Vehicle-mounted apparatus

• US 20060129636A1
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Matsuura, Masaki, Torisawa, Kou, Hirano, Nobuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,873,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle-mounted apparatus whereby a user can easily select and use a Web site in accordance with a point associated with information provided by the Web site and a description of the information. According to the present invention, a precache control unit automatically downloads at least one Web page of a Web site associated with each point matching a predetermined condition to a page cache memory and displays site icons at respective points corresponding to the downloaded Web sites on a map image. In addition, the precache control unit displays the predetermined type of extracted information by analyzing the description of the Web page of each Web site in an information window that pops up from the corresponding site icon. When the user selects one of the site icons, a Web browser displays the Web page of the Web site corresponding to the selected site icon.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for displaying a map to provide route guidance information to a user on the displayed map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a first storage unit for storing point information blocks assigned to respective points, each point information block containing point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site which provides information associated with the point such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL;

a page memory for saving Web pages of the Web sites;

a controller for accessing a Web site associated with each point matching a predetermined condition among the points, which have the point information blocks stored in the first storage unit, using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to download at least one Web page of the Web site to the page memory, and for displaying a mark at a position corresponding to the point coordinates contained in the point information block which also contains the URL of the Web site, of which the at least one Web page is being or has been downloaded, on the map displayed by the navigation unit and, in response to a user operation on the mark, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page, downloaded in the page memory, of the Web site corresponding to the operated mark; and

a display for changing the pattern of each mark displayed on the map depending on the progress of downloading the at least one Web page of the Web site corresponding to the mark.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further includes a second storage unit, monitors whether a new recommended route is set in the second storage unit, and when the new recommended route is set in the second storage unit, selects points associated with the recommended route from among the points, of which the point information blocks are stored in the first storage unit, with reference to map data.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the points associated with the recommended route are located in the vicinity of at least one of a destination and the recommended route.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

points associated with the Web sites, of which the at least one Web page is not downloaded to the page memory, are extracted from the selected points, the Web sites associated with the extracted points are set to target Web sites, and a process for the target Web site is performed for every extracted point.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein in downloading each target Web site, the top page of the target Web site specified by the Web site URL is preferentially downloaded as a target Web page.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern of the mark of each displayed target Web site changes depending on the percentage of download completed.

7. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for displaying a map to provide route guidance information to a user on the displayed map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a storage unit for storing point information blocks assigned to respective points, each point information block containing point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL;

a page memory for saving Web pages of the Web sites;

a controller for accessing a Web site associated with each point matching a predetermined condition among the points, which have the point information blocks stored in the storage unit, using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to download at least one Web page of the Web site to the page memory, and for displaying a mark at a position corresponding to the point coordinates contained in the point information block which also contains the URL of the Web site, of which the at least one Web page is being or has been downloaded, on the map displayed by the navigation unit and, in response to a user operation on the mark, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page, downloaded in the page memory, of the Web site corresponding to the operated mark; and

a display for displaying an image in the vicinity of each mark displayed on the map, at a position associated with each mark on the map, the image representing at least part of a Web page of a Web site corresponding to each mark or content included in the Web page.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a Web page of a Web site corresponding to each mark is the top page thereof.

9. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for displaying a map to provide route guidance information to a user on the displayed map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a storage unit for storing point information blocks assigned to respective points, each point information block containing point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL;

a page memory for saving Web pages of the Web sites;

a controller for accessing a Web site associated with each point matching a predetermined condition among the points, which have the point information blocks stored in the storage unit, using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to download at least one Web page of the Web site to the page memory, and for displaying a mark at a position corresponding to the point coordinates contained in the point information block which also contains the URL of the Web site, of which the at least one Web page is being or has been downloaded, on the map displayed by the navigation unit and, in response to a user operation on the mark, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page, downloaded in the page memory, of the Web site corresponding to the operated mark; and

a display for displaying information extracted from the Web page of the Web site corresponding to each mark in the vicinity of each mark displayed on the map, at a position associated with each mark on the map.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the information extracted from the Web page of the Web site corresponding to each mark indicates a point icon, and an image obtained by scaling down an image of at least part of the top page of the Web site is used as the point icon.

11. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for displaying a map to provide route guidance information to a user on the displayed map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a storage unit for storing point information blocks assigned to respective points, each point information block containing point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL;

a page memory for saving Web pages of the Web sites;

a controller for accessing a Web site associated with each point matching a predetermined condition among the points, which have the point information blocks stored in the storage unit, using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to download at least one Web page of the Web site to the page memory, for displaying a mark at a position corresponding to the point coordinates contained in the point information block which also contains the URL of the Web site, of which the at least one Web page is being or has been downloaded, on the map displayed by the navigation unit and, in response to a user operation on the mark, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page, downloaded in the page memory, of the Web site corresponding to the operated mark, and for searching the Web pages stored in the page memory for a Web page having a description matching a search keyword specified by the user and making the display pattern of the mark corresponding to the Web site, which the matched Web page belongs to, different from those of the other marks.

12. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for displaying a map to provide route guidance information to a user on the displayed map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a storage unit for storing point information blocks assigned to respective points, each point information block containing point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL; and

a controller for performing the operations of;

setting each point matching a predetermined condition as a target point among the points having the point information blocks stored in the storage unit, and accessing a Web site associated with each target point using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to obtain a Web page of the Web site and generate an icon representing an image of at least part of the obtained Web page or content included in the Web page such that the icon is linked to the Web site URL contained in the point information block of the target point;

displaying the generated icon corresponding to each target point near a position specified by the point coordinates contained in the point information block of the target point on the map displayed by the navigation unit; and

in response to a user operation on the displayed icon, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page specified by the Web site URL linked to the operated icon.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

the navigation unit searches a recommended route to a destination set by the user and displays the map and the recommended route thereon, and

the point information block of each point matching the predetermined condition contains the point coordinates along or in the vicinity of the recommended route.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the navigation unit displays a registered point mark at a position corresponding to the point coordinates contained in each of the point information blocks of the respective points, the point information blocks being stored in the storage unit.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein instead of the generated icon corresponding to each target point, the controller displays a registered point mark, indicating the target point, displayed by the navigation unit as the icon.

16. A vehicle-mounted apparatus comprising:

a navigation unit for searching a recommended route to a destination set by a user to display a map and the recommended route on the map;

a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page;

a storage unit for storing point information blocks regarding respective points, each point information block including point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL; and

a controller for performing the operations of;

setting each point, which has the point information block containing the point coordinates along or in the vicinity of the searched recommended route, as a target point among the points having the point information blocks stored in the storage unit, and accessing the Web site associated with each target point using the Web site URL contained in the corresponding point information block via wireless communication to obtain a Web page of the Web site and generate an icon representing an image of at least part of the obtained Web page or content included in the Web page such that the icon is linked to the Web site URL contained in the point information block of the target point;

displaying an icon arrangement window in which the generated icons corresponding to the respective target points are arranged in the order that the user passes the corresponding points when the user drives along the recommended route; and

in response to a user operation on one of the icons in the displayed icon arrangement window, allowing the Web browser to access the Web page specified by the Web site URL linked to the operated icon.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein

each point information block contains point type information representing the type of the corresponding point, and

the controller classifies the generated icons under the point types and arranges the classified icons in the icon arrangement window.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the controller displays a distance to each target point or expected driving time required until the user passes the corresponding point along the recommended route in addition to each icon arranged in the icon arrangement window.

19. A method for supporting the use of a Web site in a vehicle-mounted apparatus having a navigation unit for searching a route to a destination set by a user to determine a recommended route and displaying a map and the recommended route on the map and a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page, the method comprising the steps of:

when the navigation unit determines a recommended route, setting each point located along or in the vicinity of the recommended route as a target point on the basis of previously stored point information blocks, which are assigned to respective points and which each contain the point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL, and accessing the Web site associated with each target point using the Web site URL via wireless communication to obtain a Web page of the Web site and generate an icon representing an image of at least part of the obtained Web page or content included in the Web page such that the icon is linked to the Web site URL;

displaying the generated icons corresponding to the target points at respective positions specified by the point coordinates, contained in the point information blocks of the target points, on the map displayed by the navigation unit; and

in response to a user operation on one of the displayed icons, allowing the Web browser to access a Web page specified by the Web site URL linked to the operated icon.

20. A method for supporting the use of a Web site in a vehicle-mounted apparatus having a navigation unit for searching a route to a destination set by a user to determine a recommended route and displaying a map and the recommended route on the map and a Web browser for accessing a Web page to display the Web page, the method comprising the steps of:

when the navigation unit determines a recommended route, setting each point located along or in the vicinity of the recommended route as a target point on the basis of previously stored point information blocks, which are assigned to respective points and which each contain the point coordinates indicating the geographical coordinates of the corresponding point and the URL of a Web site, which provides information associated with the point, such that the coordinates are related to the Web site URL, and accessing the Web site associated with each target point using the Web site URL via wireless communication to obtain a Web page of the Web site and generate an icon representing an image of at least part of the obtained Web page or content included in the Web page such that the icon is linked to the Web site URL;

displaying an icon arrangement window in which the generated icons corresponding to the respective target points are arranged in the order that the user passes the points when the user drives along the recommended route; and

in response to a user operation on one of the icons in the icon arrangement window, allowing the Web browser to access a Web page specified by the Web site URL linked to the operated icon.