Route guide system and method using state information of POI

• US 8,583,365 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Jang, In Sung, Lee, Moonsoo, An, Kyoung Hwan, Min, Kyoung-Wook, Kim, Ju Wan
• Primary Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US12/628,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20100138151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,443 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701400-417, 701/420, 701423-429, 701/438, 701/532, 701/533, 340988-996
• US Class Current: 701/426
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

A route guide method includes collecting state information of respective points of interest (POIs) and storing the collected state information in a state information database, extracting state information of one or more candidate POIs with reference to the state information database according to a request for the state information of the one or more candidate POIs, and applying the extracted state information of the candidate POIs to routes to the respective POIs to guide a user along the routes to the respective candidate POIs.

Claims

1. A route guide method comprising:

collecting state information of respective points of interest (POIs) and storing the collected state information in a state information database;

searching a plurality of candidate POIs stored in the state information database;

extracting state information from each of the plurality of candidate POIs;

analyzing the state information;

determining whether each candidate POI is a valid POI based on the state information;

sending information for each valid POI to a navigation device;

providing an option to select a current time, an arrival time, or an after service time as a reference time;

checking whether the reference time is the current time, the arrival time, or the service time; and

calculating a time required value for each of the respective candidate POIs based on the reference time,

wherein the after service time is based on a time for receiving services at an associated POI, and

wherein the state information is information on a dynamic state of the POI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs are extracted from the state information database based on names of the plurality of candidate POIs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs is extracted from the state information database based on a business type or a theme of the plurality of candidate POIs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs is searched from the state information DB based on search conditions including travel times and distances to the plurality of candidate POIs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information includes at least one of operating hours from opening time to closing time, a number of service staffs, a service price, a ranking of recommendation, a coupon event, a real-time image, a waiting time for service, an available capacity of a parking zone, and a time required to be served at respective candidate POIs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information includes opening and closing times and service times for POIs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the time required value is set to zero if the reference time is the current time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the time required value is set to a travel time to the respective candidate POIs if the reference time is the arrival time.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the time required value is calculated by adding a travel time to the respective candidate POIs and the service time for the respective candidate POIs if the reference time is the after service time.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing history data of the collected state information of the POIs and analysis results of the history data; and

correcting a missing value with reference to the history data and the analyzed results when a missing value is present in the state information of the one or more candidate POIs.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the state information having the corrected missing value contains reliability data of the state information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information includes at least one of a number of service staff, a service price, a ranking of recommendation, a coupon event, a real-time image, a waiting time for service, an available capacity of a parking zone, and a time required to be served at respective candidate POIs.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the analysis results include results of statistical analysis of the history data, and

wherein the correcting the missing value is performed on a target state information which has the missing value and performed with reference to history data of the target state information and the results of the statistical analysis of the history data of the target state information.

12. A state information providing device of POIs (points of interest), the device comprising:

a state information collector for collecting state information of the respective POIs;

a state information database for storing the state information collected by the state information collector;

a state information analyzer for managing history data of the state information collected by the state information collector and generating analysis results by performing statistical analysis upon the history data;

a history/analysis database for storing the history data and the analysis results which are generated by the state information analyzer; and

a state searching unit configured to search a plurality of candidate POIs, to extract state information from respective candidate POIs, and to analyze the extracted state information, to determine whether candidate POIs are valid based on the results of the analysis,

wherein the state information includes service times for receiving services at respective POIs.

13. The state information providing device of claim 12, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs is selected by based on names of the plurality of candidate POIs.

14. The state information providing device of claim 12, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs is selected based on business type/theme of the plurality of candidate POIs.

15. The state information providing device of claim 12, wherein the plurality of candidate POIs is selected based on travel times and distances to plurality of candidate POIs.

16. The state information providing device of claim 12, wherein the state information further includes at least one of operating hours from opening time to closing time, a number of service staffs, a service price, a ranking of recommendation, a coupon event, a real-time image, and a waiting time for service, an available capacity of a parking zone.

17. The state information providing device of claim 12, further comprising a state estimator for correcting a missing value with reference to the history/analysis database when the missing value is present in the extracted state information of the candidate POIs.

20. The state information providing device of claim 17, wherein the analysis results include results of statistical analysis of the history data, and

wherein the state estimator revises a target state information which has the missing value with reference to history data of the target state information and the results of the statistical analysis upon the history data of the target state information.