Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
75 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus for setting a route from a designated departure point to a destination and providing guidance along the route, characterized by providing, as map data used in route exploration, node data comprising position information and informatation relating to the attributes thereof, intersection data comprising information relating to intersections, and road data comprising information related to roads, and retrieving an optimum route from the intersection data and road data.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
75 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus for setting a route from a designated departure point to a destination and providing guidance along the route, characterized by providing, as map data used in route exploration, node data comprising position information and informatation relating to the attributes thereof, intersection data comprising information relating to intersections, and road data comprising information related to roads, and retrieving an optimum route from the intersection data and road data.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
77 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by putting map data into a layered structure, developing a branch road network connected to a trunk road network with respect to a higher-order layer of the trunk road network and performing block division, and successively repeating exploration from a lower-order layer to intersections connected to a road network of the higher-order layer, and retrieving a route from the departure point to the destination.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
58 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by increasing the number of block divisions in the lower-order layer in dependence upon the amount of information, and repeating exploration from the lower-order layer to the higher-order layer until a departure-point block and a destination block become the same block or mutually adjacent blocks.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
41 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by having, as the map data, connection information relating to roads between intersections for every block of each layer, and connecting-intersection information for connection to the higher-order layer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
74 words
A route exploration method in a navigation apparatus according to claim l, characterized by setting, as the map data, left-right turn prohibition information and route conversion information, such as information relating to guidance not required and degree of difficulty to pass through a road, excluding from retrieved courses, at the time of route retrieval, roads for which left-right turn prohibition information has been set, and retrieving an optimum route upon attaching route conversion information.