Map display controller for controlling display of facilities and moving images associated therewith

#This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-324133 filed on Nov. 8, 2005.

#The present invention relates to a map display controller and a map display control program.

#Conventionally, a map display controller allows an image display apparatus to display a map and displays roads and facilities (e.g., park and building) on the map. Especially, when displaying a facility, the map display controller renders an icon, i.e., an image for the facility, at a corresponding position of the facility on the map displayed by the image display apparatus (e.g., see patent documents 1 and 2). Patent Document 1: JP-H11-161159 A Patent Document 2: JP-2000-317955 A

#The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a construction of a vehicle navigation system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a map display control program according to the first embodiment;

#A first embodiment of the invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows a hardware construction of a vehicle navigation system 1 as an example according to the first embodiment. As will be described later in details, the vehicle navigation system 1, which is mounted in a subject vehicle, displays a map together with a facility icon, a balloon icon, and a rope icon. The facility icon is an image that represents a facility and is fixed to a map. The balloon icon is a balloon-shaped image representing a moving image. The rope icon is a connection image that connects the balloon icon to the facility icon. The vehicle navigation system 1 varies the gradient of the balloon icon against the facility icon in accordance with map scroll. The vehicle navigation system 1 includes a position detector 11, an image display apparatus 12, an operation unit 13, a speaker 14, a VICS receiver 15, RAM 16, ROM 17, an external storage unit 18, and a control circuit 19.

#The position detector 11 includes known sensors (not shown) such as a geomagnetic sensor, a gyroscope, a vehicle speed sensor, and a GPS receiver. The position detector 11 detects information based on characteristics of these sensors for specifying the vehicle's current position and orientation and outputs the information to the control circuit 19.

#While the control circuit 19 outputs a video signal, the image display apparatus 12 displays an image based on this video signal for a user. For example, the image display apparatus 12 displays an image such as a map around the current position.