System and method for acquiring map portions based on expected signal strength of route segments

• US 9,222,787 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Blumenberg, Christopher, Pylappan, Seejo K.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Application Number:
  US13/489,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20130325326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,302 Days
• Field of Search: 701/428, 345/440
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3844 Data obtained from position sensors only, e.g. from inertial navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3881 Tile-based structures

Abstract

Embodiments may include determining a navigation route between an origination and a destination; the route may span multiple portions of a map. Embodiments may also include receiving an order of priority in which to receive the multiple portions of the map; the order may be generated based on distinct levels of expected signal strength for each of the multiple portions. For instance, within the order of priority, map portions associated with areas of low signal strength may be ranked higher than areas of higher signal strength. Embodiments may also include acquiring at least some of the portions of the map according to the order of priority, and generating a map display comprising the multiple portions of the map. For instance, map portions associated with areas of poor reception may be downloaded first whereas map portions associated with strong signal strength may be downloaded on-the-fly during route navigation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing, by a computing device;

determining a navigation route between an origination and a destination, the route spanning multiple portions of a map;

receiving an order of priority in which to receive the multiple portions of the map, wherein the order is generated based on levels of expected signal strength for each of the multiple portions of the map;

requesting at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority;

receiving at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority; and

generating a map display comprising the multiple portions of the map.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein within the order of priority, map portions associated with areas of low signal strength are ranked higher than areas of higher signal strength.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein receiving at least some of the multiple portions of the map comprises receiving at least some map portions according to the order of priority.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the navigation route comprises:

sending a request to a remote service, the request specifying the origination and the destination;

receiving from the remote service, information specifying one or more routes between the origination and the destination.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receipt of at least some of the requested map portions is performed prior to a user traversing one or more segments of the route.

6. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing, by a computing device;

generating a route for navigation guidance, the route spanning multiple portions of a map;

based on expected relative values of signal strength of signals within multiple geographic regions corresponding to the multiple portions of the map, ranking at least several of the multiple portions of the map in an order of priority according to which the at least several of the multiple portions of the map are to be provided to a remote client device, wherein the order of priority is based at least in part on the signal strength; and

providing at least some of the multiple portions of the map to the remote client device according to the order of priority.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein said ranking ranks map portions associated with low signal strength higher than map portions associated with areas of higher signal strength.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein said providing comprises providing higher ranked map portions before providing lower ranked map portions.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the method comprises providing information specifying the route to the remote client device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the method comprises:

providing information specifying the order of priority to the remote client device;

receiving one or more requests from the remote client device, the one or more requests specifying that at least some of the multiple map portions are requested according to the order of priority; and

wherein said providing at least some of the multiple map portions to the remote client device according to the order of priority comprises providing the at least some of the multiple map portions to the remote client device according to the order as specified by the one or more requests.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories comprise program instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement one or more services configured to;

compare a route to a map including multiple map tiles to identify map tiles representing areas including the route and areas proximate to the route;

based on expected signal strengths of areas represented by the identified map tiles, generate a map tile priority in which map tiles having low signal strength are ranked higher than map tiles having higher signal strength; and

provide at least some of the map tiles for the route according to the map tile priority.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more services are configured to provide the map tile priority to a remote client device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more services are configured to provide at least some of the map tiles for the route according to the map tile priority responsive to receiving one or more requests for those map tiles from the remote client device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more services are configured to generate the route responsive to a request from the remote client device, wherein the request comprises an origination and a destination.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more services are configured to provide information specifying the route and the map tile priority to the remote client device.

16. A system, comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories comprise program instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement a mapping component configured to;

receive information specifying a navigation route between an origination and a destination, the route spanning multiple portions of a map;

receive an order of priority in which to receive the multiple portions of the map, wherein the order is generated based on distinct levels of expected signal strength for each of the multiple portions;

acquire at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority, and

generate a map display comprising the multiple portions of the map.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein within the order of priority, map portions associated with areas of low signal strength are ranked higher than areas of high signal strength.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein to acquire at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority, the mapping component is configured to:

request at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority; and

receive at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the mapping application is configured to receive information specifying one or more routes between the origination and the destination from a remote service.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the mapping component is configured to determine a current signal strength for one or more received communication signals.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the mapping component is configured to:

at one or more checkpoints, determine whether the current signal strength exceeds a threshold signal strength; and

responsive to determining that the current signal strength exceeds the threshold signal strength, acquire one or more portions of the map corresponding to additional segments of the route.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the mapping component is configured to:

store one or more of the map portions within a cache; and

responsive to determining that the cache exceeds a storage threshold, evicting one or more map portions from the cache based on a measure of signal strength associated with those map portions;

wherein map portions associated with high signal strength are evicted before map portions associated with lower signal strength.

23. A computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions computer-executable on a computer to implement a mapping component configured to:

receive information specifying a navigation route between an origination and a destination, the route spanning multiple portions of a map;

receive an order of priority in which to receive the multiple portions of the map, wherein the order is generated based on distinct levels of expected signal strength for each of the multiple portions;

acquire at least some of the multiple portions of the map according to the order of priority, and

generate a map display comprising the multiple portions of the map.

24. The medium of claim 23, wherein the mapping component is configured to:

store one or more of the map portions within a local data store; and

responsive to determining that the local data store exceeds a storage threshold, delete one or more map portions from the local data store based on a measure of signal strength associated with those map portions;

wherein map portions associated with high signal strength are deleted before map portions associated with lower signal strength.

25. The medium of claim 23, wherein the mapping component is configured to:

determine a current signal strength for one or more received communication signals;

at one or more checkpoints, determine whether the current signal strength exceeds a threshold signal strength; and

responsive to determining that the current signal strength exceeds the threshold signal strength, acquire one or more portions of the map corresponding to additional segments of the route.