Travel Route Display System

• US 20090082958A1
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer Design Corporation (Pioneer Corporation)
• Inventors: Ishii, Miyuki, Nakatsuka, Yoshinori, Nagashima, Mitsukatsu, Ibe, Yoshihito
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,239 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport

Abstract

Steps executed by a travel route display system include a searching step (step S403) of searching a database based on a given search condition; a numerical data calculating step (step S404) of executing a predetermined calculation on a result obtained at step S403 to calculate numerical data displayed together with a travel route; an image data generating step (step S405) of generating a plurality of kinds of image data for displaying the travel route on a screen, the generation being based on results obtained at steps S403, S404; a display image controlling step (step S407) of so controlling the plurality of kinds of image data that an individual piece of image data or a synthesis of a plurality of image data can be displayed on the same screen, the plurality of kinds of image data being obtained at step S405; and an image data displaying step (step S408) of displaying the image data controlled at step S407.

Claims

1. A travel route display system having a server and a user terminal that are connected via a network, wherein

the server includes

a search condition obtaining unit that obtains a given search condition transmitted from the user terminal;

a database that stores various pieces of information for displaying a travel route;

an information searching unit that searches the database based on the search condition obtained by the search condition obtaining unit;

a numerical-data calculating unit that calculates various numerical data based on information obtained as a result of the search into the database, the numerical data being displayed together with the travel route;

an image data generating unit that generates a plurality of kinds of image data for displaying the travel route, using the information obtained from the result of the search into the database by the information searching unit and the numerical data calculated by the numerical-data calculating unit; and

an image data transmitting unit that transmits the plurality of kinds of image data to the user terminal, the image data being generated by the image data generating unit, and wherein

the user terminal includes

a search condition input unit that receives input of a given search condition;

a search condition transmitting unit that transmits the search condition to the server, the search condition being input through the search condition input unit;

an image data obtaining unit that obtains a plurality of kinds of image data transmitted from the image data transmitting unit;

a display image controlling unit that so controls the plurality of kinds of image data that an individual piece of image data or a synthesis of a plurality of image data can be displayed on the same screen, the plurality of kinds of image data being obtained by the image data obtaining unit; and

a display unit that displays the image data controlled by the display image controlling unit.

2. The travel route display system according to claim 1, wherein

the database includes

a transportation information database that stores various pieces of information such as transportations including train, bus, ship, and airplane, and information of schedules, fares, and service distances of the transportations;

a facility information database that stores various pieces of information such as tourist facilities, theme parks, restaurants, and accommodations; and

a map database that stores map information.

3. The travel route display system according to claim 1, wherein

the numerical-data calculating unit calculate a total of transportation fares and service charges for facilities to be used, a time required for transportations to be used and for an entire travel schedule, a time for transportation transfer, a travel distance, etc.

4. The travel route display system according to claim 1, wherein

the image data generating unit comprises:

a transportation-information image-data generating unit that generates image data for displaying information on transportations;

a facility-information image-data generating unit that generates image data for displaying information on facilities to be used; and

a map image-data generating unit that generates image data for displaying a map.

5. The travel route display system according to claim 1, wherein the display image controlling unit further controls the plurality of kinds of image data so that images exhibiting simplified information and detailed information can be displayed hierarchically.

6. A travel route display controller composed of the server according to claim 1.

7. A travel route display terminal apparatus composed of the user terminal according to claim 1.

8. A travel route display method comprising:

a search condition obtaining step of obtaining a search condition necessary for displaying a travel route;

a searching step of searching a database based on the search condition obtained at the search condition obtaining step;

a numerical data calculating step of carrying out a predetermined calculation on a result obtained at the searching step to calculate numerical data displayed together with the travel route;

an image data generating step of generating a plurality of kinds of image data for displaying the travel route on a screen, the generation being based on results obtained at the searching step and numerical data calculating step;

a display image controlling step of controlling the plurality of kinds of image data that an individual piece of image data or a synthesis of a plurality of image data can be displayed on the same screen, the plurality of kinds of image data being generated at the image data generating step; and

a display step of displaying the image data controlled at the display image controlling step.

9. A travel route display program that causes a computer to execute the travel route display method according to claim 8.