DESTINATION PREDICTION APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100036601A1
• Filed: 09/19/2007
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tajima, Takashi, Kudoh, Takahiro, Ozawa, Jun, Yoshioka, Mototaka
• Granted Patent: US 8,068,977 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096894 where input is assisted by the navigation device, i.e. the user does not type the complete name of the destination, e.g. using zip codes, telephone numbers, progressively selecting from initial letters

Abstract

To provide a destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination more accurately than before. A destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination of a mobile object includes: a stay characteristic accumulating unit (103) in which stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at a predetermined point is accumulated; a travel time calculating unit (104) which calculates a travel time in the case where the mobile object heads from a current location obtained by a current point obtaining unit (101) to the point; and a destination predicting unit (106) which calculates an estimated arrival time based on a current time obtained by a current time obtaining unit (105) and the calculated travel time and predicts the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and a time period indicated by the stay characteristic information is satisfied.

Claims

1. A destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination of a mobile object, said destination prediction apparatus comprising:

a travel history accumulating unit in which travel history information regarding a past travel of the mobile object is accumulated;

a stay characteristic extracting unit operable to extract, from the travel history information, information indicating a previous time period when the mobile object has stayed at a predetermined point;

a stay characteristic accumulating unit operable to accumulate the extracted information as stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at the point; and

a destination predicting unit operable to calculate an estimated arrival time in the case where the mobile object departs from a current location to the point, and to predict the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and the time period indicated by the stay characteristic information are temporally close is satisfied.

2. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the stay characteristic information indicates a stay start time which is a time when the mobile object will likely start staying at the point, and

said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the point as the destination only when a difference between the calculated estimated arrival time and the stay start time indicated by the stay characteristic information is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold.

3. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the stay characteristic information indicates a stay start time which is a time when the mobile object will likely start staying at the point and a stay end time which is a time when the mobile object will likely end staying at the point, and

said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the point as the destination only when the calculated estimated arrival time falls between the stay start time and the stay end time both indicated by the stay characteristic information.

4. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein said destination predicting unit is further operable to predict the point as the destination, even when the estimated arrival time does not fall between the stay start time and the stay end time, in the case where a difference between the estimated arrival time and the stay start time is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold.

5. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein a business start time and a business end time at a facility located at the point is accumulated, as the stay start time and the stay end time, in said stay characteristic accumulating unit.

6. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the point as the destination only when a difference between the estimated arrival time and the stay end time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

7. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein information regarding a facility category for the facility is accumulated in said stay characteristic accumulating unit, and

said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the point as the destination only when a difference between the estimated arrival time and the stay end time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold defined depending on the facility category.

8. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising

a facility information displaying unit operable to search business hours of one or more facilities accumulated in said stay characteristic accumulating unit, and to display information regarding the searched business hours of the one or more facilities,

wherein said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the destination from the one or more facilities having the information displayed by said facility information displaying unit.

9. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein, in the case where travel history information regarding the current location is accumulated, said destination prediction apparatus predicts a destination using the travel history information.

10. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said stay characteristic extracting unit is operable to extract, from the travel history information, pieces of information each of which indicating, for different one of a plurality of points, a previous time period when the mobile object has stayed at the point,

said stay characteristic accumulating unit is operable to accumulate the extracted pieces of information as stay characteristic information for the different one of the plurality of points, and

said destination predicting unit is operable, in the case where there is a plurality of points where the estimated arrival time falls between the stay start time and the stay end time both indicated by the stay characteristic information, to preferentially predict, as the destination, a point where a difference between the calculated estimated arrival time and a stay end time is greater among the plurality of points.

11. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said stay characteristic extracting unit is operable to extract, from the travel history information, pieces of information each of which indicating, for different one of a plurality of time slots, a previous time period when the mobile object has ended staying at the point in a time slot,

said stay characteristic accumulating unit is operable to accumulate the extracted pieces of information as stay characteristic information for the different one of the plurality of time slots, and

said destination predicting unit is operable to predict the point as the destination in the case where the calculated estimated arrival time falls between a stay start time and a stay end time both indicated by the stay characteristic information regarding a time slot including a time in the case where the mobile object has recently departed from the point.

12. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said destination predicting unit is operable, by causing a Central Processing Unit to execute a pre-stored program, to:

read out, to a working memory, the stay characteristic information from said stay characteristic accumulating unit;

perform prediction by referring to the stay characteristic information read out to the working memory; and

output, to a display device, information indicating a result of the prediction.

13. A destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination of a mobile object, said destination prediction apparatus comprising:

a stay characteristic accumulating unit in which stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at a predetermined point is accumulated;

a travel history accumulating unit in which travel history information regarding a past travel of the mobile object is accumulated;

a driving time extracting unit operable to extract, from the travel history information, information indicating driving times between intersections on routes from a current location of the mobile object to the point; and

a destination predicting unit operable to calculate an estimated arrival time by adding, to a current time, the driving times indicated by the extracted information in the case where the mobile object departs from the current location to the point, and to predict the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and the time period indicated by the stay characteristic information are temporally close is satisfied.

14. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 13,

wherein said destination predicting unit is operable to present the calculated estimated arrival time to a driver and to predict the destination.

15. A destination prediction method for predicting a destination of a mobile object by referring to travel history information regarding a past travel of the mobile object, said destination prediction method comprising:

a stay characteristic extracting step of extracting, from the travel history information, information indicating a previous time period when the mobile object has stayed at a predetermined point;

a stay characteristic accumulating step of accumulating the extracted information as stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at the point; and

a destination predicting step of calculating an estimated arrival time in the case where the mobile object departs from a current location to the point, and of predicting the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and the time period indicated by the stay characteristic information are temporally close is satisfied.

16. A program for predicting a destination of a mobile object, said program causing a computer to execute:

a stay characteristic extracting step of extracting, from the travel history information, information indicating a previous time period when the mobile object has stayed at a predetermined point;

a stay characteristic accumulating step of accumulating the extracted information as stay characteristic information indicating a time period when the mobile object will likely stay at the point; and

a destination predicting step of calculating an estimated arrival time in the case where the mobile object departs from a current location to the point, and of predicting the point as a destination only when a condition that the calculated estimated arrival time and the time period indicated by the stay characteristic information are temporally close is satisfied.