PROVIDING AUGMENTED TRAVEL DIRETIONS

• US 20090281726A1
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Byrne, Aiden, Couckuyt, Jeff, Kolluru, Nagendra, Cheung, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3641 Personalized guidance, e.g. limited guidance on previously travelled routes

Abstract

Providing machine-generated travel directions with customized augmentations to enhance the navigation process. To provide machine-generated travel directions, a user submitted starting location, destination location, and meta-data associated with the user is used to generate a route between the starting location and destination location Annotations to the route are derived based on the meta-data associated with the user or characteristics associated with the route. The annotations are then ranked according to a determined priority. The route generated between the starting location and the destination location, and augmented with the ranked annotations, is displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing machine-generated travel directions, the method comprising:

receiving a query of direction from the user, the query of direction including a starting location, a destination location and meta-data associated with the user;

generating a route between the starting location and the destination location;

deriving available annotations along the route;

ranking the annotations according to a determined priority; and

displaying the resulting data derived by augmenting the route with the ranked annotations.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein deriving available annotations along the route further comprises:

determining intersection information along the route;

determining landform characteristics along the route;

determining current road characteristics along the route; and

determining recognizable landmarks along the route.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining recognizable landmarks along the route further comprises determining recognizable business structures or other visible indicia along the route.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein ranking the annotations by a determined priority further comprises determining a priority based on characteristics of the generated route and the annotations available along the route.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein ranking the annotations by a determined priority further comprises filtering the prioritized annotations to remove annotations below a variable threshold level of priority.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the threshold level of priority is determined by cross-referencing the meta-data associated with the user with the ranked annotations.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the threshold level of priority is adjustable by the user.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein displaying the resulting data derived by merging the route with the ranked annotations further comprises displaying the resulting data derived by augmenting the route with the ranked annotations above the variable threshold level of priority.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating the route further comprises generating the route as a sequence of discrete maneuvers.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein deriving available annotations along the route further comprises deriving available annotations for at least one discrete maneuver comprising the route.

11. A method for providing machine-generated travel directions, the method comprising:

receiving a query of direction from the user, the query of direction including a starting location, a destination location and meta-data associated with the user;

generating a route between the starting location and the destination location, the route comprising a sequence of discrete maneuvers;

generating available annotations along at least one maneuver of the route;

ranking the annotations according to a determined priority;

filtering the annotations according to a threshold level of priority

displaying the resulting data derived by merging the route with the filtered annotations; and

storing information from the resulting data and updating the meta-data associated with the user in storage.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein storing information associated with the resulting data further comprises storing user-specified preferences.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein ranking the annotations according to a determined priority further comprises cross-referencing stored user-specified preferences.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein storing information associated with the resulting data further comprises storing user-specific features.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein deriving available annotations along at least one maneuver of the route further comprises determining stored user-specific features along the maneuver.

16. A system for automatically generating travel directions, comprising:

a computer system having a processor coupled to a memory, the memory having computer readable code, which when executed by the processor causes the computer system to implement;

a direction engine for generating a route comprising at least one maneuver between a starting location and a destination location;

an augmentation engine for deriving, ranking, and filtering available annotations associated with at least one maneuver; and

an interactive user interface for receiving a starting location and a destination location from the user and displaying the result of merging the route with the annotations.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the interactive user interface is a computing device.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the system further comprises a position determining system.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the position determining system further comprises a Global Positioning System receiver.

20. The system according to claim 16, wherein available annotations include information associated with visible indicia along the route.