Mobile terminals including display screens capable of displaying maps and map display methods for mobile terminals

• US 8,099,108 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Camp, William O. Jr., Vasa, Yojak
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US11/776,805
• Publication Number:
  US 20090017840A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,650 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/433, 455/457, 455/461, 455/517, 701/117, 701/202, 701/208, 701/209, 340/990
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• 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: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a communication module, a display screen, and control circuitry. The circuitry is configured to estimate a current geographic position of the mobile terminal, and to determine if the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within a boundary of geographic map information stored in the mobile terminal. The circuitry is further configured to retrieve additional geographic map information including the current position of the mobile terminal using the communication module if the current position of the mobile terminal is not within the boundary of the stored geographic map information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

estimating a current geographic position of a mobile terminal including a communication module and a display screen;

determining if the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within a boundary of geographic map information stored in the mobile terminal, the geographic map information defining geographic features within a first geographic area;

in response to determining that the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within the boundary of the stored geographic map information, displaying the map including the current position of the mobile terminal on the display;

in response to determining that the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is not within the boundary of the stored geographic map information, providing additional geographic map information to the mobile terminal using the communication module, the additional geographic map information defining geographic features within a second geographic area that includes the estimated current position of the mobile terminal; and

determining a current scale for the display screen to display a map by estimating a current speed of the mobile terminal and automatically selecting a display scale in response to the current speed of the mobile terminal, wherein selecting the display scale comprises selecting a relatively larger scale if the speed of the mobile terminal is higher and selecting a smaller scale if the speed of the mobile terminal is smaller.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a current scale for the map;

determining if the stored map information contains enough map information to fill the display screen at the current scale;

in response to determining that the stored map information does not contain enough map information to fill the display screen at the current scale, reducing the scale of the display screen until the stored map information is sufficient to fill the display screen at the reduced scale.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising retrieving additional map information using the communication module sufficient to fill the display screen at the current scale, and after the additional map information has been retrieved, increasing the scale to the current scale.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating a current speed and direction of travel of the mobile terminal and estimating, in response to the current speed and direction of travel of the mobile terminal, when the mobile terminal will leave an area described by the stored map information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

estimating an amount of time needed to download additional map information for a geographic area that the mobile terminal is heading toward, and downloading the additional map information before the mobile terminal leaves the area described by the stored map information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the current position of the mobile terminal is performed by a remote server in response to network-generated location information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting additional map information to the mobile terminal from the remote server if the current position of the mobile terminal is not within the boundary of the stored geographic map information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the map including the current position of the mobile terminal on the display comprises displaying the map including the current position of the mobile terminal on the display after a predetermined period of nonuse of the mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the mobile terminal further comprises a secondary display screen on a flip portion that is movable between an open position and a closed position so that the secondary display screen is visible when the flip portion is in the closed position, the method comprising displaying the map including the current position of the mobile terminal on the secondary display when the flip portion is in the closed position.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the mobile terminal has entered an idle mode; and

reducing a brightness of the display and/or turning the display off;

wherein estimating the current geographic position of the mobile terminal and determining if the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within the boundary of geographic map information stored in the mobile terminal are performed while the mobile terminal is in the idle mode.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein providing additional geographic map information to the mobile terminal using the communication module is performed while the mobile terminal is in the idle mode.

12. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a communication module;

a display screen; and

circuitry configured to estimate a current geographic position of the mobile terminal;

to determine if the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within a boundary of geographic map information stored in the mobile terminal, the geographic map information defining geographic features within a first geographic area;

to display the map including the current position of the mobile terminal on the display in response to determining that the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within the boundary of the stored geographic map information; and

to retrieve additional geographic map information using the communication module in response to determining that the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is not within the boundary of the stored geographic map information, the additional geographic map information defining geographic features within a second geographic area that includes the estimated current position of the mobile terminal;

wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a current scale for the map on the display screen by estimating a current speed of the mobile terminal and to automatically select a display scale in response to the current speed of the mobile terminal.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a current scale for the map;

to determine if the stored map information contains enough map information to fill the display screen at the current scale; and

to reduce the scale of the display screen until the stored map information is sufficient to fill the display screen at the reduced scale in response to determining that the stored map information does not contain enough map information to fill the display screen at the current scale.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to retrieve additional map information using the communication module, and to increase the scale to an increased scale that is larger than the reduced scale after the additional map information has been retrieved.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to estimate a current speed and direction of travel of the mobile terminal, and, in response to the current speed and direction of travel of the mobile terminal, to estimate when the mobile terminal will leave an area described by the stored map information.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the circuitry is further configured to

estimate an amount of time needed to download additional map information for a geographic area that the mobile terminal is heading toward, and to download the additional map information before the mobile terminal leaves the area described by the stored map information.

17. A map server, comprising:

a communication module configured to communicate with a remotely located mobile terminal;

a position/velocity determination unit configured to estimate position/velocity information for the mobile terminal;

a database storing map information; and

circuitry configured to determine if the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is within a boundary of geographic map information stored in the mobile terminal, the geographic map information defining geographic features within a first geographic area; and

to send additional geographic map information from the database using the communication module in response to determining that the estimated current position of the mobile terminal is not within the boundary of the stored geographic map information, the additional geographic map information defining geographic features within a second geographic area that includes the estimated current position of the mobile terminal;

wherein the circuitry is further configured to determine a current scale for a map on a display screen of the mobile terminal by estimating a current speed of the mobile terminal and to automatically select a display scale for the map in response to the current speed of the mobile terminal.

18. The map server of claim 17, wherein the position/velocity determination unit is configured to estimate the current position of the mobile terminal using location information provided by a communication network in which the mobile terminal is registered.

19. The map server of claim 17, wherein the circuitry is further configured to estimate when the mobile terminal will leave an area described by the map information stored at the mobile terminal using the position/velocity of the mobile terminal, to estimate an amount of time needed to download additional map information for a geographic area that the mobile terminal is heading toward, and to transmit the additional map information to the mobile terminal before the mobile terminal leaves the area described by the map information stored at the mobile terminal.