Rendering Road Signs During Navigation

• US 20140019036A1
• Filed: 09/30/2012
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lemay, Stephen O., Pylappan, Seejo K., van Os, Marcel, Habeck, Harold O.
• Granted Patent: US 9,482,296 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/400
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 41/063 the intermediate members wedging by moving along the inner and the outer surface without pivoting or rolling, e.g. sliding wedges F16D41/061 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• 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: G01C 21/3632 Guidance using simplified or iconic instructions, e.g. using arrows G01C21/365 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3635 Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3638 including 3D objects and buildings three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects G06T17/00; geographic models G06T17/05
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a navigation application that presents road signs during a navigation presentation. In presenting the road signs, the application of some embodiments differentiates the appearance of road signs at junctions that require a change of direction from road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction. The application may perform processes that ensure that it arranges the road signs on the map in an aesthetically pleasing manner. In addition, the navigation application of some embodiments does not display too many road signs along the navigated route so that the route is not by occluded by too many road signs.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program sets of instructions for:

identifying different junctions along a navigated route; and

during a navigation presentation, presenting road signs by differentiating the appearance of road signs at junctions that require a change of direction from road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein differentiating the appearance comprises specifying a first color for the road signs at junctions that require a change of direction and a second different color for the road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for presenting the road signs comprises a set of instructions for distributing the road signs on different sides about the navigated route.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the program further comprises a set of instructions categorizing roads into multiple different tiers.

5. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads on the navigated route as first tier roads.

6. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for identifying different junctions comprises a set of instructions for identifying the first tier roads.

7. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads that intersect or overlap with the navigated route as second tier roads.

8. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program sets of instructions for:

categorizing different roads into multiple different tiers;

selecting a plurality of roads based on the categorization; and

rendering a view of a navigation presentation by displaying roads sign for only the selected plurality of roads.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for rendering a view comprises a set of instructions for distributing the road signs on different sides about a navigated route.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads on a navigated route as first tier roads.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads that intersect or overlap with the navigated route as second tier roads.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for identifying roads that are one or two hops away from second tier roads, and classifying the identified roads as third tier roads.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for selecting a plurality of roads comprises selecting the first tier roads prior to selecting any of the second tier roads.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads as third tier roads.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads as third tier roads when the roads are within a threshold distance of the navigated route or when the roads is reachable from the navigated route within a threshold time.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the set of instructions for categorizing roads comprises a set of instructions for categorizing all roads that intersect or overlap with the second tier roads as fourth tier roads when the roads are not within the threshold distance of the navigated route or when the roads is not reachable from the navigated route within the threshold time.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the multiple tiers comprises first and second tiers, wherein the set of instructions for selecting a plurality of roads comprises selecting first tier roads up to a predefined maximum number, and selecting second tier roads only when the number of selected first tier roads is less that the predefined maximum number.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the multiple tiers comprises a third tier, wherein the set of instructions for selecting a plurality of roads comprises selecting third tier roads only when the number of selected first and second tier roads is less that the predefined maximum number.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein the set of instructions for selecting a plurality of roads comprises a set of instructions for performing a filtering operation when the number of roads in a set of one or more tiers is more than a predefined maximum number.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the filtering operations is performed by selecting arterial roads or freeways over local or smaller roads.

21. A method for a navigation application that executes on a device, the method comprising:

identifying different junctions along a navigated route; and

during a navigation presentation, presenting road signs by differentiating the appearance of road signs at junctions that require a change of direction from road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein differentiating the appearance comprises specifying a first color for the road signs at junctions that require a change of direction and a second different color for the road signs at junctions that do not require a change of direction.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein presenting the road signs comprises distributing the road signs on different sides about the navigated route.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising categorizing roads into multiple different tiers.