System and method for providing shared information about traveled road segments

• US 8,660,794 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2007
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Dash Navigation (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Currie, Robert, Tzamaloukas, Assimakis
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US11/827,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,419 Days
• Field of Search: 701/202, 701/208, 701/209, 701/213, 701206-207, 701420-421, 701/414, 701/533, 701/428, 701/418, 701/532, 701/425, 715/751, 705/6, 705/400, 705/12, 340/995.1, 340/995.19, 340/995.24, 340/905, 235/386, 235/50.R, 235/50.A, 235/50.B, 707/E17.001, 707/E17.108, 707/E17.109
• US Class Current: 701/532
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance

Abstract

A system and method splices into, or replaces routes identified based on road geometry with routes taken by the same user or other users to create alternate routes that may be selected by a user to display, for example, on a map or for which driving directions can be displayed. Communication of routes traveled by different devices may be received from a server or from another device. A naming convention for road segments and ordered paths of road segments is described.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a server, from each of a plurality of different devices an indication of a path comprising a plurality of contiguous road segments;

identifying, by the server, at least one reason from among a plurality of reasons why a device traveled the path, wherein the identified reasons is one selected from the group consisting of rapid routes, scenic routes, routes that avoid freeways, and routes that avoid left-hand turns;

for each of said indications received, recording, by the server, a vote that indicates that each of a plurality of portions of each path was traveled for the reason received; and

identifying, by the server, a plurality of portions having a higher number of votes for at least one of the plurality of reasons.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the vote recorded indicates at least one selected from the group comprising a time and a date; and

the plurality of portions are identified responsive to the at least one selected from the group comprising the time and the date.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reason is identified responsive to at least a portion of the path.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of reasons is related to a desire to avoid an alternate path with at least one characteristic.

4. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for identifying road segments most heavily used by a plurality of users for at least one reason, the computer program product comprising computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer system to:

receive from each of a plurality of different devices an indication of a path comprising a plurality of contiguous road segments;

for each of the plurality of paths, identify at least one reason from among a plurality of reasons why a device traveled the path, wherein the identified reason is one selected from the group consisting of rapid routes, scenic routes, routes that avoid freeways, and routes that avoid left-hand turns;

for each of said indications received, record a vote that indicates that each of a plurality of portions of each path was traveled for the reason received; and

identify a plurality of portions having a higher number of votes for at least one of the plurality of reasons than other portions.

5. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of reasons is related to a desire to avoid an alternate path with at least one characteristic.

6. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the at least one reason is identified responsive to at least a portion of the path.

7. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, further comprising providing to one or more devices, a path including the identified plurality of portions having a higher number of votes for at least one of the plurality of reasons to devices associated with users who prefer paths for the same reason as the identified reasons for the identified portions having a higher number of votes.

14. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein:

the vote recorded indicates at least one selected from the group comprising a time and date; and

the plurality of portions are identified responsive to the at least one selected from the group comprising the time and the date.

9. A system comprising:

a route receive manager having an input adapted to receive from each of the plurality of different devices for each of a plurality of paths;

an indication of the path comprising a plurality of contiguous road segments, information about the path, or both, the route receive manager for providing at an output the indication of the path, information about the path or both for each of the plurality of paths;

a type manager having an input coupled to the route receive manager output adapted to receive, for each of the plurality of paths, the indication of the path, information about the path, or both, the type manager for identifying at least one reason from among a plurality of reasons why a device traveled the path responsive to the indication of the path, information about the path or both and for providing at an output the at least one reason for each of the plurality of paths, wherein the identified reason is one selected from the group consisting of rapid routes, scenic routes, routes that avoid freeways, and routes that avoid left-hand turns;

a route store manager having an input coupled to the route receive manager adapted to receive, for each of the plurality of paths, the indication of the path, information about the path or both, and to the type manager output for receiving the at least one reason for each of the plurality of paths, the route store manager for, for each of said indications received at the route store manager input, providing at an output a vote that indicates that each of a plurality of portions of each path was traveled for the reason received at the route store manager input; and

an alternate route identifier having an input coupled to the route store manger output adapted to receive the votes for each of the plurality of portions, the alternate route identifier for identifying at an output a plurality of portions having a high number of votes for at least one of the plurality of reasons than other portions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the vote recorded indicates at least one selected from the group comprising a time and date; and

the plurality of portions are identified responsive to the at least one selected from the group comprising the time and the date.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the type manager indicates the at least one reason responsive to at least a portion of the path.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising a route provider manager adapted to provide, to one or more devices, a path including the identified plurality of portions having a higher number of votes for at least one of the plurality of reasons to devices associated with users who prefer paths for the same reason as the identified reasons for the identified portions having a higher number of votes.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of reasons is related to a desire to avoid an alternate path with at least one characteristic.