PROVIDING ACCESS TO A COLLECTION OF CONTENT ITEMS

• US 20100198499A1
• Filed: 07/07/2008
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Geurts, Lucas Jacobus Franciscus, Rozendaal, Leendert Teunis
• Granted Patent: US 8,346,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00

Abstract

In a collection(2) ofcontent items, each content item is represented by at least one signal for rendering in a perceptible form on a rendering system(5,6;25,26,27,28,29), and each content item is linked to data(8,10) specifying at least one geographical location for each content item. A method of providing access to the content items in the collection includes obtaining geographical data defining a route and assembling a signal for use by a 5 rendering system(5,6;25,26,27,28,29), the signal being representative of a succession of signals representing a sequence of content items, so as to progress along the route as the signals representing the sequence of content items are rendered. The content items in the sequence are selected by applying at locations along the route a selection criterion based on the location along the route and the data specifying at least one geographical location for 10 each content item. The signal for use by the rendering system, when rendered, causes a speed ofprogression along the route to vary according to how many content items are obtained for each next location along the route by applying the selection criterion, and according to the lengths of signals representing them.

Claims

1. Method of providing access to a collection (2) of content items,

each content item being represented by at least one signal for rendering in a perceptible form on a rendering system (5,6;

25,26,27,28,29), and

each content item being linked to data (8,10) specifying at least one geographical location for each content item, including;

obtaining geographical data defining a route; and

assembling a signal for use by a rendering system (5,6;

25,26,27,28,29), the signal being representative of a succession of signals representing a sequence of content items, so as to progress along the route as the signals representing the sequence of content items are rendered,

wherein the content items in the sequence are selected by applying at locations along the route a selection criterion based on the location along the route and the data specifying at least one geographical location for each content item, and the signal for use by the rendering system, when rendered, causes a speed of progression along the route to vary according to how many content items are obtained for each next location along the route by applying the selection criterion, and according to the lengths of signals representing them.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein geographical data defining at least a section of the route is obtained automatically in response to a user command of a type other than user input of a type that specifies any of a location and a sub-section on at least the section of the route.

3. Method according to claim 1, including

providing a user interface for receiving user input specifying geographical locations,

wherein the step of obtaining geographical data defining the route includes obtaining user input specifying at least one point on the route.

4. Method according to claim 3, including determining the route from user input specifying only one or both end points of the route.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining geographical data defining the route includes receiving a signal identifying successive locations of a moving navigation device (18;

21,24).

6. Method according to claim 1, including causing the assembled signal to be rendered concurrently with information identifying a current location as progress is made along the route,

the current location being a location specified by data linked to the content item represented by a currently rendered one of the succession of signals.

7. Method according to claim 6, including

displaying a map on a screen (28) and

indicating the progression of the current position on the map displayed on the screen (28).

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein the step of assembling the signal includes inserting, into the signal, data based on a mix of data representative of successive ones of the signals representing the sequence of content items at a transition between signal sections representative of only the successive signals.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein the content items in the sequence are selected by at least conditionally applying a further selection criterion, unrelated to the data specifying at least one geographical location for each content item.

11. System according to claim 10, configured to carry out a method according to claim 1.

12. Computer programme including a set of instructions capable, when incorporated in a machine-readable medium, of causing a system having information processing capabilities to perform a method according to claim 1.

10. System for providing access to a collection (2) of content items,

each content item being represented by at least one signal for rendering in perceptible form on a rendering system, and

each content item being linked to data (8,10) specifying at least one geographical location for each content item, wherein the system is configured to obtain geographical data defining a route;

and

to assemble a signal for use by a rendering system (5,6;

25,26,27,28,29), the signal being representative of a succession of signals representing a sequence of content items, so as to progress along the route as the signals representing the sequence of content items are rendered,

wherein the content items in the sequence are selected by applying at locations along the route a selection criterion based on the location along the route and the data specifying at least one geographical location for each content item,

wherein the content items in the sequence are selected by applying at locations along the route a selection criterion based on the location along the route and the data specifying at least one geographical location for each content item, and wherein the system is configured to assemble a signal for use by the rendering system (5,6;

25,26,27,28,29) which, when rendered, causes a speed of progression along the route to vary according to how many content items are obtained for each next location along the route by applying the selection criterion, and according to the lengths of signals representing them.