information and the vehicle position When the vehicle position is in the off road state a travel trail generating unit generates off road t
7. 356 837 B1 DISPLAY EXAMPLE NO 1 OF A TRAVEL TRAIL FIG 6 TS LHUT je PE KA I FIG 6 ____ 1 E 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 7 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 DISPLAY EXAMPLE NO 2 OF A TRAVEL TRAIL FIG 7 WHEN THE OFF ROAD POINT DIFFERS FROM THE ON ROAD POINT lt lt gt FIG 7 B IN CASE OF A BRANCHED TRAVEL BTR NM alee WATERFALL 22 T em 2 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 8 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 8 PROCESSING FLOW OF STORING BRANCHED TRAVEL TRAIL DATA START ON OFF SETTING OF DISPLAYING OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL 201 TRAVEL TO FOLLOW THE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL OFF THE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL YES STORE POSITION DATA LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE OF A BRANCH POINT STORE DISPLAY TRAVEL TRAIL AFTER BRANCH RETURN TO THE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL S ON ROAD YE 208 ON ROAD gt STORE POSITION DATA AND TRAVEL TRAIL DATA AFTER BRANCH WITH THE ADDRESS NAME AS BRANCH POINT 0 5 Patent 12 2002 Sheet 9 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 EE OF DISPLAY ON OFF SETTING OF OFF ROAD TRAVEL FIG 9 A FIG 9 B FIG 9 C FIG 9 D Dest Setup Option Route Trait Display Setup Guidance Setup Shortest Route ON Setup Guidance
8. F and selects the menu item Save Thereafter the system displays the screen Change Phone Number The input of the phone number is made by using the keyboard After inputting the phone number to select Done will change the point name into a new one and add a new telephone number FIG 11 G g Destination Setting Processing FIG 12 is a processing flow of a destination setting operation and FIG 13 is a display example of the destina tion setting operation by using the Address Book In order to input the destination with the address book that 15 stored in the address book memory 20 the user presses the menu button on the remote control unit to display the main menu on the screen see FIG 13 A and selects the menu item Dest from the main menu The navigation system displays the screen Find Destination By for specifying the destination input method as shown in FIG 13 B Next if the user selects the menu item Address Book 70 the navigation system will display the names of the addresses point names in scrollable form which are registered in the Address Book as shown in the screen Select Address in FIG 13 C If the user selects a desired address name for example ALPINE step 401 the system will check whether the address is a point inside the off road area step 402 If it is a point outside the off road area the system will display the selected address name and the address step 403 as shown in the sc
9. RT to the off road point as shown in FIG 13 F step 409 If the user selects the menu item CALL the system will transmit the telephone number of the destination HUT to the automobile telephone and cause it to call automati cally step 410 At step 407 if there are two or more entrances 2 leading to the destination see FIG 13 G the system will display the menu item PT1 PT2 to let the user select one entrance step 411 Thereafter the system executes the processing after step 408 In the above case the system displays the menu item TRAIL during traveling However it is also possible to configure the system such that the system does not display the menu item TRAIL during normal travel but automati cally displays the menu item TRAIL when the vehicle goes off road to thereby let the driver recognize he is now traveling off road Also in the above case the vehicle position data coordinates of longitude and latitude are obtained dis cretely at the rate of one for each 80 m of travel up to the maximum point number However it is possible to make the rate variable for example it is possible to set the rate for each 40 m or 60 m in the case of making the point spacing more dense or to set the rate for each 160 m or 320 m in the case of making the point spacing less dense Further it is possible to store the discrete position data at a constant time interval instead of at a constant distan
10. Thereby the navigation control unit displays the screen Select for specifying an edit object as shown in FIG 11 B In this screen Select if the user selects the menu item Edit Address Book 60 the navigation control unit will display the screen Select Name in FIG 11 C In this screen Select the navigation control unit displays the point names registered in the address book in scrollable form and the address of one point name is identified highlighted by the cursor or the menu bar Here in FIG 11 C since the point name HUT inside the off road area is highlighted which does not have the address the address is not pre sented In this screen Select Name if the user selects the address name HUT to be modified or to be deleted and presses the Enter Key the system will display the screen Confirm Address as shown in FIG 11 D Now to change the address name or the telephone number the user needs to select the menu item Change Name amp Phone Number and to delete the address the user needs to select the menu item Delete from Address Book For example in order to change the point name from HUT to HUT OCOTILLO in the screen Confirm Address the user selects the menu item Change Name amp Phone Number Then the system displays the screen Input Name as shown in FIG 11 E and the user inputs the point name HUT OCOTILLO with the keyboard displayed thereon FIG 11
11. address name as branch point in the address book memory 20 step 209 and execute the processing from step 202 e Storable Remaining Distance Monitoring Control FIG 10 illustrates a monitoring flow of a storable remain ing distance in the off road travel trail storage processing In the off road travel trail storage display at step 106 and step 117 in FIG 4 the system counts the stored discrete vehicle point number Py step 301 and calculates the storable remaining point number Pz step 302 Here Py 4x is the maximum number of points Next assuming that the system stores the vehicle position dis cretely for every travel distance of 80 m and produces the travel trail data the system calculates the storable remaining travel distance Dy with the following equation step 303 D4 80xP The system displays the remaining point number and the remaining travel distance Dyg on the monitor display step 304 f Edit Of The Address Book system is able to change the stored contents of the address book and to add or delete telephone numbers FIG 11 is a display example of editing the address book To change or delete the address names point names registered in the address book memory 20 the user presses US 6 356 837 1 9 the menu button on the remote control unit to display the main menu on the screen see FIG 11 A and selects the menu item Option from the main menu
12. on an off road travel the navigation control unit will store the position data longitude and latitude of the off road point 1 see FIG 6 in the work RAM 19 step 104 and will check whether the storage method is Auto or Manual by the user s instruction step 105 If the user selected Auto as the storage method the system will generate the travel trail data according to the off road travel and will display the travel trail on the map with the sequence of points TR as shown in FIG 6 A FIG 6 B step 106 Here obtaining and storing the vehicle position data longitude and latitude in the form of discrete data each time the vehicle moves by a specific distance for example 80 m produces the off road travel trail data Thereafter the system checks if the vehicle returns on road step 107 If not the system will check if there are registering operations for points inside the off road area step 108 and if not the system repeats the processing from step 106 US 6 356 837 B1 7 If the vehicle returns on road without registering a point see FIG 7 A the system will check if the on road point PT2 is identical to the off road point PT1 step 109 If not identical the system will store the position data longitude and latitude of the on road point PT2 in the work RAM and if identical the system will not store the position data of the on road point step 110 The system then stores the off road
13. point as a transit point during an off road travel which is inputted by the setting unit STP 2 position data for the registered point and 3 a pointer indicating a stored position of the travel trail data The travel trail data include 1 position data of the point where the vehicle entered off road 2 discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance and 3 position data of the point where the vehicle returned on road When generating travel trail data by the instruction from the user the travel trail data generating unit TRC begins to generate off road travel trail data in accordance with the generation start instruction from the setting unit STP ter minates the generation of the off road travel trail data in accordance with the generation termination instruction and stores the data in the travel trail storage unit OFRM Here in association with the name of a point inputted on the start instruction or on the termination instruction the travel trail data generating unit TRC causes the travel trail storage unit OFRM to store 1 the position data of the point and 2 the travel trail data the position data of the point where the vehicle entered off road and the discrete position data of the vehicle for each specific travel distance The display control unit DPLC causes the monitor display MNT to display a list of the names of points stored in the travel trail storage unit OFRM by an instruction from the setting
14. storage of the off road travel trail On the other hand if the setting is to generate the data by an instruction from the user the system begins to generate the off road travel trail data by a generation starting instruction and terminates the generation of the off road travel trail data by a generation terminating instruction and stores the data With this construction the system does not produce the travel trail data when the vehicle is in an area where the travel trail is not needed to be stored such as shopping malls public gardens etc Therefore the system achieves effective use of the memory and does not store unnecessary travel trail data and the user is able to easily retrieve and or edit the data afterwards In another aspect of the navigation system of the invention when the user travels along an off road travel trail and the vehicle position deviates branches from the off US 6 356 837 B1 3 road travel trail the system produces the position data of the branch point and the travel trail data after branching in association with the name of the branch point and stores these data With this construction the user is able to search the destination by entering the branch point Further since the navigation system of the invention can register an off road point and an on road point as an off road entrance the user can select either one of them and cause the system to search and display a guide route to a specific off ro
15. store travel trail data and to display the remaining capacity by means of a storable remaining point number or a storable remaining distance Therefore the user is able to delete unnecessary off road travel trail data by editing when the remaining memory capacity diminishes and to store only the necessary trail data As many widely different embodiments of the present invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A navigation system that displays a map and a vehicle position mark on a display screen comprising a position measurement unit that detects the vehicle position a monitoring unit that monitors whether the vehicle position deviates from a road so as to be in an off road state a travel trail generating unit that generates off road travel trail data when the vehicle is in the off road state and storage unit that stores the travel trail data 2 A navigation system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a setting unit that sets whether to automatically generate the off road travel trail data or to generate the trail data by an instruction from a user wherein when the setting unit sets the automatic generation and the vehicle 18 in the off road state the travel trail generating unit automatically generates the off road travel trail data an
16. unit STP Further the display control unit DPLC causes the monitor display MNT to display an image 1 including the map surrounding the point for example a hut that the user selected from the list the off road travel trail TR and the name of the point HUT When the name of the point HUT selected by the user is set as the destination the route search unit RTS searches the route to the off road point PT HUT ENTRANCE that is stored in association with the name of the point and displays the route When the point HUT is set as the destination if an off road point PT1 and an on road point PT2 corresponding to the name of the point HUT are each stored as entrances to the destination as US 6 356 837 B1 5 shown in image 2 the user can select either one of them and the route search unit RTS will search the route to the selected point for display Further when a point is set as the receiving station for a portable telephone or the like CALL the telephone number stored in association with the name of the point is inputted to the mobile telephone The setting unit STP sets whether or not to superimpose the off road travel trail stored in the off road travel trail storage unit OFRM with the map on the display According to the setting of the display the display control unit DPLC displays the off road travel trail and during travel along the off road travel trail the travel state monitoring unit DRM monitors whether the po
17. wherein the off road travel trail data includes discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance between the receipt of the generation starting instruction and the generation terminat ing instruction 10 15 20 25 30 14 22 A method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising displaying a list of the names of points selecting a point and displaying a map surrounding the selected point an off road travel trail and the name of the selected point 23 A method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising selecting the point as a destination and searching a route to the selected point 24 A method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising when the point is set as a receiving station for a telephone entering the telephone number stored in association with the name of the point to the telephone 25 A method as claimed in claim 15 further comprising setting whether or not to display a stored off road travel trail superimposed with the map 26 A method as claimed in claim 15 wherein when the vehicle travels along the off road travel trail monitoring whether the vehicle position deviates from the off road travel trail and when the vehicle deviates from the off road travel trail identifying a point where the vehicle position deviates from the off road travel trail as a branch point and generating position data of the branch point and travel trail data after branching and storing the data 27 A metho
18. Setup Trail Display 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 10 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 10 MONITORING A STORABLE REMAINING DISTANCE IN THE OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL STORAGE PROCESSING START 301 OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL STORAGE DISPLAY 302 CALCULATE STORABLE REMAINING POINT NUMBER PTR PTR PN 303 CALCULATE STORABLE REMAINING TRAVEL DISTANCE DTR 304 DISPLAY Ptr DTR RETURN 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 11 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 DISPLAY EXAMPLE OF EDITING THE Address Book FIG 11 A FIG 11 E DERE GREEN Dest Setup Option Route Trai V FIG 11 B Information Return K L M No P QIR ST Delete THIS space 1121314151617 819 10 _ Space FIG 11 C ALPINE ELECTRONICS GREAT WESTERN BANK MY FAVORITE BURGER HUT N30 15 02 116 01 745 FIG 11 D HUT Los Angeles California Change Name amp Phone Number Delete from Address Book Don t Delete 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 12 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 12 PROCESSING FLOW OF A DESTINATION SETTING START SET A DESTINATION 401 USING THE Address Book 40 NO IS THE DESTINATION INSIDE THE OFF ROAD AREA 2 405 YES 406 DISPLAY THE NAME AND ADDRESS ETC DISPLAY THE MAP AND TRAVEL TRAIL SURROUNDING THE DESTINATION ARE THERE MORE THAN TWO ENTRANCES AVAILABLE TO THE DESTINATION SELECT ONE OF THE ENTRANCES NO
19. When ON is selected and the off road travel trail is displayed the user travels along the off road travel trail step 202 As shown in FIG 7 B for example the user travels along the off road travel trail on the return way from the HUT and accompanied with this travel the system checks whether the vehicle gets off the off road travel trail step 203 If the vehicle does not get off the system checks whether the vehicle returns on road step 204 and if not the system will repeat the processing from step 202 and if the vehicle returns on road the system will terminate the processing On the other hand at step 203 if the vehicle gets off the off road travel trail and goes to a waterfall the system will store the position data of the point of branching the branch point PB in the work RAM 19 step 205 thereafter produce data of the travel trail branched to the waterfall to store in the work RAM and display the branched travel trail BTR step 206 Next the system checks whether the vehicle returns to the off road travel trail step 207 If it has not returned the system will check whether the vehicle returns on road step 208 If not on road the system will repeat the processing from step 206 and if on road the system will terminate the processing On the other hand if the vehicle returns to the off road travel trail the system will store the position data of the branch point and the branched travel trail data with the
20. a in the storage unit 7 Anavigation system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the travel trail generating unit stores in the storage unit the off road travel trail data including the position data of the point associated with an off road travel and discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance in association with the name of the point where the vehicle is located which was inputted on the generation starting instruction or on the generation terminating instruction 8 A navigation system as claimed in claim 5 or claim 7 comprising a display unit that displays a list of the names of points stored in the storage unit and displays a map sur rounding a point selected from the list an off road travel trail and the name of the point 9 A navigation system as claimed in claim 8 comprising a route search unit that when a point is set as a destination searches a route to the off road point stored in association with the name of the point 10 A navigation system as claimed in claim 8 wherein when the point was set as a destination when the off road point and the on road point are stored in association with the name of the point the navigation system comprising a selection unit that selects either one of the points wherein the route search unit searches a route to the selected point 11 A navigation system as claimed in claim 8 comprising when the point was set as a receiving station for a telephone an input unit that i
21. ad entrance Moreover since the navigation system of the invention can register an off road travel trail in association with the destination of an off road travel or the place name of a transit point on the off road travel the user is able to set the destination easily from a list of place names and to display the map and the travel trail surrounding the destination thus set In another aspect of the navigation system of the invention when the user selects the destination of an off road travel or the place name of a transit point on an off road travel and instructs a call the system causes the automobile telephone to call a facility at that location Thus the user is able to call facilities located inside the off road area with an easy operation Further the navigation system of the invention monitors the remaining capacity of the memory to store travel trail data and displays the remaining capacity by means of a storable remaining point number or a storable remaining distance Thus the user is able to delete unnecessary off road travel trail data by editing when the remaining memory capacity diminishes and to store only the necessary trail data Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of a navigation system according to the i
22. ad point the date of travel etc On the other hand at step 105 if the storage method is not Auto the system checks whether the user has instructed the production of travel trail data TRAIL ON step 115 Here the selection of the main menu item TRAIL see FIG 5 sets TRAIL ON TRAIL OFF in the toggle form If it is TRAIL OFF the system will not produce the off road travel trail and repeats the processing from step 102 But if it is TRAIL ON the system will stop the map matching processing step 116 thereafter produce the off road travel trail data to store in the work RAM 19 and display on the map the travel trail with the sequence of points as shown in FIG 6 A FIG 6 B step 117 The map matching pro cessing returns the vehicle position mark to the road when the vehicle position mark gets off the road due to the detection errors of the position detection sensor and or the azimuth detection sensor Thereafter the system checks whether the instruction turns to TRAIL OFF step 118 and if the answer is NO the system will repeat the processing at step 117 If the vehicle reaches the specific destination inside the off road area and the user sets TRAIL OFF the system will inquire whether to store the trail data step 119 If the user inputs not to save the data the system will annul the off road travel trail data and terminate the processing However if the user inputs the name for example HUT of the
23. as returned to the road on road travel state 4 a travel trail data generating unit TRC that generates off road travel trail data when the travel state becomes the off road travel state 5 a travel trail storage unit OFRM that stores off road travel trail data 6 a setting unit STP that executes various settings 7 a memory capacity monitoring unit MOM that monitors the remaining memory capacity of the off road travel trail storage unit OFRM 8 a display control unit DPLC that generates a map off road travel trail vehicle mark searched route etc 9 a route search unit RTS that searches a route to a destination and 10 a monitor display MNT The setting unit STP sets whether to generate off road travel trail data automatically Auto or manually by the instruction of a user Manual If the setting is Auto the travel trail data generating unit TRC generates the off road travel trail data automatically when the vehicle is off road and stores it in the travel trail storage unit OFRM That is the travel state monitoring unit DRM monitors whether the vehicle position is off road or has returned to the road on road and the travel trail data generating unit TRC automatically generates for storage travel trail data from the off road point to the on road point in accordance with the monitored result The off road travel trail storage unit OFRM stores 1 a destination in an off road area or the name of a point registered name of a
24. ce for example at each 30 seconds and it is also possible to control the stored spacing of the data in accordance with the degree of curves According to the invention as described above since the system is designed to store off road travel trails the user is able to read out and display the off road travel trails after wards Further according to the invention the user sets whether to generate the off road travel trail data automatically or to generate the data by an instruction from the user When the setting is automatic and the vehicle is in the off road state the system is designed to automatically generate and store the off road travel trail data from the off road point to the on road point Therefore the system provides enhanced maneuverability and securely stores the off road travel trail Further according to the invention when the setting is to generate the off road travel trail data by an instruction from the user the off road travel trail data are stored only when instructed The system does not produce the travel trail data when the vehicle is in an area where the travel trail is not needed to be stored such as shopping malls public gardens etc The system therefore achieves effective use of the memory and in addition does not store unnecessary travel trail data and the user is able to easily retrieve and or edit the data afterwards Further according to the invention when the user travels along an off road travel t
25. d as claimed in claim 15 further comprising monitoring a number of remaining points that can be stored and displaying the number of points or the corresponding travel distance when the system is able to store a specific number of discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance as the travel trail data
26. d stores the data in the storage unit 3 navigation system as claimed in claim 2 wherein the monitoring unit monitors whether the vehicle position returns to the road and the travel trail generating unit automatically generates the travel trail data from an off road point to an on road point 4 A navigation system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the travel trail generating unit generates as the off road travel trail data the position data of a point where the vehicle position enters off road discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance and the position data of a point where the vehicle position returns on road and stores the data in the storage unit 5 navigation system as claimed in claim 1 comprising point setting unit that sets a point associated with an 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 off road travel wherein the travel trail generating unit generates the position data of the point and the travel trail data in association with the name of the point and stores the data in the storage unit 6 A navigation system as claimed in claim 2 wherein when the setting unit sets the generation by the instruction from the user the travel trail generating unit begins to generate the off road travel trail data by a generation starting instruction and terminates the generation of the off road travel trail data by a generation terminating instruction and stores the dat
27. ff road travel trail is set to search and display a guide route to the off road entrance or to call a facility associated with the place name by a mobile telephone Another object of the invention is to make it possible to display a remaining capacity of the memory that stores the travel trail for example by a distance The navigation system of the invention includes 1 a position measurement unit that detects the user s own vehicle position 2 a monitoring unit that monitors whether the vehicle position deviates from a road so as to be in an off road state 3 a travel trail generating unit that generates off road travel trail data when the vehicle is in the off road state and 4 a storage unit that stores the travel trail data That is the navigation system of the invention stores the off road travel trail data in memory and the user is able to read out desired off road travel trail data and to display the travel trail appropriately In another aspect of the navigation system of the invention in storing the travel trail data the user sets whether to generate the off road travel trail data automati cally or to generate the data by an instruction from the user If the setting is automatic when the vehicle is in the off road state the system automatically generates and stores the off road travel trail data from the off road point to the on road point With this construction the system achieves enhanced maneuverability and secure
28. mple by tracing back the travel route on the return even if the driver travels to an unfamiliar place In addition if the driver travels again to the same place later the driver can easily reach the place on the outward journey by re tracing the travel route However the conventional navigation system stores the travel route only when traveling on roads and does not have a function to store the travel route when traveling in off road areas and display the travel route in the off road areas In the United States for example which has vast natural terrain many users of the navigation system travel off road For example they go deep in the mountains by jeep to camp or hunt deer or pheasants they drive about in the desert or wilderness where no roads are available they go to summer cabins without accessible roads deep in the mountains and the like On some later occasions they may return to the cabin campground or hunting area where they once trav eled However since the conventional navigation system does not have a function to store the travel trail in the off road areas it has been difficult for users to reach the cabins or campgrounds That is the off road travelers have a desire to store the off road trails to view the trails afterwards and to re trace the trails once again which the conventional navigation system could not do SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a navigation sys
29. n and superimposes a vehicle mark the user s own vehicle mark with the map image at a specified position on the display screen As the current position of the vehicle varies with the movement thereof the navigation system moves the vehicle mark on the screen or fixes the vehicle mark at a specific position such as the screen center and scrolls the map image so that the driver can recognize the map information sur rounding the vehicle position at a glance This type of navigation system is provided with a travel route display function that superimposes the route on which the vehicle traveled in the past with the map image on the screen The travel route display function stores the vehicle position longitude and latitude in a travel route memory as discrete travel route data each time the vehicle position detected by the vehicle position detector varies by a constant distance while drawing the map image on the screen selects data to be taken in as the map image data from the discrete travel route data stored in the travel route memory and identifiably draws the map image by changing the sequence of points or the color at a corresponding position on the map image Therefore because it can display the route on which the vehicle traveled in the past with the sequence of points on the road in the display screen the navigation system having the travel route display function can easily bring the driver back to the point of departure for exa
30. n off road state US 6 356 837 B1 13 generating off road travel trail data when the vehicle is in the off road state and storing the travel trail data 16 A method as claimed in claim 15 further comprising setting whether to generate the off road travel trail data automatically when the vehicle is in the off road state or to generate the trail data by an instruction from a user 17 A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein in the automatic setting the travel trail data is automatically gen erated from an off road point to an on road point 18 A method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the gen erated off road travel trail data includes the position data of point where the vehicle position enters off road discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance and the position data of a point where the vehicle position returns on road 19 A method as claimed in claim 15 further comprising setting a point associated with an off road travel by gener ating the position data of the point and storing the travel trail data in association with the name of the point 20 A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein when the trail data is generated by the instruction from the user the off road travel trail data begins to be generated by a gen eration starting instruction received from the user and stops being generated by a generation terminating instruction received from the user 21 A method as claimed in claim 20
31. nputs the telephone number stored in association with the name of the point to the telephone 12 navigation system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a setting unit that sets whether or not to display an off road travel trail stored in the storage unit superimposed with the map 13 A navigation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein when the vehicle travels along the off road travel trail the monitoring unit monitors whether the vehicle position devi ates from the off road travel trail and when the vehicle deviates from the off road travel trail the travel trail gen erating unit regards a point where the vehicle position deviates from the off road travel trail as a branch point and generates position data of the branch point in association with a name of the branch point and travel trail data after branching and stores the data in the storage unit 14 Anavigation system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a display unit that monitors a number of remaining points that can be stored and displays the number of points or the corresponding travel distance when the storage unit is able to store a specific number of discrete vehicle position data for each specific travel distance as the travel trail data 15 A method of operating a navigation system that displays a map and a vehicle position mark on a display Screen comprising detecting the vehicle position monitoring whether the vehicle position deviates from a road so as to be in a
32. nvention FIG 2 is a block diagram of a navigation system FIG 3 is a chart illustrating a construction of an address book memory FIG 4 is a flow chart of the storage processing of an off road travel trail FIG 5 is an example of setting the storage method Auto Manual of the off road travel trail data FIG 6 is a display example No 1 of the travel trail FIG 7 is a display example No 2 of the travel trail FIG 8 is a flow chart of the storage processing of a branched travel trail FIG 9 is an example of the display on off setting of the off road travel trail FIG 10 is a flow chart of monitoring a storable remaining distance in the off road travel trail storage processing FIG 11 is a display example of editing the Address Book FIG 12 is a flow chart of a destination setting and FIG 13 is an explanatory chart of the method of inputting destination by the Address Book DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A Outline Of The Invention FIG 1 is a functional block diagram of a navigation system according to the invention The navigation system 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 4 includes 1 a map storage unit MPS that stores map data 2 position measurement unit CPM that measures a position of the vehicle 3 a travel state monitoring unit DRM that monitors the travel state of the vehicle i e whether it is traveling off the road off road travel state or h
33. point registered point inside the area in order to save the trail data step 120 the system will store 1 the position data of the registered point and 2 the trail pointer in the address list area 20a in association with the point name HUT and will store the travel trail data in the trail list area 205 step 121 The travel trail data include the position data of the off road point PT1 the discrete vehicle position data from the off road point to the registered point HUT the date of travel etc Further the edit operation permits the user to register telephone numbers 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 d Register Of The Branched Travel Trail FIG 8 illustrates a processing flow to store a branched travel trail that is when the vehicle travels along an off road travel trail and gets off the off road travel trail and goes into a branched travel The user sets in advance whether or not to display the off road travel trail step 201 As shown in FIG 9 A for example the user operates the remote control unit and displays the main menu selects Setup to display the submenu in FIG 9 B Here if the user selects Guidance Setup the system will present the submenu in FIG 9 C and the user selects Trail Display to present the submenu ON OFF in FIG 9 D The user selects ON to display the off road travel trail and selects OFF to not display it
34. rail and the vehicle position devi ates branches from the off road travel trail since the system can produce the position data of the branch point and the travel trail data after branching in association with the US 6 356 837 B1 11 name of the branch point and to store them in the storage unit the user is able to input the branch point and search the destination afterwards Further according to the invention since the system is made to register an off road point and an on road point as an off road entrance by the user selecting either one of them the system is able to search and display the guide route to a specific off road entrance Further according to the invention the system is made to register an off road travel trail in association with the destination of an off road travel or the place name being a transit point Therefore the system enables the user to set the destination easily from a list of place names and to display the map and the travel trail surrounding the destination thus set Further according to the invention by the user selecting the destination of an off road travel or the place name of a transit point and instructing a call the system causes the automobile telephone to call a facility at that point Therefore the user is able to call facilities inside the off road area with an easy operation Further according to the invention the system can be made to monitor the remaining capacity of the memory to
35. ravel trail data and stores the data in an off road travel trail storage unit A display control unit displays by the user s instruction the off road travel trail superimposed with the map using the off road travel trail data The route search unit searches a route to an off road point and displays the route 27 Claims 13 Drawing Sheets FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION REGISTERED NAME _ _ ___ POSITION DATA OF THE REGISTERED POINT START END OF DATA GENERATION TRC CPM POSITION MEASUREMENT UNIT TRAVEL TRAIL DATA POSITION DATA OF A POINT WHERE A VEHICLE ENTERED OFF ROAD POSITION DATA OF A POINT WHERE A VEHICLE RETURNED ON THE ROAD OFF ROAD TRAVEL TRAIL STORAGE UNIT MEMORY CAPACITY MONITORING UNIT MONITOR DISPLAY 1 1 IM2 0 5 Patent Mar 12 2002 Sheet 1 of 13 US 6 356 837 B1 FIG 1 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION REGISTERED NAME TRAVEL TRAIL DATA _ _______ POSITION DATA OF A POINT WHERE A POSITION DATA OF THE VEHICLE ENTERED OFF ROAD STP REGISTERED POINT DISCRETE POSITION DATA OF A VEHICLE POSITION DATA OF A POINT WHERE A VEHICLE RETURNED ON THE ROAD SETTING Auto Manual POINT 7 UNT sTART END OF DATA GENERATION RC
36. reen Confirm Destination in FIG 13 D If the point is correct as the destination the user will select OK to Proceed in the screen Confirm Destination to set it as the destination step 404 Thereafter the navigation system searches and displays the guide route to the desti nation from the current position of the vehicle step 405 At step 402 if the selected address is a point inside the off road area using the map and the off road travel trail data the system will display the map surrounding the destination the off road travel trail TR the point name for example the destination the telephone number ete as shown in FIG 13 E step 406 In this case the system 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 displays the name of the destination and the entrance for example ENTRANCE at the off road point Next referring to the off road travel trail data the system checks if there are two or more entrances off road point and on road point leading to the destination step 407 If not the user will select the menu item to Proceed or CALL according to whether the user is searching and displaying the travel route to the destination or calling the destination step 408 If the user selects the menu item OK to Proceed the system will locate the off road point from the off road travel trail data and will search and display the route
37. sition of the vehicle is off the off road travel trail If the vehicle position goes off the off road travel trail the travel trail data generating unit TRC will regard the point of deviation from the off road travel trail as a branch point will generate the position data of the branch point in association with the name of the branch point and the off road travel trail after the branch and will cause the storage unit OFRM to store them When the travel trail storage unit OFRM is able to store the vehicle position data for each specific travel distance in the form of a specific point number the memory capacity monitoring unit MOM monitors the storable remaining point number and causes the monitor MNT to display the storable remaining point number or the storable remaining travel distance B Navigation System Of The Invention a Overall Construction FIG 2 is a block diagram of a navigation system accord ing to the present invention In the drawing 11 signifies a map storage medium for example a DVD digital video disk that stores map information 12 a DVD controller that controls the read out of the map information from the DVD 13 a position measurement equipment that measures a current position of the vehicle which includes a speed sensor that detects a distance of movement an angular velocity sensor that detects an azimuth of a movement a GPS receiver and a position calculation CPU and the like 14 signifies a map informa
38. tem that displays an off road travel trail afterwards 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 Another object of the invention is to make it possible to store an off road travel trail automatically or only when a user instructs and to read out and display a desired travel trail afterwards Another object of the invention is to make it possible to automatically store an off road travel trail from an off road point entry point to an off road area from an on road area to an on road point entry point to an on road area from an off road area Another object of the invention is to make it possible when the vehicle travels along an off road travel trail and deviates from the off road travel trail to automatically store the travel trail after the deviation Another object of the invention is to make it possible to register an off road point and an on road point as an entrance to the off road trail to thereby search and display a guide route to a specific off road entrance Another object of the invention is to make it possible to register an off road travel trail in association with a place name of a destination or transit point on the off road travel to thereby set a destination easily from a list of the place names afterwards and display the map or the travel trail surrounding the set destination afterwards Another object of the invention is to make it possible when a place name as a destination of an o
39. tion memory that memorizes map information surrounding the vehicle position which is read out from the DVD 15 a remote control unit that executes various settings and instructions according to the menu selection inputs the names of points and the telephone numbers and executes operations such as expansion contraction etc and 16 a remote control interface 17 signifies a CPU navigation control unit that controls the entire navigation system 18 a ROM that stores various software and fixed data in which the various software include 1 trail storage display software for off road travel 2 trail edit software 3 destination setting software 4 setup software for various settings 5 remaining capacity monitoring software for trail storage memory 6 map matching software 7 guide route search software and the like 19 signifies a work RAM that temporarily stores the processed results of guide route data GRT and off road current travel trail data ORTR etc 20 an address book memory that stores an address list ADL and an off road trail list TRL Further 21 signifies a display controller that generates a map image off road travel trail guide route etc 22 a video RAM that stores images generated by the display controller 23 a menu list generator that generates various menus and lists 24 a vehicle mark generator that generates the position mark of the user s own vehicle 25 an image synthesizer that 10 15 20 25
40. travel trail data from the off road point PT1 to the on road point PF2 in the off road trail list area 20b of the address book memory 20 gives the data an arbitrary name for example OFFROAD 1 and stores in the address list area 20a a pointer indicating the off road travel trail data storage location in association with the name step 111 thus terminating the storage processing of the travel trail data In the above case the system did not register a point in the off road area but if a point is registered the system stores the position data of the registered point trail pointer and travel trail data in association with the name of the point That is at step 108 if a point registering is made at a specific point inside the off road area and the name of a point inside the area for example HUT is entered step 112 the system stores the name of the point and the position of the vehicle at that time in the work RAM 19 step 113 Thereafter the system repeats the processing from step 106 and if the vehicle returns on road the system will execute the pro cessing at steps 109 110 At step 111 in association with the registered point name HUT the system stores 1 the posi tion data of the registered point 2 trail pointer and 3 travel trail data The travel trail data include the position data at the off road point the position data at the on road point the discrete vehicle position data from the off road point to the on ro
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