Method and system for displaying navigation information and mapping content on an electronic map

• US 20110264370A1
• Filed: 07/05/2011
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NorthStar Systems LLC (Alpha Alpha Intellectual Partners LLC)
• Original Assignee: Petnote LLC
• Inventors: Rueben, Steven L., Jakobson, Gabriel
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

A method for displaying object vector indicators (“OVI”) and mapping-media content, referencing map-objects (“MO”) on an electronic map, the method including determining that at least one MO is outside a visible area of a displayed map, creating an OVI to reference the MO, displaying the OVI on the electronic map, receiving user input selecting the OVI, retrieving media-content associated with the MO and displaying the media-content. In various embodiments, the OVI may contain various navigation information referencing the OVI; the OVI may be displayed at the periphery of the displayed map; the OVI may be repositioned in response to a changing in position of an electronic device displaying the OVI and/or the MO, etc.

Claims

1. A method for displaying object vector indicators (“

OVI”

) and mapping-media content, referencing map-objects (“

MO”

) on an electronic map, comprising;

providing an electronic device having a map-display application that is coupled to a mapping service and to a mapping-media content source, and a display for displaying a selected area of the electronic map;

obtaining a MO from the mapping service;

determining that coordinates of the MO are not within the selected area of the electronic map;

computing distance and travel-related information from a location within the selected area of the electronic map to the MO;

computing a placement position of an OVI referencing the MO on the map-display application;

creating the OVI containing the distance and travel-related information;

displaying the OVI on the display at the computed placement position;

receiving user input selecting the OVI;

retrieving mapping-media content from the mapping-media content source, wherein the mapping-media content is associated with the selected OVI; and

displaying the mapping-media content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location within the selected area of the electronic map is the center of the selected area of the electronic map.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location within the selected area of the electronic map is a location marker.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user input is a voice command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the placement position of the OVI step is repeated in response to a change in the position of the MO.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the placement position of the OVI step is repeated in response to a change in the position of the electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the distance-and-travel information includes at least one of the following:

an aerial distance to the MO, a travel distance to the MO, a visual indicator pointing in the direction of the MO, and an estimated travel-time to the MO.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the travel-distance to the MO is computed by selecting a travel route according to various user preferences and travel-route selection algorithms.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the estimated travel-time to the MO is computed by selecting a travel route according to various user preferences and travel-route selection algorithms.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the OVI includes a graphical representation of the MO.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation is obtained from the mapping-media content source.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the OVI includes contact information of the MO.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the contact information is obtained from the mapping-media content source.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the contact information facilitates an electronic communication.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing distance-and-travel information step is repeated in response to at least one of the following:

a change in the position of the electronic device, a change in the position of the MO, and a change in elapsed time

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing distance-and-travel information step and the computing the placement position of the OVI step are repeated in response to a change in travel conditions.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing distance-and-travel information step further comprises:

obtaining the position of the electronic device;

transmitting the position of the electronic device to a remote server; and

receiving from the remote server the distance-and-travel information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping-media content is customized for the user of the map display application.

19. The method of claim 18, further including:

receiving information associated with the user;

retrieving specific mapping-media content associated with the user;

displaying the specific mapping-media content associated with the user.

20. The method of claim 1, the step of displaying the mapping-media content further including:

displaying the mapping-media content overlaying at least a portion of the selected area of the electronic map;

receiving user input;

in response to the received user input, eliminating the mapping-media content overlaying at least a portion of the selected area of the electronic map.

21. The method of claim 20, the step of eliminating the mapping-media content overlaying at least a portion of the selected area of the electronic map further including:

restoring all information displayed in the area of the electronic map prior to the displaying the mapping-media content.