ELECTRONIC MAP DISPLAY SYSTEM

• US 20080021644A1
• Filed: 07/18/2007
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Meyer, Hendrik
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/211
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3867 Geometry of map features, e.g. shape points, polygons or for simplified maps
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A navigation system is provided that includes a storage unit, a processing unit, and an optical output unit. The storage unit includes a first storage portion for storing type definition data for a plurality of object types, the type definition data defining a graphical representation of an object type in terms of at least one basic geometrical shape. A second storage portion includes object data for a plurality of objects, the object data for an object comprising object type data specifying an object type of the object and object position data specifying an object position of the object. To display an object having a specific object type, the processing unit reads the type definition data of the corresponding object type from the first storage portion and generates graphical representations of the basic geometrical shapes that constitute the object type on the optical output unit.

Claims

14. A storage unit storing a plurality of objects to be displayed on an electronic map, the storage unit comprising:

a first storage portion that includes type definition data for a plurality of object types, the type definition data defining a graphical representation of an object type in terms of at least one basic geometrical shape; and

a second storage portion that includes object data for a plurality of objects, the object data for an object comprising object type data specifying an object type of the object and object position data specifying an object position of the object.

15. The storage unit of claim 14, where the type definition data defines a graphical representation of an object type in terms of a first basic geometrical shape, a second basic geometrical shape, and a relative position of the first and second basic geometrical shapes.

16. The storage unit of claim 14, where the object data for an object further includes at least one modification parameter for modifying an object type, which modification parameter is selected from a group consisting of a size, an orientation, a line width, a line color, and a surface texture of the at least one basic geometrical shape of the object type.

17. The storage unit of claim 14, where the type definition data defines a graphical representation of the object type in terms of the at least one basic geometrical shape and a surface texture for at least one surface of the at least one basic geometrical shape.

18. A navigation system comprising:

an optical output unit;

a processing unit;

a storage unit having a first storage portion and a second storage portion;

the first storage portion including type definition data for a plurality of object types, the type definition data defining a graphical representation of an object type in terms of at least one basic geometrical shape;

the second storage portion including object data for a plurality of objects, the object data for an object comprising object type data specifying an object type of the object and object position data specifying an object position of the object;

the processing unit is coupled to the storage unit to retrieve object data including object type data and object position data of an object to be displayed from the second storage portion and type definition data of the object to be displayed from the first storage portion, based on the object type data of the object to be displayed; and

where the processing unit controls the optical output unit so that a graphical representation of the at least one basic geometrical shape defined by the type definition data is generated at a position on the optical output unit defined by the object position data.

19. The navigation system of claim 18, where for each object type, the at least one basic geometrical shape of the type definition data is selected from a set of basic geometrical shapes, and the processing unit is adapted to control the optical output unit so that a graphical representation of each basic geometrical shape of the set of basic geometrical shapes can be generated on the optical output unit.

20. The navigation system of claim 19, where the type definition data in the first storage portion of the storage unit defines a graphical representation of an object type in terms of a first basic geometrical shape, a second basic geometrical shape, and a relative position of the first and second basic geometrical shapes, and the processing unit controls the optical output unit so that graphical representations of the first basic geometrical shape and the second basic geometrical shape are generated at positions on the optical output unit determined based on the object position data and the relative position of the first and second basic geometrical shapes.

21. The navigation system of claim 19, where the object data for an object in the second storage portion of the storage unit further includes at least one modification parameter for modifying an object type, which modification parameter is selected from a group consisting of a size, an orientation, a line width, a line color, and a surface texture of the at least one basic geometrical shape of the object types, and the processing unit controls the optical output unit so that the graphical representation of the at least one basic geometrical shape defined by the type definition data is modified based on the modification parameter.

22. The navigation system of claim 18, where the type definition data in the first storage portion of the storage unit defines a graphical representation of the object type in terms of the at least one basic geometrical shape and a surface texture for at least one surface of the at least one basic geometrical shape, and the processing unit controls the optical output unit so that a graphical representation of the at least one basic geometrical shape is generated and the at least one surface of the at least one basic geometrical shape is filled with the surface texture.

23. The navigation system of claim 18, where the object data of the object to be displayed further includes an alphanumerical string, and the processing unit controls the optical output unit so that the alphanumerical string is inserted into the graphical representation of the at least one basic geometrical shape.

24. The navigation system of claim 23, where the object to be displayed is a traffic sign and the alphanumerical string represents text to be displayed on the traffic sign.

25. The navigation system of claim 23, further comprising a voice output unit, where the alphanumerical string is output via the voice output unit.

26. The navigation system of claim 25, where the navigation system is a vehicle navigation system and the navigation system further comprises a position determination unit for determining the current vehicle position.

27-1. The navigation system of claim 18, where the navigation system performs the method of claim 1.