Automated point of interest updates

• US 9,891,063 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2014
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Bankowski, Stefan, Wehrman, Edward, Halash, Elizabeth, Marchwicki, Julius
• Primary Examiner(s): Kleinman, Lail A
• Application Number:
  US14/331,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20160018232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3614 through interaction with a road map, e.g. selecting a POI icon on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3688 Systems comprising multiple parts or multiple output devices (not client-server), e.g. detachable faceplates, key fobs or multiple output screens
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A nomadic device may be configured to connect to a vehicle computing system (VCS) over a local connection and to a location service over a wide-area connection, receive point-of-interest data over the wide-area connection from the location service, and provide the point-of-interest data to the VCS over the local connection for use by a navigation application of the VCS. The VCS may be configured to connect over a local connection to a nomadic device configured to execute a location application to connect to a location service over a wide-area connection, receive user interface input requesting point-of-interest data for use by a navigation application of the VCS, and responsive to the input, send a command over the local connection to request the point-of-interest data from the location application.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a nomadic device executing a location application and configured to

connect to a vehicle computing system (VCS) over a local connection and to a location service over a wide-area connection,

receive point-of-interest data over the wide-area connection from the location service, and

provide the point-of-interest data to the VCS over the local connection to cause the VCS to switch from displaying a user interface of the location application executed by the nomadic device to displaying a user interface of a navigation application executed by the VCS.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the local connection includes at least one of a Bluetooth connection and a universal serial bus (USB) connection, and the wide-area connection includes an Internet connection.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the point-of-interest data includes a geographic location of a point-of-interest and a name of the point-of-interest.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location application is further configured to query the location service for the point-of-interest data according to a current vehicle location received from the VCS.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the nomadic device is further configured to query the location service for the point-of-interest data according to a POI category received from the VCS.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the POI category includes a category of business.

7. A system comprising:

a vehicle computing system (VCS) configured to

connect over a local connection to a nomadic device configured to execute a location application to connect to a location service over a wide-area connection,

receive user interface input requesting point-of-interest data for use by a navigation application of the VCS,

responsive to the input, send a command over the local connection to request the point-of-interest data from the location application, and

switch from displaying a user interface of the location application executed by the nomadic device to displaying a user interface of the navigation application responsive to receipt of the point-of-interest data from the location application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the local connection includes at least one of a Bluetooth connection and a universal serial bus (USB) connection, and the wide-area connection includes an Internet connection.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the navigation application is further configured to display the point-of-interest data in a user interface of the navigation application.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the navigation application is further configured to calculate a route from a current vehicle location to a location included in the point-of-interest data.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the navigation application is further configured to discard the point-of-interest data when the navigation application terminates.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the navigation application is further configured to provide, to the location application, query information including at least one of a current location of the vehicle and a category of business, and the point-of-interest data received from the location application is queried according to the query information.

13. A system comprising:

a vehicle computing system (VCS) configured to execute a navigation application to;

provide a request for point-of-interest information to a location application of a nomadic device connected to the VCS over a local connection, the location application configured to integrate with a human-machine-interface of the VCS, the request including query information including at least one of a current location of the vehicle and a category of business,

receive point-of-interest data from the nomadic device, the point-of-interest data being retrieved by the nomadic device from a remote server over a wide-area network,

utilize the point-of-interest data to update point-of-interest information maintained by the VCS for use by the navigation application, and

switch from displaying a user interface of the location application executed by the nomadic device to displaying a user interface of the navigation application responsive to receipt of the point-of-interest data from the location application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation application is configured to provide the request for point-of-interest information responsive to a change in the current location of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation application is further configured to display the point-of-interest data in a user interface of the navigation application.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation application is further configured to calculate a route from a current vehicle location to a location included in the point-of-interest data.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation application is further configured to discard the point-of-interest data when the navigation application terminates.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a nomadic device executing a location application, point-of-interest data over a wide-area connection from a location service, and

providing the point-of-interest data from the location application to a vehicle computing system (VCS) over a local connection to cause the VCS to switch from displaying a user interface of the location application executed by the nomadic device to displaying a user interface of a navigation application executed by the VCS.