NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING AN OPTIMAL ROUTE FROM TRAFFIC MESSAGES

• US 20010014848A1
• Filed: 06/30/1998
• Published: 08/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Mannesmann VDO AG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: WALGERS, ERIK J., LAHAIJE, PAUL D.M., MULDER, EDWIN W., EMMERINK, CARLA J.M.
• Granted Patent: US 6,298,302 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice

Abstract

A vehicle navigation system (100) comprises a planning module (110) for planning a route between an origin and a destination and subsequently guides the driver along the planned route. The system further comprises a receiver (124) for the reception of traffic messages related to problem locations on roads, which messages are transferred to the driver. The navigation system according to the invention is arranged to read from its storage medium (106) with the map database additional information (404) indicating the potential problem locations for roads in the database. In this way, the information from the traffic message can be combined with the information from the map database and further exploited in the system, e.g. for planning a new route.

Claims

1. A navigation system for guiding a driver in a vehicle, the system comprising:

read means for reading chain information from a storage medium comprising a first storage unit with chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node,

process means for exploiting said chain information, for example a planning module for planning a route or a display module for displaying a map on a display, and

a receiver for the reception of a traffic message related to a pre-defined problem location,

characterised in that the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for a particular chain related to a particular node corresponding to a problem location additional chain information comprising an identification of that problem location.

2. A navigation system as claimed in

claim 1

, the system comprising a planning module for planning a route between an origin and a destination, wherein the planning module is arranged to take into account the particular chains that fall within a predetermined search area, the system being arranged to create a list containing the identifications of the problem locations related to the particular chains in the search area, insofar present.

3. A navigation system as claimed in

claim 2

, the system being arranged to create a sub-list containing the identifications of the problem locations related to the particular chains on the planned route, insofar present.

4. A navigation system as claimed in

claim 1

, wherein the read means are arranged to read the additional chain information from a second storage unit of the storage medium.

6. A navigation system as claimed in

claim 4

, wherein the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for the problem location related to the traffic message a second identification of a second one of the chains connected to a particular to the problem location corresponding node, the second one extending in a direction opposite to the first one.

5. A navigation system for guiding a driver in a vehicle, the system comprising:

read means for reading chain information from a storage medium comprising a first storage unit with chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node,

process means for exploiting said chain information, for example a planning module for planning a route or a display module for displaying a map on a display, and

a receiver for the reception of a traffic message related to a pre-defined problem location,

characterised in that the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for the problem location related to the traffic message a first identification of a first one of the chains connected to a particular to the problem location corresponding node.

7. A storage medium for use in a navigation system, the storage medium comprising a first storage unit with chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node,

characterised in that the storage medium comprises for a particular chain a first identification of a first problem location, which first problem location corresponds to a particular node related to the particular chain.

8. A storage medium as claimed in

claim 7

, comprising for the particular chain a second identification of a second problem location, which second problem location corresponds to a particular node related to the particular chain and pertains to the opposite direction of travel compared with the first problem location.

9. A storage medium as claimed in

claim 7

, the storage medium comprising a second storage unit comprising the first identification.

10. A storage medium for use in a navigation system, the storage medium comprising a first storage unit with chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node,

characterised in that the storage medium comprises for a particular pre-defined problem location a first identification of a first one of the chains, which chain is connected to a with the pre-defined problem location corresponding node.

11. A storage medium as claimed in

claim 10

, comprising for the particular problem location a second identification of a second one of the chains, which second one of the chains is connected to the with the problem location corresponding node and which second one of the chains pertains to a direction of travel opposite to the first one.