Navigation device and method

• US 20080228386A1
• Filed: 01/09/2008
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TomTom Navigation B.V (TomTom NV)
• Original Assignee: TomTom Navigation B.V (TomTom NV)
• Inventors: Geelen, Pieter, Wesselius, Kees
• Granted Patent: US 8,914,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3673 Labelling using text of road map data items, e.g. road names, POI names
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence

Abstract

This invention relates to a navigation device (200) comprising: a processor (210) that is configured to generate a navigation map of a local environment (497); and a display (240) controllable by said processor (200) to display said navigation map and any markers (489) that relate to marked locations within said local environment (497); characterised in that the navigation device (200) further comprises: an indicator generation module (490) for generating an indicator (491) for each of any marked locations outside of said local environment, said processor (210) being responsive to said indicator generation module (490) to control said display (240) to display any generated indicators (491) in said navigation map (497).

A method of generating a navigation map and a computer program are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A navigation device comprising:

a processor that is configured to generate a navigation map of a local environment;

a display controllable by said processor to display said navigation map and a marker for any one or more marked locations within said local environment; and

an indicator generation module for generating an indicator for any one or more marked locations outside of said local environment, said processor being responsive to said indicator generation module to control said display to display any generated indicators in said navigation map.

2. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said indicator generation module is capable of determining, relative to said navigation map, the position of any marked location that is outside of said navigation map.

3. A navigation device according to claim 2, wherein said indicator generation module is capable of calculating, from the determined position of the marked location that is outside of said map, the distance between that marked location and the navigation map.

4. A navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said calculated distance is computed as a straight-line distance between the navigation map and the marked location that is outside of the navigation map.

5. A navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said indicator generation module is configured to calculate the distance between a central location of said navigation map and the marked location that is outside of said navigation map.

6. A navigation device according to claim 2, wherein said indicator generation module is configured to determine, from the position of the marked location outside of said navigation map, the angular orientation of said marked location with respect to said navigation map.

7. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said indicator generation module is configured to determine the type of the marked location that is outside of said navigation map and select an appropriate icon for association with that marked location.

8. A navigation device according to claim 7, wherein said indicator generator module is configured to populate the indicator with one or more information elements that each convey information concerning the marked location with which the indicator is associated to a viewer of the map, and a said information element comprises said icon.

9. A navigation device according to claim 3, wherein said indicator generator module is configured to populate the indicator with one or more information elements that each convey information concerning the marked location with which the indicator is associated to a viewer of the map, and a said information element comprises a representation of the distance between the navigation map and the marked location that is outside of the navigation map.

10. A navigation device according to claim 9, wherein said representation comprises a numerical representation corresponding to the number of miles or kilometres between the navigation map and the marked location that is outside of the navigation map.

11. A navigation device according to claim 6, wherein said indicator generator module is configured to populate the indicator with one or more information elements that each convey information concerning the marked location with which the indicator is associated to a viewer of the map, and a said information element comprises a pointer that points towards the marked location that is outside of the navigation map thereby to indicate the angular orientation of the marked location with respect to the navigation map.

12. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said indicator generation module is configured to generate an indicator that overlies said navigation map.

13. A navigation device according to claim 12, wherein said indicator is at least partly transparent so that the underlying map may be viewed therethrough.

14. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to display said indicator at a position within the map that indicates the direction, relative to said map, in which the marked location that is outside the map lies.

15. A navigation device according to claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to display said indicator at a peripheral edge of said displayed map that is closest to the marked location that is outside of the navigation map.

16. A navigation device according to claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to change the position at which the indicator is displayed if, on generation of a new map for a new local environment, the direction of the marked location with respect to the new map has changed.

17. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to display said indicator in such a manner that it does not interfere with any other items currently displayed in said map.

18. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said indicator is not displayed if the marked location is more than a predetermined distance outside of said navigation map.

19. A navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to generate a new map of a new local environment.

20. A navigation device according to claim 19, further comprising:

an antenna, and

a receiver for receiving data signals via said antenna,

wherein said processor is configured to determine from said received data signals a current location of said navigation device and the map generated by the processor is of a local environment that includes said current position, and

said processor is configured to periodically repeat the determination of said current position and to generate said new map if a determined location for said navigation device should differ from said previously determined current position.

21. A navigation device according to claim 19, wherein said processor is responsive to user input to generate a new map of a new local environment.

22. A method of displaying a navigation map, the method comprising:

generating a navigation map of a local environment;

determining whether said local environment includes any marked locations, and retrieving for any one or more marked locations determined to be within said local environment a marker for display;

determining whether there are any marked locations outside of said local environment; and

generating for one or more of any marked locations that are determined to be outside of said local environment an indicator for display; and

displaying said navigation map, any said markers and any said indicators.

23. Computer software comprising one or more software modules operable, when executed in an execution environment, to cause a processor to:

generate a navigation map of a local environment;

determine whether said local environment includes any marked locations, and retrieve for any one or more marked locations determined to be within said local environment a marker for display;

determine whether there are any marked locations outside of said location environment; and

generate for one or more of any marked locations that are determined to be outside of said local environment an indicator for display; and

control a display to display said navigation map, any said markers and any said indicators.

24. A computer readable data storage medium having computer software stored thereon, said computer software comprising one or more software modules operable, when executed in an execution environment, to cause a processor to:

generate a navigation map of a local environment;

determine whether said local environment includes any marked locations, and retrieve for any one or more marked locations determined to be within said local environment a marker for display;

determine whether there are any marked locations outside of said location environment; and

generate for one or more of any marked locations that are determined to be outside of said local environment an indicator for display; and

control a display to display said navigation map, any said markers and any said indicators.

25. A portable navigation device (PND) comprising:

an antenna;

a receiver operatively coupled to said antenna for receiving GPS data signals from a plurality of satellites;

a store for map data and marker data, said marker data defining marker locations;

an interface that is user operable for the input of a start location and a destination location;

a processor operatively coupled to said interface, said receiver and said store, said processor being configured to;

receive said GPS data signals from said receiver and to process said GPS data signals to determine a current position of said PND in a local environment,

to generate from map data retrieved from said store a navigation map of the local environment in which said PND current position is located, and

to calculate, from map data retrieved from said store, a route between said start location and said destination location;

an indicator generation module controllable by said processor to generate an indicator for each of any one or more marker locations for which the associated marker data from said store indicates that said marker locations are outside of said local environment; and

a display operatively coupled to said processor and controllable by said processor to display;

said navigation map,

a visual representation of said route,

a marker for each of any one or more marker locations for which the associated marker data from said store indicates that said one or more marker locations are within said local environment; and

any said indicators.