Patent ID: 7433780

Claim:
A route searching apparatus comprising: a map data acquiring unit for acquiring map data defined by nodes and road links; a route searching unit for searching for and determining a route to a destination in consideration of road links corresponding to specific roads including car pool lanes, on which determination of whether or not a vehicle is allowed to travel can be performed according to a condition of the vehicle, the route searching unit prompting a driver of the vehicle of the condition of the vehicle including the number of people in the vehicle prior to displaying the determined route, the user setting the condition of the vehicle, and the route searching unit displaying the determined route or performing a new route search and determined based on the conditions set, the road links being included in the map data acquired by said map data acquiring unit; and an output unit for outputting the route searched for by said route searching unit to a display, wherein said route searching unit searches for the route to the destination while counting road links corresponding to specific roads included in the map data acquired by said map data acquiring unit as targets to be searched for, when the condition of the vehicle that is input thereto in response to the message meets requirements for permission to drive in the specific road, said route searching unit sends the route acquired through the route searching to said output unit for display, whereas when the condition of the vehicle that is input thereto in response to the message doesn't meet the requirements for permission to drive in the specific road, said route searching unit performs a new search for the route to the destination by excluding a road link corresponding to the specific road from targets to be searched for and outputs the searched-for route to said output unit for display.