Navigation system

• US 20040024522A1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Yeoman Group Plc (Vontier Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Yeoman Group Plc (Vontier Corp.)
• Inventors: Walker, Gregory George, Hancock, Simon, Geake, Vincent
• Application Number:
  US10/345,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20040024522A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/210
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968

Abstract

A navigation guidance system is provided which gives direction information from a remote server to a mobile user unit for guiding the user from their current location. The user unit may be a mobile telephone, PDA or the like. A navigation query is transmitted from the user to the remote server. A GPS receiver or the like is provided so that the current location of the mobile unit can also be determined and provided to the remote server. Based on the information received from the user, the server determines appropriate route guidance information and sends this back to the user. In a preferred form of the invention, the data is transmitted between the user unit and the remote server using DTMF tones which are encoded so that no two consecutive tones are identical.

Claims

1. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the user unit comprising:

means for storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit in dependence upon the stored location data; and

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said remote navigation server;

the remote server comprising;

means for receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said user unit representative of the current location of said user unit;

means for processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit further comprises means for encoding said stored location data representative of the current location of the user unit so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same; and

wherein said processing means of said remote server is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said encoding means of said user unit, to determine the current location of the user unit.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the location data is represented by a sequence of characters from a predetermined character set and wherein said generating means is operable to generate a different audio tone or a different set of audio tones for each character of said predetermined character set.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said generating means is operable to generate one or more audio tones having different frequencies for each character of said predetermined character set.

4. A system according to claim 2, wherein said generating means is operable to generate two or more different audio tones substantially simultaneously for each character of said predetermined character set.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein said generating means is operable to generate different DTMF tones for each character of said predetermined character set.

6. A system according to claim 2, wherein said encoding means is operable to encode said location data to ensure that no two consecutive characters within said sequence of characters are the same.

7. A system according to claim 2, wherein said location data is represented by a sequence of characters from a first predetermined character set, wherein said encoding means is operable to encode said location data using a second predetermined character set having a different number of characters to the number of characters of said first predetermined character set and wherein the system further comprises a mapping unit for mapping the sequence of characters representative of the location data defined from said first predetermined character set to a second sequence of characters representative of said location data defined from said second predetermined character set, for encoding by said encoding means, and wherein said remote server further comprises a mapping unit for performing an inverse mapping to the mapping performed by the mapping unit of said user unit.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein said location data is an absolute measure of the current position of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein said location data is representative of the latitude and longitude of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein said location data is a non-unique measure of the current position of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein said location data is representative of a portion of the latitude or a portion of the longitude of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface.

12. A system according to claim 10, wherein the location data is representative of a difference in position from a previous position fix transmitted to said remote server and wherein the size of the location data to be transmitted depends upon the difference in position to be transmitted to said remote server.

13. A system according to claim 1, wherein said user unit further comprises means for receiving updates of said location data from a positioning system, wherein said generating means is operable to generate a sequence of audio tones representative of the updated location of the user unit and the transmitting means is operable to transmit said sequence of audio tones representative of the updated location to said remote navigation server.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein said remote navigation server is operable to receive said audio tones representative of said updated location and is operable to determine further navigation guidance information in dependence upon the updated location of the user unit and is operable to transmit the determined further navigation guidance information to the user unit.

15. A system according to claim 13, wherein said user unit is operable to generate and transmit said sequence of audio tones representative of said updated position automatically at predetermined intervals or upon receipt of the updated data.

16. A system according to claim 13, wherein said user unit is operable to generate and transmit said sequence of audio tones representative of the updated position in response to a request for a position update received from said remote server.

17. A system according to claim 13, further comprising a positioning receiver for determining the user'"'"'s current location and for generating said updates of said location data.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein said positioning receiver is a satellite-based positioning receiver which is operable to receive signals transmitted from a plurality of satellites.

19. A system according to claim 1, wherein said location data includes data defining the current position of the user unit;

the time of the current position fix and the current course over the ground of the user unit, wherein said user unit further comprises means for generating a plurality of different message types for transmission to said remote navigation server, each message type including a different subset of said location data and wherein said user unit has a first mode of operation in which it is operable to transmit a sequence of different message types to said remote navigation server using said generating and transmitting means; and

a second mode of operation in which selected message types are transmitted to said remote server using said generating and transmitting means in dependence upon a request for the selected message type received from said remote navigation server.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the sequence of different message types that are transmitted by said user unit in said first mode of operation is programmable.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit a message to said user unit for programming the sequence of different message types to be transmitted during said first mode of operation of said user unit.

22. A system according to claim 19, wherein said user unit is arranged so that if a request for a selected message type is received from said remote navigation server while said user unit is in said first mode of operation, then the user unit is operable to insert the requested message type within the sequence of different message types being transmitted to said remote navigation server in accordance with said first mode of operation.

23. A system according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting and receiving means of said user unit forms part of a cellular telephone which is operable for establishing a communication link between the user unit and the remote navigation server.

24. A system according to claim 23, wherein said user unit is operable to receive the navigation instructions transmitted from said remote server over said communication link.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit said navigation instructions as voice instructions over said communications link.

26. A system according to claim 25, wherein said remote server comprises a voice synthesiser for generating said voice instructions.

27. A system according to claim 1, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit requests for said user unit to transmit said location data and wherein said user unit is operable to transmit said location data in response to a received request.

28. A system according to claim 27, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit said requests as a sequence of audio tones representing the request and wherein said user unit further comprises means for receiving the transmitted tones and means for processing the received tones to determine the request transmitted from said remote server.

29. A system according to claim 28, wherein said remote navigation server comprises means for encoding said requests so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same and wherein said processing means of said user unit is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said encoding means of said remote navigation server, to determine the transmitted request.

30. A system according to claim 28, wherein said generating means of said user unit is operable to generate said sequence of audio tones with a first predetermined period of silence between consecutive audio tones and wherein said generating means of said remote server is operable to generate said sequence of audio tones with a second different predetermined period of silence between consecutive audio tones.

31. A system according to claim 30, wherein said generating means of said user unit and said generating means of said remote server are arranged so that said first predetermined period of silence is smaller than said second predetermined period of silence.

32. A system according to claim 28, wherein said generating means of said user unit is operable to generate each audio tone of said sequence for a first predetermined duration and wherein said generating means of said remote server is operable to generate each tone of said sequence of audio tones with a second different predetermined duration.

33. A system according to claim 32, wherein said generating means of said user unit and said generating means of said remote server are arranged so that each audio tone generated by said generating means of said user unit is shorter in duration than the audio tones generated by said generating means of said remote server.

34. A system according to claim 1, wherein said user unit further comprises means for calculating a checksum for the location data to be transmitted to said remote server and wherein the generating means and transmitting means are arranged so that the transmitted sequence of audio tones is representative of the current location of the user unit and the calculated checksum;

wherein said processing means of the remote server is operable to extract the checksum from the received audio tones and wherein said remote server further comprises means for verifying the checksum.

35. A system according to claim 1, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit data to said user unit and wherein the remote server further comprises means for calculating a checksum for the data to be transmitted to said user unit and wherein the remote server is operable to transmit the checksum together with the data to said user unit, and wherein the user unit is operable to receive the data and the checksum and further comprises means for verifying the received checksum.

36. A system according to claim 34, wherein said means for calculating a checksum for the location data comprises:

means for receiving a sequence of characters representative of the data for which a checksum value is to be calculated;

means for assigning a unique value to each unique character in the received sequence;

means for combining the value assigned to a first character of the received sequence with an initial value of said checksum to output a current checksum value;

means for processing the or each remaining character in the sequence comprising;

i) means for applying said current checksum value to a predetermined monotonic function to generate a modified checksum value; and

ii) means for combining the value assigned to a current character of the sequence of characters being processed with the modified checksum value, to output a new current checksum value; and

means for determining the checksum value for the received sequence from the checksum value output by said processing means after processing all the characters of said sequence.

37. A system according to claim 34, wherein said means for calculating a checksum is operable to process the characters in the sequence according to a predetermined order.

38. A system according to claim 37, wherein said checksum calculating means is operable to process each character in the sequence according to the order in which the character is located in the sequence.

39. A system according to claim 1, further comprising one or more other user units which are operable to transmit location data to said remote server and which are operable to receive navigation guidance instructions back from said remote server.

40. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of remote servers each associated with a respective geographical area and wherein said user unit is operable to transmit said location data to a selected one of said remote navigation servers.

41. A system according to claim 40, wherein said user unit is operable to transmit said location data to the nearest remote navigation server.

42. A system according to claim 1, wherein said remote server is operable to transmit a validation key to said user unit and wherein said user unit is operable to transmit said location data during a predetermined period after receipt of said validation key and after said predetermined period is operable to transmit a validation lapsed signal to said remote server.

48. A user unit for use in a navigation system according to claim 1, the user unit comprising:

means for storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit in dependence upon the stored location data;

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to a remote navigation server; and

means for encoding said stored location data representative of the current location of the user unit so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same.

54. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 1, the navigation server comprising:

means for receiving sequences of audio tones transmitted from a user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

means for processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit;

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to the user unit;

wherein the received sequence of audio tones represent an encoded version of said current location of the user unit, the encoding being such that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of received audio tones are the same, and wherein said processing means is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said user unit, to determine the current location of the user unit.

55. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 1, the navigation server comprising:

a receiver operable to receive sequences of audio tones transmitted from a user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

a processor operable to process the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

a determining device operable to determine navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit;

a transmitter operable to transmit the determined navigation guidance information to the user unit;

wherein the received sequence of audio tones represent an encoded version of said current location of the user unit, the encoding being such that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of received audio tones are the same, and wherein said processor is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said user unit, to determine the current location of the user unit.

68. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for causing a programmable computer device to become configured as a user unit according to claim 48 or a navigation server according to claim 55.

69. A computer instructions product comprising computer instructions for causing a programmable computer device to become configured as a user unit according to claim 48 or a navigation server according to claim 55.

43. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the remote server comprising:

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of a control command for the user unit;

means for transmitting said generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

means for receiving an indication of the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

the user unit comprising;

means for receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said remote navigation server corresponding to said control command;

means for processing the received audio tones to determine the control command transmitted from said remote navigation server; and

means for controlling the operation of said user unit in dependence upon the received control command;

wherein said remote navigation server comprises means for encoding said control command so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same; and

wherein said processing means of said user unit is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said encoding means of said remote navigation server, to determine the transmitted control command.

49. A user unit for use in a navigation system according to claim 43, the user unit comprising:

means for receiving a sequence of audio tones corresponding to a control command transmitted from a remote navigation server;

means for processing the received audio tones to determine the control command transmitted from the remote navigation server; and

means for controlling the operation of the user unit in dependence upon the received control command;

wherein the received sequence of audio tones represent an encoded version of said control command, the encoding being such that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of received audio tones are the same, and wherein said processing means is operable to perform a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by the remote navigation server, to determine said control command.

56. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 43, the navigation server comprising:

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of a control command to be transmitted to a user unit;

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

means for receiving an indication of the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein the remote navigation server further comprises means for encoding said control commands so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same.

44. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the user unit comprising:

means for receiving a sequence of audio tones transmitted from said remote navigation server, which audio tones represent a request for the user unit to transmit location information indicative of a current location of the user unit;

means for processing the received audio tones to determine the request transmitted from said remote navigation server;

means for generating, in response to the determined request, a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said remote navigation server;

the remote server comprising;

means for generating said sequence of audio tones representative of a request for the user unit to transmit said location information;

means for transmitting said generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

means for receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

means for processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said generating means of said user unit and said generating means of said remote server are operable to generate said sequences of audio tones with periods of silence between consecutive audio tones; and

wherein the generating means of the user unit is operable to generate said sequence of audio tones having periods of silence between consecutive audio tones which are different to the periods of silence between the audio tones generated by said generating means of said remote server.

50. A user unit for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 44, the user unit comprising:

means for receiving a sequence of audio tones transmitted from a remote navigation server, which audio tones represent a request for the user unit to transmit location information indicative of a current location of the user unit;

means for processing the received audio tones to determine the request transmitted from said remote navigation server;

means for generating, in response to the determined request, a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said remote navigation server;

wherein said generating means is operable to generate said sequence of audio tones having periods of silence between consecutive audio tones which are different to the periods of silence between the audio tones received from said remote navigation server.

57. A navigation server for use in the navigation guidance system according to claim 44, the navigation server comprising:

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of a request for a user unit to transmit location information identifying the current location of the user unit;

means for transmitting said generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

means for receiving a sequence of audio tones transmitted from said user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

means for processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said generating means of said remote server is operable to generate said sequence of audio tones having a period of silence between consecutive audio tones which are different to the periods of silence between the audio tones received from said user unit.

45. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the user unit comprising:

means for receiving position data from a positioning unit, the position data including data defining the longitude and latitude of the user unit on the surface of the earth at a current time point;

means for receiving a request for a subset of the received position data identifying a portion of the longitude and/or latitude of the current position of the user unit;

means for filtering the received position data in dependence upon the received request to generate said subset of said position data identifying a non-unique longitude and/or a non-unique latitude of said current position; and

means for transmitting said filtered position data to said remote server;

the remote server comprising;

means for transmitting a request for a subset of the position data identifying the current position of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface;

means for receiving the filtered position data transmitted from said user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the received filtered position data; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit.

51. A user unit for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 45, the user unit comprising:

means for receiving position data from a positioning unit, the position data including data defining the longitude and latitude of the user unit on the surface of the earth at a current time point;

means for receiving a request for a subset of the received position data identifying a portion of the longitude and/or latitude of the current position of the user unit;

means for filtering the received position data in dependence upon the received request to generate said subset of said position data identifying a non-unique longitude and/or a non-unique latitude of said current position; and

means for transmitting said filtered position data to said remote server.

58. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 45, the navigation server comprising:

means for transmitting a request for a subset of position data identifying the current position of a user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface, which position data is stored in said user unit;

means for receiving the subset of the position data transmitted from said user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the subset of the position data; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit.

46. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the user unit comprising:

means for receiving position data from a positioning unit;

means operable to generate a plurality of different message types for transmission to said remote navigation server, each message type including a different subset of said received position data; and

means for transmitting messages to said remote server;

the remote server comprising;

means for receiving messages transmitted from said user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the received messages; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit has a first mode of operation in which it is operable to transmit a stream of different message types to said remote navigation server; and

a second mode of operation in which selected message types are transmitted to said remote navigation server in dependence upon a request for the selected message type received from said remote navigation server.

52. A user unit for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 46, the user unit comprising:

means for receiving position data from a positioning unit;

means operable to generate a plurality of different message types for transmission to said remote navigation server, each message type including a different subset of said received position data; and

means for transmitting messages to said remote server;

wherein said user unit has a first mode of operation in which it is operable to transmit a stream of different message types to said remote navigation server; and

a second mode of operation in which selected message types are transmitted to said remote navigation server in dependence upon a request for the selected message type received from said remote navigation server.

59. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 46, the navigation server comprising:

means for receiving messages transmitted from a user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information for the user unit in dependence upon the received messages; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said navigation server is operable to transmit a control command to said user unit defining a sequence of different message types to be transmitted to said navigation server, each message type including a different subset of position data indicating the current position of the user unit.

60. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 46, the navigation server comprising:

means for receiving location data identifying a current location of a user unit transmitted from the user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit has means for inhibiting the transmission of said location data to said remote server and wherein said remote server is operable to transmit a validation signal to said user unit for deactivating said inhibiting means.

61. A navigation server for use in a navigation guidance system according to claim 46, the navigation server comprising:

a receiver operable to receive location data identifying a current location of a user unit transmitted from the user unit;

a determining device operable to determine navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

a transmitter operable to transmit the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit includes a device operable to inhibit the transmission of said location data to said navigation server and wherein said navigation server is operable to transmit a validation signal to said user unit for deactivating said inhibiting device.

47. A navigation guidance system comprising a user unit and a remote navigation server,

the user unit comprising:

means for storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

means for transmitting said location data to said remote server; and

means for receiving navigation guidance information from the remote server;

the remote server comprising;

means for receiving said location data transmitted from said user unit;

means for determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

means for transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit further comprises means for inhibiting the transmission of said location data to said remote server; and

wherein said remote server is operable to transmit a validation signal to said user unit for deactivating said inhibiting means.

53. A user unit for use in a navigation system according to claim 47, the user unit comprising:

means for storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

means for transmitting said location data to said remote server; and

means for receiving navigation guidance information from the remote server;

wherein said user unit further comprises means for inhibiting the transmission of said location data to said remote server; and

means for deactivating said inhibiting means in response to a validation signal received from said remote server.

62. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the user unit;

storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

generating a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit in dependence upon the stored location data; and

transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to the remote navigation server;

at the remote navigation server;

receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein the method further comprises the step of encoding, at said user unit, said stored location data representative of the current location of the user unit so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated in said generating step are the same; and

wherein said processing step performed at said remote navigation server performs a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed in said encoding step at said user unit, to determine the current location of the user unit.

63. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the remote server;

generating a sequence of audio tones representative of a control command for the user unit;

transmitting said generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

receiving an indication of the current location of the user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

at the user unit;

receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said remote navigation server corresponding to said control command;

processing the received audio tones to determine the control command transmitted from said remote navigation server; and

controlling the operation of said user unit in dependence upon the received control command;

wherein the method further comprises the step of encoding, at said remote navigation server, said control command so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated in said generating step are the same; and

wherein said processing step performed at said user unit performs a decoding corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed in said encoding step at said remote server, to determine the transmitted control command.

64. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the user unit;

receiving a sequence of audio tones transmitted from said remote navigation server, which audio tones represent a request for the user unit to transmit location information indicative of a current location of the user unit;

processing the received audio tones to determine the requests transmitted from said remote navigation server;

generating, in response to the determined request, a sequence of audio tones representative of the current location of the user unit; and

transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said remote navigation server;

at the remote navigation server;

generating said sequence of audio tones representative of a request for the user unit to transmit said location information;

transmitting said generated sequence of audio tones to said user unit;

receiving said sequence of audio tones transmitted from said user unit representative of the current location of the user unit;

processing the received sequence of audio tones to determine the current location of the user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to the user unit;

wherein said generating step performed at said user unit and said generating step performed at said remote server generate said sequences of audio tones with periods of silence between consecutive audio tones; and

wherein the generating step of said user unit generates said sequence of audio tones having a period of silence between consecutive audio tones which is different to the period of silence between the audio tones generated in said generating step at said remote server.

65. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the user unit,

receiving position data from a positioning unit, the position data including data defining the longitude and latitude of the user unit on the surface of the earth at a current time point;

receiving a request for a subset of the received position data identifying a portion of the longitude and/or latitude of the current position of the user unit;

filtering the received position data in dependence upon the received request to generate said subset of said position data identifying a non-unique longitude and/or a non-latitude of said current position; and

transmitting said filtered position data to said remote server;

at the remote server;

transmitting a request for a subset of the position data identifying the current position of the user unit on the earth'"'"'s surface;

receiving the filtered position data transmitted from said user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the received filtered position data; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit.

66. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the user unit;

receiving position data from a positioning unit;

generating a plurality of different message types for transmission to said remote navigation server, each message type including a different subset of said received position data; and

transmitting messages to said remote server;

at the remote server;

receiving messages transmitted from said user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the received messages; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein said user unit has a first mode of operation in which during said transmitting step, said user unit transmits a stream of different message types to said remote navigation server; and

a second mode of operation in which said transmitting step transmits a selected message type to said remote server in dependence upon a request for the selected message type received from the remote server.

67. A navigation guidance method using a user unit and a remote navigation server, the method comprising the steps of:

at the user unit;

storing location data identifying the current location of the user unit;

transmitting said location data to said remote server; and

receiving navigation guidance information from the remote server;

at the remote server;

receiving said location data transmitted from said user unit;

determining navigation guidance information in dependence upon the current location of the user unit; and

transmitting the determined navigation guidance information to said user unit;

wherein the method further comprises the step of, at said user unit, inhibiting the transmission of said location data to said remote server; and

deactivating the inhibiting step upon the receipt of a validation signal transmitted from said remote server; and

, at said remote server, the step of transmitting said validation signal to said user unit.

70. A signalling system comprising first and second signalling devices,

the first signalling device comprising:

means for receiving data for transmission to the second signalling device;

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of the data to be transmitted to said second signalling device; and

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to said second signalling device;

the second signalling device comprising;

means for receiving the sequence of audio tones transmitted from said first signalling device; and

means for processing the received audio tones to recover said data;

wherein said first signalling device further comprises means for encoding said received data so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same; and

wherein said processing means of said second signalling device is operable to perform a decoding operation corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said encoding means of said first signalling device, to recover said data.

71. A signalling system comprising first and second signalling devices each comprising:

means for storing data for transmission to the other signalling device;

means for generating a sequence of audio tones representative of the data to be transmitted to the other signalling device;

means for transmitting the generated sequence of audio tones to the other signalling device;

means for receiving a sequence of audio tones transmitted from the other signalling device; and

means for processing the received audio tones to recover the data transmitted from the other signalling device;

wherein said first signalling device further comprises means for encoding said data for transmission to the second signalling device so that no two consecutive audio tones within said sequence of audio tones generated by said generating means are the same; and

wherein said processing means of said second signalling device is operable to perform a decoding operation corresponding to the inverse of the encoding performed by said encoding means of said first signalling device, to recover the data transmitted from said first signalling device.

72. An apparatus for calculating a checksum value for a message comprising a sequence of characters, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving the sequence of characters for which a checksum value is to be calculated;

means for assigning a unique value to each unique character in the message;

means for combining the value assigned to a first character of the message with an initial value of said checksum to output a current checksum value;

means for processing the or each remaining character in the sequence comprising;

i) means for applying said current checksum value to a predetermined monotonic function to generate a modified checksum value; and

ii) means for combining the value assigned to a current character of the sequence of characters being processed with the modified checksum value, to output a new current checksum value; and

means for determining the checksum value for the message from the current checksum value output by said processing means after processing a last character of the message.

73. An apparatus according to claim 72, wherein said processing means is operable to process the characters in the sequence according to a predetermined order.

74. An apparatus according to claim 73, wherein said processing means is operable to process each character in the sequence according to the order in which the character is located in the sequence.

75. An apparatus according to claim 72, wherein said assigning means is operable to assign a prime number to each character.

76. An apparatus according to claim 72, wherein said checksum value can take any value within a predetermined range of values and wherein the said assigning means is operable to assign values to said characters that are evenly distributed over said range of values.