Device and method for controlling electronic map

• US 9,972,285 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2017
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Qihu Technology Co. Ltd. (360 Security Technology, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Beijing Qihu Technology Co. Ltd. (360 Security Technology, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Xinming
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Phi
• Application Number:
  US15/666,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20170330532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 287 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/121 using a cache memory
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/122 Tiling
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/373 for modifying the size of the graphic pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/38 with means for controlling the display position

Abstract

The present invention discloses a device and method for controlling zooming-in of an electronic map, a device and method for controlling zooming-out of an electronic map, a device and method for controlling panning of an electronic map, a device and method for computing tiles within a visual region of an electronic map, and a device and method for processing an electronic map tile request queue, wherein the method for controlling zooming-in of an electronic map comprises: determining a target display level to be reached via zooming in when receiving an instruction of zooming in the map, and searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be displayed in the target display level; selecting a pre-loaded display level based on a relationship between a current display level and the target display level, and searching out pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the target tiles in the pre-loaded display level; acquiring the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles according to an order of priority, loading and displaying the pre-loaded tiles by zooming in according to a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the target display level; and after acquiring the target tiles, loading and displaying the target tiles so as to replace the zoomed-in pre-loaded tiles at corresponding positions.

Claims

1. A device for controlling panning of an electronic map, the device comprising:

at least a processor; and

at least a memory communicatively coupled to the at least a processor, the at least a memory bearing processor-executable instructions that upon execution by the at least a processor cause the device to perform at least the following operations;

searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed when receiving an instruction of panning a map;

selecting a pre-loaded display level based on a current display level, and searching out pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the target tiles in the pre-loaded display level;

acquiring the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles according to an order of priority, and loading and displaying the pre-loaded tiles by zooming in according to a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level; and

after acquiring the target tiles, loading and displaying the target tiles so as to replace the zoomed-in pre-loaded tiles at corresponding positions, wherein the searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed comprises;

according to geographical position coordinates of a central point of a visual region of the map and the current display level of the map, obtaining pixel coordinates of the central point by converting;

obtaining a pixel size of a single tile in the current display level based on the current display level of the map;

obtaining, according to the pixel size of the visual region of the map and the pixel coordinates of the central point, pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map; and

obtaining serial numbers of tiles in the visual region according to the pixel coordinates of the two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map and the pixel size of the single tile in the current display level.

2. A method for controlling panning of an electronic map, the method comprising:

searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed when receiving an instruction of panning a map;

selecting a pre-loaded display level based on a current display level, and searching out pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the target tiles in the pre-loaded display level;

acquiring the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles according to an order of priority, and loading and displaying the pre-loaded tiles by zooming in according to a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level; and

after acquiring the target tiles, loading and displaying the target tiles so as to replace the zoomed-in pre-loaded tiles at corresponding positions, wherein searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed comprises;

according to geographical position coordinates of a central point of a visual region of the map and the current display level of the map, obtaining pixel coordinates of the central point by converting;

obtaining a pixel size of a single tile in the current display level based on the current display level of the map;

obtaining, according to the pixel size of the visual region of the map and the pixel coordinates of the central point, pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map; and

obtaining serial numbers of tiles in the visual region according to the pixel coordinates of the two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map and the pixel size of the single tile in the current display level.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein

the pre-loaded display level is higher than the current display level;

a map scope represented by the pre-loaded tiles covers a map scope represented by a plurality of target tiles, and a geographical area corresponding to respective pre-loaded tiles is n times of a geographical area corresponding to respective target tiles, n=4^k, k is a natural number and indicating a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the loading and displaying the pre-loaded tiles by zooming in according to a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level, comprising:

displaying a transverse width and a longitudinal height of respective pre-loaded tiles by zooming in m times, wherein m=2^k, k is a natural number, indicating a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

setting a local cache;

saving displayed tiles in the local cache.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

when saving the displayed tiles in the local cache, if capacity of the local cache is not enough, removing the least recently used tiles from the local cache.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the acquiring the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles according to an order of priority comprises:

judging whether the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles are in the local cache;

if yes, reading the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles from the local cache;

if not, downloading the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles from a server.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the loading and displaying the target tiles so as to replace the zoomed in pre-loaded tiles at corresponding positions specifically comprises:

increasing transparency of zoomed in pre-loaded tiles while loading the target tiles;

when loading the target tiles is completed, removing the zoomed-in pre-loaded tiles and displaying the target tiles.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining serial numbers of tiles in the visual region according to the pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map and the pixel size of the single tile in the current display level comprises:

obtaining transverse index numbers and longitudinal index numbers of tiles where the two opposite apexes are located;

selecting transverse index numbers between the transverse index numbers of the tiles where the two opposite apexes are located and longitudinal index numbers between the longitudinal index numbers of the tiles where two opposite apexes are located, to obtain serial numbers of tiles in the visual region of the map;

wherein the obtaining transverse index numbers and longitudinal index numbers of the tiles where the two opposite apexes are located specifically comprises;

obtaining a transverse coordinate difference and a longitudinal coordinate difference by subtracting pixel coordinates of a origin point of the map from the pixel coordinates of each of the apexes, obtaining the transverse index number by dividing the transverse coordinate difference by the width of a single target tile, and obtaining the longitudinal index number by dividing the longitudinal coordinate difference by the height of the single target tile.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed further comprises:

computing serial numbers of pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the visual region in at least one pre-loaded level according to geographical position coordinates of the central point of the visual region of the map and a pre-loaded level;

or

performing a division and rounding operation or a multiplication operation to the serial numbers of the tiles within the visual region of the map in a current display level according to a level difference between a pre-loaded level and the current display level to compute serial numbers of pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the tiles within the visual region in at least one pre-loaded level,

wherein the preloaded level refers to at least one level whose level difference from the current display level is within a set range.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the computing serial numbers of pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the visual region in at least one pre-loaded level according to geographical position coordinates of the central point of the visual region of the map and a pre-loaded level specifically comprises:

according to the geographical position coordinates of the central point of the visual region of the map and the pre-loaded level, obtaining the pixel coordinates of the central point by converting;

obtaining a pixel size of a single tile in the pre-loaded level based on the pre-loaded level of the map;

obtaining pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map based on the pixel size of the visual region of the map and the pixel coordinates of the central point;

obtaining the serial numbers of the pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the visual region in the pre-loaded level according to the pixel coordinates of the two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map and the pixel size of the single tile in the pre-loaded level.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the performing a division and rounding operation or a multiplication operation to the serial numbers within a visual region of the map under the current display level according to a level difference between a pre-loaded level and a current display level comprises:

if the pre-loaded level is higher than the current display level, dividing the transverse index numbers and the longitudinal index numbers of the tiles within the visual region of the map in the current display level by m and rounding, respectively, wherein m=2^k, and k is a natural number, indicating a level difference between the pre-loaded level and the current display level;

if the pre-loaded level is lower than the current display level, multiplying the transverse index numbers and the longitudinal index numbers of the tiles within the visual region of the map in the current display level by p, respectively, obtaining p neighboring index numbers according to a multiplication operation result, wherein p=2^q, q is a natural number, indicating a level difference between the current level and the pie-loaded level.

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein the two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map include a left upper apex and a right lower apex of the visual region of the map, or the right upper apex and the left lower apex of the visual region of the map.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

upon receiving a map zooming instruction, obtaining pixel coordinates of a zooming focal center of the map by converting according to geographical position coordinates of the zooming focal center and a target display level after the map is zoomed;

obtaining a pixel size of a single tile in the target display level based on the target display level;

obtaining pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region after map zooming based on the pixel size of the visual region of the map and the pixel coordinates of the zooming focal center; and

obtaining serial numbers of the tiles in the visual region after map zooming based on the pixel coordinates of the two opposite apexes of the visual region after map zooming and the pixel size of the single tile in the target display level.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations for controlling panning of an electronic map, the operations comprising:

searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed when receiving an instruction of panning a map;

selecting a pre-loaded display level based on a current display level, and searching out pre-loaded tiles corresponding to the target tiles in the pre-loaded display level;

acquiring the pre-loaded tiles and the target tiles according to an order of priority, and loading and displaying the pre-loaded tiles by zooming in according to a level difference between the pre-loaded display level and the current display level; and

after acquiring the target tiles, loading and displaying the target tiles so as to replace the zoomed-in pre-loaded tiles at corresponding positions, wherein searching out a plurality of target tiles that need to be loaded and displayed comprises;

according to geographical position coordinates of a central point of a visual region of the map and the current display level of the map, obtaining pixel coordinates of the central point by converting;

obtaining a pixel size of a single tile in the current display level based on the current display level of the map;

obtaining, according to the pixel size of the visual region of the map and the pixel coordinates of the central point, pixel coordinates of two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map; and

obtaining serial numbers of tiles in the visual region according to the pixel coordinates of the two opposite apexes of the visual region of the map and the pixel size of the single tile in the current display level.