Method for operating a navigation system for a vehicle and corresponding navigation system

• US 20040039525A1
• Filed: 08/19/2003
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Brenner, Claus, Draeger, Gerd, Skwarek, Volker
• Granted Patent: US 7,039,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3629 Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech text to speech systems per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

In order to create a method for operating a navigation system and a navigation system for a vehicle, in particular for a motor vehicle, in which data regarding geographical positions of the vehicle are ascertained by a positioning system (20) and transmitted to a device for electronic data processing having access to a database (14) and a digital road map, and on the basis of those data the location of the vehicle on the digital road map is determined, and destination guidance instructions are outputted visually and/or acoustically to the driver of the vehicle, with which additional information can easily be stored in the navigation system and can be retrieved as necessary by the driver and/or by other persons in the vehicle and outputted via the navigation system, provision is made for additional information relevant for navigation to be loaded into the navigation system in the form of user programs which, as so-called “navlets” (30), are usable by the driver and/or by other persons present in the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for operating a navigation system for a vehicle, in particular for a motor vehicle, in which data regarding geographical positions of the vehicle are ascertained by a positioning system (20) and transmitted to a device for electronic data processing having access to a database (14) and a digital road map, and on the basis of those data the location of the vehicle on the digital road map is determined, and destination guidance instructions are outputted visually and/or acoustically to the driver of the vehicle, wherein additional information relevant for navigation is loaded into the navigation system in the form of user programs which, as so-called “

navlets”

(30), are usable by the driver and/or by other persons present in the vehicle.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the functions of the navigation section (10) are used by the navlets (30) via interfaces (34, 36) of the navigation system.

3. The method as recited in claim 1,

wherein the navlets (30) use, in particular, such functions of the navigation section (10) as

querying and setting destinations and intermediate destinations by way of destination addresses or destination coordinates;

querying the present position as text or coordinates;

querying the current route list (16);

querying the estimated driving time to the next (interim) destination;

functions for setting parameters, for example the times for periodic calls or criteria for geometric notification;

querying the type of navigation section (10) and the revision status of the firmware, the type and revision status of the database (map), etc.

4. The method as recited in claim 1,

wherein specific functions are executed by each navlet (30), of which some functions are directed toward the user'"'"'s particular requirements and the others are provided as default setting.

5. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has an initialization function that is called up when the navlet (30) is installed for the first time on the navigation system.

6. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has a delete function which is called up when the navlet (30) is removed.

7. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has a start function which is called up once when the vehicle is started or when the navigation is begun.

8. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has a function for periodic calls, which are called up at regular time intervals and are used by the navlet (30) to update internal data.

9. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has a text notification function which is called up when a match or partial match exists between a given text and the instantaneous destination address, intermediate destination address, address of the instantaneous position, or an entry in the route list (16), different notification functions being able to be defined for various criteria.

10. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has a geometric notification function which is called up when a predefined geometric criterion is met, in particular a criterion such as the distance to a given point or the location within a specific region.

11. The method as recited in claim 4,

wherein each navlet (30) has further notification functions, such as arrival of a Traffic Message Channel (TMC) message or a message of another service, for example GSM.

24. The navigation system as recited in one of the foregoing claims,

wherein the navlets (30) are loadable into the user memory (38) in different ways.

25. The navigation system as recited in claim 24,

wherein the navlets (30) are loadable into the user memory (38) by way of a memory medium, preferably RAM, flash ROM, mini hard drive, CD-ROM, or DVD.

26. The navigation system as recited in claim 24,

wherein the navlets (30) are loadable into the user memory (38) by wire-conducted or wireless transfer, for example infrared or radio, from a PC, laptop, or PDA.

27. The navigation system as recited in claim 24,

wherein the navlets (30) are loadable into the user memory (38) by transfer from a server via broadcast, for example DAB, or individual communication, for example GSM.

12. A navigation system for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, having a positioning system (20), a device for electronic data processing that has access to a database (14) having a digital road map, an input unit (24) and output units (26, 28) for visual and/or acoustic destination guidance instructions,

wherein the navigation system is made up of two main units (10, 12), of which the one main unit is a navigation section (10) having the components of a navigation device, the navigation device being self-sufficiently functional, and the other main unit is a device section (12) for the execution of user programs, which is connected via interfaces (34, 36) to the navigation section (10).

13. The navigation system as recited in claim 12,

wherein the navigation section (10) of the navigation system is made up substantially of a database (14), a route list (16), a route calculation module (18), a positioning system (20), a destination guidance unit (22), an input unit (24) for operating the navigation system, and one acoustic output unit (28) each for the output of acoustic instructions and information and a visual output unit (26) for the output of visual instructions and information.

14. The navigation system as recited in claims 12 and 13,

wherein the device section (10) of the navigation system is made up substantially of a user memory (38) and a virtual machine (32).

15. The navigation system as recited in claims 12 through 14,

wherein the navlets (30) are able to be stored in the user memory (38).

16. The navigation system as recited in claims 12 through 15,

wherein the device section (12) of the navigation system is connected preferably via two interfaces (34, 36) to the navigation section (10).

17. The navigation system as recited in claim 16,

wherein, respectively, the user memory (38) is connected via a first interface (34) to the navigation device, and the virtual machine (32) via a second interface (36) to the input unit (24) and the output units (26, 28).

18. The navigation system as recited in claims 12 through 17,

wherein, in addition to the interfaces (34, 36) that are present, additional interfaces are provided for data transfer, in particular via infrared or radio, that can be activated and used by the navlets (30).

19. The navigation system as recited in claim 12,

wherein the navlets (30) are preferably written in a platform-independent programming language.

20. The navigation system as recited in claim 19,

wherein the navlets (30) are preferably written in the “

Java”

programming language.

21. The navigation system as recited in claims 12 through 20,

wherein each navlet (30) has internal data and functions.

22. The navigation system as recited in claim 21,

wherein each navlet (30), in addition to the internal data and functions, has standard minimum functions.

23. The navigation system as recited in claim 22,

wherein the standard minimum functions of the navlets (30) are functions such as

initialization function;

delete function;

start function;

function for periodic call-ups;

text notification;

geometric notification;

further notification functions.