Information point

• US 8,949,284 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2007
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forsching E.V.
• Inventors: Fazlija, Negjmedin, Korte, Olaf, Zink, Alexander, Fazlija, Fetim
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US11/724,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,881 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/604, 707/803, 707/822, 701/202, 705/59
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/909 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location spatiotemporally dependent retrieval from the web G06F16/9537
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Information point having a provider for providing a data structure having entries about different objects, wherein a limited geographical area is associated to every object, and wherein object information is associated to every object, a determiner for determining a geographical position of the information point, an examiner for examining whether the geographical position of the information point lies in the geographical area associated to an object, and a provider for providing object information associated to an object, if the examiner has determined that the information point lies in the geographical area of the object.

Claims

1. A mobile information terminal having a processor and a memory, comprising:

a provider for providing a data structure having entries about different objects, wherein a limited geographical area is associated to every object, and wherein object information is associated to every object, and wherein the limited geographical area defines an individual object-related relevance area, in which the mobile information terminal has to be so that the object information to which the relevance area belongs can be selected, wherein the object-related relevance area is defined by an angle area or by a segment of a circle or by a polygon or by a Boolean combination of geometrical forms;

a determiner for determining a geographical position of the mobile information terminal;

an examiner for examining whether the geographical position of the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area associated to an object; and

a provider for providing object information associated to an object, if the examiner has determined that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area of the object.

2. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a geographical area associated to an object depends on a topology of the surroundings where the object is located.

3. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a geographical area associated to an object depends on a topology of the surroundings where the object is located and on a geographical area associated to a further object.

4. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein an object attribute is associated to a geographical area associated to an object.

5. The mobile information terminal according to claim 4, wherein the object attribute comprises a selectable object relevance, wherein the selectable object relevance indicates a relevance of the object for a user of the mobile information terminal.

6. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a geographical area comprises a plurality of subobject areas, which are at different distances to the object, wherein different information is associated to every subobject area.

7. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the determiner for determining the geographical position comprises a GPS receiver.

8. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the determiner for determining the geographical position is implemented to determine a speed of the mobile information terminal, and wherein the examiner is implemented to determine that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area, when the mobile information terminal is in the geographical area within a predetermined time interval.

9. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the determiner for determining the geographical position is implemented to detect a speed direction of the mobile information terminal, and wherein the examiner is implemented to determine that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area, when the object lies within an angle area, determined by a selection angle relative to the driving direction, and to determine that the mobile information terminal lies outside the geographical area when the object lies outside the angle area.

10. The mobile information terminal according to claim 9, wherein the provider for providing the data structure is implemented to indicate object information in dependence on a speed or a speed direction of the mobile information terminal.

11. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the determiner for determining the geographical position is implemented to detect a speed direction of the mobile information terminal, and wherein the examiner is implemented to determine that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area, when the object is located in front of the mobile information terminal, or to determine that the mobile information terminal does not lie in the geographical area, when the object is behind the mobile information terminal.

12. The mobile information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a geographical area is defined by a Boolean operation of geometrical forms.

13. A method for information selection implemented with a processor and a memory, comprising the steps of:

providing a data structure having entries about different objects, wherein a limited geographical area is associated to every object, and wherein object information is associated to every object, and wherein the limited geographical area defines an individual, object-related relevance area, in which the mobile information terminal has to be so that the object information to which the relevance area belongs can be selected, wherein the object-related relevance area is defined by an angle area or by a segment of a circle or by a polygon or by a Boolean combination of geometrical forms;

determining a geographical position of the mobile information terminal;

examining whether the geographical position of the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area associated to an object; and

providing object information associated to an object if it has been determined that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area of the object.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising program code for performing, when running on a computer, a method for information selection, comprising:

providing a data structure having entries about different objects, wherein a limited geographical area is associated to every object, and wherein object information is associated to every object, and wherein the limited geographical area defines an individual, object-related relevance area, in which a mobile information terminal has to be so that the object information to which the relevance area belongs can be selected, wherein the object-related relevance area is defined by an angle area or by a segment of a circle or by a polygon or by a Boolean combination of geometrical forms;

determining a geographical position of the mobile information terminal;

examining whether the geographical position of the information point mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area associated to an object; and

providing object information associated to an object if it has been determined that the mobile information terminal lies in the geographical area of the object.