Destination recommendation system, destination recommendation method and destination recommendation program product

• US 9,377,304 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2013
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Shimizu, Yasuhiro, Mizuno, Nobuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wiltey, Nicholas K
• Application Number:
  US13/941,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20140025296A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

A destination recommendation system includes a map database storing facility data, a travel history database storing travel history data, a trip destination determination section, a calculation section, a search section, and an output portion. The trip destination determination section determines plural trip destinations corresponding to a hub position when the number or a frequency of a plurality of visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations satisfies a predetermined condition. The calculation section calculates a distance or necessary travel time from the hub position to each trip destination, and calculates a mode value of the distance or the necessary travel time. The search section searches for a target facility that is located within a range of the mode value of the distance or the necessary travel time. The output portion outputs the target facility to a user.

Claims

1. A destination recommendation system comprising:

a travel history database that stores travel history data of a vehicle;

a trip destination determination section that determines, based on the travel history data, a plurality of trip destinations corresponding to a hub position when the number or a frequency of a plurality of visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations satisfies a predetermined condition, the hub position being a point having the number of departures equal to or larger than a predetermined number of departures, the predetermined number of departures being equal to or greater than two, the predetermined condition relates to at least the number or the frequency of the visits;

a calculation section that calculates a distance or necessary travel time from the hub position to each of the trip destinations, and calculates a mode value of the distance or a mode value of the necessary travel time;

a map database that stores a plurality of facility data related to a plurality of facilities including a target facility, the target facility being a facility to be recommended to a user in response to a destination recommendation request from the user;

a search section that, in response to the destination recommendation request from the user, searches the plurality of facility data stored in the map database for the target facility that is located within a range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time from a departure point of the user; and

an output portion that outputs the target facility searched by the search section to the user,

wherein the trip destination determination section determines, as the trip destinations, a point other than (i) points that are regularly visited by the user for a business purpose, and (ii) points that are regularly visited by the user for a routine purpose,

wherein the predetermined condition is satisfied when the number of the visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations during a predetermined time period is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number of visits.

2. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1, further comprising

a hub position determination section that determines the hub position based on the travel history data,

wherein the travel history data stored in the travel history database includes data related to plural visit points that have been visited by the user,

wherein each of the plural visit points has a plurality of departures with respect to plural arrival points, and

wherein, among the plural visit points, the hub position determination section determines one visit point having a maximum number of departures among the plural visit points as the hub position.

3. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1, further comprising

an input portion that receives a target property of the target facility to be searched,

wherein the calculation section divides the trip destinations into a plurality of groups based on a property of each of the trip destinations, and calculates the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time for each of the groups, and

wherein the search section determines one of the groups as a target group when the property of each of the trip destinations included in the one of the groups is equal to the target property received by the input portion, and searches for the target facility that is located within the range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time of the target group.

4. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1, further comprising

an input portion that receives a target travel time from the hub position to the target facility,

wherein the calculation section divides the trip destinations into a plurality of groups based on the necessary travel time, and calculates the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time for each of the groups, and

wherein the search section determines one of the groups as a target group when the necessary travel time of each of the trip destinations included in the one of the groups is equal to the target travel time received by the input portion, and searches for the target facility that is located within the range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time of the target group.

5. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1,

wherein the points that are regularly visited by the user for the business purpose and the routine purpose include a company and a hospital.

8. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1,

wherein the search section searches the plurality of facilities, which are stored in the map database and include a facility that is not visited by the user, for the target facility that is located within the range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time.

9. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1,

wherein the trip destination determination section determines a visit point that is visited by the user for a recreational purpose but not for a business purpose or a routine purpose as the trip destination.

14. The destination recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein

the trip destination determination section determines that the point is regularly visited by the user for a business purpose or a routine purpose and which the trip destination determination section excludes as the trip destinations, when a plurality of visits from the hub position to the point, which is determined to not be a stop-off point to another point, exceeds the predetermined number of visits and the plurality of visits to the point are performed during a predetermined time period.

6. A method of recommending a trip destination to a user, the method being executed by a destination recommendation system based on travel history data of a vehicle that is stored in a travel history database, the method comprising:

setting a position having the number of departures equal to or larger than a predetermined number of departures as a hub position based on the travel history data, the predetermined number of departures being equal to or greater than two;

determining a plurality of trip destinations when the number or a frequency of a plurality of visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations satisfies a predetermined condition;

calculating a distance or necessary travel time from the hub position to each of the trip destinations;

calculating a mode value of the distance or a mode value of the necessary travel time;

searching a plurality of facility data stored in a map database for a target facility that is located within a range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time, the map database storing the plurality of facility data related to the plurality of facilities including the target facility, the target facility being a facility to be recommended to the user in response to a destination recommendation request from the user; and

outputting the target facility to the user,

wherein the trip destinations which are determined are a point other than (i) points that are regularly visited by the user for a business purpose, and (ii) points that are regularly visited by the user for a routine purpose,

wherein the predetermined condition is satisfied when the number of the visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations during a predetermined time period is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number of visits.

10. The method according to claim 6,

wherein the searching step searches the plurality of facilities, which are stored in the map database and include a facility that is not visited by the user, for the target facility that is located within the range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time.

11. The method according to claim 6,

wherein the determining step determines a visit point that is visited by the user for a recreational purpose but not for a business purpose or a routine purpose as the trip destination.

7. A program product stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium for recommending a trip destination to a user based on travel history data stored in a travel history database, the program product being executed by a computer and comprising instructions for:

setting a position having the number of departures equal to or larger than a predetermined number of departures as a hub position based on the travel history data, the predetermined number of departures being equal to or greater than two;

determining a plurality of trip destinations when the number or a frequency of a plurality of visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations satisfies a predetermined condition;

calculating a distance or necessary travel time from the hub position to each of the trip destinations;

calculating a mode value of the distance or a mode value of the necessary travel time;

searching a plurality of facility data stored in a map database for a target facility that is located within a range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time, the map database storing the plurality of facility data related to the plurality of facilities including the target facility, the target facility being a facility to be recommended to the user in response to a destination recommendation request from the user; and

outputting the target facility to the user,

wherein the trip destinations which are determined are a point other than (i) points that are regularly visited by the user for a business purpose, and (ii) points that are regularly visited by the user for a routine purpose,

wherein the predetermined condition is satisfied when the number of the visits from the hub position to each of the trip destinations during a predetermined time period is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number of visits.

12. The program product according to claim 7,

wherein the instructions for searching search the plurality of facilities, which are stored in the map database and include a facility that is not visited by the user, for the target facility that is located within the range of the mode value of the distance or the mode value of the necessary travel time.

13. The program product according to claim 7,

wherein the instructions determining determine a visit point that is visited by the user for a recreational purpose but not for a business purpose or a routine purpose as the trip destination.