ROUTE CALCULATION AND GUIDANCE WITH CONSIDERATION OF SAFETY

• US 20120179363A1
• Filed: 01/06/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Pierfelice, Jeffrey Edward
• Application Number:
  US12/985,661
• Publication Number:
  US 20120179363A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/423
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries

Abstract

The present invention discloses a navigation system and process for providing a second route to a user of the system when a first route determined by the system passes through an area that has a safety level that is less than a predefined and desired safety level.

Claims

1. A navigation process for providing an alternate route to a user when a suggested route passes through an area having a safety level less than a predefined safety level, the process comprising:

providing a navigation system for a motor vehicle, the navigation system having;

a database with safety data as a function of geographical area;

a route module for determining a first navigation route and a second navigation route, the first navigation route being a function of a current location and a desired future location, and the second navigation route being a function of the first navigation route and the safety data;

a safety level module for determining a safety level for an area the first navigation route passes through as a function of the safety data for the area;

providing a navigation request to the navigation system;

determining a first navigation route;

determining a safety level for an area that the first navigation route passes through;

determining a second navigation route if the safety level is less than a predefined safety level, the second navigation route avoiding the area with the safety level less than the predefined safety level;

providing the user with the second navigation route if the safety level is less than the predefined safety level.

2. The navigation process of claim 1, wherein the safety data is statistical crime data and highway safety data as a function of geographical area.

3. The navigation process of claim 1, wherein the predefined safety level is a user input safety level.

4. The navigation process of claim 1, wherein the user input safety level includes at least two user input safety levels with each safety level being a function of an individual user operating the motor vehicle.

5. The navigation process of claim 1, further including providing an alarm to the user if the first navigation route passes through an area having a safety level less than the predefined safety level.

6. The navigation process of claim 5, further including providing a query to the user as to whether or not to review one or more alerts related to the area having the safety level less than the predefined safety level.

7. The navigation process of claim 6, further including providing to the user the one or more alerts related to the area having the safety level less than the predefined safety level.

8. The navigation process of claim 7, wherein the one or more alerts are rated as a function of the safety data.

9. The navigation process of claim 7, further including providing a query to the user as to whether or not to ignore or select the one or more of the alerts provided to the user.

10. The navigation process of claim 9, further including providing a query to the user as to whether or not to calculate the second navigation route as a function of the alerts selected by the user.

11. The navigation process of claim 1, further including providing to the user one or more differences between the first navigation route and the second navigation route.

12. The navigation process of claim 11, wherein the one or more differences is selected from a group consisting of a difference in distance, a difference in time and a difference in distance and time.

13. The navigation process of claim 1, further including determining a safety level of a current location of the motor vehicle.

14. The navigation process of claim 13, further including providing the user with an alarm if the motor vehicle has entered an area having a safety level less than the predefined safety level.

15. The navigation process of claim 14, further including providing a query to the user as to whether or not to exit the area having a safety level less than the predefined safety level or continue as currently proceeding.

16. The navigation process of claim 15, further including providing a query to the user as to which type of route to take if the user selects to exit the area having a safety level less than the predefined safety level or continue as currently proceeding.

17. The navigation process of claim 16, wherein which type of route to take can be selected from a group consisting of a shortest route, a safest route and a fastest route.

18. A navigation process for providing an alternate route to a user when a suggested route passes through an area having a safety level less than a predefined safety level, the process comprising:

providing a navigation system operable to calculate a first navigation route and a second navigation route, the first navigation route being a function of a current location and a desired future location, and the second navigation route being a function of the first navigation route and safety data, the navigation system also operable to determine a safety level for an area the first navigation route passes through as a function of the safety data for the area;

providing a navigation request to the navigation system;

determining a first navigation route suing the navigation system;

determining a safety level for an area that the first navigation route passes through using the navigation system;

determining a second navigation route if the safety level is less than a predefined safety level, the second navigation route avoiding the area with the safety level less than the predefined safety level using the navigation system;

providing the user with the second navigation route if the safety level is less than the predefined safety level using the navigation system.

19. The navigation process of claim 18, wherein the safety data is statistical crime data and highway safety data as a function of geographical area.

20. The navigation process of claim 18, wherein the predefined safety level is a user input safety level.