Rendering road signs during navigation

• US 10,323,701 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2018
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lemay, Stephen O., Pylappan, Seejo K., Van Os, Marcel, Habeck, Harold O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ingram, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US15/919,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20180274603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 41/063 the intermediate members wedging by moving along the inner and the outer surface without pivoting or rolling, e.g. sliding wedges F16D41/061 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3632 Guidance using simplified or iconic instructions, e.g. using arrows G01C21/365 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3635 Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3638 including 3D objects and buildings three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects G06T17/00; geographic models G06T17/05
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a navigation application that presents road signs during a navigation presentation. In presenting the road signs, the application of some embodiments differentiates the appearance of road signs at junctions that require a change of direction from road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction. The application may perform processes that ensure that it arranges the road signs on the map in an aesthetically pleasing manner. In addition, the navigation application of some embodiments does not display too many road signs along the navigated route so that the route is not by occluded by too many road signs.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

identifying (i) a route being navigated by the device;

(ii) a position of the device along the route based on data from a position sensor; and

(iii) a plurality of roads on or near the navigated route or device, and iv) a plurality of road sign display schemes each defining positions of the road signs to be displayed on a navigation presentation;

automatically selecting a road sign display scheme from the plurality of road sign display schemes based in part on the position of the device along the route; and

displaying, on a display screen associated with the device, the navigation presentation comprising (i) a plurality of navigation banners, each of which provides navigation instructions for a juncture along the identified route, (ii) a set of road signs for the identified plurality of roads, the set of road signs being positioned on the display based on the selected road sign display scheme, and (iii) the position of the device along the route.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising a set of instructions for:

grouping the identified roads into a plurality of tiers based in part on the position of the device along the route, wherein the plurality of different tiers comprises first, second, and third tiers; and

including roads that are categorized as first tier roads in the subset before including roads that are categorized as second tier roads in the subset.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 2, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the road sign display scheme further comprises a set of instructions for:

identifying a first subset of the navigation presentation, the first subset including one or more of the plurality of roads, wherein a number of road signs associated with the first subset exceeds a threshold;

identifying a second subset of the navigation presentation, the second subset including the one or more of the plurality of roads; and

positioning at least one road sign of the set of road signs in the second subset of the navigation presentation.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 3, the program further comprising a set of instructions for:

identifying that the number of road signs associated with the first subset exceeds a threshold; and

declining to display the at least one road sign.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for grouping the identified roads further comprises a set of instructions for grouping all roads on the navigated route as first tier roads.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for grouping the identified roads further comprises a set of instructions for grouping all roads that intersect or overlap with the navigated route as second tier roads.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising a set of instructions for identifying a set of roads that are one or two hops away from the second tier roads, wherein the set of instructions for grouping the identified roads further comprises grouping the roads in the identified set of roads as third tier roads.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising a set of instructions for including the first tier roads in the subset prior to including any of the second tier roads in the subset and including the second tier roads in the subset prior to including any of the third tier roads in the subset.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for grouping the identified roads further comprises a set of instructions for grouping all roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads as third tier roads.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising sets of instructions for:

for the subset, including a first group of roads in the subset from the first set of tiers up to the maximum number of roads based on a selection criteria; and

when the selection of the first group based on the selection criteria produces less than the minimum number of identified roads in the first group, including a second group of roads for the subset from the second set of tiers.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein displaying the navigation presentation comprises providing information regarding roads along the route while reducing visual clutter.

12. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

identifying (i) a route being navigated by the device;

(ii) a position of the device along the route based on data from a position sensor;

(iii) a plurality of roads on or near the navigated route or device, and iv) a plurality of road sign display schemes each defining positions of the road signs to be displayed on a navigation presentation;

automatically selecting a road sign display scheme from the plurality of road sign display schemes based in part on the position of the device along the route; and

displaying, on a display screen associated with the device, a navigation presentation comprising (i) a plurality of navigation banners, each of which provides navigation instructions for a juncture along the identified route, (ii) a set of road signs for a subset of the identified roads, the set of road signs being positioned on the display based on the selected road sign display scheme, and (iii) the position of the device along the route.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

grouping the identified roads into a plurality of tiers with

(i) roads on the navigated route in a first tier,

(ii) roads that intersect or overlap with the navigated route in a second tier,

(iii) roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads in a third tier when the roads are within a threshold distance of the navigated route or when the roads are reachable by the device within a threshold time, and

(iv) roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads in a fourth tier when the roads are not within the threshold distance of the navigated route or when the roads are not reachable by the device within the threshold time; and

performing a filtering operation when a number of roads in a set of one or more tiers is more than a predefined maximum number.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions for performing the filtering operation comprises a set of instructions for performing the filtering operation by selecting arterial roads or freeways over local or smaller roads.

15. For a navigation application executing on a device, a method comprising:

identifying (i) different junctions along a route being navigated by the device;

(ii) a position of the device along the route based on data from a position sensor;

(iii) different roads on or near the navigated route or device, and iv) a plurality of road sign display schemes each defining positions of the road signs to be displayed on a navigation presentation;

automatically selecting a road sign display scheme from the plurality of road sign display schemes based in part on the position of the device along the route; and

rendering a view of a navigation presentation by displaying, on a display screen associated with the device;

navigation banners, each of which providing navigation instructions for a corresponding identified junction along the navigated route;

road signs for a subset of the identified roads, the set of road signs being positioned on the display based on the selected road sign display scheme; and

the position of the device along the route.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

categorizing the identified roads into a plurality of tiers, based in part on the position of the device along the route, with

(i) roads on the navigated route in a first tier,

(ii) roads that intersect or overlap with the navigated route in a second tier, and

(iii) roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads in a third tier; and

wherein rendering the view comprises distributing the road signs on different sides about the navigated route.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein rendering the view comprises rendering a three-dimensional (3D) perspective view of the navigation presentation.

18. The method of claim 15, further

identifying a first subset of the navigation presentation, the first subset including one or more of the plurality of roads, wherein a number of road signs associated with the first subset exceeds a threshold;

identifying a second subset of the navigation presentation, the second subset including the one or more of the plurality of roads; and

positioning at least one road sign of the set of road signs in the second subset of the navigation presentation.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising

identifying that the number of road signs associated with the first subset exceeds a threshold;

and

declining to display the at least one road sign.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising including third tier roads in the subset only when the number of included first and second tier roads is less than the predefined maximum number.