Method and Apparatus for Displaying Three-Dimensional Terrain and Route Guidance

• US 20110054778A1
• Filed: 08/30/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Poiesz, Benjamin, Han, Maung
• Granted Patent: US 8,532,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3635 Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, an information display device for displaying three-dimensional route and terrain includes a plurality of databases for storing information; a display control unit to dynamically manage said information with different levels-of-detail (LODs); and a user interface communicatively coupled with the control unit to display said managed information with different levels of detail. In one embodiment, the control unit may include a terrain scaling unit which is configured to dynamically increase or decrease the height or “3D-ness” of the terrain based on the angle and height of the viewing. The control unit may also include an LOD control unit and a scene stitching unit. In addition, the information display device provides a three-dimensional real-time rendering environment including three-dimensional guidance information which allows the user to understand complex maneuvers without using two-dimensional overlays.

Claims

1. A method for displaying three-dimensional route guidance and terrain comprises the steps of:

retrieving geographical information from at least one database, the geographical information includes maps, geographical features and road networks;

communicating with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information;

generating a route conforming to a three-dimensional terrain;

displaying said route and three-dimensional terrain on a user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a route conforming to a three-dimensional terrain includes the step of dynamically controlling different levels-of-detail (LODs) which comprises the steps of scaling a terrain to dynamically increase or decrease the height of the terrain based on viewing angles and height;

simultaneously managing two or more LODs; and

stitching scenes with different LODs together.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information includes the steps of loading geographical information from at least one database, loading a plurality of images from at least one terrain database, applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids, and building more than one road network and using grayscale images to find heights at road edges so that the road follows contours of the terrain.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids includes the steps calculating normal for each triangle grid to determine shading, determining a base shade color according to height and brightness of image points, and multiplying the normal and the base shading color for each triangle to generate shaded terrain color.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprises the step of providing a three-dimensional real-time rendering environment including three-dimensional guidance information which allows the user to understand complex maneuvers without using two-dimensional overlays.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of simultaneously managing two or more LODs comprises the step of generating a larger viewing area of the three-dimensional terrain when the viewing angle is parallel to a ground surface.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of stitching scenes with different LODs together comprises the step of adding transition points between a gap between two different levels.

8. A terrain and route display device comprises:

means for retrieving geographical information from at least one database, the geographical information includes maps, geographical features and road network;

means for communicating with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information;

means for generating a route conforming to a three-dimensional terrain;

means for displaying said route and three-dimensional terrain on a user interface.

9. The terrain and route display device of claim 8, wherein the means for generating a route conforming to a three-dimensional terrain includes means for dynamically controlling different levels-of-detail (LODs) which includes means for scaling a terrain to dynamically increase or decrease the height of the terrain based on viewing angles and height;

means for simultaneously managing two or more level of details; and

means for stitching scenes with different LOD s together.

10. The terrain and route display device of claim 8, wherein the means for communicating with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information includes means for loading geographical information from at least one database;

means for loading a plurality of images from at least one terrain database;

means for applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids; and

means for building more than one road network and using grayscale images to find heights at road edges, so that the road follows contours of the terrain.

11. The terrain and route display device of claim 10, wherein the means for applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids includes means for calculating normal for each triangle grid to determine shading, means for determining a base shade color according to height and brightness of image points, and means for multiplying the normal and the base shading color for each triangle to generate shaded terrain color.

12. The terrain and route display device of claim 9, wherein the means for simultaneously managing two or more LODs comprises means for generating a larger viewing area of the three-dimensional terrain when the viewing angle is parallel to a ground surface.

13. The terrain and route display device of claim 9, wherein the means for stitching scenes with different LODs together comprises means for adding transition points between a gap between two different levels.

14. A navigation system comprises:

an information receiver adapted to receive information about current location of a user;

at least one database to store and provide geographical information including maps, road networks, geographical features, and point-of-interest (POI) information;

a display control unit to communicate with the database to obtain and dynamically manage the geographical information;

a route generating unit to retrieve the map and road network data from the database and generate a calculated route; and

a user interface for displaying route and three-dimensional terrain,

wherein the display control unit is communicatively coupled with the route generating unit to generate a route conforming to the three-dimensional terrain with dynamic control over different levels-of-detail (LODs).

15. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the display control unit comprises a terrain scaling unit to dynamically increase or decrease the height of the terrain based on viewing angles and height;

a LOD control unit to simultaneously managing two or more level of details; and

a scene stitching unit to stitch scenes with different LODs together.

16. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the display control unit further comprises means for loading geographical information from at least one database;

means for loading a plurality of images from at least one terrain database;

means for applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids; and

means for building more than one road network and using grayscale images to find heights at road edges, so that the road follows contours of the terrain.

17. The navigation system of claim 16, wherein the means for applying grayscale to the images represented by a plurality of triangle grids comprises means for calculating normal for each triangle grid to determine shading, means for determining a base shade color according to height and brightness of image points, and means for multiplying the normal and the base shading color for each triangle to generate shaded terrain color.

18. The navigation system of claim 15, wherein the LOD control unit comprises means for generating a larger viewing area of the three-dimensional terrain when the viewing angle is parallel to a ground surface.

19. The navigation system of claim 15, wherein the scene stitching unit comprises means for adding transition points between a gap between two different levels.

20. The navigation system of claim 14, further comprises a real-time three-dimensional environment rendering unit including three-dimensional guidance information which allows the user to understand complex maneuvers without using two-dimensional overlays.