Mapping Application Search Function

• US 20140365124A1
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Vulcano, Emanuele, Moore, Bradford A., Fino, Jorge, Herz, Scott, Garcia, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 9,891,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/533
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/265 constructional aspects of navigation devices, e.g. housings, mountings, displays G01C21/3688 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3611 using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs character input methods in general G06F3/0233
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method for a mobile device connected to a vehicle'"'"'s interactive communication system that includes a display screen. The method identifies at least one search term from audio data received through the vehicle'"'"'s interactive communication system. At the mobile device, the method performs a search to identify at least one location related to the identified search term. The method generates a map, that displays the identified location, for output on the display screen of the interactive communication system of the vehicle.

Claims

1. For a mobile device connected to a vehicle'"'"'s interactive communication system that comprises a display screen, a method comprising:

identifying at least one search term from audio data received through the vehicle'"'"'s interactive communication system;

at the mobile device, performing a search to identify at least one location related to the identified search term; and

generating a map, that displays the identified location, for output on the display screen of the interactive communication system of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one search term comprises using a voice recognition function performed by a server to which the mobile device connects wirelessly.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein performing a search to identify at least one location comprises:

determining whether any locations stored in a local data store on the mobile device match the identified search term; and

when no locations stored in the local data store match the identified search term, using a search engine to retrieve results that match the identified search term within a particular range of a current location of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio data is captured by a microphone of the interactive communication system.

5. A machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a mobile device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a set of search terms for identifying at least one location on a map;

determining whether a set of local databases includes at least one result that matches the received set of search terms;

if the set of local databases includes a location that matches the received set of search terms, displaying the location from the set of local databases on a map display as results of the search; and

if the set of local databases does not include any results that match the received set of search terms, performing a search for the set of search terms with a search engine and displaying one or more locations received the search engine on the map display as results of the search.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of local databases comprises recent search results from the mapping application.

7. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of local databases comprises a database storing harvested physical addresses.

8. The machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the harvested physical addresses comprise at least one of addresses from received electronic messages, address of scheduled events identified from scheduling applications operating on the mobile device, and regularly visited locations.

9. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the search engine operates on a server to which the mobile device connects wirelessly.

10. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for displaying the location from the set of local databases comprises sets of instructions for:

if the set of local databases includes only one location that matches the received set of search terms, displaying the one location on a map centered at the location;

if the set of local databases includes several locations that match the received set of search terms, presenting the several locations as user-selectable items in a list; and

in response to receiving a selection of one of the user-selectable items corresponding to a particular location, displaying the selected location on a map centered at a location.

11. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions for displaying one or more locations received from the search engine comprises:

if only a single location is received from the search engine, displaying the single location on a map centered at the location; and

if more than one location is received from the search engine, displaying the several locations on a map at a zoom level such that all of the several locations fit within the displayed map.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for displaying a particular location comprises a set of instructions for displaying a selectable identifier at the particular location on the map.

13. The machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein when several locations are displayed on the map, each of the several locations is separately selectable to center the map at the selected location and zoom in on the selected location.

14. A method for performance by a mobile device, the method comprising:

identifying an order for a plurality of locations within a map region that match a search request, the order based on a set of criteria;

within a display of the map region, displaying identifiers for each of the plurality of locations with a first one of the identifiers initially selected, the initially selected identifier corresponding to a first location in the order;

receiving input to step through the plurality of identified locations; and

displaying the identifiers within the display of the map region with a second one of the identifiers selected, the second identifier corresponding to a second location in the order, the second location directly after the first location in the order.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the search request is received as audio through a connection to an interactive communication system that displays the map region, the interactive communication system comprising a microphone for capturing a dictation of the search request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the input to step through the plurality of location is received through a control of the interactive communication system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the control comprises a touchscreen of the interactive communication system on which the map region and identifiers are displayed.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the control comprises one of a knob, a joystick, a trackpad, and a trackball mounted in the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

receiving a particular type of input with the second location selected; and

entering a turn-by-turn navigation mode with the second location as a destination.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of locations are ordered by a mapping search engine server that transmits the plurality of locations and the order to the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of locations are ordered based on a likely relevance to the search request.

22. A machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a mobile device, the program comprising:

a search module for generating a plurality of locations within a map region that match a received set of search terms, the plurality of locations ordered as search results based on a set of criteria;

a graphical user interface (GUI) display generator for generating a GUI display comprising (i) the map region, (ii) individually selectable identifiers within the map region for the plurality of locations, and (iii) selectable controls for stepping through the plurality of locations in order by selecting the identifiers one at a time.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein the GUI display is a first GUI display, wherein the mapping application further comprises a second GUI display for displaying the map region and the individually selectable identifiers without the controls for stepping through the plurality of locations in order, wherein the first GUI display is for display on a vehicle touchscreen and the second GUI display is for display on the mobile device.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein the selectable controls comprise touchscreen controls.

25. The machine readable medium of claim 22, wherein when a particular identifier for a particular location is selected, selection of a different control causes the application to enter a turn-by-turn navigation mode with the particular location as a destination.