System and method of wireless downloads of map and geographic based data to portable computing devices

• US 9,137,633 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2014
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tierravision Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Tierravision Incorporated
• Inventors: Cooper, Clive W. R., Wallner, Alfred M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US14/177,108
• Publication Number:
  US 20140155102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/409
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3629 Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech text to speech systems per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3661 Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods of managing map data on electronic devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method of downloading pushpin data for a map is disclosed. The method includes receiving, from an electronic network, an indication of a current map segment, the current map segment comprising map data for a current location of a device, the current map segment corresponding to a portion of a map displayed on the device, receiving pushpin criteria for the device, identifying pushpin data based on the current map segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and transmitting, on the electronic network, the pushpin data.

Claims

1. A method of downloading pushpin data, comprising:

receiving, from an electronic network, an indication of a current segment for geographically related data, the current segment comprising geographically related data for a current location of a device, the current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;

receiving pushpin criteria for the device;

identifying pushpin data based on the current segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and

transmitting, on the electronic network, the pushpin data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a current segment index, wherein the current segment index indicates the current segment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pushpin data indicates a plurality of pushpin locations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the electronic network, an indication of a new current segment, the new current segment comprising geographically related data for an updated current location of the device, the new current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;

identifying new pushpin data based on the new current segment and the criteria, the new pushpin data indicating a second pushpin location; and

transmitting, on the electronic network, the new pushpin data.

5. A method of downloading pushpin data, comprising:

displaying, by a device, a current segment of geographically related data, the current segment including geographically related data for a current location of the device and for a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;

transmitting, to a second device, an indication of the current location;

transmitting, to the second device, an indication of criteria for pushpin data;

receiving, from the second device, pushpin data, the pushpin data indicating at least one pushpin location and meeting the criteria; and

displaying, by the device, pushpin information on a display based on the received pushpin data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the received pushpin data comprises a plurality of pushpin locations and corresponding geographical pushpin indexes, and display of the pushpin information is further based on the geographical pushpin indexes.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the geographically related content displayed on the device is formed by a plurality of rectangular segments, wherein the plurality of rectangular segments comprises the current segment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein only pushpin locations that have geographical pushpin indexes corresponding to one of the plurality of rectangular segments are displayed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein only pushpin locations that have geographical pushpin indexes equal to an index of one of the plurality of rectangular segments are displayed.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the geographical pushpin indexes based on the received pushpin data.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising applying a second criteria to the received pushpin data, wherein the displayed pushpin data meets the second criteria.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein application of the second criteria selects pushpins from the pushpin data with particular layer identifiers.

13. An apparatus for downloading pushpin data, comprising one or more processors configured to:

receive, from an electronic network, an indication of a current segment, the current segment comprising geographically related data for a current location of a device, the current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;

receive pushpin criteria for the device;

identify pushpin data based on the current segment and the pushpin criteria, the pushpin data indicating a pushpin location; and

transmit, on the electronic network, the pushpin data.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a current segment index, wherein the current segment index indicates the current segment.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the pushpin data indicates a plurality of pushpin locations.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, from the electronic network, an indication of a new current segment, the new current segment comprising geographically related data for an updated current location of the device, the new current segment corresponding to a portion of geographically related content displayed on the device;

identify new pushpin data based on the new current segment and the criteria, the new pushpin data indicating a second pushpin location; and

transmit, on the electronic network, the new pushpin data.

17. A first device for downloading pushpin data, comprising:

an electronic display;

one or more processors configured to;

display a current segment, the current segment including geographically related data for a current location of the first device and for a portion of geographically related content displayed on the electronic display,

transmit, to a second device, an indication of the current segment,

transmit, to the second device, an indication of criteria for pushpin data,

receive, from the second device, pushpin data, the pushpin data indicating at least one pushpin location and meeting the criteria, and

display pushpin information on the display based on the received pushpin data.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the received pushpin data comprises a plurality of pushpin locations and corresponding geographical pushpin indexes, and the one or more processors are further configured to display the pushpin information further based on the geographical pushpin indexes.

19. The device of claim 17 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to form geographically related content on the electronic display using a plurality of rectangular segments, wherein the plurality of rectangular segments comprises the current segment.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to display only pushpin locations that have geographical pushpin indexes corresponding to one of the plurality of rectangular segments.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to only display pushpin locations that have geographical pushpin indexes equal to an index of one of the plurality of rectangular segments.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the geographical pushpin indexes based on the received pushpin data.

23. The device of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to apply a second criteria to the received pushpin data, and are further configured to display pushpin data meeting the second criteria.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein application of the second criteria selects pushpins from the pushpin data with particular layer identifiers.