Customized travel route system

• US 8,996,304 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Needham, Bradford H., Cobbley, David A., Sandage, David A., Wood, Matthew D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): INGRAM, THOMAS P
• Application Number:
  US13/171,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20130006521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 701/211, 701/411, 701/208, 701/207, 701/424, 701/414, 701/450, 701/533, 701/532, 701/431, 701/426, 705/26.64, 705/14, 705/6, 340/539.11, 340/404.2, 455/404.02
• US Class Current: 701/426
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention includes (a) acquiring a tour start location, a tour constraint, and a first user travel preference for a first user; and (b) determining a tour route, including first and second tour segments, based on the tour start location and the tour constraint. The first tour segment is determined based on the first user travel preference. The tour constraint includes a time constraint that is defined by the first user and includes a maximum allowable time for the tour route. Other embodiments are described herein.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory storage medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a system to perform operations comprising:

acquiring a tour start location, a time constraint, and a first user travel preference for a first user; and

determining a proposed tour route, which has yet to be traversed and which includes first and second tour segments, based on the tour start location and the time constraint;

determining a proposed route, which has yet to be traversed, between the tour start location and a tour end location;

determining a touring time for the proposed route;

determining a touring time for the tour route;

determining a time differential between the touring time for the tour route and the touring time for the proposed route; and

communicating at least one of the first and second tour segments to the first user;

wherein (a) the first tour segment is determined based on the first user travel preference, (b) the time constraint is greater than the time differential, and (c) the first user travel preference is not the tour start location or a tour end location.

2. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein the time constraint is defined by the first user and corresponds to a detour time from the touring time for the proposed route that is acceptable to the user.

3. The at least one medium of claim 1 including:

acquiring a distance constraint;

determining a touring distance for the proposed route;

determining a touring distance for the tour route; and

determining a distance differential between the touring distance for the tour route and the touring distance for the proposed route;

wherein the distance constraint is greater than the distance differential.

4. The at least one medium of claim 1, the operations including acquiring a tour end location, wherein the tour start location generally equals the tour end location.

5. The at least one medium of claim 1, wherein an additional time constraint is user defined and includes a minimum allowable time for the tour route.

6. The at least one medium of claim 1 including:

acquiring a second user travel preference for a second user;

wherein the first tour segment is determined based on both the first and second user travel preferences.

7. The at least one medium of claim 1, the operations including:

providing a set of points-of-interest to the first user based on the first user travel preference;

receiving feedback, from the first user, regarding the set of points-of-interest;

determining a subset of the set of points-of-interest based on the feedback; and

determining the tour route based on the subset of points-of-interest.

8. The at least one medium of claim 7, the operations including determining the set of points-of-interest based on the time constraint.

9. The at least one medium of claim 7, the operations including, while the first user is traversing the tour route, alerting the first user that a point-of-interest not included in the tour route is within a user defined threshold distance of the first user.

10. The at least one medium of claim 1, the operations including illustrating the tour route and the proposed route on a map.

11. The at least one medium of claim 1, the operations including:

acquiring a second user travel preference for the first user; and

weighting the first user travel preference with a first weight and the second user travel preference with a second weight;

wherein the location of the first tour segment is determined based on the first and second weights.

12. An article comprising a non-transitory medium storing instructions that enable a processor-based system to:

acquire a tour start location, a distance constraint, and a first user travel preference for a first user; and

determine a tour route, including first and second tour segments, based on the tour start location and the distance constraint;

determine a proposed route between the tour start location and a tour end location;

determine a touring distance for the proposed route;

determine a touring distance for the tour route;

determining a distance differential between the touring distance for the tour route and the touring distance for the proposed route; and

communicating at least one of the first and second tour segments to the first user;

wherein (a) the first tour segment is determined based on the first user travel preference, (b) the distance constraint is greater than the distance differential, (c) the first user travel preference is not the tour start location or a tour end location; and

(d) the distance constraint corresponds to a detour distance from the proposed route that is acceptable to the user.

13. The article of claim 12 storing instructions that enable the system to:

acquire a time constraint;

determine a touring time for the proposed route;

determine a touring time for the tour route; and

determine a time differential between the touring time for the tour route and the touring time for the proposed route;

wherein the time constraint is greater than the time differential.

14. The article of claim 13 storing instructions that enable the system to determine a set of points-of-interest based on the time constraint.

15. The article of claim 12 storing instructions that enable the system to:

provide a set of points-of-interest to the first user based on the first user travel preference;

receive feedback, from the first user, regarding the set of points-of-interest;

determine a subset of the set of points-of-interest based on the feedback; and

determine the tour route based on the subset of points-of-interest.

16. The article of claim 12, wherein neither of the tour route and the proposed route have been traversed and at least one of the first and second tour segments is included in the tour route but not the proposed route.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory to;

(a) acquire a tour start location, a time constraint, and a first user travel preference for a first user;

(b) determine a proposed tour route, which has not been traveled and includes first and second tour segments, based on the tour start location and the time constraint;

(c) determine a proposed route, which has not been traveled, between the tour start location and a tour end location;

(d) determine a time differential between a touring time for the tour route and a touring time for the proposed route; and

(e) communicate at least one of the first and second tour segments to the first user;

wherein (a) the first tour segment is determined based on the first user travel preference, (b) the time constraint is greater than the time differential, and (c) the first user travel preference is not the tour start location or a tour end location.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is to:

determine the touring time for the proposed route; and

determine the touring time for the tour route.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is to:

provide a set of points-of-interest to the first user based on the first user travel preference;

receive feedback, from the first user, regarding the set of points-of-interest;

determine a subset of the set of points-of-interest based on the feedback; and

determine the tour route based on the subset of points-of-interest.