Method and process for enabling advertising via landmark based directions

• US 20070260393A1
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Polozoff, Alexandre, Abernethy, Michael, Bhogal, Kulvir, Grigsby, Travis
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product that enables a direction service to automatically inform the requester or user of the directions of advertisement associated with the various businesses and/or landmarks situated on a directional map generated by the service. The service provider of the navigational service enhances the directional offerings to include advertisements associated with specific businesses and/or points of interest within the service'"'"'s mapping database. When a generated route/direction includes landmarks (e.g., one or more of the businesses or other point of interest), which have an associated advertisement, the service displays (or outputs via audible or other means) the advertisement to the user, along with the directions. In this way the user is provided an output that includes the directions, landmarks (businesses and/or points of interest) along the routes, as well as an output of the specific advertisement associated with each of these landmarks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a navigation route to a destination;

generating in response to the request, the navigational route to the destination including at least one point of interest;

when an input is received for assistance in finding the destination from a location within the navigational route;

determining a point of interest proximate to the location;

prompting the user to acknowledge whether the point of interest is observed; and

when the user acknowledges observation of the point of interest, prompting the user to knowledge a next point of interest along the navigational route, whereby the user may be directed from one point of interest along the route to the next point of interest until the user arrives at the destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the user does not acknowledge observation of the point of interest, said method further comprises:

refining the points of interest to be more specific;

re-prompting the user to acknowledge observation of the refined, more specific point of interest; and

providing further refinements to the more specific point of interest until the user acknowledges observation of at least one of the characteristics within the refined, more specific point of interest.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said input is a voice request and said response is a voice response, wherein said method comprises receiving the voice requests as an input and generating the voice response as an output.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating an advertisement with the point of interest; and

enabling user access to the advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said enabling user access further comprises:

outputting a full content of the advertisement when the user access is initiated;

linking the advertisement to the specific point of interest; and

informing the user of the location of the point of interest within the navigational route.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

tracking each user access to the advertisement associated with the point of interest; and

maintaining a database with information from the tracking, wherein said information may be utilize for later billing the owner of the point of interest based on a level of access to the advertisement.

7. A device comprising a processing unit executing code which provides the features of claim 1.

8. A device comprising a processing unit executing code which provides the features of claim 4.

9. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said computer readable medium that when executed by a processing device performs the following;

receiving a request for a navigation route to a destination;

generating in response to the request, the navigational route to the destination including at least one point of interest;

when an input is received for assistance in finding the destination from a location within the navigational route;

determining a point of interest proximate to the location;

prompting the user to acknowledge whether the point of interest is observed; and

when the user acknowledges observation of the point of interest, prompting the user to knowledge a next point of interest along the navigational route, whereby the user may be directed from one point of interest along the route to the next point of interest until the user arrives at the destination.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein when the user does not acknowledge observation of the point of interest, said code further comprises code for:

refining the points of interest to be more specific;

re-prompting the user to acknowledge observation of the refined, more specific point of interest; and

providing further refinements to the more specific point of interest until the user acknowledges observation of at least one of the characteristics within the refined, more specific point of interest.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said input is a voice request and said response is a voice response, wherein said code comprises code for receiving the voice requests as an input and generating the voice response as an output.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising code for:

associating an advertisement with the point of interest; and

enabling user access to the advertisement.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said code for enabling user access further comprises code for:

outputting a full content of the advertisement when the user access is initiated;

linking the advertisement to the specific point of interest; and

informing the user of the location of the point of interest within the navigational route.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising code for:

tracking each user access to the advertisement associated with the point of interest; and

maintaining a database with information from the tracking, wherein said information may be utilize for later billing the owner of the point of interest based on a level of access to the advertisement.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising code for:

displaying a map of the navigational route and directions, which includes the point of interest;

highlighting the point of interest within the map and the directions for user selection;

when a user selects the point of interest, automatically outputting the advertisements to the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising code for:

enabling user retrieval of the advertisements via one of (1) a printout of the advertisement, (2) a download on the advertisement to a user portable device, and (3) a linking of the advertisement to a user-forwarded copy of the navigational route and directions.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said code for highlighting further comprise code for indicating to the user that the point of interest has an associated advertisement linked to it.

18. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said computer readable medium that when executed by a processing device performs the following;

receiving a request for a navigation route to a destination;

generating in response to the request, the navigational route to the destination including at least one point of interest;

associating an advertisement with the point of interest; and

enabling user access to the advertisement.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein said code for enabling user access further comprises code for:

outputting a full content of the advertisement when the user access is initiated;

linking the advertisement to the specific point of interest; and

informing the user of the location of the point of interest within the navigational route, tracking each user access to the advertisement associated with the point of interest; and

maintaining a database with information from the tracking, wherein said information may be utilize for later billing the owner of the point of interest based on a level of access to the advertisement.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising code for:

displaying a map of the navigational route and directions, which includes the point of interest;

highlighting the point of interest within the map and the directions for user selection, wherein said code for highlighting further comprise code for indicating to the user that the point of interest has an associated advertisement linked to it;

when a user selects the point of interest, automatically outputting the advertisements to the user;

enabling user retrieval of the advertisements via one of (1) a printout of the advertisement, (2) a download on the advertisement to a user portable device, and (3) a linking of the advertisement to a user-forwarded copy of the navigational route and directions.