Patent ID: 8103446
Filing Date: 2012-01-24
Classification: G01C,G08G

Abstract:
1. A vehicle navigation apparatus comprising: a current position detector for detecting a current vehicle position; a travel locus calculator for calculating a vehicle travel locus based on the detected current vehicle position; a map data obtainer for obtaining map data that represents lay conditions of roads; a turn determiner for determining whether or not a vehicle has turned, wherein the turning of the vehicle determined by the turn determiner includes a turn start and a turn end; a map matching unit for performing matching control, wherein the matching control is performed under a trigger of determination by the turn determiner that the vehicle has made a turn that is defined by the turn start and the turn end, wherein the matching control searches a matching link for the current vehicle position detected by the current position detector within a tolerance range from the vehicle travel locus calculated by the travel locus calculator based on the map data obtained by the map data obtainer, wherein the matching controls matches the current vehicle position to a position on the matching link when the matching link is found within the tolerance range; an entrance pattern obtainer for obtaining an entrance travel pattern that represents a travel route of the vehicle while the vehicle is within a facility; and an entrance determiner for determining whether or not the vehicle has entered the facility based on a comparison of the vehicle travel locus calculated by the travel locus calculator with the entrance travel pattern obtained by the entrance pattern obtainer, wherein the map matching unit (i) returns, for performing subsequent processing, an after-matching current vehicle position to a pre-matching current vehicle position after matching of the current vehicle position to the matching link, when the entrance determiner determines that the vehicle has entered the facility, and (ii) does not return the after-matching current vehicle position to the pre-matching current vehicle position, when the entrance determiner does not determine that the vehicle has entered the facility.