APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR AUTONOMOUSLY DETERMINING A SET OF DESTINATIONS

• US 20080125968A1
• Filed: 11/27/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Harper, Richard Edwin, Piazza, William Joseph, Bradicich, Thomas Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for autonomously determining a set of destinations. A landmark module stores a plurality of landmarks from a database. An identification module identifies a first current location and direction of the vehicle. In response to receiving a help command from the help button, a destination module determines a first set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the first current location, and the first current direction. A prompt module audibly prompts a driver to navigate the vehicle to the first set of destinations. A navigation module determines if the driver is navigating towards the first direction. In response to the driver not navigating the vehicle toward at least one destination of the first set of destinations, the navigation module may direct the identification module to identify a second current location and direction of the vehicle and the destination module to determine a second set of destinations.

Claims

1. An apparatus to autonomously determine a set of destinations, the apparatus comprising:

a landmark module configured to store a plurality of landmarks from a database, the landmarks comprising landmarks passed by a vehicle within a specified interval and landmarks with a specified interest distance from the vehicle;

an identification module configured to identify a first current location and direction of the vehicle;

a destination module configured to determine a first set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the first current location, and the first current direction; and

a prompt module configured to audibly prompt a driver to navigate the vehicle to the first set of destinations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a navigation module configured to determine if the driver is navigating toward the first set of destinations and to direct the identification module to identify a second current location and direction of the vehicle, the destination module to determine a second set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the second current location, and the second current direction, and the prompt module to audibly prompt the driver to navigate the vehicle to second set of destinations in response to the driver not navigating the vehicle toward at least one destination of the first set of destinations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a classification module configured to classify at least one location if the vehicle is regularly parked in the at least one location during at least one specified time block.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the classification module classifies the at least one location by:

storing parked locations during a specified time block;

ranking the parked locations by frequency;

determining a high ranked parked location satisfies a classification criteria; and

classifying the high ranked location.

5. A processor program product comprising a processor useable medium having a processor readable program, wherein the processor readable program when executed on a processor causes the processor to:

store a plurality of landmarks from a database, the landmarks comprising landmarks passed by a vehicle within a specified interval and landmarks with a specified interest distance from the vehicle;

identify a first current location and direction of the vehicle;

determine a first set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the first current location, and the first current direction; and

audibly prompt a driver to navigate the vehicle to the first set of destinations.

6. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to initiate determining the destination and audibly prompting the driver in response to receiving a help command from a help button.

7. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to identify a second current location and direction of the vehicle, determine a second set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the second current location, and the second current direction, and audibly prompt the driver to navigate the vehicle to second set of destinations in response to the driver not navigating the vehicle toward at least one destination of the first set of destinations.

8. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to classify at least one location if the vehicle is regularly parked in the at least one location during at least one specified time block.

9. The processor program product of claim 8, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to classify the at least one location by:

storing parked locations during a specified time block;

ranking the parked locations by frequency;

determining a high ranked parked location satisfies a classification criteria; and

classifying the high ranked location.

10. The processor program product of claim 8, wherein the specified time block is an evening time block and the high ranked location is classified as a home location.

11. The processor program product of claim 8, wherein the specified time block is a daytime block and the high ranked location is classified as an office location.

12. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to select the first set of destinations from a home location, an office location, a main road, and a back track location.

13. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the specified interval is a time interval prior to a stop interval.

14. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the specified interval is a distance interval prior to a stop interval.

15. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the processor readable code is further configured to cause the processor to audibly identify approaching roads.

16. The processor program product of claim 5, wherein the specified interest distance is calculated as a landmark'"'"'s interest weight divided by a distance to the landmark.

17. A system to autonomously determine a set of destinations, the system comprising:

a global positioning device configured to determine locations for a vehicle;

a database configured to store landmarks;

a help button configured to issue a help command in response to a driver depressing the help button;

a memory module configured to store processor readable programs;

a processor configured to execute the processor readable programs and comprising

a landmark module configured to store a plurality of landmarks from the database, the landmarks comprising landmarks passed by the vehicle within a specified time interval and landmarks with a specified interest distance from the vehicle;

an identification module configured to identify a first current location and direction of the vehicle;

a destination module configured to determine a first set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the first current location, and the first current direction in response to receiving the help command from the help button; and

a prompt module configured to audibly prompt the driver to navigate the vehicle to the first set of destinations.

18. The system of claim 17, the processor further comprising a classification module configured to classify at least one location if the vehicle is regularly parked in the at least one location during at least one specified time block.

19. The system of claim 17, the processor further comprising a navigation module configured to determine if the driver is navigating toward the first set of destinations and to direct the identification module to identify a second current location and direction of the vehicle, the destination module to determine a second set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the second current location, and the second current direction, and the prompt module to audibly prompt the driver to navigate the vehicle to second set of destinations in response to the driver not navigating the vehicle toward at least one destination of the first set of destinations.

20. A method for autonomously determining a set of destinations, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of landmarks from a database, the landmarks comprising landmarks passed by a vehicle within a specified time interval and landmarks with a specified interest distance from the vehicle;

receiving a help command from a help button depressed by a driver;

identifying a first current location and direction of the vehicle;

determining a first set of destinations from the plurality of landmarks, the first current location, and the first current direction;

audibly prompting the driver to navigate the vehicle to the first set of destinations; and

determining if the driver is navigating toward at least one destination of the first set of destinations.