Patent ID: 8214137

Claim:
An in-vehicle information apparatus comprising: a hard disk drive that functions as a first data storage medium for storing data, wherein an output including at least one of image displaying and audio sounding is performed based on the data read from the hard disk drive, wherein the data stored in the hard disk drive includes first output use data, the first output use data including at least one of (i) design image data for displaying a design image and (ii) audio data for sounding an audio; an altitude determination portion for determining whether an altitude of a present position is equal to or greater than a predetermined altitude, wherein an operation of the hard disk drive is prohibited in a high upland area having an altitude equal to or greater than the predetermined altitude; a second storage medium for storing second output use data corresponding to a portion of the first output use data in the hard disk drive, the portion of the first output use data being assumed to be used in the high upland area, the second output use data having a data volume smaller than the first output use data; and a control device that switches to perform an output from based on the data read from the hard disk drive to based on the second output use data read from the second storage medium when an altitude of a present position is determined to be equal to or greater than the predetermined altitude, wherein: when an altitude of a present position is determined to be equal to or greater than the predetermined altitude, the control device is further configured to determine data for the output performed after switching, based on an instruction from a user; the control device then reads output use data corresponding to the determined data for the output performed after switching from the second output use data in the second storage medium; and the control device performs an output based on the output use data corresponding to the determined data for the output performed after switching read from the second storage medium.