Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g. – Directive – Including a satellite
Utility Patent
1998-01-20
2001-01-02
Blum, Theodore M. (Department: 3662)
Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g.,
Directive
Including a satellite
C701S208000, C340S995190, C345S419000
Utility Patent
active
06169516
ABSTRACT:
The contents of Japanese Patent Applications 9-7752, 9-7845 and 9-24756, with filing dates January 20, January 20 and February 7 in Japan, are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a navigation system of vehicle-installed type or hand-held type and a memorizing medium for memorizing operation programs used for the system. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with navigation systems of a type which displays topographical information and map information on a screen in the form of a stereoscopic birds-eye view and a memorizing medium for memorizing programs used for the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, various navigation systems of the above-mentioned type have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of motor vehicles. One of such navigation systems is described in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication 7-220055. In the system of this publication, by using a global positioning system (viz., GPS) or a self-contained navigation system (viz., SCN), the current position of the user is detected and specified, or by manipulating a keyboard or a remote controller, a desired position is specified. The specified position is determined as a display reference point. Based on the display reference point and the direction of movement of a vehicle which has the navigation system mounted thereon, a viewpoint coordinate and a viewpoint direction are calculated and by applying a so-called perspective projection transformation to map information data stored in an external memory, the specified position is displayed on a screen in the form of a birds-eye view.
For ease of description, the vehicle on which the navigation system is mounted will be referred to as “system-mounted vehicle”.
In the above-mentioned conventional system, the surrounding area of the system-mounted vehicle, that is, the area near the display reference point displays a larger and thus detailed map information and with increase of distance from the display reference point, the map information displayed region increases. Thus, this system is advantageous from a point of view that an entire road condition near and far from the user (viz., system-mounted vehicle) can be intuitively and instantly grasped by a viewer of the screen.
However, hitherto, the map data used for the navigation system is provided based on a so-called two dimensional coordinate system, and thus the ground or terrain for the background of the displayed map is shown as a flat surface. Accordingly, even in case of displaying an area whose ground is actually rugged, the screen is obliged to display the area as a flat surface. In particular, when the current position of the system-mounted vehicle is used as the display reference point, the displayed view fails to fit the actual view of the surrounding area of the vehicle. In this case, the viewer feels inconvenience in determining the viewer's current position and grasping the positional relation with the surroundings.
In the field of amusement, there are many types of application software which can display the terrain in a three dimensional mode. However, these software are of a type which displays only a fixed terrain, not of a type which displays road information and place name information needed for the navigation. More specifically, the software of such type displays only a fanciful world which has no connection with the actual terrain, and thus they can not be used as a part of the navigation system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which stereoscopically displays an area based on altitude information data of the actual terrain of the area, and puts thereon map display components such as roads, place manes and the like to form a stereoscopic map on the screen, which fits-the actual view of the area.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a navigation system in which even when the altitude value of the display reference point is changed, a topographical map view taken from a viewpoint is constantly displayed, which has a certain height relative to the display reference point.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which can display or show in a unique way a map display component (such as road or the like) which would be hidden from the displayed image due to presence of a high mountain or the like in front of the map display component.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which, when displaying a character train (place names or the like) for a certain map component hidden due to presence of a high mountain in front of the map component, can show the character train as if it is hidden by the high mountain.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which can constantly display or show the display reference point (such as a mark for indicating the position of the system-mounted vehicle) even when the system-mounted vehicle is running behind a high mountain.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which displays a background of map display components with a color which changes in accordance with the natural condition (such as season, weather, time, etc.,) under which the system-mounted vehicle actually runs.
It is a further object to provide a memorizing medium which memorizes programmed operation steps which are executed in the above-mentioned navigation systems.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5179638 (1993-01-01), Dawson et al.
patent: 5566073 (1996-10-01), Margolin
patent: 5751289 (1998-05-01), Myers
patent: 0802516 (1997-10-01), None
patent: 4-125679 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 7-220055 (1995-08-01), None
patent: 8-124095 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 9-138136 (1997-05-01), None
Hirose Satoru
Kishi Norimasa
Oizumi Ken
Takada Masayuki
Takahashi Toshiaki
Blum Theodore M.
McDermott & Will & Emery
Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
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