Systems and Methods for Providing Navigation Data to a Vehicle

• US 20150088412A1
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Foster, Andrew, Pelly, Nicholas Julian
• Granted Patent: US 10,054,463 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/420
• 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 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map

Abstract

A set of instructions implements an application programming interface (API) for providing navigation data from a portable device to a head unit of a vehicle. When invoked by a companion application executing on the portable device, the API is configured to obtain navigation data for navigating a user between a source and a destination, where the portable device receives the navigation data from a navigation server via a long-range communication link. The API is further configured to provide the navigation data to the companion application for transmission to the head unit via a short-range communication link.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon a plurality of instructions that implement a navigation application programming interface (API) with a specific syntax and a specific list of parameters for providing navigation data from a portable device to a head unit of a vehicle, wherein the navigation API is configured, when invoked by a companion application executing on the portable device to:

receive a destination, selected via the head unit, from the companion application,

obtain navigation data for navigating a user between a source and the destination via a navigation service application that executes on the portable device separately from the companion application, wherein the navigation service application receives the navigation data from a navigation server via a long-range communication link, and

provide the navigation data to the companion application for transmission to the head unit via a short-range communication link.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the navigation data describes a sequence steps, and wherein to provide the navigation data to the companion application, the navigation API is configured to:

receive a plurality of next step requests from the companion application, and

in response to each of the plurality of next step requests, provide a next one in the sequence of steps to the companion application for transmission to the head unit.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the navigation data describes a sequence steps, and wherein the navigation API is configured to automatically provide a description of the entire sequence of steps to the companion application in response to obtaining the navigation data.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein to obtain the navigation data, the navigation API is configured to:

receive an identifier of the destination from the companion application,

provide the identifier of the destination to the navigation service application, using an inter-process communication (IPC) scheme, and

receive the navigation data from the navigation service application using the IPC scheme, wherein the navigation service application communicates with the navigation server using the first communication link.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the navigation service application is native to an operating system of the portable device, and the companion application is not native to the operating system of the portable device.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein to obtain the navigation data, the navigation API is configured to:

receive an identifier of the destination from the companion application,

provide the identifier of the destination to a navigation service library linked to the companion application using an intra-process communication scheme, and

receive the navigation data from the navigation service library, wherein the navigation service library includes functions to communicates with the navigation server using the first communication link.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the navigation data includes one or more of:

(i) alphanumeric characters,

(ii) digital images, and

(iii) digital audio.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the navigation data further includes estimated time of arrival to the destination.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the navigation API is further configured to:

generate audio announcements based on the navigation data, wherein the navigation data consists of text-based directions, and

provide the audio announcements to the head unit.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the companion application communicates with the head unit according to a proprietary communication protocol defined by a manufacturer of the head unit.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein API includes a function that, when invoked by the companion application, specifies the destination.

12. A method for providing navigation data from a portable device to a head unit of a vehicle, the method including:

providing instructions that implement a navigation service application specifically configured to execute on the portable device to receive navigation data from a navigation server via a long-range communication link, wherein the navigation data describes a plurality of steps for navigating between a source and a destination; and

providing instructions that implement a navigation API for use by a companion application that executes on the portable device separately from the navigation service application, including providing a syntax and a list of parameters specific to the navigation API for;

providing the destination, selected via the head unit, to the navigation service application, wherein the companion application receives the destination from the head unit via a short-range communication link, and

receiving, from the navigation server via the navigation service application, the navigation data, wherein the companion application provides the navigation data to the head unit via the short-range communication link.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein providing the syntax and the list of parameters specific to the navigation API includes providing a definition of a set one or more data structures for exchanging data between the navigation API and the companion application.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the navigation data describes a sequence steps, and wherein to provide the navigation data to the companion application, the navigation API is configured to:

receive a plurality of next step requests from the companion application, and

in response to each of the plurality of next step requests, provide a next one in the sequence of steps to the companion application for transmission to the head unit

17. The method of claim 12, wherein providing the navigation API includes:

providing a first function to receive a destination from the companion application, and

providing a second function to receive authentication information from the companion application.

13. (canceled)

14. The method of claim 13, wherein navigation API communicates with the navigation service application using an IPC scheme.

18. A computer-readable medium storing thereon a plurality of instructions that implement an application programming interface (API) for with a specific syntax and a specific list of parameters providing navigation data from a portable device to an head unit installed in a vehicle, wherein the API is configured, when invoked by a companion application executing on the portable device, to:

receive a destination, selected via the head unit, from the companion application,

receive navigation data from a navigation service application executing on the portable device separately from the companion application, wherein;

the navigation service application receives the navigation data from a navigation server via a long-range communication link,

the companion application communicates with the head unit via a short-range communication link, and

the navigation data includes a sequence of two or more steps, each describing a maneuver along a path from an origin to a destination; and

provide the navigation data to the companion application for transmission to the head unit.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the navigation data describes a sequence steps, and wherein to provide the navigation data to the companion application, the navigation API is configured to:

receive a plurality of next step requests from the companion application, and

in response to each of the plurality of next step requests, provide a next one in the sequence of steps to the companion application for transmission to the head unit.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the companion application communicates with the head unit according to a first proprietary communication scheme defined by a manufacturer of the head unit, and wherein the navigation service application communicates with the navigation server according to a second proprietary communication scheme defined by an operator of the navigation server.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that implement a navigation service application, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive, via a long-range communication link, navigation data for navigating a user between a source and a destination, wherein the navigation data conforms to a first format;

convert the navigation data to a second format defined only for communicating navigation data between the navigation service application and head units of vehicles;

cause the navigation data in the second format to be transmitted to a head unit of a vehicle via a short-range communication link;

wherein the instructions that implement the navigation service do not cause instructions specific to the head unit to be invoked to convert the navigation data or cause the navigation data to be transmitted.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the second format is an open format compatible with a plurality of makes of the vehicle.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the navigation service application operates on a portable device running an operating system, and wherein the navigation service application is native to the operating system.