Geographic database organization that facilitates location-based advertising

• US 7,089,264 B1
• Filed: 06/22/2001
• Issued: 08/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Navteq North America LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Dougherty, Christopher, Casino, Roy, Guido, Matthew A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu, Kuen S.
• Application Number:
  US09/887,198
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 707/100, 707/104, 707/104.1, 707/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/00 Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method of facilitating delivery of advertising to users of mobile computing platforms is disclosed. A geographic database contains data entities that represent geographic features, such as roads, located in a geographic region. Advertising zones are defined within the geographic region. Associated with at least some of the data entities that represent geographic features are data that indicate in which of the advertising zones the represented geographic feature is located. Advertisers are allowed to associate advertising messages with the advertising zones. Users of mobile computing platforms are provided with geographically-related services that use the geographic database. As a user of a mobile computing platform travels in the geographic region, the location of the mobile computing platform is determined. The user of the mobile computing platform is provided with the advertising message associated with the advertising zone in which the mobile computing platform is determined to be located.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating delivery of advertising to users of mobile computing platforms comprising the steps of:

defining advertising zones within a geographic region;

defining a hierarchy of said advertising zones,

wherein said hierarchy of advertising zones includes at least a first layer and a second layer, and further,

wherein at least some of the advertising zones in said first layer overlap some of the advertising zones in said second layer;

providing a geographic database that contains road segment data, said road segment data represents a road segment located in the geographic region, said road segment data comprising data that indicates in which of said advertising zones the road segment is located;

associating advertising messages with at least some of said advertising zones; and

storing said advertising messages in an advertising database.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining an index that references each of the advertising zones in the first layer that overlap each of the advertising zones in the second layer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said advertising zones are formed dynamically.

4. A method of facilitating delivery of advertising to users of geographic data comprising the steps of:

defining a plurality of advertising areas located within a geographic region;

defining a hierarchy of said advertising areas,

wherein said hierarchy of advertising areas includes at least a first layer and a second layer, and further,

wherein at least some of the advertising areas in said first layer overlap some of the advertising areas in said second layer;

providing a geographic database that contains road segment data that represent road segments located in the geographic region, and advertising area data that indicate which of said road segments are located in said advertising areas.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

defining an index that references the advertising areas in the first layer that overlap the advertising zones in the second layer.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said advertising areas are based on accessibility.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein said advertising areas are based driving distances from defined locations.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein said advertising areas are based driving times from defined locations.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein said advertising areas are formed dynamically.

10. A geographic database stored on a computer-readable medium comprising:

road segment data that represent road segments located in a geographic region; and

advertising zone data that indicate which of a plurality of advertising zones into which the geographic region is divided the road segments are located in,

wherein said advertising zones define a hierarchy including at least a first layer and a second layer, and further,

wherein at least some of the advertising zones in said first layer overlap some of the advertising zones in said second layer,

wherein at least some of said advertising zones are associated with advertising messages,

wherein said advertising messages are stored in said database.

11. The invention of claim 10 wherein said geographic database further comprises:

an index that references advertising zones that encompass other advertising zones.

12. The invention of claim 10 wherein said geographic database is installed in a standalone navigation system.

13. The invention of claim 10 wherein said geographic database is installed on a navigation services server from which end users'"'"' computing platforms obtain geographically-related services.

14. The invention of claim 10 wherein said advertising zone data includes an indication of which of a plurality of layers of advertising zones, a particular advertising zone is located in.