NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITH POINTS OF INTEREST SEARCH

• US 20080243370A1
• Filed: 04/02/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hertz Corporation (Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Navigation Solutions, LLC (Hertz Global Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruskin, Marc Brian, Surber, Michael Gene, Loera, Oscar, Cross, Craig Edward
• Granted Patent: US 9,863,779 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

A navigation system includes an improved interface for accessing points of interest. Popular chains and franchises are accessible via a separate search, which can be accessed more efficiently and quickly. The list of popular chains can then be used to access the main database of points of interest.

Claims

1. A navigation system comprising:

a user interface;

a POI database containing points of interest, each record in the POI database having an associated POI name and geographic location;

a chain database, each of a plurality of records in the chain database having an associated chain name, each of the plurality of records in the chain database associated with an associated subset of records in the POI database.

2. The navigation system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of records in the chain database are each associated with a chain.

3. The navigation system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of records in the chain database further includes an associated search string that correlates the record in the chain database to the associated subset of records in the POI database.

4. The navigation system of claim 1 wherein the user interface is programmed to permit a user to find a desired record in the chain database and to use the desired record to find a desired associated record in the POI database.

5. The navigation system of claim 4 wherein the user interface is programmed to communicate navigation instructions to a geographic location associated with the desired associated record in the POI database.

6. The navigation system of claim 4 wherein the user interface includes a text entry interface for entering the chain name to choose the desired record from the chain database.

7. The navigation system of claim 6 further including at least one sensor for determining a present position of the navigation system relative to the associated geographic location of the desired associated record in the POI database.

8. A method for accessing a database of points of interest in a navigation system including the steps of:

a) accessing a collection of names of chains;

b) choosing a desired name from the collection of names;

c) indexing a POI (points of interest) database based upon the desired name chosen in said step b);

d) retrieving a plurality of POIs based upon said step c);

e) selecting a POI from the plurality of POIS; and

f) retrieving a geographic location of the POI selected in said step e).

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the collection of names of chains is a chain database and the chain database includes a plurality of records each having one of the names of chains.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each of the plurality of records in the chain database corresponds to a plurality of related POIs in the POI database.

11. The method of claim 10 further including the step of determining a route to the geographic location.

12. The method of claim 10 further including the step of entering text to choose the desired name in said step b).

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said step c) further includes the step of indexing the POI database with a search string associated with the desired name chosen in said step b).

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said step c) further includes the step of indexing the POI database with an associated POI category associated with the desired name chosen in said step b).