Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation – Determination of travel data based on the start point and...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-21
2001-01-16
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
Determination of travel data based on the start point and...
C701S025000, C701S035000, C701S201000, C701S208000, C701S209000, C340S995190
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175800
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for searching a route to a destination, extending via a place selected by a user, in a navigation apparatus mounted in a vehicle, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
With respect to a navigation apparatus mounted in a vehicle, a technique of searching a route extending from a departure place to a destination on the basis of road map data and suggesting the route thus searched as a recommendable route to a user has been put into practice.
Further, there has also been put into practice such a technique of accepting user's selection of one or plural stopovers and a destination from a plurality of stopover candidates and destination candidates which are prepared in advance in a route searching operation, and then searching a route extending from a departure place to the destination by way of each of the selected stopovers. Here, “stopover” means a place through which a route from a departure place to a destination necessarily passes. The stopover candidates and the destination candidates are various frequently prepared abilities which may generally be used by users, for example, sights, parking places, service areas, gasoline service stations, etc.
Since there are cases where stopovers and destinations thus selected are not located on roads, the following method has been hitherto adopted in order to determine a route extending from a departure place through stopovers to a destination. That is, a route extending from the departure place to an intersection/branching point of a road nearest to the facilities selected as a first stopover is searched, and then a route from the intersection/branching point to an intersection/branching point of a road nearest to the facilities selected as a next stopover is searched. This processing is repeated until a route to the final stopover is searched. Finally, a route extending from the final stopover to an intersection/branching point nearest to the destination is searched.
The operation of searching a route between places on a road is performed by a technique referred to as the Dijkstra's algorithm. According to this method, a route having the minimum cost is searched from available routes between places. The total distance of the route is frequently used as the “cost” of the route.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The conventional technique of searching the route from the departure place through each selected stopover to the destination has the following problem.
For example, there is now considered such a case that a service area attached to a toll road is selected as a stopover. In this case, according to the conventional technique, a route passing through a road nearest to the service area is searched. Therefore, when a public road which is not linked to the service area exists in the neighborhood of the service area, a route passing through the public road (not the toll road) is searched. In this case, the route passing through the public road which is not linked to the service area is searched in spite of the user's intention of selecting the service area as a stopover to use the service area, and thus the user cannot use the service area in this route. Therefore, according to the conventional technique, a route which does not meet the user's intention is searched.
Therefore, the present invention has an object to search a route which conforms more to a user's wishes in consideration of a selected stopover.
In order to attain the above object, a route searching device for searching a route from a departure place to a destination according to the present invention includes: means for accepting an indication of facilities serving as a stopover or a destination in a route to be searched by a user; and search means for searching a route from a departure place to a destination in which a place in the neighborhood of the indicated facilities on a road whose type is determined according to the type of the indicated facilities is set as a place on the route.
According to the route searching device described above, when a user indicates facilities relevant to the toll road as a stopover or destination, a route passing through the toll road of roads in the neighborhood of the facilities is searched by associating the toll road with the type of facilities relevant to the toll road, such as a service area or an interchange ramp, etc. Therefore, searching of a route which the facilities relevant to the toll road indicated by the user are unusable is avoided.
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Deshimaru Masatsugu
Maruyama Hiroshi
Mori Takashi
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Hernandez Olga
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Xanavi Informatics Corporation
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