Navigation device displaying travel information

• US 7,835,857 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2005
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TomTom International BV (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: TomTom International BV (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Gretton, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sriraman; Nikhil
• Application Number:
  US10/598,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20070185648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,072 Days
• Field of Search: 701/208, 713/1, 713/2, 713/100
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance

Abstract

A navigation device, programmable with map data and a navigation application that enables a route to be planned between two user-defined places; the device is operable to read a removable memory card storing the device operating system, the navigation application, and the map data. It does not need to store the operating system in mask ROM; hence, customization for a specific country requires only that the appropriate memory card be inserted at the time of use.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle personal navigation device that enables a user to navigate to a pre-defined destination, comprising:

an internal satellite positioning receiver;

a power switch;

a touch screen display activated by the power switch;

a random access memory (RAM) component;

a read only memory (ROM) component;

a portable memory device interface configured to receive a portable memory device; and

a portable memory device having a system file contained thereon, the system file including an operating system, a navigation application and map data, wherein

the ROM component is configured to prompt the user to insert the portable memory device upon boot up of the navigation device, and

once the user inserts the portable memory device into the portable memory device interface the system file is copied from the portable memory device into the RAM component.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the navigation device does not store the operating system in internal ROM but instead reads the operating system from a memory card.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable memory device is a secure digital (SD) card.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the ROM component is an internal XIP (execute In Place) Flash ROM programmed with a boot loader.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein once copying of the system file is complete, control of the navigation device is passed to the navigation application, which starts and accesses non-volatile data from the portable memory device.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein when the navigation device is switched off, contents of the RAM component are preserved so that the boot up procedure only has to occur the first time the navigation device is used.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the navigation application includes core functions accessible via a single touch to the touch screen display.

7. A method of programming an in-vehicle personal navigation device with a map database and software that enables a route to be planned between two user-defined places, wherein the method comprises:

connecting the navigation device to a memory card, the memory card storing an operating system;

a navigation application including core functions accessible via a single touch to a touch screen display, and map data, the memory card being insertable into and removable from the navigation device;

reading the operating system, the navigation application, and the map data from the memory card;

storing the operating system in internal random access memory (RAM); and

executing a boot loader program stored on an execute in place (XIP) read only memory (ROM) thereby prompting a user to insert the memory card on boot up.

8. The method of claim 7 in which the memory card is a SD card.

9. The method of claim 7, further including copying a system file from the memory card into the RAM, the system file including the operating system and the navigation application.

10. The method of claim 9, further including passing control of the navigation device to the navigation application, which starts and accesses non-volatile data from the memory card.

11. The method of claim 10, further including preserving contents of the RAM when the navigation device is switched off so that the boot up procedure only has to occur the first time the navigation device is used.