Method and system for transmitting and/or receiving at least one location reference, enhanced by at least one focusing factor

• US 9,746,335 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tomtom Global Content B.V (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: Tomtom Global Content B.V (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Kuznetsov, Tsia
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, SHARDUL D
• Application Number:
  US13/127,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20110288762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,164 Days
• Field of Search: 701200, 701400, 340990
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3446 Details of route searching algorithms, e.g. Dijkstra, A*, arc-flags, using precalculated routes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3896 Transmission of map data from central databases

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the method includes at least one of obtaining and receiving information regarding at least one location reference at a server (302) for transmission to at least one remote device; determining at least one path of the at least one location reference corresponding to at least one pair of points within mapping information at the server (302); computing at least one focusing factor at the server (302) based upon encoded information corresponding to the determined at least one path of the at least one location reference, and enhancing the at least one location reference by the computed at least one focusing factor; and transmitting the at least one location reference enhanced by the computed at least one focusing factor from the server (302) to the at least one remote device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at least one of obtaining and receiving information regarding at least one location reference at a server for transmission to at least one remote device;

determining, using a first focusing factor of a predetermined maximum value, at least one path of the at least one location reference between at least one pair of points within mapping information at the server;

computing at least one focusing factor at the server and enhancing the at least one location reference by adding the computed at least one focusing factor to the at least one location reference, wherein the computed at least one focusing factor exceeds the predetermined maximum value;

transmitting the at least one location reference enhanced by the computed at least one focusing factor from the server to the at least one remote device, wherein the at least one remote device uses the computed at least one focusing factor to determine a path for the at least one location reference, and

wherein the at least one focusing factor is computed based upon the at least one pair of points and at least one of distance and deviation of the determined at least one path between the points.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor is useable by the at least one remote device in determining a reduced search area in reconstruction of the at least one path of the at least one location reference.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reduced search area is in the shape of a rectangle or an ellipse.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor is useable by the at least one remote device in regulating node filtering in reconstruction of the at least one path of the at least one location reference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one focusing factor includes at least one heuristic value, computed as a function of path node deviation, based upon the encoded information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein as the path node deviation is relatively increased, the at least one heuristic value is relatively decreased and as the path node deviation is relatively decreased, the at least one heuristic value is relatively increased.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitted at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor includes at least one pair of points and a path distance.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein a default focusing factor is set and wherein the at least one location reference is enhanced by at least one focusing factor before transmission, only upon the at least one focusing factor being different from the default focusing factor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the focusing factor is derived or computed based on the deviation of the path from a straight line connecting the points.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a processor of the server, causing the server to

at least one of obtain and receive information regarding at least one location reference for transmission to at least one remote device;

determine, using a first focusing factor of a predetermined maximum value, at least one path of the at least one location reference at least one pair of points within mapping information at the server;

compute at least one focusing factor and enhance the at least one location reference by adding the computed at least one focusing factor to the at least one location reference, wherein the computed at least one focusing factor exceeds the predetermined maximum value;

transmit the at least one location reference enhanced by the computed at least one focusing factor to the at least one remote device, wherein the at least one remote device uses the computed at least one focusing factor to determine a path for the at least one location reference, and

wherein the at least one focusing factor is computed based upon the at least one pair of points and at least one of distance and deviation of the determined at least one path between the points.

11. A system, comprising:

a receiver to at least one of obtain and receive information regarding at least one location reference at a server for transmission to at least one remote device;

a processor to use a first focusing factor of a predetermined maximum value to determine at least one path of the at least one location reference between at least one pair of points within mapping information at the server and to compute at least one focusing factor at the server; and

a transmitter to transmit the at least one location reference, the at least one location reference being enhanced by adding the at least one computed focusing factor to the at least one location reference, from the server to the at least one remote device, wherein the computed at least one focusing factor exceeds the predetermined maximum value, wherein the at least one remote device uses the computed at least one focusing factor to determine a path for the at least one location reference, and

wherein the at least one focusing factor is computed based upon the at least one pair of points and at least one of distance and deviation of the determined at least one path between the points.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor is useable by the at least one remote device in determining a reduced search area in reconstruction of the at least one path of the at least one location reference.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor is useable by the at least one remote device in regulating node filtering in reconstruction of the at least one path of the at least one location reference.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one focusing factor includes at least one heuristic value, computed as a function of path node deviation, based upon the encoded information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein as the path node deviation is relatively increased, the at least one heuristic value is relatively decreased and as the path node deviation is relatively decreased, the at least one heuristic value is relatively increased.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the transmitted at least one location reference enhanced by the at least one focusing factor includes at least one pair of points and a path distance.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein a default focusing factor is set and wherein the at least one location reference is enhanced by at least one focusing factor before transmission, only upon the at least one focusing factor being different from the default focusing factor.