Navigation system for providing an optimal route from traffic messages

• US 6,298,302 B2
• Filed: 06/30/1998
• Issued: 10/02/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Mannesman Vdo
• Inventors: Lahaije, Paul D. M., Mulder, Edwin W., Emmerink, Carla J. M., Walgers, Erik J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan
• Application Number:
  US09/107,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20010014848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,190 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701/207, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211, 340/902, 340/904, 340/905, 705/6, 705/41, 707/4, 379/113, 379/133, 455/457, 455/186.1, 455/345
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice

Abstract

A vehicle navigation system (100) comprises a planning module (110) for planning a route between an origin and a destination and subsequently guides the driver along the planned route. The system further comprises a receiver (124) for the reception of traffic messages related to problem locations on roads, which messages are transferred to the driver. The navigation system according to the invention is arranged to read from its storage medium (106) with the map database additional information (404) indicating the potential problem locations for roads in the database. In this way, the information from the traffic message can be combined with the information from the map database and further exploited in the system, e.g. for planning a new route.

Claims

1. A navigation system for guiding a driver in a vehicle, the system comprising:

read means for reading chain information from a storage medium comprising a first storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node,

processing means for exploiting said chain information comprising at least one of a planning module for planning a route or of a display module for displaying a map on a display, and

a broadcast receiver for the reception of a coded traffic message corresponding to a standardized event related to a predetermined problem location wherein

the storage medium stores chains which lead to the predetermined problem locations;

the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for a particular chain related to a particular node the additional chain information linking the chain to the traffic message;

wherein the planning module selects the particular chains which fall within a predetermined search area; and

wherein the system is arranged to create a list of the problem locations related to the particular chains in the search area.

2. A navigation system as claimed in claim 1, the system being arranged to create a sub-list containing the identifications of the problem locations related to the particular chains present in the planned route.

3. A navigation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the read means are arranged to read the additional chain infofmation from a second storage unit of the storage medium.

4. A navigation system for guiding a driver in a vehicle, the system comprising:

read means for reading chain information from a storage medium comprising a storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via node,

processing means for exploiting said chain information, comprising at least one of a planning module for planning a route or of a display module for displaying a map on a display, wherein the planning module selects a predetermined area relating to the route and chains which are in the predetermined area and

a broadcast receiver for the reception of a coded traffic message corresponding to a standardized event related to a problem location, and the storage unit stores the chains which lead to the problem location, wherein the read means read from the storage medium information comprising a first identification of a first one of the chains connected to the problem location by a corresponding node and wherein the system is arranged to create a list of the problem locations related to the particular chains in the search area.

5. A navigation system comprising:

read means for reading chain information from a storage medium comprising a first storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via node,

process means for exploiting said chain information, comprising at least one of a planning module for planning a route or of a display module for displaying a map on a display, and

a receiver for the reception of a traffic message related to a problem location, wherein the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for a problem location related to the traffic message information comprising a first identification of a first one of the chains connected to the problem location by a corresponding node

wherein the read means are arranged to read from the storage medium for a problem location related to the traffic message information comprising a second identification of a second one of the chains connected to the problem location by a corresponding node, the second one of the chains extending in a direction opposite to the first one.

6. The navigation system in claim 5 further comprising;

a planning module for planning a route between an origin and a designation which is arranged to take into account the particular chains that fall within a particular search area, the system being arranged to create a list containing the identifications of the problem locations related to the particular chains present in the search area.

7. The navigation system in claim 6 wherein the system creates a sub-list containing the identifications of the problem locations related to the particular chains present in the planned route.

8. The navigation system in claim 5 wherein the read means are arranged to read the additional chain information from a second storage unit of the storage medium.

9. A storage medium for use in a navigation system, the storage medium comprising a storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node, wherein the storage medium further comprises storage for a particular chain of information on a first identification of a received first problem location, the problem corresponding to a standardized event, which first problem location corresponds to a particular node related to the particular chain;

and wherein the storage medium stores the chains which lead to predetermined potential problem locations.

10. A storage medium as claimed in claim 9, the storage medium comprising a second storage unit comprising storage of information on the first identification.

11. A storage medium comprising

a storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes,

a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node, wherein the storage medium further comprises storage for a particular chain of information on a first identification of a first problem location, which first problem location corresponds to a particular node related to the particular chain, and

storage for the particular chain of information on a second identification of a second problem location, which second problem location corresponds to a particular node related to the particular chain and pertains to the opposite direction of travel compared with the first problem location.

12. A storage medium for use in a navigation system, the storage medium comprising a storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes, a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node, wherein the storage medium comprises storage for a received particular pre-defined problem location of information, the problem corresponding to a standardized event, on an identification of one of the chains, which chain is connected to the pre-defined problem location by a corresponding node;

and wherein the storage medium stores the chains which lead to the predetermined potential problem locations.

13. A storage medium comprising

a first storage unit for storage of information on chains and nodes,

a chain representing a road element and being connected to another chain via a node, wherein the storage medium comprises storage for a particular pre-defined problem location of information on a first identification of a first one of the chains, which chain is connected to the pre-defined problem location by a corresponding node, and

storage for the particular problem location of information on a second identification of a second one of the chains, which second one of the chains is connected to the problem location by a corresponding node and which second one of the chains pertains to a direction of travel opposite to the first one.