Enhanced identification of interesting points-of-interest

• US 8,239,130 B1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Mazumdar, Soham, Upstill, Trystan, Lopatenko, Andrei
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US12/617,354
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/426
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying points-of-interest. In one aspect, a method includes determining a position and a heading of a mobile device, defining a zone of interest based on the position and heading of the mobile device, identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest, determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI, selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the distances, and displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining by one or more processors, a position and a heading of a mobile device;

defining a zone of interest based on the position and heading of the mobile device;

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, an angle between (i) a line that is aligned with the heading of the mobile device and (ii) a line that intersects the mobile device and the respective POI;

scaling, for each of the identified POIs, the distance between the mobile device and the POI based on the angle such that the distance increases as a magnitude of the angle increases;

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the scaled distances; and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position and heading of the mobile device is zone of interest is defined further based on a field of view of a camera of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one or more of the identified POIs further comprises selecting one or more identified POIs whose scaled distances are closest to the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone of interest represents a two-dimensional area or a three-dimensional volume.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the zone of interest comprises a triangle or a circular sector, with one vertex of the zone of interest occurring near the position of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the triangle or circular sector extends 60°

around the heading of the mobile device, and

the height or radius of the triangle or circular sector, respectively, extends one quarter of a mile.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a speed of the mobile device; and

selecting the height or radius of the triangle or circular sector, respectively, based on the determined speed of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying one or more user reviews or ratings for the selected POIs on the user interface of the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more POIs further comprises:

identifying coordinates which define the zone of interest; and

querying a database that stores POIs and coordinates associated with each POI, using the coordinates which define the zone of interest.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to selecting the one or more of the identified POIs, pre-caching information associated with the selected POIs to the mobile-device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an image using a camera on the mobile device,

wherein displaying the information further comprises overlaying the information over the image.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that no POIs are located within the zone of interest; and

redefining the zone of interest based on determining that no POIs are located within the zone of interest,

wherein identifying the one or more POIs that are located within the zone of interest further comprises identifying the one or more POIs that are located within the redefined zone of interest.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the heading of the mobile device further comprises detecting a compass heading using a compass on the mobile device, or determining a path of the mobile device using a global positioning system (GPS) module on the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the heading of the mobile device further comprises determining a compass heading toward which a camera of the mobile device is pointing.

15. A system comprising:

one or more computers; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

determining a position and a heading of a mobile device,

defining a zone of interest based on the position and heading of the mobile device,

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest,

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI,

determining, for each of the identified POIs, an angle between (i) a line that is aligned with the heading of the mobile device and (ii) a line that intersects the mobile device and the respective POI,

scaling, for each of the identified POIs, the distance between the mobile device and the POI based on the angle such that the distance increases as a magnitude of the angle increases,

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the scaled distances, and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

16. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

determining a position and a heading of a mobile device;

defining a zone of interest based on the position and heading of the mobile device;

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, an angle between (i) a line that is aligned with the heading of the mobile device and (ii) a line that intersects the mobile device and the respective POI;

scaling, for each of the identified POIs, the distance between the mobile device and the POI based on the angle such that the distance increases as a magnitude of the angle increases;

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the scaled distances; and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining by a one or more processors, a position, a speed, and a heading of a mobile device;

defining a zone of interest based on the position, speed and heading of the mobile device, comprising selecting one or more dimensions of the zone of interest based on the speed of the mobile device;

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI;

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the distances; and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

18. A system comprising:

one or more computers; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

determining a position, a speed, and a heading of a mobile device,

defining a zone of interest based on the position, speed and heading of the mobile device, comprising selecting one or more dimensions of the zone of interest based on the speed of the mobile device,

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest,

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI,

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the distances, and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.

19. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

determining a position, a speed, and a heading of a mobile device;

defining a zone of interest based on the position, speed and heading of the mobile device, comprising selecting one or more dimensions of the zone of interest based on the speed of the mobile device;

identifying one or more points of interest (POIs) that are located within the zone of interest;

determining, for each of the identified POIs, a distance between the mobile device and the respective POI;

selecting one or more of the identified POIs based on the distances; and

displaying information identifying the selected POIs on a user interface of the mobile device.