System and method for collecting and conveying point of interest information

• US 8,290,704 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Bai, Xue
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khatib, Rami
• Application Number:
  US12/262,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20100114478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 701200-226, 701/400, 701/408, 701/409, 701/426, 701/430, 701/438, 701/450, 701/461, 701/523, 701/540, 340/990, 340/991, 340/995.14, 340/995.18, 340/995.22, 340/995.24
• US Class Current: 701/450
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3837 Data obtained from a single source
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3848 Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/102 using electrical means

Abstract

A system and method for collecting and conveying point of interest (POI) information is disclosed. The system detects when a vehicle is at a previously unknown POI, gathers information related to the new POI, and updates a central server with the new POI location information. In this context, a POI may be any type of location including roads, gas stations, strip malls, retail establishments, eating establishments, hospitals, police stations, etc. POI information may include a variety of data including new road locations, new entrances to roads, toll amounts, gas station names, gas prices, strip mall names, retail establishment names, eating establishment names, sales and specials, hospital names, emergency room entrance locations, police station entrances, etc.

Claims

1. A method for updating a database including point of interest (POI) information comprising the steps of:

receiving information related to a position of a vehicle;

determining if the vehicle is located proximate a POI;

detecting a fuel level with a fuel sensor;

gathering new data related to the POI using a sensor system associated with the vehicle when the fuel sensor detects an input of fuel into the vehicle;

wherein the sensor system includes an imaging device and wherein the new data includes information extracted from an image captured by the imaging device; and

transmitting the new data to a central location using a dedicated short range communications (DSRC) system.

2. The method of claim 1, further including displaying the gathered new data in the occupant compartment of the vehicle for verification.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the new data includes fuel price information, and wherein displaying the gathered new data includes requesting an occupant of the vehicle to confirm that the gathered fuel price information matches the price displayed at the POI.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the POI comprises a gas station and the information related to the POI comprises fuel pricing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the new data is extracted from the image using image analysis software.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of determining whether the POI is currently known by the POI database;

and

storing the location of the POI in the POI database if the POI is not known by the POI database.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of orienting the imaging device prior to capturing the image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the new data is extracted from the image prior to transmitting the new data to the central location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein optical character recognition is used to extract alphanumeric information from the image, and wherein the new data comprises the alphanumeric information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the DSRC system uses road side equipment configured to interact with both the central location and the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of authenticating the vehicle to the DSRC system.

12. A method for updating a POI database stored on a vehicle and including point of interest (POI) information comprising the steps of:

receiving information related to a position of a vehicle;

determining if the vehicle is located proximate a POI;

gathering new information related to the POI using a sensor system associated with the vehicle;

determining whether the POI is currently known by the POI database;

obtaining other identifying information related to the POI if the POI is not currently known by the POI database;

updating the POI database with the new information and other identifying information related to the POI, to produce an updated POI database that includes the new information and the other identifying information; and

transmitting the new information and the other identifying information to a central location.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting the new information and the other identifying information to a central location is performed using a dedicated short range communications (DSRC) system.

14. The method of claim 12, further including a step of displaying the gathered new information in the occupant compartment of the vehicle for verification.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the POI comprises a gas station and the information received from the first vehicle comprises fuel pricing information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the fuel pricing information is gathered by receiving an image of the fuel pricing as displayed at the gas station and analyzing the image to extract the fuel pricing information.

17. A system for updating a database comprising:

a system dedicated short range communications (DSRC) receiver configured to receive point of interest (POI) information from a vehicle DSRC transmitter associated with a vehicle communications system associated with a first vehicle;

a sensor system associated with the vehicle and configured to receive fuel level signals from a fuel sensor;

the sensor system being configured to gather POI information when the fuel sensor detects an input of fuel into the vehicle;

a transmitter configured to relay the POI information to a central system;

a receiver configured to receive database information from the central system, wherein the database information contains the POI information if the POI information is new POI information; and

a system DSRC transmitter configured to relay the database information to a vehicle DSRC receiver associated with a second vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the POI information includes the location of a new POI.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the system is configured to extract the POI information from the image using image analysis software.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the POI information includes pricing information.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the system DSRC transmitter and the system DSRC receiver are associated with road side equipment.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the POI comprises a gas station and the POI information comprises fuel pricing.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the sensor system includes an imaging device and wherein the POI information includes information extracted from an image captured by the imaging device.