Downloaded destinations and interface for multiple in-vehicle navigation devices

• US 8,326,527 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2009
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Ross, Steven J., Chrumka, Edward P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M.
• Application Number:
  US12/651,436
• Publication Number:
  US 20110161000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 701/420
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096822 where the segments of the route are transmitted to the vehicle at different locations and times
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

The described method and system for providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system includes presenting a web interface to the user, the web interface having one or more user-selectable fields including a destination field. Through the interface, the user can identify a desired destination and download data associated with the destination to a database associated with a call center. Later, the user may download the data to their mobile navigation device, e.g., their vehicle telematics unit, for navigational assistance. In an implementation, such assistance is provided in the form of turn-by-turn directions.

Claims

1. A method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system, the mobile navigation system being wirelessly communicably linked to a call center, the method comprising:

receiving at the mobile navigation system a signal indicating that navigation assistance is desired by the user;

determining whether the user is a subscriber, whether the mobile navigation system is capable of receiving and conveying turn-by-turn navigation instructions, and whether the destination is routable;

determining that there is at least one destination identity stored by the user in a database associated with the call center, and downloading the destination identity to the mobile navigation system;

receiving a user request to download turn-by-turn navigation instructions to the least one destination; and

downloading turn-by-turn navigation instructions from the call center to the mobile navigation system for providing navigation assistance to the user.

2. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one destination identity stored by the user in the database associated with the call center was previously stored by the user via a web interface.

3. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 1, wherein determining that there is at least one destination identity stored by the user in a database associated with the call center comprises determining that there are multiple destination identities stored by the user in the database, the multiple destination identities having not been downloaded to the mobile navigation system, and wherein downloading the destination identity to the mobile navigation system further comprises querying the user to identify a single destination or to request a list.

4. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a user request for a list;

conveying to the user a list of the multiple destination identities stored by the user in the database;

receiving a user selection of one of the multiple destination identities; and

downloading the identity of the selected destination to the mobile navigation system.

5. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 3, further comprising:

receiving at the mobile navigation unit, in response to querying the user to identify a single destination or to request a list, a user identification of a single destination; and

downloading the identity of the selected destination to the mobile navigation system.

6. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 5, further comprising determining if the selected destination is routable by the call center.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having thereon computer executable instructions for providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system, the mobile navigation system being wirelessly communicably linked to a call center, the computer executable instructions comprising:

instructions for accepting at the mobile navigation system a signal indicating that navigation assistance is desired by the user;

instructions for determining whether the user is a subscriber, whether the mobile navigation system is capable of receiving and conveying turn-by-turn navigation instructions, and whether the destination is routable;

instructions for determining that there is at least one destination identity stored by the user in a database associated with the call center, and downloading the destination identity to the mobile navigation system;

instructions for accepting a user request to download turn-by-turn navigation instructions to the least one destination; and

instructions for downloading turn-by-turn navigation instructions from the call center to the mobile navigation system for providing navigation assistance to the user.

8. The computer readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the at least one destination identity stored by the user in the database associated with the call center was previously stored by the user via a web interface.

9. The computer readable medium according to claim 7, wherein the instructions for determining that there is at least one destination identity stored by the user in a database associated with the call center comprise instructions for determining that there are multiple destination identities stored by the user in the database, the multiple destination identities having not been downloaded to the mobile navigation system, and wherein the instructions for downloading the destination identity to the mobile navigation system further comprise instructions for querying the user to identify a single destination or to request a list.

10. The computer readable medium according to claim 9, the computer executable instructions further comprising:

instructions for accepting a user request for a list;

instructions for conveying to the user a list of the multiple destination identities stored by the user in the database;

instructions for accepting a user selection of one of the multiple destination identities; and

instructions for downloading the identity of the selected destination to the mobile navigation system.

11. The computer readable medium according to claim 9, the computer executable instructions further comprising:

instructions for accepting at the mobile navigation unit, in response to querying the user to identify a single destination or to request a list, a user identification of a single destination; and

instructions for downloading the identity of the selected destination to the mobile navigation system.

12. The computer readable medium according to claim 11, the computer executable instructions further comprising instructions for determining if the selected destination is routable by the call center.

13. A method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system, the mobile navigation system being wirelessly communicably linked to a call center, the method comprising:

presenting a web interface to the user, the web interface having one or more user-selectable fields including a destination field;

receiving via the destination field of the web interface a user identification of a destination;

receiving via the web interface a user request to download data associated with identified destination to a database associated with the call center and in response downloading the data to the database associated with the call center;

receiving at the call center a user request to download the data associated with the identified destination to the mobile navigation system;

determining whether the user is a subscriber, whether the mobile navigation system is capable of receiving and conveying turn-by-turn navigation instructions, and whether the destination is routable;

downloading the data associated with the identified destination to the mobile navigation system; and

providing to the user via the mobile navigation system directions to the identified destination.

14. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 13, wherein the directions to the identified destination include turn-by-turn directions.

15. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 13, wherein the web interface comprises a stored destinations field wherein is listed one or more destinations previously selected by the user for storage on the database associated with the call center.

16. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 13, wherein receiving a user request to download the data associated with the identified destination to the mobile navigation system comprises receiving a user request to download data associated with multiple stored destinations.

17. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 16, wherein receiving at the call center a user request to download the data associated with the identified destination to the mobile navigation system comprises receiving a user request to list the multiple destinations and receiving a user selection from the list of the identified destination.

18. The method of providing navigation assistance to a user of a mobile navigation system according to claim 13, wherein downloading the data associated with the identified destination to the mobile navigation system further comprises determining that the destination is routable by the call center.