Disfavored route progressions or locations

• US 8,385,946 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2008
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Forstall, Scott, Christie, Gregory N., Borchers, Robert E., Tiene, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Addy, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lebassi, Amanuel
• Application Number:
  US12/020,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20090005082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.5, 455/404.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.4, 455/456.6, 455/457, 340/994, 340/995.19, 340/995.21, 701/400, 701/410, 701/411, 701/413, 701/416, 701/417
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application

Abstract

Adaptive route guidance can include analyzing route progressions associated with one or more routes based on multiple user preferences. The adaptive route guidance can provide one or more preferred routes based on the user preferences, which can be presented to a user for navigation purposes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying one or more preferences comprising one or more disfavored route progressions associated with a user, wherein a route progression includes a discrete length of a road that is part of a route for driving to a destination, and wherein a disfavored route progression includes a section of a route that the user wants to avoid while driving to the destination;

obtaining information corresponding to a destination associated with the user;

identifying one or more potential routes comprising a plurality of route progressions based on a current location of the user and the destination;

for each route included in the one or more potential routes, analyzing the plurality of route progressions associated with the route based on weightings associated with the disfavored route progressions, wherein a weighting for a disfavored route progression indicates an extent to which the user avoids the disfavored route progression while traversing a route that includes the disfavored route progression, the weighting based on a ratio between a number of times the disfavored route progression is traveled during traversing the route that includes the disfavored route progression, and a total number of times the route has been traversed;

ordering the one or more potential routes based on aggregate weightings of the disfavored route progressions associated with each potential route; and

presenting the ordered one or more potential routes to the user for driving to the destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a preference comprises traffic preferences and the method comprises:

retrieving traffic information associated with the plurality of route progressions for each route; and

analyzing the plurality of route progressions based on the traffic preferences.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising:

providing an estimated time associated with each of the one or more potential routes presented to the user, the estimated time being based on the traffic information.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

collecting route data associated with the user, the route data comprising information about route progressions traversed by the user;

analyzing the route data; and

deriving preferences based upon analyzing the route data.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising deriving disfavored route progressions based upon the derived preferences.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the route data includes deviations from one or more route progressions included in a route presented to the user, the deviations made by the user while traversing the route.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein ordering the one or more potential routes comprises placing a route with more total weighting lower in priority compared to a route with less total weighting.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving the one or more preferences from the user and storing the preferences in a preference data store.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting when a user has avoided a route progression associated with a particular route while traversing the particular route; and

identifying the route progression associated with the particular route as a disfavored route progression.

10. A system comprising:

a preference engine operable to receive one or more disfavored route progressions associated with a user, wherein a route progression includes a discrete length of a road that is part of a route for driving to a destination, and wherein a disfavored route progression includes a section of a route that the user wants to avoid while driving to the destination;

a destination engine operable to receive information corresponding to a destination associated with the user;

a routing engine operable to identify one or more potential routes, each route comprising a plurality of route progressions, the identification of the one or more potential routes being based on a current location of the user and the destination;

an analysis engine operable to analyze, for each route included in the one or more potential routes, the plurality of route progressions associated with the route based on weightings associated with the plurality of disfavored route progressions, wherein a weighting for a disfavored route progression indicates an extent to which the user avoids the disfavored route progression while traversing a route that includes the disfavored route progression, the weighting based on a ratio between a number of times the disfavored route progression is traveled during traversing the route that includes the disfavored route progression, and a total number of times the route has been traversed, the analysis engine operable to order the one or more potential routes based on aggregate weightings of the disfavored route progressions associated with each potential route; and

a presentation engine operable to present the ordered one or more potential routes to the user for driving to the destination.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein preference engine is further operable to receive traffic preferences and the analysis engine is further operable to retrieve traffic information associated with the plurality of route progressions for each route and to analyze the plurality of route progressions based on the traffic preferences and the disfavored route progressions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the analysis engine is operable to derive an estimated time associated with each of the plurality of routes, and the presentation engine is operable to provide to the user the estimated time associated with each of the plurality of routes, the estimated time being based on the traffic information.

13. The system of claim 10, comprising:

a history data store operable to store historical route data associated with the user, the historical route data comprising information about route progressions traversed by the user; and

wherein the preference engine is operable to analyze the historical route data and to derive disfavored route progressions based upon analysis of the historical route data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the historical route data includes deviations from one or more route progressions included in a route presented to the user, the deviations made by the user while traversing the route.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the analysis engine is operable to order the one or more potential routes based on placing a route with more total weighting lower in priority compared to a route with less total weighting.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the preference engine is operable to receive preferences associated with the user.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the presentation engine is operable to detect when a user has avoided a route progression associated with a particular route while traversing the particular route;

and

wherein the preference engine is operable to flag the route progression associated with the particular route as a disfavored route progression.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the routing engine is operable to identify one or more alternative routes responsive to the user avoiding the route progression associated with the particular route, and the analysis engine is operable to reorder the alternative routes based upon disfavored route progressions associated with each of the alternative routes, and the presentation engine is operable to present a preferred order of alternative routes to the user.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the user can select one of the alternative routes by beginning navigation of the route.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

collecting historical navigation data based on a plurality of navigations associated with a user;

deriving one or more disfavored route progressions based on the historical navigation data, wherein a route progression includes a discrete length of a road that is part of a route for driving to a destination, and wherein a disfavored route progression includes a section of a route that the user wants to avoid while driving to the destination;

obtaining information corresponding to a destination associated with the user;

identifying one or more potential routes comprising a plurality of route progressions based on a current location of the user and the destination;

for each route included in the one or more potential routes, analyzing the plurality of route progressions associated with the route based on weightings associated with the disfavored route progressions, wherein a weighting for a disfavored route progression indicates an extent to which the user avoids the disfavored route progression while traversing a route that includes the disfavored route progression, the weighting based on a ratio between a number of times the disfavored route progression is traveled during traversing the route that includes the disfavored route progression, and a total number of times the route has been traversed;

ordering the one or more potential routes based on aggregate weightings of the disfavored route progressions associated with each potential route; and

presenting the ordered one or more potential routes to the user for driving to the destination.

21. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting historical navigation data based on a plurality of navigations associated with a user;

deriving one or more disfavored route progressions based on the historical navigation data, wherein a route progression includes a discrete length of a road that is part of a route for driving to a destination, and wherein a disfavored route progression includes a section of a route that the user wants to avoid while driving to the destination;

obtaining information corresponding to a destination associated with the user;

identifying one or more potential routes comprising a plurality of route progressions based on a current location of the user and the destination;

for each route included in the one or more potential routes, analyzing the plurality of route progressions associated with the route based on weightings associated with the disfavored route progressions, wherein a weighting for a disfavored route progression indicates an extent to which the user avoids the disfavored route progression while traversing a route that includes the disfavored route progression, the weighting based on a ratio between a number of times the disfavored route progression is traveled during traversing the route that includes the disfavored route progression, and a total number of times the route has been traversed;

ordering the one or more potential routes based on aggregate weightings of the disfavored route progressions associated with each potential route; and

presenting the ordered one or more potential routes to the user for driving to the destination.