Place guidance system

• US 7,058,506 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Noriyuki, Kawase, Kazushi, Yamaguchi, Kazuaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US10/867,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20040260457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/14 by recording the course traversed by the object G01C21/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator

Abstract

There are provided a positioning section for locating a current position, a travel history database for storing a history of a current position located by the positioning section and a history of a travel to an institution or the like actually visited by walking or so from at least one geographic point in the history, and a destination predicting section for predicting a destination on the basis of a history of using an institution actually visited by walking or so stored in the travel history database. This makes it possible to practically predict as a destination an institution actually visited by walking or so.

Claims

1. A place guidance system for providing information regarding a destination collected using at least two different forms of transportation, comprising:

positioning means for locating a current position of first mobile means;

travel history storing means for storing first history information about a travel of the first mobile means collected using a first form of transportation and located by the positioning means and second history information about a place visited by second mobile means collected using a second form of transportation, different from the first form of transportation, the second history information sharing at least one common geographic point with the first history information; and

destination predicting means for predicting athe destination based on the second history information stored in the travel history storing means.

2. A place guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the destination predicting means predicts the destination on the basis of use frequency information of a place visited by the second mobile means.

3. A place guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the second history information includes date-and-hour information of a visit by the second mobile means, the destination predicting means predicting the destination on the basis of a current position of the first mobile means located by the positioning means and date-and-hour information of a visit by the second mobile means.

4. A place guidance system according to claim 1, further comprising required-time estimating means for estimating a required time for a travel by the first mobile means.

5. A place guidance system according to claim 1, further comprising place-information storing means storing information about a place to visit by the second mobile means.

6. A place guidance system according to claim 1, further comprising destination changing means for changing the destination predicted by the destination predicting means to another destination.

7. A place guidance system according to claim 6, wherein the destination changing means changes the destination on the basis of use frequency information of a place visited by the second mobile means.

8. A place guidance system according to claim 6, wherein the destination changing means changes the destination to another destination of a same sort as the destination first predicted.

9. A place guidance system according to claim 6, further comprising destination setting means for manually setting the destination, the destination changing means changing the destination to another destination of a same sort as the destination manually set.

10. A place guidance system according to claim 7, wherein the destination changing means changes the destination to another destination of a same sort as the destination first predicted.

11. A place guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the second form of transportation of the second mobile means is walking.

12. A place guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the second mobile means has positioning means for locating a current position of the second mobile means.

13. A place guidance system according to claim 6, wherein the second form of transportation of the second mobile means is walking.

14. A place guidance system according to claim 6, wherein the second mobile means has positioning means for locating a current position of the second mobile means.

15. A place guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second forms of transportation are by wheeled vehicle and by foot, respectively.