IP Library Granted Patent US 8,825,372
Granted Patent B2
US 8,825,372 · App. 13/131,134 · Granted Sep 2, 2014

Navigation system

Inventors: Kumi Nishibashi (Tokyo, JP); Takashi Irie (Tokyo, JP)
Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,825,372
App. No.
13/131,134
Granted
Sep 2, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

A navigation system includes: a map information acquiring unit 31 for acquiring map information; an HOV lane decision unit 38 for deciding whether an HOV lane is included in a road represented by the map information acquired by the map information acquiring unit 31 or not; a road number processing unit 43 for performing, when the HOV lane decision unit 38 decides that the HOV lane is included, processing of adding information representing the HOV lane to a road number of the road including the HOV lane; and a display processing unit 44 or a voice information unit 46 for causing the road number passing through the processing by the road number processing unit 43 to be displayed on the guide map or output in voice.

Claims (53)

1. A navigation system comprising:

a map information acquiring unit that acquires, from a storage device, map information defining links, wherein an HOV lane and an ordinary lane are represented in a single one of the links in the map information, and the map information further indicates whether or not an HOV lane is represented in each of the links;

a route identifying unit that identifies a route for a vehicle to travel;

an HOV lane decision unit that decides, for each of the links on the identified route, whether or not an HOV lane is represented in the link in the acquired map information; and

a control unit operable to:

even if branch roads diverging from bifurcation points on the identified route are not on the route, when the bifurcation points are set to need guidance without exception, provide guidance of the bifurcation points, each of the bifurcation points corresponding to a point at which a branch road diverges from an ordinary lane or an HOV lane,

for a given HOV lane that is part of the identified route, determine whether or not a branch road diverges only from an ordinary lane represented in the same link as the given HOV lane in the acquired map information, and

when a branch road is determined to diverge only from an ordinary lane represented in the same link as the given HOV lane, suppress guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the ordinary lane.

2. A navigation system comprising:

a map information acquiring unit that acquires, from a storage device, map information defining links, wherein an HOV lane and an ordinary lane are represented in a single one of the links in the map information, and the map information further indicates whether or not an HOV lane is represented in each of the links;

a route identifying unit that identifies a route for a vehicle to travel; and

a control unit operable to:

even if branch roads diverging from bifurcation points on the identified route are not on the route, when the bifurcation points are set to need guidance without exception, provide guidance of the bifurcation points, each of the bifurcation points corresponding to a point at which a branch road diverges from an ordinary lane or an HOV lane,

for a given ordinary lane which is part of the identified route, determine whether or not a branch road diverges only from an HOV lane represented in the same link as the given ordinary lane in the acquired map information, and

when a branch road is determined to diverge only from the HOV lane represented in the same link as the given ordinary lane, suppress guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the HOV lane.

3. A navigation system comprising:

a map information that acquires, from a storage device, map information defining links, wherein an HOV lane and an ordinary lane are represented in a single one of the links in the map information, and the map information further indicates whether or not an HOV lane is represented in each of the links;

a current position detecting unit that detects a current position of a vehicle; and

a control unit operable to:

even if a route is not set, when bifurcation points are set to need guidance without exception, provide guidance of the bifurcation points, each of the bifurcation points corresponding to a point at which a branch road diverges from an ordinary lane or an HOV lane,

determine, based on the detected current position, whether the vehicle is located in an HOV lane,

when the vehicle is determined to be within an HOV lane, determine whether a branch road diverges only from an ordinary lane, and

when a branch road is determined to diverge only from an ordinary lane, suppress guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the ordinary lane.

4. A navigation system comprising:

a map information acquiring unit that acquires, from a storage device, map information defining links, wherein an HOV lane and an ordinary lane are represented in a single one of the links in the map information, and the map information further indicates whether or not an HOV lane is represented in each of the links;

a current position detecting unit that detects a current position of a vehicle; and

a control unit operable to:

even if a route is not set, when bifurcation points are set to need guidance without exception, provide guidance of the bifurcation points, each of the bifurcation points corresponding to a point at which a branch road diverges from an ordinary lane or an HOV lane,

determine, based on the detected current position, whether the vehicle is located in an ordinary lane,

when the vehicle is determined to be within an ordinary lane, determine whether a branch road diverges only from an HOV lane, and

when a branch road is determined to diverge only from an HOV lane, suppress guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the HOV lane.

5. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein guidance of a bifurcation point on the identified route is provided when a corresponding bifurcation flag is detected in the acquired map information.

6. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein

when a branch road is determined to diverge from both the given HOV lane and an ordinary lane represented in the same link as the given HOV lane, guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the given HOV lane is outputted.

7. The navigation system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an occupant number obtaining unit for obtaining a number of occupants in the vehicle,

wherein the control unit determines that HOV lanes are passable based on the obtained number of occupants.

8. The navigation system of claim 1 , wherein guidance is outputted as display or voice information.

9. The navigation system of claim 2 , wherein guidance of a bifurcation point on the identified route is provided when a corresponding bifurcation flag is detected in the acquired map information.

10. The navigation system of claim 2 , wherein

when a branch road is determined to diverge from both the given ordinary lane and an HOV lane represented in the same link as the given ordinary lane, guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the given ordinary lane is outputted.

11. The navigation system of claim 2 , further comprising:

an occupant number obtaining unit for obtaining a number of occupants in the vehicle,

wherein the control unit determines that HOV lanes are not passable based on the obtained number of occupants.

12. The navigation system of claim 2 , wherein guidance is outputted as display or voice information.

13. The navigation system of claim 3 , wherein guidance of a bifurcation point on the identified route is provided when a corresponding bifurcation flag is detected in the acquired map information.

14. The navigation system of claim 3 , wherein

when a branch road is determined to diverge from both an ordinary lane and an HOV lane represented in the determined link, guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the HOV lane is outputted.

15. The navigation system of claim 3 , wherein guidance is outputted as display or voice information.

16. The navigation system of claim 4 , wherein guidance of a bifurcation point on the identified route is provided when a corresponding bifurcation flag is detected in the acquired map information.

17. The navigation system of claim 4 , wherein

when a branch road is determined to diverge from both an ordinary lane and an HOV lane represented in the determined link, guidance of the bifurcation point corresponding to the point at which the branch road diverges from the ordinary lane is outputted.

18. The navigation system of claim 4 , wherein guidance is outputted as display or voice information.

Assignments (2)
COMPANY SPLIT Recorded Sep 4, 2024
From: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
To: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC MOBILITY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 068834/0585 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 26, 2011
From: NISHIBASHI, KUMI; IRIE, TAKASHI
To: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 026348/0408 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2008-304932 · Nov 28, 2008 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20110231088A1 · Sep 22, 2011