Weather information display apparatus and program

• US 7,971,153 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Satoh, Taichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kujundzic; Dino
• Application Number:
  US12/000,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20080163105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 715/790, 715/764, 715/766, 715/781, 715/788, 340/995.1, 340/995.11, 340/995.12, 340/995.14, 345/637
• US Class Current: 715/790
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence

Abstract

A weather information display apparatus comprising a map information retrieving device, a weather information retrieving device, a display device, a command receiving device, and a display controlling device. Each of weather information sets has a predetermined display priority. When a first region of a map associated with first weather information overlaps with a second region associated with second weather information via an overlapped section, the display controlling device controls a display condition of the overlapped section such that the overlapped section is displayed under the display condition associated with the first weather information. Here, the first information has the display priority higher than that of the second information. When the display controlling device receives a certain command, the display controlling device controls the display condition of the overlapped section such that the overlapped section is temporarily displayed under the display condition associated with the second weather information.

Claims

1. A weather information display apparatus comprising:

map information retrieving means for retrieving map information of a map;

weather information retrieving means for retrieving a plurality of weather information sets, each of which is associated with at least one of sections of the map;

display means for displaying information to a user;

command receiving means for receiving a command from the user; and

display controlling means for causing the display means to display the map based on the map information retrieved by the map information retrieving means, wherein;

the plurality of weather information sets includes a first weather information set and a second weather information set;

the first weather information set corresponds to a first region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the second weather information set corresponds to a second region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the display controlling means defines a first condition of the first region and a second condition of the second region such that the first region is displayed distinguishably from the second region;

the first condition indicates the first weather information set;

the second condition indicates the second weather information set;

each of the weather information sets has a predetermined display priority;

the first weather information set has the predetermined display priority higher than the predetermined display priority of the second weather information set;

when the first region partially overlaps with the second region via one or more overlapped sections which are included in both of the first and second regions, the display controlling means defines a condition of the one or more overlapped sections such that the one or more overlapped sections are displayed under the first condition, and the display controlling means causes the display means to display information that indicates an existence of the one or more overlapped sections; and

when the display controlling means receives a certain command via the command receiving means, the display controlling means defines the condition of the one or more overlapped sections such that the one or more overlapped sections are temporarily displayed under the second condition;

wherein one of the following is satisfied;

each of the sections of the map is defined by a latitude and a longitude; and

each of the sections of the map is divided by a government.

2. The weather information display apparatus according claim 1, wherein:

the display controlling means defines the first and second conditions such that the first region is distinguishable from the second region, and the display controlling means simultaneously causes the display means to display a first icon indicative of the first weather information set and a second icon indicative of the second weather information set; and

the display controlling means causes the display means to display the first icon and the second icon, which are superimposed on each other and displaced by a certain amount relatively from each other, when the display controlling means causes the display means to display the information that indicates the existence of the one or more overlapped sections.

3. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

the command receiving means includes detecting means for detecting a contact by the user to a display surface of the display means; and

the command receiving means receives the certain command when the detecting means detects that a part of the display surface, which part displays the first and second icons, is touched by the user.

4. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of weather information sets includes a third weather information set;

the third weather information set corresponds to a third region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the third weather information set has the predetermined display priority lower than that of the first weather information set;

in a case, where the third region partially overlaps with the first and second regions via the one or more overlapped sections which are included in the first, second and third regions, the display controlling means causes the display means to exclusively display the first region when the display controlling means receives the certain command via the command receiving means; and

the display controlling means causes the display means to exclusively display each of the second and third regions sequentially in a descending order of the display priority of the weather information of the region every time the display controlling means receives the certain command via the command receiving means after the display controlling means has caused the display means to display the first region.

5. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

when the display controlling means has not received the certain command via the command receiving means during a predetermined period after the condition is changed from an initial display state by receiving the certain command via the command receiving means, the display controlling means returns the condition to the initial display state.

6. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the first condition includes color or a texture pattern, by which the first region is displayed; and

the second condition includes color or a texture pattern, by which the second region is displayed.

7. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer non-transitory readable medium readable by a computer; and

program instructions carried by the computer readable medium for causing the computer to serve as the display controlling means of the weather information display apparatus according to claim 1.

8. A weather information display apparatus comprising:

map information retrieving means for retrieving map information of a map;

weather information retrieving means for retrieving a plurality of weather information sets, each of which is associated with at least one of sections of the map;

display means for displaying information to a user;

command receiving means for receiving a command from the user; and

display controlling means for causing the display means to display the map based on the map information retrieved by the map information retrieving means, wherein;

the plurality of weather information sets includes a first weather information set and a second weather information set;

the first weather information set corresponds to a first region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the second weather information set corresponds to a second region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the display controlling means defines a first condition of the first region and a second condition of the second region such that the first region is displayed distinguishably from the second region;

the first condition indicates the first weather information set;

the second condition indicates the second weather information set;

each of the weather information sets has a predetermined display priority;

the first weather information set has the predetermined display priority higher than the predetermined display priority of the second weather information set;

when the sections of the map include one or more overlapped sections which are included by the first and the second regions, the display controlling means defines a condition of the one or more overlapped sections such that the one or more overlapped sections are displayed under the first condition, and the display controlling means causes the display means to display information that indicates an existence of the one or more overlapped sections; and

when the display controlling means receives a certain command via the command receiving means, the display controlling means defines the condition of the one or more overlapped sections such that the one or more overlapped sections are temporarily displayed under the second condition;

wherein one of the following is satisfied;

each of the sections of the map is defined by a latitude and a longitude; and

each of the sections of the map is divided by a government.

9. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

the display controlling means defines the first and second conditions such that the first region is distinguishable from the second region, and the display controlling means simultaneously causes the display means to display a first icon indicative of the first weather information set and a second icon indicative of the second weather information set; and

the display controlling means causes the display means to display the first icon and the second icon, which are superimposed on each other and displaced by a certain amount relatively from each other, when the display controlling means causes the display means to display the information that indicates the existence of the one or more overlapped sections.

10. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

the command receiving means includes detecting means for detecting a contact by the user to a display surface of the display means; and

the command receiving means receives the certain command when the detecting means detects that a part of the display surface, which part displays the first and second icons, is touched by the user.

11. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

the plurality of weather information sets includes a third weather information set;

the third weather information set corresponds to a third region having one or more of the sections of the map;

the third weather information set has the predetermined display priority lower than that of the first weather information set;

in a case, where the third region further includes the one or more overlapped sections, the display controlling means causes the display means to exclusively display the first region when the display controlling means receives the certain command via the command receiving means; and

the display controlling means causes the display means to sequentially display the one or more overlapped sections under the condition of each of the second one and the third one of the weather information sets in a descending order of the display priority of the weather information every time the display controlling means receives the certain command via the command receiving means after the display controlling means has caused the display means to display the one or more overlapped sections under the first condition.

12. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 11, wherein:

when the display controlling means has not received the certain command via the command receiving means during a predetermined period after the condition is changed from an initial display state by receiving the certain command via the command receiving means, the display controlling means returns the condition to the initial display state.

13. The weather information display apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

the first condition includes color or a texture pattern, by which the first region is displayed; and

the second condition includes color or a texture pattern, by which the second region is displayed.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer non-transitory readable medium readable by a computer; and

program instructions carried by the computer readable medium for causing the computer to serve as the display controlling means of the weather information display apparatus according to claim 8.