FR2817071A1 - Motor vehicle navigation aid for help in selecting a route for a frequently traveled journey, e.g. the daily return trip from home to work, with travel and departure times for different possible routes used to update a database - Google Patents

Abstract

Motor vehicle navigation method in which a passenger selects one from a number of possible routes from a start point to a target point from a database (6) of route information. Once a route is selected at least two of departure time, arrival time and journey time are displayed on a display (12). After a journey is completed the database is updated using at least two from departure time, arrival time and journey time. An Independent claim is made for a device corresponding to the above method.

Description

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The invention relates to a method and a device for assisting with the movement of a place of departure to a place of arrival on board a vehicle, as well as a vehicle provided with these.

The invention is particularly applicable to route indication devices for vehicles.

These devices indicate a road route to be taken on board a motor vehicle for example, according to data concerning the desired place of arrival, entered by the user.

Such devices do not only have advantages.

Indeed, the indicated road route is lost when the journey is renewed.

In addition, the route indicated does not take traffic into account.

Finally, these devices are unsuitable for repetitive journeys, such as home-work-return journeys.

There is therefore no guarantee that such journeys, although they are often made, are optimized in terms of travel time and the route taken.

The invention aims to obtain a method and a device for assisting movement which overcomes the drawbacks of the state of the art.

A first object of the invention is a method of helping to move from a place of departure to a place of arrival on board a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, said places of departure

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 and arrival being connected by a set of routes comprising at least one route, characterized in that it comprises the steps consisting in: - presenting to a passenger of said vehicle on an information medium, prior to a movement of said place of departure at said place of arrival, a list of information linked to each of said routes, said list of information being extracted from an information base and comprising at least, for each route, two correlated information chosen from at least a departure time, at least one arrival time, and at least one journey time; - memorize following said movement, at least one reference of the route used, and at least two pieces of information chosen from the departure time, the arrival time, and the travel time; and - updating said information base using the information that has been stored.

This process makes it possible to predict to some extent the journey time or the arrival time linked to a particular route.

Indeed, thanks to the process, self-learning is carried out from the data stored following such or such movement.

The information provided to the passenger of the vehicle allows him to choose a particular route from his place of departure, based on the information presented to him regarding each route.

In one embodiment, allowing the displacement to be taken into account in real time, the stored reference of

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 the route used is determined from actual position reports of the vehicle made during the journey.

The readings are for example carried out at prescribed times during the movement, in particular at a prescribed rate.

For greater flexibility, the start and end of the readings during the movement can be controlled by the user.

In order to be able to automatically take a trip into account, the method comprises the step of identifying a route used from the positions taken and of selecting the reference corresponding to the identified route.

The identification of the route used is for example carried out by comparison of the positions taken with the content of a geographic database or of a route database.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the distance traveled between a departure time and an arrival time is calculated.

An embodiment which can be implemented almost universally provides that the stored reference of the route used is determined from data supplied by an on-board GPS receiver.

In another particularly simple embodiment, the stored reference of the route used is determined from a selection made by the passenger.

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In one implementation, making it possible to take into account a large number of movements made, the correlated information is calculated by statistical means from information contained in the information base.

For example, the correlated information is chosen from an average departure time, an average arrival time, an average journey time, in order to offer the passenger a global vision of his previous trips.

In order to allow the passenger to optimize his departure time or his journey time, the correlated information is chosen from the departure times listed in ascending or descending order of the calculated journey times or the journey times listed in order increasing or decreasing departure times.

For greater accuracy, the correlated information is chosen from an average journey time for a departure time included in a predetermined time slot, and a list of departure time ranges in ascending or descending order of travel times. correspondents.

A second object of the invention is a device for assisting the movement from a place of departure to a place of arrival on board a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises: - a presentation support data relating to the routes taken; - means of storing an information base relating to routes;

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 means for storing route information in the information base; - means of calculating data relating to the routes, from the information base.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the device comprises means for reading the real position of the vehicle and means for identifying a route as a function of the real positions taken.

The reading means include for example a GPS receiver.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the identification means comprise means for comparing the actual positions recorded with the content of a geographic database or of a route database.

A third object of the invention is a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, comprising the on-board displacement aid device described above or comprising a device implementing the displacement aid method described above.

The invention will be better understood in the light of the description which follows, made with reference to the drawing given solely by way of example, the single figure of which represents a modular block diagram of the movement aid device according to the invention.

The movement assistance device (1) comprises a man-machine interface (2), a time and calendar dating function (3) as well as a GPS receiver (4).

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The actual hours and day provided by the function (3) and the actual position data supplied by the receiver (4) are supplied to a module (5) for automatic recording of the trip data, which samples them at times prescribed by example clocked on according to an internal clock.

A command line (5a), shown in broken lines, allows the command, from the interface (2), to connect or break the data link between the function (3), the receiver (4) and the module (5), as symbolized by the switches (5b and 5c).

The data recorded by the module (5) relating to two of the time data relating to the departure time, the arrival time, and the journey time are sent to a memory (6) where they are stored.

The interface (2) controls a route identification module (7) capable of associating, as a function of the surveyed position data provided by the survey module (5), a route reference and of sending it to the memory (6) where the reference is stored, associated with the data received from the reading module (5).

Thus, if the actual position data recorded is that of a route already taken, the associated reference will be the same as that of said route.

On the other hand, if the actual position data indicates that a new route has been taken, a different reference will be associated with this new route. The identification module (7) comprises a database (9)

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 geographic or routes and means (10) for comparing the actual position data recorded with the content of the base (9), in order to determine whether the position data recorded correspond to a route contained in the base (9).

In a variant not shown, the interface (2) directly enters a reference in the memory (6), according to a choice made by the user on the interface (2).

In other embodiments, the memory (6) also stores the actual position data recorded which is supplied to it by the reading module (5).

The device (1) comprises a module (11) for restoring information extracted from the memory (6) on an information medium (12), for example a display screen or the like.

The support (12) can also be a voice announcement or a printed notice.

The interface (2) allows the user to choose those of the information which he wishes to take note of on the information medium (12).

The restitution module (11) is arranged to determine an average departure time, an average arrival time, an average journey time.

It is also arranged to determine an average journey time for a departure time included in a predetermined time slot, and to provide a list of

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 departure time ranges in descending order of the corresponding journey times.

It is also arranged to determine departure times listed in ascending order of calculated travel times, or travel times listed in ascending order of departure times.

This correlated information is determined by a module (13) for statistical calculation, from the departure times, arrival times, or journey times stored in the memory (6).

This information is determined for each route from the reference stored in the memory (6) or if necessary for several routes.

The actual position data of the vehicle, coming from the receiver (4) are also sent to a distance calculation module (14) supplying, from this, a distance traveled value to the memory (6), where that -this is also stored by being associated with the route reference.

As a variant, the distance value is calculated by the module (14) from the on-board computer (15), as shown in broken lines. The correlated information relating to the distance can also be determined by the rendering module (11).

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So the passenger knows, leaving at a specific time, which optimal route to use, and his approximate time of arrival. Conversely, wanting to arrive at a specific time, he knows what time to leave and what route to take.

Claims (19)

 CLAIMS 1. Method for helping to move from a place of departure to a place of arrival on board a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, said places of departure and arrival being connected by a set of routes comprising at least an itinerary, characterized by the fact that it comprises the stages consisting in: - presenting to a passenger of said vehicle on an information medium (12), prior to a movement from said place of departure to said place of arrival, a list of information related to each of said routes, said information list being extracted from an information base (6) and comprising at least, for each route, two correlated information chosen from at least one departure time, at least one arrival time and at least one journey time; - memorize following said movement, at least one reference of the route used, and at least two pieces of information chosen from the departure time, arrival time and journey time; - updating said information base (6) using the stored information. 2. Method for assisting with movement according to claim 1, characterized in that the stored reference of the route used is determined from readings (5) of actual positions of the vehicle made during the movement. 3. A movement aid method according to claim 2, characterized in that the readings are taken at prescribed times during the movement, in particular at a prescribed rate. <Desc / Clms Page number 11> 4. Method for assisting movement according to any one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that the beginning and the end of the readings (5) during the movement is controllable. 5. Method for assisting movement according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that it comprises the step of identifying (7) the route used from the raised positions (5) and of selecting the reference corresponding to the identified route. 6. Method for assisting with movement according to claim 5, characterized in that the identification (7) of the route used is carried out by comparison (10) of the raised positions (5) with the content of a base (9) geographic data or a database (9) of routes. 7. A travel aid method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that one calculates (14) the distance traveled between a departure time and an arrival time. 8. Method for assisting with movement according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the stored reference of the route used is determined from the data supplied by an on-board GPS receiver (4). 9. Method for assisting with movement according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the stored reference of the route used is determined from a selection made by the passenger.  10. A displacement aid method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the <Desc / Clms Page number 12>  correlated information is calculated by statistical means from information contained in the information base. 11. Method for assisting with movement according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the correlated information is chosen from an average departure time, an average arrival time and an average journey time. 12. Travel assistance method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the correlated information is chosen from the departure times listed in ascending or descending order of the calculated journey times, of the listed travel times. in ascending or descending order of departure times.  13. Method for assisting with movement according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the correlated information is chosen from an average journey time for a departure time included in a predetermined time slot, and a list of ranges d 'departure times in descending order of the corresponding journey times. 14. Device for helping to move from a place of departure to a place of arrival on board a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, characterized in that it comprises: - a support (12) for presenting data relating to the routes performed; - means (6) for storing an information base relating to the routes; <Desc / Clms Page number 13>  - Means (3, 4, 5, 6) for storing route information in the base (6); - Means (11,13) for calculating data relating to the routes, from the information base (6).  15. A movement aid device according to claim 14, characterized in that comprises means (3,4, 5) for reading the actual position of the vehicle and means (7) for identifying a route in function actual positions noted.  16. A movement aid device according to claim 15, characterized in that the reading means (3,4, 5) comprise a GPS receiver (4).  17. A movement aid device according to any one of claims 15 and 16, characterized in that the identification means (7) comprise means (10) for comparing the actual positions noted with the content of a base ( 9) geographic data or a database (9) of routes.  18. A movement aid device according to any one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that the calculation means (11,13) are capable of calculating an average departure time, an average arrival time, a time of average journey, departure times listed in ascending or descending order of calculated journey times, journey times listed in ascending or descending order of departure times, average journey time for a departure time included in a predetermined time slot or a list of starting time slots in descending order of the corresponding journey times. <Desc / Clms Page number 14>  19. Vehicle, in particular motor vehicle, comprising an on-board movement aid device according to any one of claims 14 to 18 or comprising a device implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.