Method for the operation of a navigation system

• US 8,457,884 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2008
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Navigon AG (Garmin Limited)
• Original Assignee: Garmin Limited
• Inventors: Schmidt, Thorsten W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): WONG, YUEN H
• Application Number:
  US12/741,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20110015855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 701/420, 701/430, 701/450
• US Class Current: 701/430
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3641 Personalized guidance, e.g. limited guidance on previously travelled routes

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for operating a navigation system comprising the following method steps: a) calculating a route from a point of departure to a destination, said route being composed of a succession of route segments and junctions between the route segments and being selected by means of a route calculation process from a database in which a geographical region is described by route segments and junctions; b) calculating at least one maneuvering instruction which contains instructions for the user to follow the route starting from the current position; c) optically and/or acoustically outputting the maneuvering instruction in an output device, wherein prior to and/or during the calculation and/or prior to and/or during the output of the maneuvering instruction, a configuration file is read and interpreted by an interpretation module, and wherein configuring preset data for calculating and/or outputting the maneuvering instruction are stored in the configuration file.

Claims

1. Method for operating a navigation system comprising the following method steps of:

a) calculating a route from a point of departure to a destination, said route being composed of a succession of route segments and junctions between the route segments and being selected by means of a route calculation process from a database in which a geographical region is described by route segments and junctions;

b) calculating a maneuvering instruction sequence which contains instructions for the user to follow the route starting from the current position, the maneuvering instruction sequence is retrieved and output from a database;

c) optically and/or acoustically outputting the maneuvering instruction sequence in an output device;

characterized in that

prior to the calculation and output of the maneuvering instruction sequence, at least two human-readable configuration files are read and interpreted by an interpretation module associated with a software platform utilized for the navigation system;

wherein preset data for calculating and/or for outputting the maneuvering instruction sequence are stored in the configuration files and define a decision logic for determining the maneuvering instruction sequence and a temporal flow chart of the maneuvering instruction sequence;

wherein during calculation of the maneuvering instruction sequence includes performing a coarse classification of an intersection or a road section on the route;

wherein the interpretation module includes machine-readable source code processed by a microprocessor and software platform to enable utilization of the configuration files on different software platforms;

wherein storage of the preset data in the configuration files is performed independently of the software platform and the configuration files are read by the interpretation module as a function of a user croup or user profile to adapt the calculation and output of the maneuvering instruction sequence to the corresponding configuration file, the configuration files manipulating the behavior of the navigation system by modification or selection thereof without the need for restarting the navigation system.

2. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the interpretation module reads the preset data from the configuration file, the preset data are subsequently stored in a memory in an access-optimized format, wherein the interpretation module accesses and interprets the preset data stored in the memory during calculation and/or output of the maneuvering instruction sequence.

3. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the interpretation module reads and directly interprets the preset data during calculation and/or output of the maneuvering instruction sequence.

4. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the configuring preset data for the calculation and/or output of the maneuvering instruction sequence are stored in the configuration file in the form of an alphanumeric text.

5. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the configuration files are selected automatically or in a user-defined fashion.

6. Method according to claim 5,

characterized in that

different configuration files are read by the interpretation module as a function of the area of use.

7. Method according to claim 5,

characterized in that

different configuration files are read by the interpretation module as a function of the time of use.

8. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the configuration file is read during the run-time of the navigational process, wherein the preset data generated therefrom by the interpretation module by interpretation replace the previously used preset data.

9. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the preset data are distributed over several configuration partial files, wherein all configuration partial files are successively read and interpreted.

10. Method according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the configuration file contains at least one flow chart stored in tabular form.

11. Method according to claim 10,

characterized in that

during generation of the maneuvering instruction sequence, coarse classification of an intersection or a road section on the route is performed by evaluating the tabular flow chart.

12. Method according to claim 10,

characterized in that

the flow chart stored in tabular form comprises several lines and several columns, wherein each line is representative of one decision node of the flow chart.

13. Method according to claim 12,

characterized in that

each line contains a condition cell which features a logic condition.

14. Method according to claim 12,

characterized in that

each line features at least one reference cell, wherein the reference cell contains the cross-references to other decision nodes, and wherein during processing of the tabular flow chart, commencing at a start line, the respective logic condition of the condition cell is responded to and the cross-reference from the same line allocated to the response is executed.

15. Method according to claim 10,

characterized in that

the configuration file contains at least one decision chart stored in tabular form, wherein during generation of the maneuvering instruction sequence, the selection of the maneuvering instruction sequence, which is retrieved and output from a database, is performed by evaluation of the decision chart.

16. Method according to claim 10,

characterized in that

the configuration file contains at least one distance chart stored in tabular form, wherein during generation of the maneuvering instruction sequence, the timing of the output of the maneuvering instruction sequence is controlled by evaluation of the distance chart.