Position-responsive, hierarchically-selectable information presentation system and control program

• US 5,717,392 A
• Filed: 05/13/1996
• Issued: 02/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt. L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Marty Eldridge
• Inventors: Eldridge, Marty
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/645,479
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 340/996, 340/995, 340/988, 340/990, 364/449.5, 364/449.7, 364/449.2
• US Class Current: 340/996
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3652 Guidance using non-audiovisual output, e.g. tactile, haptic or electric stimuli
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3655 Timing of guidance instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/003 using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

A position-responsive information presentation system and control is disclosed. The disclosed system and control program automatically provides multimedia output that is responsive to a users location, speed, acceleration, and directional orientation. Also disclosed is a system that receives position information from various systems, including satellite global position systems. As disclosed, the system and control program may provide video, audio and tactile outputs to users.

Claims

1. An apparatus for presenting multimedia information to a user, comprising:

position determining means for determining the position of the user;

storage means for storing multimedia information to be presented to the user;

selecting means, responsive to said position determining means and based on the duration the user remains in substantially the same location, for selecting respective stored multimedia information from said storage means to be presented to the user; and

presenting means for presenting multimedia information stored in said storage means and selected by said selected means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said selecting means further includes:

first calculating means for calculating the duration that the user remains in substantially the same location;

tagging means for tagging stored multimedia information for retrieval, responsive to said first calculating means; and

fetching means for fetching information tagged by said tagging means from said storage means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising:

a second calculating means for calculating whether user'"'"'s velocity is below a predetermined amplitude; and

said tagging means is further responsive to said second calculating means.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said presenting means comprises means for presenting audio information to the user.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said presenting means further comprises means for presenting visual information to the user.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said presenting means further comprises means for presenting tactile information to the user.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said position determining means is a receiver of satellite-generated user position and time information.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said selecting means is further responsive to user direction orientation.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said selecting means further comprises means for selecting information in response to a manual user request.

10. A control program tangibly stored on a first storage device readable by a programmable control device when coupled to the first storage device, such that the control device is configured and operated by the control program when the first storage device is read by the control device, the configured control device being operated to select multimedia information stored on a second storage device for presentation to a user by a multimedia information presentation device, the control program being configured to operate the control device to perform the function of:

receiving input data for the position of the user at a particular time;

calculating the duration that the user has been in substantially the same position; and

accessing multimedia information stored on the second storage device, responsive to the duration that the user has been in the same position, for output by the multimedia information presentation device.

11. The control program of claim 10, wherein:

said receiving further includes input data for the velocity of the user; and

said accessing is further responsive to the user'"'"'s velocity.

12. The control program of claim 11, wherein:

the control program is further configured to operate the control device to perform the function of receiving input data for directional orientation of the user; and

said accessing is further responsive to the directional orientation of the user.

13. The control program of claim 12, wherein said accessing is further responsive to manual user request.

14. A method of presenting multimedia information to a user, the method being implemented in a programmed computer system comprising a processor, a data storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving input data for the programmed computer, the data comprising user position at a particular time;

storing the input data in the data storage system;

applying, to the input data stored in the data storage system, by means of the programmed computer, a step comparing the user position at a current time to the user position at a previous time to provide an indication that the position of the user has been substantially unchanged; and

applying output information contained within at least one output system, responsively to whether the user position has been substantially unchanged, to at least one of the output systems.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said receiving further comprises receiving input data comprising the directional orientation of the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said applying is further responsive to the directional orientation of the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said applying is further responsive to manual user input.