MOBILE WIRELESS DEVICE PROVIDING OFF-LINE AND ON-LINE GEOGRAPHIC NAVIGATION INFORMATION

• US 20160227510A1
• Filed: 04/15/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Traxcell Technologies II LLC
• Original Assignee: Traxcell Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Reed, Mark Jefferson, Palik, Stephen Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,549,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02525 Gathering the radio frequency fingerprints
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks

Abstract

A mobile device, wireless network and their method of operation provide both on-line (connected) navigation operation, as well as off-line navigation from a local database within the mobile device. Routing according to the navigation system can be controlled by traffic congestion measurements made by the wireless network that allow the navigation system to select the optimum route based on expected trip duration.

Claims

1. A wireless mobile communications device including:

at least one radio-frequency transceiver and an associated at least one antenna to which the radio-frequency transceiver is coupled, wherein the at least one radio-frequency transceiver configured for radio-frequency communication with a wireless communications network; and

a processor coupled to the at least one radio-frequency transceiver programmed to determine a location of the wireless mobile communications device and generate an indication of a location of the at least one wireless mobile communications device with respect to geographic features according to mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device, and wherein the processor displays to the user navigation information according to the location of the wireless mobile communications device with respect to the geographic features and a destination specified by the user at the wireless mobile communications device.

2. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor further determines the user navigation information.

3. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine whether or not the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device is sufficient to display the navigation information to the user;

responsive to the processor determining that the mapping information is sufficient, the processor displaying the navigation information to the user;

responsive to the processor determining that the mapping information is not sufficient, the processor requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network; and

responsive to the processor requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network, the processor receiving the additional mapping information from the wireless communications network and the processor displaying the navigation information to the user using the additional mapping information.

4. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 3, wherein the processor further updates the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device with the additional information received from the wireless communications network.

5. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 4, wherein the processor responsive to not receiving the additional mapping information from the wireless communications network, displaying a notice to the user that the destination could not be found.

6. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 2, wherein the processor further requests from the wireless communications network, traffic congestion information, wherein the processor receives the requested traffic congestion information and determines the user navigation information in conformity with the received traffic congestion information.

7. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 2, wherein the processor further sends the user navigation information to the network, wherein another processor coupled to the network updates the user navigation information in conformity with traffic congestion information accessible to the other processor coupled to the network and transmits the updated user navigation information to the mobile device.

8. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 7, wherein the processor further sends the user navigation information to the network as a number of segments, and wherein the other processor coupled to the network computes a numerical value for each segment corresponding to the expected time to travel through the segment and wherein the user navigation information is updated in conformity with the numerical values for the number of segments.

9. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 7, wherein the another processor determines whether or not the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device, and does not transmit the updated user navigation information to the mobile device if the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device.

10. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 1, wherein the processor further sends the location of the wireless mobile communications device with respect to the geographic features to the network, wherein another processor coupled to the network receives the location of the wireless mobile communications device, determines the user navigation information in conformity with the location of the wireless mobile communications device and transmits the user navigation information to the wireless mobile communications device.

19. The method of claim 7, further comprising, at the remote location determining whether or not the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device, and wherein the transmitting of the updated user navigation information is not performed if the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device.

11. A method of providing navigation information at a wireless mobile communications device capable of connecting to a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

at the wireless mobile communications device, determining a location of the mobile wireless communications device;

within the wireless mobile communications device, generating an indication of a location of the at least one wireless mobile communications device with respect to geographic features according to mapping information retrieved from a storage within the wireless mobile communications device; and

displaying to the user navigation information according to the location of the wireless mobile communications device with respect to the geographic features and a destination specified by the user at the wireless mobile communications device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising within the wireless mobile communications device, determining the user navigation information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

within the wireless mobile communications device, determining whether or not the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device is sufficient to display the navigation information to the user;

responsive to the processor determining that the mapping information is sufficient, displaying the navigation information to the user;

responsive to the processor determining that the mapping information is not sufficient, requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network; and

responsive to the requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network, receiving the additional mapping information from the wireless communications network and displaying the navigation information to the user using the additional mapping information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device with the additional information received from the wireless communications network.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising responsive to not receiving the additional mapping information from the wireless communications network, displaying a notice to the user that the destination could not be found.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

requesting from the wireless communications network, traffic congestion information;

receiving the requested traffic congestion information at the mobile wireless communications device; and

determining the user navigation information in conformity with the received traffic congestion information.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

sending the user navigation information to the network;

at a remote location within the network, updating the user navigation information in conformity with traffic congestion information accessible to the remote location within the network; and

transmitting the updated user navigation information to the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sending sends the user navigation information to the network as a number of segments, and wherein the updating the user navigation information comprises computing a numerical value for each segment corresponding to the expected time to travel through the segment, and wherein the updating is performed in conformity with the numerical values for the number of segments.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

at the wireless mobile communications device, sending the location of the wireless mobile communications device with respect to the geographic features to the network;

receiving the location of the wireless mobile communications device at the network; and

at a remote location within the network, determining the user navigation information in conformity with the location of the wireless mobile communications device; and

transmitting the user navigation information to the wireless mobile communications device.

21. A wireless mobile communications device including:

at least one radio-frequency transceiver and an associated at least one antenna to which the radio-frequency transceiver is coupled, wherein the at least one radio-frequency transceiver configured for radio-frequency communication with a wireless communications network; and

a processor coupled to the at least one radio-frequency transceiver programmed to determine a location of the wireless mobile communications device and generate an indication of a location of the at least one wireless mobile communications device with respect to geographic features according to mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device, wherein the processor determines whether or not the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device is sufficient to display the navigation information to the user, responsive to the processor determining that the mapping information is not sufficient, the processor requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network and responsive to the processor requesting additional mapping information from the wireless communications network, receiving the additional mapping information from the wireless communications network and updating the mapping information stored within the wireless mobile communications device, wherein the processor determines and displays the navigation information to the user using the additional mapping information, the location of the wireless mobile communications device with respect to the geographic features and a destination specified by the user at the wireless mobile communications device.

22. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 21, wherein the processor further sends the user navigation information to the network, wherein another processor coupled to the network updates the user navigation information in conformity with traffic congestion information accessible to the other processor coupled to the network and transmits the updated user navigation information to the mobile device, wherein the processor further sends the user navigation information to the network as a number of segments, and wherein the other processor coupled to the network computes a numerical value for each segment corresponding to the expected time to travel through the segment and wherein the user navigation information is updated in conformity with the numerical values for the number of segments.

23. The wireless mobile communications device of claim 22, wherein the another processor determines whether or not the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device, and does not transmit the updated user navigation information to the mobile device if the updated user navigation information already exists in the wireless mobile communications device.