System and process for identifying objects and/or points nearby a given object or point
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented process for identifying all nearby neighbor objects and/or points of interest in relation to a user-specified base point which reside within a search area around the base point based on information accessed from a database of geometric data which includes the location of said objects and/or points of interest, said process comprising:
- a dividing step for dividing the geographic system defined by said geometric data into a plurality of zones each forming a strip of the same prescribed zone height and assigning an integer zone number to each strip;
an assigning step for determining what zone each object or point in the database resides and assigning that zone number to the object or point;
an identifying step for identifying the zone number of every zone intersected by the search area; and
for each object or point associated with each zone number identified as intersected by the search area,a first determining step for determining whether a first coordinate of the object or point under consideration defining its location along the width of the strip in which it resides is within the range of the first coordinate of the base point less a distance defining the extent of the search area in a first direction along the width of the strip in which the base point resides and the first coordinate of the base point plus the same distance defining the extent of the search area in the opposite direction along the width of the strip in which the base point resides,whenever it is determined that the first coordinate of the object or point under consideration is within the specified range, a first designating step for designating said object or point as a nearby neighbor candidate,a second determining step for determining if the candidate object or point is in the search area by computing the actual distance between the base point and the candidate object or point and ascertaining if said actual distance is equal to or less than said distance defining the extent of the search area in either direction along the width of the strip, andwhenever it is ascertained that said actual distance is equal to or less than said distance defining the extent of the search area in either direction along the width of the strip, a second designating step for designating the candidate object or point as a nearby neighbor of the base point.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and process is presented that identifies nearby objects and/or points in relation to a base object or point. An object or point is nearby if it resides within a prescribed area around the base point. The identification is based on information accessed from a database of geometric data. The identification of nearby neighbors begins by dividing the geographic system defined by said geometric data into a plurality of zones. The zone in which each object or point resides and the zones intersected by the prescribed area are determined. The nearby objects and/or points of interest are then identified by initially considering only those that are identified as residing in the zones intersected by the prescribed area. The search for nearby neighbors can be further refined by limiting the objects and/or points considered to those with locations within the lateral extent and/or within the height of the prescribed area.
25 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented process for identifying all nearby neighbor objects and/or points of interest in relation to a user-specified base point which reside within a search area around the base point based on information accessed from a database of geometric data which includes the location of said objects and/or points of interest, said process comprising:
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a dividing step for dividing the geographic system defined by said geometric data into a plurality of zones each forming a strip of the same prescribed zone height and assigning an integer zone number to each strip; an assigning step for determining what zone each object or point in the database resides and assigning that zone number to the object or point; an identifying step for identifying the zone number of every zone intersected by the search area; and for each object or point associated with each zone number identified as intersected by the search area, a first determining step for determining whether a first coordinate of the object or point under consideration defining its location along the width of the strip in which it resides is within the range of the first coordinate of the base point less a distance defining the extent of the search area in a first direction along the width of the strip in which the base point resides and the first coordinate of the base point plus the same distance defining the extent of the search area in the opposite direction along the width of the strip in which the base point resides, whenever it is determined that the first coordinate of the object or point under consideration is within the specified range, a first designating step for designating said object or point as a nearby neighbor candidate, a second determining step for determining if the candidate object or point is in the search area by computing the actual distance between the base point and the candidate object or point and ascertaining if said actual distance is equal to or less than said distance defining the extent of the search area in either direction along the width of the strip, and whenever it is ascertained that said actual distance is equal to or less than said distance defining the extent of the search area in either direction along the width of the strip, a second designating step for designating the candidate object or point as a nearby neighbor of the base point.
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2. A process for identifying all nearby neighbor objects and/or points of interest in relation to a user-specified base point having the spherical coordinates (“
- @ra”
, “
@dec”
) which resides within a search area of a prescribed radius (“
@r) from the base point based on information accessed from a database of geometric data which includes the location of said objects and/or points of interest defined in terms of spherical system with spherical coordinates comprising the declination (dec) and right ascension (ra) of the object or point from the center of a sphere representing the spherical system, comprising;a dividing step for dividing the sphere into a plurality of zones each forming a declination strip of the same prescribed zone height and assigning an integer zone number to each strip in a bottom to top sequence starting with the south pole being designated as zone number 0; a first determining step for determining what zone each object or point in the database resides and assigning that zone number to the object or point; an identifying step for identifying the zone number of every zone intersected by the search area; and for each object or point associated with each zone number identified as intersected by the search area, a second determining step for determining whether the ra value of the object or point under consideration is between the range of @ra−
@r′ and
@ra+@r′
, where @r′
is @r corrected for right ascension compression corresponding to the dec value of the base point,whenever it is determined that the ra value of the object or point under consideration is between the range of @ra−
@r′ and
@ra+@r′
, a first designating step for designating said object or point as a nearby neighbor candidate,a third determining step for determining if the candidate object or point is in the search area by computing the actual distance between the base point and the candidate object or point and ascertaining if said actual distance is equal to or less than @r, and whenever it is ascertained that said actual distance is equal to or less than @r, a second designating step for designating the candidate object or point as a nearby neighbor of the base point. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- @ra”
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10. A process for identifying all nearby neighbor objects and/or points of interest in relation to a user-specified base point having rectangular coordinates which reside within a search area of a prescribed radius (@r) from the base point based on information accessed from a database of geometric data which includes the location of said objects and/or points of interest defined in terms of a planar system with rectangular coordinates (x,y) from a prescribed origin of a plane representing the planar system, comprising:
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a dividing step for dividing the plane into a plurality of zones each forming a lateral strip of the same prescribed zone height and assigning an integer zone number to each strip in a bottom to top sequence starting with the bottommost zone being designated as zone number 0; an assigning step for determining what zone each object or point in the database resides and assigning that zone number to the object or point; an identifying step for identifying the zone number of every zone intersected by the search area; and for each object or point associated with each zone number identified as intersected by the search area, a first adding step for adding a number equal to the absolute value of the maximum negative x coordinate value associated with the planar system of the database of geometric data to x coordinate values of any object or point taken from the database to produce a corrected x value, a second adding step for adding a number equal to the absolute value of the maximum negative y coordinate value associated with the planar system of the database of geometric data to y coordinate values of any object or point taken from the database to produce a corrected y value, a first determining step for determining whether the corrected x value of the object or point under consideration is between the range of @x−
a and @x+a, wherein @x is the x value of the base point corrected by adding a number equal to the absolute value of the maximum negative x coordinate value associated with the planar system of the database of geometric data if the x value of the base point is defined in terms of the planar system of the database, and wherein a is equal to @r whenever the object or point under consideration is in the same zone as the base point and to one half the width of the widest portion of the search area that intersects the zone containing the object or point under consideration whenever that object or point is not in the same zone as the base point,whenever it is determined that the corrected x value of the object or point under consideration is between the range of @x−
a and @x+a, a first designating step for designating said object or point as a nearby neighbor candidate,a second determining step for determining if the candidate object or point is in the search area by computing the actual distance between the base point and the candidate object or point and ascertaining if said actual distance is equal to or less than @r, and whenever it is ascertained that said actual distance is equal to or less than @r, a second designating step for designating the candidate object or point as a nearby neighbor of the base point.
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Specification