JPH10300492A - Locator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To measure the actual position where a vehicle is traveling on a road, and estimate a traffic lane on which the vehicle is traveling. SOLUTION: A locator includes: a current position measuring means 5 for measuring the current position of a vehicle; a traveling track storage means 6 for storing the hysteresis of the positions measured by the current position measuring means as the traveling track of the vehicle; a road network storage means 1 for storing road data about a predetermined range of traffic lanes on which the vehicle travels; a position determining means 9 for determining the current position of the vehicle, while taking into account the width of the road involved in the road data, by specifying the course of the vehicle using the traveling track stored in the traveling track storage means and the map data stored in the road network storage means, determining the current position of the vehicle on the course, originating a template using the width of the road involved in the road data about the course, and correcting the traveling track or advancing direction of the vehicle so that the traveling track of the vehicle is within the template; and a display means 10 for displaying the road data and the current position of the vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for identifying a current position on a road on which a vehicle is traveling, and more particularly, to identification of a position in a width direction of a road and a lane on which the vehicle is traveling. And a locator device for estimating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional locator device will be described.
FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a locator device disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-159788. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a road network storage means, which stores the position of a road intersection or a turning point. Nodes to be shown, links connecting the nodes with straight lines, data on buildings around the road, and the like (collectively referred to as road data) are stored. 2
Is a GPS receiver, which measures the position by a radio wave from a satellite and outputs position data of the vehicle. Reference numeral 3 denotes an azimuth measuring unit which measures azimuth data of the vehicle using, for example, the angular velocity of the vehicle detected by a gyro. Reference numeral 4 denotes a distance measuring unit that measures distance data of the vehicle using a pulse signal of a distance sensor output according to a traveling distance of the vehicle, for example.
Reference numeral 5 denotes a current position measuring means, which measures the current position of the vehicle based on the direction data of the direction measuring means 3 and the distance data of the distance measuring means 4 so as to represent the current position in longitude and latitude. And G
The current position of the vehicle is corrected as necessary using the position data from the PS receiver 2. Numeral 11 denotes a 150 m determining means, which repeatedly integrates the distance data of the distance measuring means 4 every 150 m, and outputs a signal every time the vehicle travels 150 m. Numeral 12 is a 30 m determining means, which repeatedly integrates the distance data of the distance measuring means 4 every 30 m travel, and
The signal is output every time the vehicle travels m. Reference numeral 6 denotes a traveling locus storage unit that stores the traveling locus of the vehicle based on the direction data of the direction measuring unit 3 and the current position of the current position measuring unit 5. That is, every time the vehicle travels 15 m, a traveling vector that is the azimuth data of the azimuth measuring means 3 having a magnitude of 15 and an azimuth is generated and sequentially stored.

[0003] Reference numeral 7 denotes a vehicle position candidate setting means. Each time the vehicle passes through an intersection, it is determined based on the azimuth data of the azimuth measuring means 3, the distance data of the distance measuring means 4 and the road data of the road network storage means 1. Each time the vehicle travels 15 m in all directions in which the road extends from the intersection, a candidate position of the vehicle on each road in the road data is set. Numeral 8 denotes a road shape generating means for generating and sequentially storing each road shape vector when it is assumed that each position candidate of the position candidate setting means 7 has run on the corresponding road. Each time a signal is output from the 150 m determination means 11, reference numeral 91 denotes a pattern matching means that compares the running locus of the running locus storage means 6 with each road shape vector of the running road shape generating means 8 and most correlates with the running locus. Is selected, and the current position of the vehicle is corrected to a position candidate position on the road corresponding to the road shape vector. Reference numeral 92 denotes a projection matching unit, which sequentially compares the current position of the current position measuring unit 5 and each position candidate of the position candidate setting unit 7 each time a signal is output from the 30 m determining unit 12 to determine the current position of the vehicle. A position candidate that is closest in terms of distance and in which the traveling direction is short is selected. Then, while correcting the current position of the vehicle to the selected position candidate point, the traveling locus storage means 8
Is also corrected. 101 is a display control means,
Based on the current position of the vehicle of the current position measuring means 5, a map around the current position of the vehicle is read from the road network storage means 1, and the display means 1 is displayed together with a vehicle mark indicating the current position of the vehicle.
02 is displayed.

Next, a method for identifying the current position of a vehicle on a road in a conventional locator device will be described. For example, FIG. 17 shows an operation example of the pattern matching unit 91. The pattern matching means 91 is 150
Each time a signal is output from the m determining unit 11, the traveling locus of the traveling locus storage unit 6 and the road shape vector of the traveling road shape generating unit 8 are read by 2 km. Then, a correlation with the traveling locus is calculated for each road shape vector, and a road shape vector having the highest correlation is selected. At the same time, it determines that the route of the selected road is correct, corrects the current position to a position candidate point on the road corresponding to the road shape vector, and also corrects the traveling locus of the traveling locus storage means 6. Conversely, when there is no correlation between the road shape vector and the travel locus, the road shape vector and the corresponding position candidate on the road are deleted. In FIG. 17, a route indicated by a dotted line is a traveling locus when the vehicle travels 150 m from the departure point Ps, and each triangle on the road drawn by a solid line is a position candidate. Then, the position candidate P on the road corresponding to the road shape vector having the highest correlation with the traveling locus.
The example which corrects the present position P0 to the position of 0-1 is shown.

FIG. 18 shows an operation example of the projection matching means 92. In the figure, Ps is a starting point, and P0, P1, P2,... P5 are current positions sequentially measured by the current position measuring means 5. P0-1 is a position candidate set on a road near the current position P0 based on the traveling direction Y at the time of departure and the road data at the time when the vehicle travels 15 m after the start of traveling of the vehicle. Also, P1-
1, P1-2 and P1-3 are position candidates set when the vehicle travels 30 m after departure, and P1-3 is a position candidate closest to the current position P1 in terms of distance and traveling direction is short.
Indicates that was selected. Then, the selected position candidate P1
-3 indicates that the current position P1 has been corrected and the traveling locus of the traveling locus storage means 6 has also been modified.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-1
Since the locator device disclosed in JP-A-59788 is configured as described above, in any of the map matching methods of the pattern matching means and the projection matching means, the locator device is selected from position candidates set on a plurality of roads. When a position candidate having the highest correlation with the traveling locus is selected, the point indicated by the position candidate is set as the current position of the vehicle, and the current position of the vehicle identified so far is corrected. However, since the position candidates are set on the data link indicating the center of the road, the current position of the vehicle is also identified at the center of the road, and the current position of the actual vehicle is accurately represented. Was impossible.

This not only makes it impossible to measure the position of the vehicle in the width direction of the road and to determine the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, but also makes it difficult to determine the lane on which the vehicle is traveling, such as a main road in a large city. Turning left also caused a serious problem that an error occurred at a position close to the width at most. Also, it has been impossible to notify the driver of information on a specific lane.

Therefore, the present invention solves the problem that, in the conventional map matching method, when a right or left turn is made on a road having a large width such as a main road in a large city, an error of a position at most substantially close to the width occurs after the right or left turn. It is an object of the present invention to provide a locator device capable of measuring a position in a width direction of a road.

Another object of the present invention is to solve the problem that the lane in which the vehicle is traveling cannot be determined in the conventional map matching method, and the lane in which the vehicle is traveling can be estimated. A locator device is provided.

Still another object of the present invention is to solve the problem that the current position of the vehicle is displayed only at the center of the road by the conventional map matching method and display method. It is an object of the present invention to provide a locator device capable of displaying a current position on a current lane.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a locator device for measuring a current position of a vehicle, and a history of the positions measured by the current position measuring device as a traveling locus of the vehicle. Traveling locus storing means for storing, road network storing means for storing road data relating to lanes including a width and the number of lanes in a predetermined range in which the vehicle travels, traveling locus of the traveling locus storing means and the road network storing means; Identify the passing course of the vehicle using the road data, identify the current position of the vehicle on the passing course, generate a template using the width of the road data of the passing course, and create a running trajectory of the vehicle in the template. Position identification means for correcting the traveling locus or traveling direction of the vehicle so that the vehicle can be accommodated, and identifying the current position of the vehicle in consideration of the width of the road data; In which and a locator device and a display means for displaying the current position of the vehicle the road data and the position identification means 憶 means. With such a configuration, the position identification unit corrects the traveling locus or the traveling direction so that the traveling locus of the vehicle falls within the road surface having the width indicated by the width of the traveling road, and the position of the vehicle on the road surface. Identify the current location.

[0012] In a locator device according to a second aspect of the present invention, the position identifying means is configured to determine whether the road data of the passing course is
After calculating the lane of the road data from the data on the lane including the width and the number of lanes of the road data, the lane where the vehicle is traveling on the lane overlapping with the traveling locus or the current position of the vehicle identified on the road surface of the road data is It is configured to estimate. With such a configuration, the position identification means calculates each lane by equally dividing the width of the road on which the vehicle is traveling by the number of lanes, and drives the vehicle along a lane overlapping with the traveling locus of the vehicle or the current position. It is assumed that the lane is running.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the locator device, the display means displays the number of lanes of the road data so that the number of lanes can be recognized, and displays the number of lanes on the lane on which the vehicle estimated by the position identification means travels. The current position of the vehicle is configured to be displayed. With such a configuration, the display unit displays the lane of the traveling road calculated by the position identification unit and the current position of the vehicle identified on the lane.

[0014] In a locator device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the road network storage means stores the lane width in advance for each lane of the road data.

In a locator device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the road network storage means stores a restriction direction for each lane of the road data, or stores a restriction direction for each of up and down traffic directions. The lane regulation direction is determined based on the lane regulation direction and the up / down traffic direction restriction direction of the road data stored in the road network storage means.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1 First, a locator device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the locator device. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a road network storage means, which indicates nodes indicating positions such as intersections or bends of roads, links connecting nodes with straight lines, data relating to road width, one-way traffic, and the like (these are collectively described). Road data). 2
Is a GPS receiver, which receives radio waves from satellites.
The S antenna is connected, and measures the position by a radio wave from a satellite to output position data of the vehicle. Reference numeral 3 denotes an azimuth measuring unit, which measures azimuth data such as a traveling azimuth of the vehicle using, for example, an angular velocity of the vehicle detected by a gyro. Numeral 4 denotes a distance measuring means which measures distance data such as the traveling distance of the vehicle by using a pulse signal of a distance sensor output according to the traveling distance of the vehicle. Reference numeral 5 denotes a current position measuring means, which measures the current position of the vehicle based on the azimuth data of the azimuth measuring means 3, the distance data of the distance measuring means 4 and the position data of the GPS receiver 2 so as to represent the current position in longitude and latitude. . Reference numeral 6 denotes a running locus storage unit which records the current position of the vehicle measured by the current position measuring unit 5 every time the vehicle changes its course by a predetermined distance or more than a predetermined angle.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a position candidate setting means, which stores the travel locus stored in the travel locus storage means 6 in the road network storage means 1.
, And sets a candidate position of the vehicle on a plurality of sets of road data groups that are determined to have a possibility that the vehicle is traveling. 8 is a passing course candidate storage means,
Road data (start point node,
The history of the end point node, the width, the number of lanes, the vertical separation, the regulation direction) is recorded, and the candidates of the passing course corresponding to the plurality of position candidates of the vehicle are stored. Numeral 9 is a position identification means, which selects only one passing course of the vehicle from a plurality of sets of candidates of the passing course stored by the passing course candidate storage means 8 and also determines the current position of the vehicle on the passing course. Identify. Reference numeral 10 denotes a display unit, which superimposes and displays the current position of the vehicle identified by the position identification unit 9 on the road data in the road network storage unit 1.

Next, regarding the operation until the vehicle position is identified on the road from the traveling locus of the vehicle, the position candidate setting means 7
The passage course candidate storage means 8 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 13 as handling two candidates. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a passing course (thick line) from a departure point (double circle) and a measured traveling locus (dotted line). FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of storing the traveling locus by the traveling locus storage means 6. FIG. 4 shows a traveling locus obtained by connecting the vehicle position (circled in FIG. 4B) stored by the traveling locus storage means 6 and each position in order when the vehicle is at the position P _i in the figure. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing two position candidates a and b set by comparing the road data and the traveling locus in FIG. 4 by the position candidate setting means 7, and FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which road data in which the position candidates a in FIG.
5 shows a state in which the road data in which the position candidates b of FIG. 5 are set in order by the passing course candidate storage means 8 and the passing course candidates b. FIG. 8 shows two passing course candidates a by the position identifying means 9. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing a method of specifying a passing course from the b. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which the traveling locus is corrected by the position identification unit 9 and an example displayed on the display unit 10.

FIG. 10 shows a running state in which the element points (current position and past position of the vehicle) of the running locus stored by the running locus storage means 6 are sequentially connected when the vehicle is at the position _Pj in the drawing. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a trajectory, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a procedure for displaying a current position of a vehicle on road data of a passing course.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state after correcting the traveling locus and the current position of the vehicle based on the passing course, and FIG.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a process for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the road data of the candidate b of the passing course when the candidate b of the passing course is temporarily specified as the passing course.

In FIG. 3, the traveling locus storage means 6 stores the current position of the vehicle as the past position of the traveling locus, using the vehicle position data, azimuth data and distance data measured by the current position measuring means 5. Thereafter, it is determined in step ST1 whether or not the _vehicle has moved by a predetermined distance _Lv1 or more. And
If it is determined that it has moved by the predetermined distance L _v1 or more, the process proceeds to step ST2. If it is determined that it has not moved by the predetermined distance L _v1 or more, the process proceeds to step ST3.
In step ST2, the current position of the vehicle is stored as a past position of the traveling locus as an element point forming the traveling locus, and then the process proceeds to step ST4. In step ST3,
After storing the past position of the traveling locus, it is determined whether or not the _vehicle has moved a predetermined distance L _v2 or more and changed the course by a predetermined angle α _v1 or more. Then, after storing the past position of the traveling locus, if it is determined that the vehicle has moved by a predetermined distance _Lv2 or more and has changed the course by a predetermined angle _αv1 or more, the process proceeds to step ST2, and conversely, the past position of the traveling locus is stored. If it is later determined that the vehicle has not moved by the predetermined distance L _v2 or more or has not changed the course by the predetermined angle α _v1 or more, the process proceeds to step ST4. In step ST4, as element points for forming a traveling locus,
The current position of the vehicle is stored as the current position of the traveling locus, and the process proceeds to step ST5. In step ST5, the traveling locus storage processing ends.

FIG. 4 shows the processing result of the traveling locus storage means 6. In FIG. 4 (a), the point PR0 indicates the starting point, and the arrow extending from the starting point indicates the movement of the vehicle. The points N1 and N2 are road data nodes located at the intersection where the vehicle has changed course. Then, when the current position of the vehicle is at the point P _i in FIG. 4B, the traveling locus storage means 6 uses the method shown in FIG. 3 to start from the point PR0 as shown in FIG. PR6 points are stored as past positions of the traveling locus.

In FIG. 5, a position candidate setting means 7 sets position candidates on road data having a high similarity to a traveling locus as in the conventional case. In the case of the travel locus shown in FIG. 4, there is road data that substantially overlaps with the travel locus, and thus a position candidate a is set on the road data. Then, a position candidate b is set on road data having a similarity to the traveling locus next to the neighboring road.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the processing results of the passing course candidate storage means 8. In FIG. 6, the passing course candidate storage means 8 stores the position candidate a shown in FIG. road data regarding L ₃ from the link L ₁ the road data are (start node, end node, width, number of lanes, the vertical separation, regulation direction) in accordance with the movement of the position candidates a and as shown in (b) of FIG. 6 Store them sequentially. Note that N in FIG.
₁ to N ₃ and N ₀ are nodes of links L ₁ to L ₃ . Also, in FIG.
The 7 position candidate b from the link L ₁₀ of the road data set road data relating to L ₁₃ (FIG. 6 and similar) to in accordance with the movement of the position candidate b in FIG. 7 (a) (b) Are sequentially stored as shown in FIG. Incidentally, N ₁₃ from N ₁₀ in FIG. 7,
And N ₃ is the link L ₁₀ a node L _13.

The position identification means 9 uses the width of each link, the number of lanes, the vertical separation, and the restriction direction for the two candidates a and b of the passing course shown in FIGS. Then, a template for each candidate of the passing course as shown in FIG. 4 is generated, and the similarity between the template of each candidate of the passing course and the traveling locus shown in FIG. 4B is determined. If all the element points of the traveling locus fall within the template of the candidate for the passing course, the similarity becomes highest. However, if not, the similarity of the candidate of the passing course and the course change point of the traveling locus, the length of the straight traveling portion, the traveling direction and the like are compared. As shown in FIG. 8, with respect to the two candidates a and b of the passing course, the traveling trajectory is changed to the candidate b of the passing course with respect to the candidate of the passing course, the course change point of the traveling locus, and the length of the straight traveling portion. Since it is closer to the candidate a, the candidate a of the passing course is determined to have high similarity, and is specified as the passing course of the vehicle. Further, when the passing course is specified, in order to display the current position of the vehicle on the passing course, as shown in FIG. 9A, the element points (P _R5 , P _R6 ,
The element points are translated or rotated so that P _i ) falls within the template of the passing course, and the correction amounts of the traveling locus and the traveling direction are calculated. Then, (b) of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, after the point P _i , the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the road data by the display means 10 based on the correction amount of the traveling locus and the traveling direction (within the dotted frame in FIG. 6A). .

Further, as shown in (a) of FIG. 10, when the vehicle travels to P _j point, by the travel locus storing unit 6, as shown in (b) of FIG. 10, elements of the traveling locus Points (current position and past position of the vehicle) are stored. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11A, right and left turns are performed about three times on the passing course, and thereafter, the current position of the vehicle is continuously displayed on the passing course (thick line). It is judged that the reliability of the passing course is very high,
The traveling locus, the current position and the traveling direction are corrected by the position identifying means 9 so that the element points of the traveling locus (dotted line) fall within the template of the passing course. After that, as shown in FIG. 12, the element points of the traveling locus located on the passing course are stored, and the current position of the vehicle is displayed.

FIG. 11 (b) is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the current position Pj of the vehicle (a) of FIG. 11 (a dotted circle), the solid line is connected after the current position P _j of the vehicle 4 shows the history of the position of the vehicle displayed on the display means 10. Thus, the current position P _j of the vehicle are not displayed so as to be positioned over the link L ₅ and the link L _6. Incidentally, N ₄ and N ₅ in the figure is the node of the link L _5, N ₅ and N ₆ is a node of the link L _6.

On the other hand, if the current position of the vehicle is identified on the link in the same manner as in the conventional map matching method, the current position of the vehicle is determined as shown in FIG. after the N ₅ is detached from the link L ₆ when turning right at an intersection which is located temporarily, identified on the link L ₆ again. However, the node N ₅ as the error [delta] P ₁ caused to have identified the road near the center there is a link L ₅ than the actual position before turning right at the intersection is located, the center of the road there is a link L ₆ after right turn at the same intersection Due to the error δP ₂ caused by the correction of the position (arrow), the current position Pj ′ of the vehicle has an error ((δP ₁ ² + δ) of a magnitude obtained by combining the two errors.
P _{² 2)} has occurred ^1/2). Incidentally, P _j point in the figure is the current position of the vehicle displayed by the present embodiment, a dotted line which is connected to P _j point represents the history of the position displayed on up to P _j point.

Next, a case will be described in which the position identifying means 9 temporarily specifies the passing course candidate b as the passing course. In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, since the similarity between the passing course candidate b and the traveling locus (dotted line) is low, the current position of the vehicle deviates from the passing course candidate b (I within the dotted frame). ₁ ). At this time, since the passing course candidate b is continuously generated again, the current position of the vehicle can be displayed on the passing course candidate b again (thick line). However, if the passing course candidate b cannot be generated ( Within the dotted frame I ₂ ), the current position of the vehicle deviates again from the candidate b for the passing course. In this case, in order to the travel locus and similarity dotted frame in I ₂ and later lowered, the higher the correlation of the other candidate pass course, display the current position of the vehicle is on other candidate pass courses Will be done.

Embodiment 2 FIG. Hereinafter, another embodiment 2, which has the same device configuration as that of the first embodiment and is different from the first embodiment only in the operation of the position identification means 9 in FIG. 1, will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a general example of calculating a lane of road data, and FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of estimating a lane in which the vehicle is traveling from the calculated lane and the traveling locus of the vehicle. Note that the processing other than the position identification means 9 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

The position identification means 9 identifies the current position of the vehicle on the road surface according to the width of the traveling road, as described in the first embodiment. Then, as shown in FIG. 14, the width of the link is equally divided by the number of lanes, and the lane of the road data is calculated.
Regulation direction (forward / reverse / no) and vertical separation (yes / no)
The restriction direction is set for each lane based on. In particular,
When the road data related to the link in FIG. 14A is as shown in FIG. 14B, the vertical separation is “none” and the number of lanes is “2”.
Therefore, it is determined that there is one upper and lower lane on a two-way road. In addition, since the regulation direction is the “reverse direction”, it is determined that the direction from the end point node N _Di to the start point node N _{Si of the} link is regulated (the direction of the arrow indicating OK in the figure can pass). . The width of each lane is the half of the width W _i.

When the road data relating to the link shown in FIG. 14A is as shown in FIG. 14C, the vertical separation is "Yes" and the number of lanes is "2". Judge that there is. The other parts are the same as those in the case of FIG. In the case of FIG. 14D, the vertical separation is “present” and the number of lanes is “2”, so it is determined that there are two lanes on a one-way road. Since the regulation direction is “forward”, it is determined that the direction from the link start node N _Si to the end node N _Di is regulated. In the case of FIG. 14 (e), the vertical separation is “none”, the number of lanes is “1”, and the regulation direction is “none”, so that the one-lane road is used both up and down.

In FIG. 15A, the current position of the vehicle is at the point P _j , and the link L ₆ on the passing course
As shown in the figure, the start point node is “N ₅ ”, the end point node is “N ₆ ”, the width is “10 m”,
If the number of lanes is “4”, the vertical separation is “absent”, and the regulation direction is “reverse”, the position identification means 9
As shown by the (b), from the road data for a link, calculate the lane 2.5m width have four links L _6, also the end-point node 2 lanes starting node N ₅ of Lane1 and Lane2 direction toward the N ₆ are traffic direction, two lanes of Lane3 and Lane4 determines that reverse of which are traffic direction. The lane overlapping with the travel path of the vehicle (solid line which is connected to the current position P _j) (Lan
It is determined that e1) is the lane in which the vehicle is traveling. The display means 10 performs display so that the lane and the current position of the road data can be understood, as shown in FIG.

Embodiment 3 In the second embodiment, it has been described that the position identification unit 9 determines that the lane overlapping with the traveling locus of the vehicle is the lane in which the vehicle is traveling, but the lane in which the vehicle is traveling in the lane in which the current position of the vehicle overlaps. It is good.

Embodiment 4 FIG. In the second embodiment, it has been described that the position identification means 9 calculates the lanes by dividing the width of the road data equally by the number of lanes, but the lane width is stored in advance in the road network storage means 1 for each lane of the road data. You may do it. In this way, the position identifying means 9 does not need to calculate the lanes by equally dividing the width of the road data by the number of lanes, and thus can immediately determine the lanes.

Embodiment 5 In the second embodiment, the position identifying unit 9 has been described to determine the lane regulation direction assuming that there is only one regulation direction regarding the traffic direction of the vehicle. Alternatively, the restriction direction may be stored, or the restriction direction may be stored for each of the up and down traffic directions, and the position identification means 9 may determine the lane restriction direction.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the road network storing means for storing the width of the link of the road data, and after specifying the traveling road of the vehicle, the traveling locus of the vehicle is changed to the width of the road data. The traveling trajectory or heading was corrected so that it would fit within the vehicle, and the point indicated by the beginning of the traveling trajectory was set as the current position of the vehicle. There is an effect that no positional error occurs even when turning right or left from a wide road such as a main road in a city.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the width of the road data is equally divided by the number of lanes with respect to the traveling road to calculate each lane, and the lane overlapping with the traveling locus of the vehicle or the current position is determined by the vehicle. Since it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, it is possible to estimate the lane in which the vehicle is traveling.

Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the lane of the traveling road is calculated and the current position of the vehicle is identified on the lane.
Further, there is an effect that the driver can be notified of which lane the vehicle is traveling in.

Further, according to the invention of claim 4, since the lane width is stored in advance in the road network storage means for each lane of the road data, the position identification means determines the width of the road data by the number of lanes. There is no need to split and calculate lanes, so
There is an effect that the lane can be immediately determined, and extremely quick processing can be performed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the regulation direction is stored in the road network storage means for each lane of the road data.
Alternatively, since the regulation direction is stored for each of the up and down traffic directions, and the lane regulation direction is determined by the position identification means, there is an effect that finer control can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a locator device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a passage course from a departure point and a measured traveling trajectory in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of storing a traveling locus by a traveling locus storage unit in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a traveling locus obtained by sequentially connecting the positions of the vehicle stored by the traveling locus storage means and the respective positions in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing position candidates set by collating road data and a running locus by a position candidate setting unit in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing, in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a state in which road data in which one of the position candidates is set by the passage course candidate storage means is stored in order and candidates for the passage course;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing, in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a state in which road data in which one of the position candidates is set by the passage course candidate storage means is stored in order and candidates for the passage course;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a method of specifying a passing course from two candidates of the passing course by the position identification means for the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which a traveling locus is corrected in order to display a current position of a vehicle on a passage course specified by a position identification unit, regarding an operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Yes, and is also a diagram displayed by the display means.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the element points of the traveling locus stored by the traveling locus storage means in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a process for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the road data of the passing course specified by the position identification means, for the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state after correcting a traveling locus and a current position of a vehicle based on a passing course in the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows the operation of the locator device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in the case where a candidate for a passing course that is not originally specified by the position identification unit is specified as a passing course;
It is a figure showing processing for displaying the current position of vehicles on road data of a candidate of a passage course.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a general example of calculating a lane from road data for the operation of the locator device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of estimating the lane in which the vehicle is traveling from the calculated lanes for the operation of the locator device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional locator device.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a processing result of a pattern matching unit for an operation of a conventional locator device.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a processing result of a projection matching unit with respect to an operation of a conventional locator device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 road network storage means, 2 GPS receivers, 3 direction measurement means, 4 distance measurement means, 5 current position measurement means, 6
Running locus storage means, 7 position candidate setting means, 8 passing course candidate storage means, 9 position identification means, 10 display means.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A current position measuring means for measuring a current position of a vehicle, a traveling locus storing means for storing a history of positions measured by the current position measuring means as a traveling locus of the vehicle, A road network storage unit that stores road data relating to lanes including a width and the number of lanes; and, using a traveling locus of the traveling locus storage unit and road data of the road network storing unit, specifies a passing course of the vehicle and Identify the current position of the vehicle on the course,
A template is generated using the width of the road data of the passing course, the traveling locus or traveling direction of the vehicle is corrected so that the traveling locus of the vehicle is included in the template, and the current position of the vehicle is considered in consideration of the width of the road data. A locator device comprising: a position identification unit that identifies the vehicle; and a display unit that displays the road data of the road network storage unit and the current position of the vehicle of the position identification unit. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position identifying unit calculates a lane of the road data from data on lanes including the width of the road data and the number of lanes with respect to the road data of the passing course.
2. The locator device according to claim 1, wherein a lane overlapping with a traveling locus or a current position of the vehicle identified on the road surface of the road data is estimated as a lane in which the vehicle is traveling. 3. The display means displays the number of lanes in the road data so as to be recognizable, and displays the current position of the vehicle on the lane on which the vehicle travels estimated by the position identification means. 3. The locator device according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The locator device according to claim 2, wherein said road network storage means stores in advance a lane width for each lane of road data. 5. The road network storage means stores a restriction direction for each lane of road data, or stores a restriction direction for each of up and down traffic directions. 3. The locator device according to claim 2, wherein the lane regulation direction is determined based on the regulation direction for each lane and the regulation direction for each of up and down traffic directions in the road data stored in the network storage means.