Map update system, navigation apparatus and providing apparatus

• US 7,739,037 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xanavi Informatics Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.), Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Xanavi Informatics Corporation (Hitachi, Ltd.), Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Satou, Mituteru, Inoue, Yuki, Nomura, Takashi, Sumizawa, Akio
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby; Richard M.
• Application Number:
  US11/281,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20060122768A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701/207, 701/208, 701/209, 701/210, 701/211, 701/213, 340/988, 340/990, 340/995.12, 340/995.18, 340/995.19, 340/995.2, 340/995.23, 340/995.14, 342/357.04, 342/357.09
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3889 Transmission of selected map data, e.g. depending on route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3896 Transmission of map data from central databases

Abstract

A map update system includes: a navigation apparatus that provides guidance from a current position to a destination having been set based upon map data stored therein and downloads various types of information requested by a user; and a providing apparatus that provides the various types of information to be downloaded at the navigation apparatus, and: the providing apparatus transmits the various types of information and update information related to an update of map data to the navigation apparatus in response to a download request transmitted from the navigation apparatus; and the navigation apparatus issues a notice related to the update of the map data based upon the update information transmitted from the providing apparatus, while downloading the various types of information.

Claims

1. A map update system, comprising:

a navigation apparatus that provides guidance from a current position to a destination having been set based upon map data stored therein and downloads various types of information that are requested by a user; and

a providing apparatus that provides the various types of information to be downloaded at the navigation apparatus, wherein;

the providing apparatus transmits the various types of information and update information related to an update of the map data to the navigation apparatus in response to a download request transmitted from the navigation apparatus;

the navigation apparatus issues a notice related to the update of the map data based upon the update information transmitted from the providing apparatus, while downloading the various types of information;

the navigation apparatus makes a decision as to whether or not to issue the notice based upon contents of the information to be downloaded and issues the notice only if a decision to issue the notice is made.

2. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus issues a notice containing information related to a pre-update map version and a post-update map version with regard to an update of map data for a specific update target area to a latest map data version, while downloading the various types of information.

3. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus issues a notice containing details of map changes to result from an update of map data for a specific update target area to a latest map data version, while downloading the various types of information.

4. A map update system according to claim 3, wherein:

in response to a request from the user, the navigation apparatus transmits to the providing apparatus information related to a map version of map data currently stored therein together with the download request for the various types of information;

the providing apparatus, at which text data related to details of map changes are set in advance and stored in correspondence to individual areas, extracts text data corresponding to a relevant area from the stored text data based upon the information related to the map version transmitted from the navigation apparatus and transmits the extracted text data to the navigation apparatus as the update information; and

the navigation apparatus issues the notice containing the details of map changes for the user based upon the text data transmitted from the providing apparatus.

5. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus indicates a position of a specific update target area while downloading the various types of information.

6. A map update system according to claim 5, wherein:

when indicating the position of the update target area on a map, the navigation apparatus switches a map scaling factor so as to include the update target area within a range of map display.

7. A map update system according to claim 5, wherein:

the providing apparatus transmits information related to a latest map version to the navigation apparatus as the update information; and

the navigation apparatus selects as the update target area an area with a disparity between information related to a map version of map data currently stored therein and the information related to the latest map version transmitted from the providing apparatus.

8. A map update system according to claim 2, wherein:

the navigation apparatus also issues a notice indicating a length of communication time required to update map data in the update target area to the latest map data version, while downloading the various types of information.

9. A map update system according to claim 8, wherein:

the navigation apparatus is wirelessly connected with the providing apparatus via a communication terminal connected to the navigation apparatus;

the providing apparatus transmits information indicating a data size of update map data to be used to update map data to the latest map data version as the update information; and

the navigation apparatus determines the length of communication time based upon the data size and a communication line speed achieved at the communication terminal through wireless connection.

10. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus issues a notice indicating a position of a service store offering a service for updating map data, while downloading the various types of information.

11. A map update system according to claim 10, wherein:

when indicating the position of the service store on a map, the navigation apparatus switches a map scaling factor so as to include the service store within a range of map display.

12. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus clears the notice once download of the various types of information is completed.

13. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

if a notice with identical contents related to an update of map data has already been issued over a predetermined time period, the navigation apparatus does not issue the notice.

15. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the various types of information include at least one of traffic information, current news, weather forecasts and tourist guide information.

16. A map update system according to claim 1, wherein:

the navigation apparatus issues the notice related to the map data update at least either through a display or an audio output.

14. A map update system, comprising:

a navigation apparatus that provides guidance from a current position to a destination having been set based upon map data stored therein and downloads various types of information that are requested by a user; and

a providing apparatus that provides the various types of information to be downloaded at the navigation apparatus, wherein;

the providing apparatus transmits the various types of information and update information related to an update of the map data to the navigation apparatus in response to a download request transmitted from the navigation apparatus;

the navigation apparatus issues a notice related to the update of the map data based upon the update information transmitted from the providing apparatus, while downloading the various types of information,

the providing apparatus makes a decision as to whether or not to allow the navigation apparatus to issue the notice based upon contents of the information to be downloaded to the navigation apparatus; and

the navigation apparatus issues the notice only if the providing apparatus makes a decision to allow the navigation apparatus to issue the notice.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a navigation apparatus that provides guidance from a current position to a destination having been set based upon map data stored therein and downloads various types of information that are requested by a user, wherein;

the navigation apparatus receives update information related to an update of the map data while downloading the various types of information;

the navigation apparatus issues a notice related to the update of the map data based upon the update information while downloading the various types of information; and

the navigation apparatus makes a decision as to whether or not to issue the notice based upon contents of the information to be downloaded and issues the notice only if a decision to issue the notice is made.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a providing apparatus that transmits various types of information to a navigation apparatus in response to a request from a user, wherein;

the providing apparatus transmits the various types of information and update information related to an update of map data stored in the navigation apparatus in response to a download request received by the providing apparatus from the navigation apparatus;

the providing apparatus causes the navigation apparatus to issue a notice related to the update of the map data based upon the update information transmitted from the providing apparatus, while downloading the various types of information;

the providing apparatus makes a decision as to whether or not to cause the navigation apparatus to issue the notice based upon contents of the information to be downloaded to the navigation apparatus, and causes the navigation apparatus to issue the notice only if a decision to issue the notice is made.