Navigation system acquisition and use of cellular coverage map data

• US 9,709,409 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2015
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dave, Swapnil R., Varoglu, Devrim
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US14/718,895
• Publication Number:
  US 20160076895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• Field of Search: 701400-413, 701423, 701428, 701447, 701454, 701460, 701526, 701541, 3409951, 34099511, 34099516, 34099518, 34099519, 34099522
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A mobile device can obtain wireless network signal strength map data that indicates, for various nearby geographical regions, the wireless network signal strength in each such region. A mobile device can transmit that data to a vehicular navigation system responsible for automatically selecting a high-quality route of vehicular travel between a specified source and destination. The system can take the wireless network signal map data into account when selecting that route. When selecting from among multiple different routes of vehicular travel between a specified source and destination, the system may employ an algorithm that considers wireless network signal strengths along those routes, in addition to the other factors. Consequently, the system can select a longer route having better signal strength over a shorter route having worse signal strength. The system can present the selected route within a set of suggested routes, potentially along with reasons for each route'"'"'s suggestion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

measuring, by a mobile device comprising one or more hardware processors and a signal transmitter/receiver, signal strength data for a plurality of areas within a region;

generating, at the mobile device, a signal strength map for the plurality of areas based at least in part on the signal strength data for the plurality of areas;

determining, at the mobile device, for the plurality of areas, a quality of communication that is possible within each area of the plurality of areas based at least in part on the signal strength map generated by the mobile device for the plurality of areas;

based at least in part on the quality of communication that is possible within each area of the plurality of areas, selecting, by the mobile device, a particular route from a plurality of routes, each route ending at a same destination; and

providing the particular route to a display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the particular route to the display comprises sending data indicating the particular route to a vehicle navigation system of a vehicle, wherein the vehicle navigation system comprises the display.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring, at the mobile device at a particular time, a particular network signal strength at a particular area of the plurality of areas.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing, to the mobile device, the signal strength map, wherein the signal strength map comprises mapping data between the particular area, the particular network signal strength and the particular time, and wherein the signal strength data includes the particular network signal strength at the particular time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the signal strength data to a remote server configured to aggregate the signal strength data with other collected signal strength data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal strength data is measured by the mobile device prior to determining the quality of communication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the quality of communication that is possible with said each area of the plurality of areas is based at least in part on multiple measurements of network signal strength at multiple times.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting updated signal strength data from a remote server;

receiving, at the mobile device via the signal transmitter/receiver, the updated signal strength data; and

transmitting, from the mobile device via the signal transmitter/receiver, the updated signal strength data to a navigation system.

9. A method, comprising:

measuring, by a mobile device comprising one or more hardware processors and a signal transceiver, signal strength data for a plurality of areas within a region;

generating, at the mobile device, a signal strength map for the plurality of areas based at least in part on the signal strength data for the plurality of areas;

determining, by the mobile device, for a particular area of the plurality of areas within the region, a quality of communication that is possible within the particular area based at least in part on the signal strength map generated by the mobile device;

determining, by the mobile device, for a particular road segment of a plurality of road segments within the region, and based at least in part on the quality of communication determined for the particular area in which the particular road segment at least partially occurs, a quality of communication that is possible on the particular road segment;

presenting, on a display, a map indicating the quality of communication that is possible for the particular road segment.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a color for the particular road segment on the map indicating the quality of communication that is possible for the particular road segment.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a current location of the mobile device by a global positioning system, wherein the mobile device comprises the global positioning system;

measuring a current signal quality at the current location.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting, from the mobile device to a remote server, data that maps the current signal quality to the current location.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the data further maps the current signal quality to a current time at which the current signal quality was measured.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the map includes a gradient reflecting a weakening of a network signal as a distance increases from a point of origin of the network signal within a region of the map.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the quality of communication that is possible within the particular area is further based on requesting, from a remote server, network signal strength map data that the remote server has collected from a plurality of separate devices.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:

measuring signal strength data for a plurality of areas within a region;

generating a signal strength map for the plurality of areas based at least in part on the signal strength data for the plurality of areas;

determining, for the plurality of areas within the region, a quality of communication that is possible within that each area of the plurality of areas based at least in part on the generated signal strength map for the plurality of areas;

based at least in part on the quality of communication that is possible within each area of the plurality of areas, selecting a particular route from a plurality of routes, each route ending at a same destination; and

providing the particular route to a display.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform:

determining a score for each particular route of the plurality of routes based at least in part on the quality of communication that is possible within each particular area of the plurality of areas; and

sorting the plurality of routes based on each score for each particular route.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform:

requesting signal strength map data from a remote server, wherein the signal strength map data indicates a current signal strength for each area of the plurality of areas; and

sending the signal strength map data to a vehicle navigation system, wherein the vehicle navigation system comprises the display.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein providing the particular route to the vehicle navigation system comprises sending map data to the vehicle navigation system, wherein the map data is generated based at least in part on the signal strength map.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform generating the map data based on generated signal strength map.