Navagation apparatus and method of navigation

• US 20110066367A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ogasawara, Akihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,725,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval

Abstract

A navigation apparatus guides a user to an appropriate terminal in an airport, for example, even when a schedule of an intended flight is changed. The above advantage is achieved by acquiring flight information of the intended flight from a flight information list that is delivered from an information distribution center and by determining, as a guidance destination, a terminal of the intended flight or a suitable airport facility after change of the flight schedule. The suitable guidance destination is determined not only by the changed flight schedule but also by a user purpose to go to the airport and an estimated arrival time of the user to the airport.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus for providing a user with guidance to a destination, the apparatus comprising:

a service number determination unit for determining a service number of a vehicle service based on a user input;

a destination determination unit for determining, as the destination of the guidance, a terminal-related place in an entire vehicle boarding place of the vehicle service based on the service number determined by the service number determination unit;

a service information acquisition unit for acquiring, from an information center, service information of the vehicle service having the service number determined by the service number determination unit, the service information including a schedule diversion condition of the determined service number of the vehicle service; and

a guidance provision unit for providing the user with diversion advisory guidance regarding diversion of the terminal-related place from an original terminal-related place that is originally determined by the destination determination unit based on the acquired service information of the vehicle service.

2. The navigation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the guidance provision unit changes the terminal-related place determined by the destination determination unit according to the acquired service information of the vehicle service for providing the user with updated guidance when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired by the service information acquisition unit as the service information of the vehicle service.

3. The navigation apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the guidance provision unit prompts the user to input a choice of whether to cancel the guidance or continue the guidance when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired by the service information acquisition unit as the service information of the vehicle service.

4. The navigation apparatus of claim 3, wherein

the guidance provision unit is capable of canceling the guidance to the terminal-related place based on the user input when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired by the service information acquisition unit as the service information of the vehicle service.

5. The navigation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the service number determination unit determines a user-desired vehicle service based on a service number that is directly input by the user.

6. The navigation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the service information acquisition unit acquires, through communication performed with the information center, the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number that is determined by the service number determination unit, when the service number of the vehicle service determined by the service number determination unit has schedule change.

7. The navigation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the service information acquisition unit acquires the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number based on regular reception of a schedule of the determined service number at predetermined intervals through communication performed with the information center.

8. The navigation apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a purpose determination unit for determining a purpose of the user to go to the vehicle boarding place of the vehicle service, wherein

the destination determination unit determines the terminal-related place provided for the user as the guidance destination unit based on the purpose of the user determined by the purpose determination unit.

9. The navigation apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

an arrival time estimation unit for estimating an arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place, wherein

the destination determination unit determines the terminal-related place provided for the user as the guidance destination based on the arrival time estimated by the arrival time estimation unit and the departure/arrival time of the service number determined by the service number determination unit.

10. The navigation apparatus of claim 1,

wherein

the guidance provision unit diverts the terminal-related place determined by the destination determination unit based on time difference between the arrival time and the departure/arrival time, if at least one of the arrival time estimated by the arrival time estimation unit and the departure/arrival time of the service number included in the service information of the vehicle service acquired by the service information acquisition unit is changed.

11. The navigation apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a park day calculation unit for calculating a number of days of parking of a user-owned vehicle based on the user input; and

a fee table storage unit for storing a fee table of park fees corresponding to the number of days of parking regarding a plurality of parking facilities around the vehicle boarding place, wherein

the destination determination unit determines as the destination of the guidance at least one of the plurality of parking facilities by selecting a parking facility that charges the user a competitive parking fee relative to the other parking facilities according to the number of days of parking calculated by the park day calculation unit and the fee tables of the respective parking facilities stored in the fee table storage unit.

12. The navigation apparatus of claim 11 further comprising:

an arrival time estimation unit for estimating an arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place, wherein

the destination determination unit determines as the destination of the guidance at least one of the plurality of parking facilities by (a) extracting from among the plurality of parking facilities at least one parking facility that is within a predetermined distance from the vehicle boarding place, and (b) selecting from among the extracted parking facilities a parking facility having a competitive parking fee, when time difference between (i) the arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place estimated by the arrival time estimation unit and (ii) the departure/arrival time of the service number found in the service information acquired by the service information acquisition unit is within a predetermined time period.

13. The navigation apparatus of claim 12, wherein,

when at least one of the estimated arrival time from the arrival time estimation unit and the departure/arrival time of the service number found in the service information acquired by the service information acquisition unit is changed, the guidance provision unit changes the parking facility determined by the destination determination unit based on time difference between the arrival time and the departure/arrival time.

14. A method of providing a user with guidance to a destination, the method comprising:

determining a service number of a vehicle service based on a user input;

determining, as the destination of the guidance, a terminal-related place in an entire vehicle boarding place of the vehicle service based on the above-determined service number;

acquiring, from an information center, service information of the vehicle service having the above-determined service number, the service information including a schedule diversion condition of the determined service number of the vehicle service; and

providing the user with diversion advisory guidance regarding diversion of the terminal-related place from an originally determined terminal-related place based on the acquired service information of the vehicle service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein

the originally determined terminal-related place according to the acquired service information of the vehicle service is diverted for providing the user with updated guidance when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired as the service information of the vehicle service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein

the user is prompted to input a choice of whether to cancel the guidance or continue the guidance when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired as the service information of the vehicle service.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein

the guidance to the terminal-related place is canceled based on the user input when the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired, as the service information of the vehicle service.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein

a user-desired vehicle service is determined based on a service number that is directly input by the user.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein

the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is acquired through communication performed with the information center when the service number of the vehicle service being determined has schedule change.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein

acquisition of the schedule diversion condition of the determined service number is performed based on regular reception of a schedule of the determined service number at predetermined intervals through communication performed with the information center.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining a purpose of the user to go to the vehicle boarding place of the vehicle service, wherein.

guidance to the originally determined terminal-related place is diverted based on the determined purpose of the user to go to the vehicle boarding place.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

estimating an arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place, wherein

guidance to the originally determined terminal-related place is diverted based on the estimated arrival time estimated and the departure/arrival time of the determined service number.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein

guidance to the originally determined terminal-related place is diverted based on time difference between the user arrival time to the vehicle boarding place and the departure/arrival time of the service number if at least one of the estimated arrival time and the departure/arrival time of the service number included in the acquired service information of the vehicle service is changed.

24. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

calculating a number of days of parking of a user-owned vehicle based on the user input; and

storing a fee table of park fees corresponding to the number of days of parking regarding a plurality of parking facilities around the vehicle boarding place, wherein

guidance to at least one of the plurality of parking facilities is provided by selecting a parking facility that charges the user a competitive parking fee relative to the other parking facilities according to the calculated number of days of parking and the stored fee tables of the respective parking facilities.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

estimating an arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place, wherein

guidance to at least one of the plurality of parking facilities is provided by (a) extracting from among the plurality of parking facilities at least one parking facility that is within a predetermined distance from the vehicle boarding place, and (b) selecting from among the extracted parking facilities a parking facility having a competitive parking fee, when time difference between (i) the estimated arrival time of the user to the vehicle boarding place and (ii) the departure/arrival time of the service number found in the acquired service information is within a predetermined time period.

26. The navigation apparatus of claim 25, wherein,

when at least one of the estimated arrival time and the departure/arrival time of the service number found in the acquired service information is changed, the originally-determined parking facility is changed based on time difference between the arrival time and the departure/arrival time.