Navigation system for an automotive vehicle

• US 5,689,252 A
• Filed: 03/07/1996
• Issued: 11/18/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vringo Infrastructure, Inc. (XpresSpa Group, Inc. (f/k/a FORM Holdings Corp.))
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ayanoglu, Ender, Sabnani, Krishan Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/612,203
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 340/990, 340/988, 340/995, 340/905, 340/991, 340/993, 344/421, 344/444, 344/449, 344/436, 344/437, 342/357
• US Class Current: 340/991
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

A navigation system for an automotive vehicle designed to display a road map image around the vehicle in correlation with the current position of the automotive vehicle. The navigation system is adapted to determine a best navigation route to a selected destination on the basis on the approximated time necessary to travel such a navigation route in correspondence to its travel length and speed rate.

Claims

1. A vehicle navigation system for identifying a desired map route between a first position of a vehicle and a second position, which comprises:

(a) map means for storing a plurality of road maps and speed limit values for roads therein;

(b) input means for enabling a user to select said first and second positions;

(c) selecting means for selecting a road map from those stored in said map means on the basis of said selected first and second positions of said vehicle;

(d) traffic receiving means for receiving traffic information including speed rates transmitted in a data representation format of variable length differences from said stored speed limit values for respective roads contained on said selected road map over a wireless channel from a centrally located database to said vehicle; and

(e) means for determining a route of shortest duration between said first position and said second position from said selected road map on the basis of said speed rates received by said traffic receiving means and the length of travel between said first and second positions of said vehicle.

2. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 1, wherein said map means includes a CD-ROM device for storing and retrieving said plurality of road maps.

3. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 1, wherein said input means includes positioning means for determining an actual first position of said vehicle.

4. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 3, further including display means for displaying the actual position of said vehicle on a said selected road map.

5. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 4, wherein said map means includes said centrally located database adapted to store and retrieve said plurality of road maps and transmit a selected road map to said vehicle.

6. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 5, wherein said means for determining a route of shortest duration is adapted to determine the time necessary to travel said each identified navigation route by its corresponding speed rate provided by said traffic receiving means.

7. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 5, wherein said traffic receiving means is adapted to display traffic information on said display means in association with the actual position of said automotive vehicle.

8. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 1, wherein said centrally located database includes typical seasonal and daily traffic patterns.

9. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 1, wherein each street of said road map includes speed rate and length of said street.

10. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 1, wherein no speed rate information concerning a particular road in a route is transmitted to said vehicle when inconsiderable differences exist between the associated speed limit and the speed rate on the road, thereby reducing transmission time of traffic information.

11. A vehicle navigation system, comprising positioning means for determining the actual position of said automotive vehicle, display means for displaying the position of said automotive vehicle, map storage means for storing a map to be displayed on said display means and for storing speed limit values for roads in said map, wherein the improvement comprises means for determining a best route to a given destination, said best route means adapted to identify and display on said display means the best route connecting the actual position of said automotive vehicle received from said positioning means with a given destination stored in said map storage means, said best route means including calculating means for identifying said best route on the basis of the time required to travel said best route and a traffic receiving means for receiving traffic information including speed rates transmitted in a data representation format of variable length differences from said stored speed limit values for respective roads contained in said map means over a wireless channel from a centrally located database to said vehicle.

12. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 11, further comprising:

means in said vehicle for periodically transmitting said actual position and speed rate of said vehicle to said central database;

means in said central database for averaging speed rate information received from a plurality of said vehicles; and

means in said actual database for transmitting updated traffic information to said vehicle, upon request via a wireless channel, said updated traffic information being based on the averaging of said speed rate information.

13. A vehicle navigation system as recited in claim 11, wherein no speed rate information concerning a particular road in a route is transmitted to said vehicle when inconsiderable differences exist between the associated speed limit and the speed rate on the road, thereby reducing transmission time of traffic information.

14. A navigation system as recited in claim 11, wherein said calculating means is adapted to determine the time necessary to travel each of a plurality of identified navigation routes by dividing the length of travel of each said identified navigation route by its corresponding speed rate provided by said traffic receiving means.

15. A navigation system as recited in claim 14, wherein said traffic receiving means is adapted to display traffic information on said display means in association with the actual position of said automotive vehicle provided by said positioning means.

16. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 11, further comprising:

means for transmitting information from said vehicle to said central database including said actual position of said vehicle and said desired destination;

means in said central database for determining a best route for said vehicle; and

means for transmitting said best route to said vehicle.

17. The vehicle navigation system according to claim 16, further comprising:

means in said vehicle for periodically transmitting said actual position and speed rate of said vehicle to said central database;

means in said central database for averaging speed rate information received from a plurality of said vehicles; and

means in said actual database for transmitting updated traffic information to said vehicle, upon request via a wireless channel, said updated traffic information being based on the averaging of said speed rate information.

18. A method of determining a best navigation route for an automotive vehicle, comprising the steps of:

determining an actual position of the automotive vehicle;

selecting a desired destination of the vehicle;

transmitting information indicative of said actual position of the vehicle and said desired destination from said vehicle to a central database;

selecting, at said central database, a best navigation route for said vehicle based on said information transmitted by said vehicle and on speed rates of traffic in routes between said actual position and said desired destination of said vehicle, stored within said central database;

transmitting said best navigation route as map information from said central database to said vehicle;

periodically transmitting actual positions and speed rates of each of a plurality of said vehicles that also transmit said desired destination to said central database;

averaging, at said central database, speed rate information received from said plurality of vehicles;

transmitting updated traffic information to said vehicles, said updated information being based on said averaging of speed rate information.

19. A method of determining a best navigation route from an actual position of an automotive vehicle to a selected desired destination which comprises the steps of:

(a) determining the actual position of said automotive vehicle;

(b) storing a plurality of road maps and speed limit values for roads on said maps;

(c) selecting a desired destination from one of said stored road maps;

(d) identifying the navigation routes from the actual position of said automotive vehicle to said selected desired destination;

(e) receiving traffic information on the basis of the actual position of said automotive vehicle including speed rates of said identified navigation routes transmitted in a data representation format of variable length differences from said stored speed limit values for respective roads over a wireless channel from a centrally located database to said automotive vehicle;

(f) determining travel time necessary to travel each of said identified navigation routes based on the traffic information received; and

(g) selecting one of said identified navigation routes having the shortest travel time.

20. A method of determining a best navigation route as recited in claim 19, wherein said step (f) of identifying said best navigation route includes the steps of:

(i) determining the travel length of said each identified navigation route;

(ii) determining the rate of speed of said each identified navigation route; and

(iii) determining said travel time of each said identified navigation route by dividing said travel length by said rate of speed associated with said each identified navigation route.

21. A method of determining a best navigation route as recited in claim 19, further including the steps of:

(h) providing display means for displaying the actual position of said automotive vehicle on a road map provided from said means for storing a plurality of road maps; and

(i) displaying said best navigation route on said display means.

22. A method of determining a best navigation route as recited in claim 21, further including the steps of

(j) displaying said traffic information on said display means.