Method for identifying highway access ramps for route calculation in a vehicle navigation system
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for identifying highway access ramps in a database medium for use as locations for route calculation, the database medium having a plurality of highways stored therein, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) identifying first road segments in the database medium which belong to the highways and which have at least one highway access ramp connected thereto, each first road segment corresponding to a particular highway and being characterized by a highway direction and a position on the particular highway;
(b) sorting the first road segments according to the particular highway to which each first road segment belongs;
(c) determining the highway direction corresponding to each first road segment;
(d) sorting the first road segments of a first highway according to the highway direction to which each first road segment corresponds;
(e) sorting the first road segments of the first highway and of each highway direction according to the position of each first road segment in the first highway, thereby forming a highway segment list for each direction of the first highway;
(f) identifying the at least one highway access ramp connected to each first road segment in the highway segment list;
(g) storing ramp data in the database medium for each of the highway access ramps identified in step (f) so that the highway access ramps are operable to be employed as locations for route calculation; and
(h) repeating steps (d)-(g) for selected highways in the database medium.
9 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for identifying highway access ramps in a database medium for use as locations for route calculation. Initially, first road segments which belong to a highway and which are connected to at least one access ramp are identified. The first road segments are sorted according to the highway to which they belong. A highway direction is determined for each first road segment. The first road segments belonging to a first highway are sorted according to highway direction. The first road segments belonging to the first highway and of each highway direction are sorted according to position, thereby forming a highway segment list for each direction of the first highway. Highway access ramps are identified for each first road segment in the highway segment list. The locations for the highway access ramps are stored in the database medium. Highway access ramps are identified in this manner for each highway in the database medium. A method and apparatus for determining a route from a starting vehicle position to a destination using a vehicle navigation system are also provided.
-
Citations
12 Claims
-
1. A method for identifying highway access ramps in a database medium for use as locations for route calculation, the database medium having a plurality of highways stored therein, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) identifying first road segments in the database medium which belong to the highways and which have at least one highway access ramp connected thereto, each first road segment corresponding to a particular highway and being characterized by a highway direction and a position on the particular highway; (b) sorting the first road segments according to the particular highway to which each first road segment belongs; (c) determining the highway direction corresponding to each first road segment; (d) sorting the first road segments of a first highway according to the highway direction to which each first road segment corresponds; (e) sorting the first road segments of the first highway and of each highway direction according to the position of each first road segment in the first highway, thereby forming a highway segment list for each direction of the first highway; (f) identifying the at least one highway access ramp connected to each first road segment in the highway segment list; (g) storing ramp data in the database medium for each of the highway access ramps identified in step (f) so that the highway access ramps are operable to be employed as locations for route calculation; and (h) repeating steps (d)-(g) for selected highways in the database medium. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
Specification