METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING DRIVING DIRECTIONS

• US 20110288764A1
• Filed: 05/19/2010
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: SATHISH, Sriram Jayaprakash, Kannan, Balaji
• Granted Patent: US 9,146,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

An example of a method includes determining, electronically, a source location and a destination location in response to an input received through one of a first short message service (SMS) and a general packet radio service (GPRS). The method also includes determining, electronically, a first milestone between the source location and the destination location. Further, the method includes sending directions to reach the first milestone from the source location through a second SMS and an identifier associated with the first milestone. Furthermore, the method includes detecting when to send directions to reach one of a second milestone and the destination location from the first milestone. In addition, the method includes sending directions to reach one of the second milestone and the destination location through a third SMS based on detecting.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, electronically, a source location and a destination location in response to an input received through one of a first short message service (SMS) and a general packet radio service (GPRS);

determining, electronically, a first milestone between the source location and the destination location;

sending directions to reach the first milestone from the source location through a second SMS and an identifier associated with the first milestone;

detecting when to send directions to reach one of a second milestone and the destination location from the first milestone; and

sending directions to reach one of the second milestone and the destination location through a third SMS based on detecting.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the source location and the destination location comprises:

determining a service provider associated with the input;

obtaining identifiers associated with the source location and the destination location based on the service provider; and

mapping the identifiers associated with the source location and the destination location to corresponding geospatial entity object codes (GEOCODES).

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein each identifier is an identification code allocated by the service provider to a location where the service provider operates.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein sending the identifier associated with the first milestone comprises

identifying the identifier associated with the first milestone based on the service provider.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein detecting when to send directions to reach one of the second milestone and the destination location from the first milestone comprises:

detecting at least one of

receipt of another input, and

expiry of a time period.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein detecting the expiry of the time period comprises

estimating the time period based on number of inputs that are received and are associated with the first milestone.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein sending the direction to reach the second milestone from the first milestone comprises

identifying a milestone that has minimum traffic congestion on a route between the first milestone and the milestone as the second milestone.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising

sending an identifier associated with one of the second milestone and the destination location.

9. A method comprising:

sending a first request for receiving directions to a destination location from a source location through one of a first short message service and a general packet radio service (GPRS);

receiving an identifier associated with a first milestone and the directions to reach the first milestone from the source location;

displaying the directions to reach the first milestone from the source location in text format on a display of an electronic device;

detecting presence of the electronic device at the first milestone based on the identifier associated with the first milestone; and

sending a second request for receiving directions to the destination location from the first milestone.

10. A server comprising:

a server communication interface;

a server memory to store server instructions; and

a server processor coupled to the server memory and responsive to the server instructions to

determine a source location and a destination location in response to an input received through one of a first short message service (SMS) and a general packet radio service (GPRS),

determine a first milestone between the source location and the destination location,

send directions to reach the first milestone from the source location through a second SMS and an identifier associated with the first milestone in conjunction with the server communication interface,

detect when to send directions to reach one of a second milestone and the destination location from the first milestone, and

send directions to reach one of the second milestone and the destination location through a third SMS based on detecting in conjunction with the server communication interface.

11. The server as claimed in claim 10, wherein the server is in electronic communication with at least one electronic device to receive the input.

12. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the at least one electronic device comprises:

a client interface to communicate with the server;

a client display coupled to the client interface;

a client memory to store client instructions; and

a client processor coupled to the client memory and responsive to the client instructions to

send a first request for receiving directions to the destination location from the source location through one of the first short message service and the general packet radio service (GPRS) in conjunction with the client communication interface, the first request being the input,

receive the identifier associated with the first milestone and the directions to reach the first milestone from the source location,

display the directions to reach the first milestone from the source location in text format on the client display,

detect presence of the at least one electronic device at the first milestone based on the identifier associated with the first milestone, and

send a second request for receiving directions to the destination location from the first milestone in conjunction with the client communication interface.

13. The server as claimed in claim 10, wherein the server is electronically coupled to a storage device that stores identifiers associated with the first milestone, the source location, and the destination location for one or more service providers.

14. The server as claimed in claim 10, wherein the server is in electronic communication with one or more service providing units to fetch identifiers associated with the first milestone, the source location, and the destination location.