Local Search and Mapping for Mobile Devices

• US 20070176796A1
• Filed: 11/07/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Crady, Mark, Mavinkurve, Sanjay, Bliss, Adam, Chu, Michael, Jenson, Scott, Morrison, Jerry, Sacks, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/995.140
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0206 Portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts, e.g. hinged housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location

Abstract

A computer-implemented mapping method is disclosed and includes displaying a first map view of a geographic area on a display of a computing device, receiving a voice or key-press zoom command and generating a first zoom box of a predetermined size on the display relative to the first map view in response to the zoom command, and displaying a second map view of a zoomed geographic area corresponding to the zoom box.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented mapping method, comprising:

displaying a first map view of a geographic area on a display of a computing device;

receiving a voice or key-press zoom command and generating a first zoom box of a predetermined size on the display relative to the first map view in response to the zoom command; and

displaying a second map view of a zoomed geographic area corresponding to the zoom box.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second map view has a different resolution than the first map view.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first and second map view are comprised of tiles of raster images.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising retrieving tiles of the zoomed geographic area and replacing the display with the retrieved tiles.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the zoom box comprises an outline superimposed inside the edges of the first map view.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the zoom command is received by activation of a key on a telephone device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a movement key activation and panning the zoom box over the first map view in a direction corresponding to the activated movement key.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the activated key comprises a key aligned with a changeable region of a display on the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second map view is a zoomed-out view of the first map view.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the zoom box comprises the first map view displayed as a reduced image centered in the display.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a display area around the reduced image comprises a featureless background.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a second zoom box on the second map view and displaying a third map view of a zoomed geographic area corresponding to the second zoom box.

13. A tangible media carrying instructions that, when executed, perform steps comprising:

displaying a first map view of a geographic area on a display of a computing device;

receiving a voice or key-press zoom command and generating a zoom box of a predetermined size on the display relative to the first map view in response to the zoom command; and

displaying a second map view of a zoomed geographic area corresponding to the zoom box.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the steps further comprise retrieving map tiles, each map tile representing a portion of the zoomed geographic area, and replacing the display with the retrieved tiles.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the zoom box comprises an outline superimposed inside the edges of the first map view.

16. The media of claim 13, wherein the zoom command is received by activation of a key on a telephone device.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the steps further comprise receiving a movement key activation and panning the zoom box over the first map view in a direction corresponding to the activated movement key.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein the activated key comprises a key aligned with a changeable region of a display on the computing device.

19. The media of claim 13, wherein the zoom box comprises the first map view displayed as a reduced image centered in the display.

20. A mobile computer-implemented mapping system, comprising:

an interface to receive location information and to provide, in response, corresponding map information;

map tile storage holding a plurality of tiles for display with the interface; and

means for changing map information displayed by the interface in response to inputs by a user to a mobile device.