Providing time table information

• US 20110010084A1
• Filed: 04/22/2010
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Original Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Inventors: Alsed, Jesper, Ekstrand, Simon, Carlsson, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

A method of providing time table information and navigation instructions comprises receiving position data associated with a number of pre-determined positions along a transportation route, receiving time table data, receiving position data associated with a reference position, and determining a number of connection routes from the reference position to at least one of the pre-determined positions. Corresponding device and computer program product are also provided.

Claims

1. A method performed in a device, said method comprising:

receiving position data associated with a number of pre-determined positions along a transportation route;

receiving time table data, said time table data associating each of said number of pre-determined positions to a point of time;

receiving position data associated with a reference position;

determining a number of connection routes from said reference position to at least one of said pre-determined positions, each of said number of connection routes being associated with one of said pre-determined positions;

receiving a mode of transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, said mode of transportation being associated with a speed;

determining for each of said number of connection routes a time for transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions by using said speed;

receiving a reference time point;

determining for each of said number of connection routes a time of arrival by adding said time for transportation to said reference time point;

determining at least one recommended connection route from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, by, for each of said number of connection routes, in case said time of arrival is prior to said point of time associated to said pre-determined position associated with said connection route, setting said connection route as a recommended connection route; and

transmitting data pertaining to said at least one recommended connection route to a display.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reference position is a current position of the device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reference time point is a current time point.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

classifying the pre-determined positions associated with said at least one recommended connection route into at least one class based on said time of arrival.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

indicating the pre-determined positions associated with said at least one recommended connection route based on said at least one class.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said indicating comprises associating a colour with each of said at least one class.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein said indicating comprises associating a size with each of said at least one class.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining interpolated position data by using said time table data, said interpolated position data associating points of said transportation route to points of time, and

transmitting data pertaining to said interpolated position data to said display.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving position data associated with a transportation unit,

updating said time table data by extrapolating said position data associated with the transportation unit,

transmitting data pertaining to said position data to said display.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a selected connection route by receiving a user input actuation indicating one of said at least one recommended connection route;

determining navigation instructions based on said selected connection route; and

transmitting data pertaining to said navigation instructions to said display.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining target time data, said target time data associating points of said selected connection route with points of time, by interpolation using said reference time point and said point of time associated to a pre-determined position associated to said selected connection route; and

transmitting data pertaining to said target time data to said display.

12. A device, comprising:

a receiver for receiving position data associated with a number of pre-determined positions along a transportation route, time table data, said time table data associating each of said number of pre-determined position to a point of time position data associated with a reference position, a mode of transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, said mode of transportation being associated with a speed, and a reference time point;

a processing unit arranged to determine a number of connection routes from said reference position to at least one of said pre-determined positions by using said speed, to determine, for each of said number of connection routes a time of arrival by adding said time for transportation to said reference time point, and to determine at least one recommended connection route from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, by, for each of said number of connection routes, in case said time of arrival is prior to said point of time associated to said pre-determined position associated with said connection route, setting said connection route as a recommended connection route; and

a transmitter for transmitting data pertaining to said at least one recommended connection route to a display.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the processing unit further is arranged to classify the pre-determined positions associated with said at least one recommended connection route into at least one class based on said time of arrival.

14. A system, comprising:

a device including;

a receiver for receiving position data associated with a number of pre-determined positions along a transportation route, time table data, said time table data associating each of said number of pre-determined position to a point of time position data associated with a reference position, a mode of transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, said mode of transportation being associated with a speed, and a reference time point;

a processing unit arranged to determine a number of connection routes from said reference position to at least one of said pre-determined positions by using said speed, to determine, for each of said number of connection routes a time of arrival by adding said time for transportation to said reference time point, and to determine at least one recommended connection route from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, by, for each of said number of connection routes, in case said time of arrival is prior to said point of time associated to said pre-determined position associated with said connection route, setting said connection route as a recommended connection route; and

a transmitter for transmitting data pertaining to said at least one recommended connection route to a display; and

a display arranged to receive data from said device.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the processing unit further is arranged to classify the pre-determined positions associated with said at least one recommended connection route into at least one class based on said time of arrival.

16. A computer program product stored on a computer-readable medium comprising computer program code portions, the computer program product comprising:

executable code that receives position data associated with a number of pre-determined positions along a transportation route;

executable code that receives time table data, said time table data associating each of said number of pre-determined positions to a point of time;

executable code that receives position data associated with a reference position;

executable code that determines a number of connection routes from said reference position to at least one of said pre-determined positions, each of said number of connection routes being associated with one of said pre-determined positions;

executable code that receives a mode of transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, said mode of transportation being associated with a speed;

executable code that determines for each of said number of connection routes a time for transportation from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions by using said speed;

executable code that receives a reference time point;

executable code that determines for each of said number of connection routes a time of arrival by adding said time for transportation to said reference time point;

executable code that determines at least one recommended connection route from said reference position to said at least one of said pre-determined positions, by, for each of said number of connection routes, in case said time of arrival is prior to said point of time associated to said pre-determined position associated with said connection route, setting said connection route as a recommended connection route; and

executable code that transmits data pertaining to said at least one recommended connection route to a display.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, further comprising:

executable code that classifies the pre-determined positions associated with said at least one recommended connection route into at least one class based on said time of arrival.

18. The computer program product according to claim 16, further comprising:

executable code that determines interpolated position data by using said time table data, said interpolated position data associating points of said transportation route to points of time, and

executable code that transmits data pertaining to said interpolated position data to said display.

19. The computer program product according to claim 16, further comprising:

executable code that receives position data associated with a transportation unit,

executable code that updates said time table data by extrapolating said position data associated with the transportation unit,

executable code that transmits data pertaining to said position data to said display.

20. The computer program product according to claim 16, further comprising:

executable code that determines a selected connection route by receiving a user input actuation indicating one of said at least one recommended connection route;

executable code that determines navigation instructions based on said selected connection route; and

executable code that transmits data pertaining to said navigation instructions to said display.