Patent ID: 6900817

Claim:
A map image processing apparatus comprising: drawing processing means for drawing a two-dimensional map image; storage means for storing therein the two-dimensional map image drawn by the drawing processing means; storage/read-out control means for controlling storing and reading operations of the two-dimensional map image in and from the storage means, respectively; and display processing means for executing a display processing operation capable of displaying a map image on a display means based upon the two-dimensional map image which is read out from the storage means by the storage/read-out control means, wherein a map image having a wider area than a display area displayed on the display device is drawn by the drawing processing means, and wherein, when a scroll display is performed, a portion of the two-dimensional map image stored in the storage means is sequentially read, and the display processing operation by the display processing means is sequentially executed so that a scroll display processing operation is realized, the apparatus further comprising: image processing means for processing the two-dimensional map image read out from the storage means by the storage/read-out control means to obtain a birds-eye view, wherein the display processing means executes the display processing operation with respect to the birds-eye view obtained by the image processing means; and mode switching control means for switching a processing mode in the drawing processing means and the processing mode in the display processing means based upon whether a scroll display is instructed, wherein the mode switching control means executes a normal mode processing operation and a scroll mode processing operation, wherein, in the normal mode processing operation, when only the birds-eye view display is instructed, the drawing processing means draws the birds-eye view to be stored in the storage means, and the display processing means reads out the birds-eye view stored in the storage means to execute the display processing thereto, and wherein, in the scroll mode processing operation, when both the birds-eye view display and the scroll display are instructed, the drawing processing means draws a two-dimensional map image to be stored into the storage means, a portion of the two-dimensional map image stored in the storage means is sequentially read out so as to be processed to obtain the birds-eye view by the image processing means, and the display processing means sequentially displays the birds-eye view obtained by the image processing means so that the scroll display of the birds-eye view is realized.