Method And System For Coordinating The Routes Of A Plurality Of Navigation Devices

• US 20080046173A1
• Filed: 06/24/2004
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2003
• 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: Hovestadt, Guido, Dibos, Hermann, Wolf, Stefan, Lappe, Dirk
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route

Abstract

The data exchange between two or more navigation devices allows a highly automated coordination of routes of navigation devices. The calculation of a route may be based on the GPS data and additionally on the positional data received from another navigation system to provide, for example, for a rendezvous function with a minimum activity from the users of the navigation devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first set of data by a first navigation device,

receiving a second set of data from a second navigation device by the first navigation device, the second set of data including data representing a current position of the second navigation device, and

calculating first positional data in the first navigation device on the basis of the first set of data and the second set of data so as to specify a route of the first navigation device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a third set of data from the first navigation device to the second navigation device, the third set of data representing at least a portion of the calculated first positional data.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a request signal from the first navigation device to the second navigation device to initiate transmission of the second set of data.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising transmitting a confirmation signal by the second navigation device to acknowledge data communication with the first navigation device.

5. The method of claim 1 where the first positional data represent at least one common point of a proposed route for the first and the second navigation device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating second positional data in the second navigation device on the basis of the current position of the second navigation device and the third set of data.

7. The method of claim 6 where the first positional data and the second positional data are calculated on the basis of an estimated average speed of the first navigation device and the second navigation device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an updated version of the second set of data and calculating the first positional data on the basis of the updated second set of data.

9. A method of coordinating routes of a plurality of navigation devices comprising:

transmitting position data of each of the plurality of navigation devices via a network to a host device, the position data including at least a destination of each route and a current position of each navigation device,

determining at least one intermediate position for each route of the plurality of navigation devices by the host device, and

transmitting the at least one intermediate position for each route to the respective navigation device associated with the each route.

10. The method of claim 9 where the host device is provided by a service provider.

11. The method of claim 9 where the host device is operable as a navigation device based on a global positioning system.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining the route in each navigation device on the basis of the at least one intermediate position of the route and the current position of the navigation device.

13. A navigation device comprising:

a first receiving section configured to receive and decode a first signal indicating a current position of the navigation device,

a second receiving section configured to receive and decode a confirmation signal for communication with an external device,

a request signal for communication with an external device and external positional data via a communications network,

a calculation unit configured to calculate, upon receipt of the confirmation signal by the second receiving section, positional data for a route of the mobile navigation device on the basis of the first signal and the external position data, and

a transmission section configured to encode the confirmation signal, the request signal and the positional data and to output a signal representing the request signal or the positional data via the communications network.

14. The navigation device of claim 13 where the second receiving section and the transmission section each comprise an interface for wireless communication with external devices according to a specified data communications standard.

15. The navigation device of claim 14 where the second receiving section and the transmission section each comprise an interface to a mobile phone.

16. The navigation device of claim 13 where the second receiving section and the transmission section comprise a high frequency demodulator and a high frequency modulator, respectively, so as to receive the confirmation signal and transmit the request signal, respectively.

17. The navigation device of claim 13 where the calculation unit is configured to calculate the positional data on the basis of geographical data representing a road map.

18. The navigation device of claim 13 further comprising a user interface configured to report the receipt of the request signal to a user, and to initiate the transmission of the confirmation signal upon user request.

19. A navigation system comprising a first and a second navigation device according to claim 18, the system further comprising a host unit configured to receive positional data from the first and the second navigation devices, calculate first and second proposed positional data for the first and second navigation devices, and to communicate the first proposed positional data to the first navigation device and the second proposed positional data to the second navigation device to coordinate a route of the first and second navigation devices.

20. The navigation system of claim 19 where the host unit is implemented in at least one of the first or the second navigation device and where at least one of the first or second navigation device comprising the host unit further includes an activation means to activate the host unit upon user request.

21. The navigation system of claim 19 where the host unit is connected to a network service provider.