Navigation apparatus and method for searching for point of interest using the same

• US 7,546,202 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2006
• Issued: 06/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Oh, Jun-Suk
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US11/365,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20060200304A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/209, 701/201, 701/211, 701/210, 701/207, 340/995.19, 340/995.23, 340/995.24
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

Searching for a Point of Interest (POI) in a navigation apparatus includes accessing a preset driving route that includes a group of route points. A POI is associated with each route point in the group. The associated POIs are stored in a first storing unit. A current position of a moving object is determined. After storing the associated POIs, a current route point corresponding to the current position of the moving object is selected from among the group of route points. The POI associated with the current route point is accessed from storage, and information associated with the POI associated with the current route point is accessed from storage and outputted.

Claims

1. A navigation apparatus comprising:

a control unit configured to;

access a preset driving route including a group of consecutive route points that begin at a start route point and end at a destination route point,

for each route point in the group of consecutive route points, identify a POI that is nearest to the route point and store the identified POI in association with the route point in a first storing unit,

determine a current position of a moving object,

after storing the identified POIs, select a current route point corresponding to the current position from among the group of route points,

select, based on the current route point, the POI stored in the first storing unit that was identified as being nearest to the current route point, and

access information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point;

the first storing unit configured to store the identified POIs, and

an output unit configured to output the accessed information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output unit being configured to output the information comprises the output unit being configured to enable a user to perceive the information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the current position of the moving object by:

accessing position information for the moving object, and

determining the current position based on the position information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a second storing unit configured to store a map database; and

a first input unit configured to enable an entity to input a destination point corresponding to the destination route point and a start point corresponding to the start route point,

wherein the control unit is further configured to select the preset driving route from among a plurality of driving routes between the start point and the destination point based on information stored in the map database.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a second storing unit configured to store a POI database; and

a first input unit configured to enable a user to input at least one search term for searching POIs,

wherein the control unit being configured to associate the POIs with each route point on the preset driving route includes the control unit being configured to search the POI database based on the at least one search term.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second storing unit configured to store data that associates each identified POI with each route point in the group.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit is additionally configured to identify one of the route points in the group of route points as a boundary point,

wherein the boundary point is a point on the preset driving route having a characteristic that a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately before the boundary point has a POI nearest thereto that is different from a POI nearest to a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately after the boundary point.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a first input unit configured to enable a user to input a destination point corresponding to the destination route point and a start point corresponding to the start route point,

wherein the control unit is further configured to select the preset driving route from among a plurality of driving routes between the start point and the destination point inputted by the user, and

wherein the control unit being configured to identify, for each route point in the group of route points, a POI nearest to the route point comprises the control unit being configured to;

identify boundary points along the preset driving route, each of the boundary points being a point on the driving route having a characteristic that a route point of the preset driving route positioned immediately before the boundary point has a POI nearest thereto that is different from a POI nearest to a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately after the boundary point,

divide the preset driving route into a plurality of route sections using the boundary points, each of the route sections consisting of a subset of consecutive route points of the preset driving route that is either positioned between two boundary points, positioned between the start route point and a boundary point, or positioned between a boundary point and the destination route point,

determine, for each route section, a POI nearest thereto, and

for each route point in each route section, identify the POI nearest to the route point as being the POI determined to be nearest to the route section that includes the route point.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the output unit, under control of the control unit, is configured to output information related to a change from the POI associated with the route point positioned immediately before the boundary point to the POI associated with the route point positioned immediately after the boundary point,

wherein the information relating to the change is output when the current route point is the determined boundary point, and

wherein the information comprises audio data, text, or image data.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output unit is configured to output audio data, text, or image data.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the output unit, under control of the control unit, is configured to output distance information from the current position of the moving object to a location of the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an input unit configured to enable a user to select a POI from among the identified POIs,

wherein the output unit, under control of the control unit, is further configured to output information associated with the user-selected POI.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user-selected POI is a POI other than the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the output unit, under control of the control unit, is further configured to output route guidance information from the current position of the moving object to the user-selected POI.

6. The apparatus of claim I, further comprising:

a position information receiving unit configured to receive position information associated with the moving object,

wherein the control unit is configured to determine the current position of the moving object based on the position information received by the position information receiving unit.

16. A method for searching for a Point of Interest (POI) in a navigation apparatus, the method including:

accessing a preset driving route including a group of consecutive route points that begin at a start route point and end at a destination route point,

for each route point in the group of consecutive route points, identifying a POI that is nearest to the route point and storing the identified POI in association with the route point in a first storing unit,

determining a current position of a moving object,

after storing the identified POIs, selecting a current route point corresponding to the current position from among the group of route points,

selecting, based on the current route point the POI stored in the first storing unit that was identified as being nearest to the current route point, and

accessing information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point; and

outputting the accessed information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein outputting the information comprises enabling a user to perceive the information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the start route point and the destination route point were inputted by a user of the navigation apparatus to request driving instructions.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying a POI that is nearest to each route point includes searching a POI database based on at least one search term inputted by a user.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising identifying one of the route points in the group of route points as a boundary point,

wherein the boundary point is a point on the preset driving route having a characteristic that a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately before the boundary point has a POI nearest thereto that is different from a POI nearest to a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately after the boundary point.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

enabling a user to input a destination point corresponding to the destination route point and a start point corresponding to the start route point, and

selecting the preset driving route from among a plurality of driving routes between the start point and the destination point inputted by the user,

wherein identifying, for each route point in the group of route points, a POI nearest to the route point comprises;

identifying boundary points along the preset driving route, each of the boundary points being a point on the driving route haying a characteristic that a route point of the preset driving route positioned immediately before the boundary point has a POI nearest thereto that is different from a POI nearest to a route point of the preset driving route that is positioned immediately after the boundary point,

dividing the preset driving route into a plurality of route sections using the boundary points, each of the route sections consisting of a subset of consecutive route points of the preset driving route that is either positioned between two boundary points, positioned between the start route point and a boundary point, or positioned between a boundary point and the destination route point,

determining, for each route section. a POI nearest thereto, and

for each route point in each route section, identifying the POI nearest to the route point as being the POI determined to be nearest to the route section that includes the route point.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein outputting information includes outputting information related to a change from the POI associated with the route point positioned immediately before the boundary point to the POI associated with the route point positioned immediately after the boundary point,

wherein the information relating to the change is output when the current route point is the determined boundary point, and

wherein the information comprises audio data, text, or image data.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein outputting information includes outputting audio data, text, or image data.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the outputting information includes outputting distance information from the current position of the moving object to a location of the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

enabling a user to select a POI from among the identified POIs,

wherein outputting information includes outputting information associated with the user-selected POI.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the user-selected POI is a POI other than the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein outputting the information includes outputting route guidance information from the current position of the moving object to the user-selected POI.

28. An apparatus for searching for a Point of Interest (POI) in a navigation apparatus, the apparatus including:

means for accessing a preset driving route including a group of consecutive route points that begin at a start route point and end at a destination route point,

means for identifying, for each route point in the group of consecutive route points, a POI that is nearest to the route point and storing the identified POI in association with the route point in a first storing unit,

means for determining a current position of a moving object,

means for selecting a current route point corresponding to the current position from among the group of route points after storing the identified POIs,

means for selecting, based on the current route point, the POI stored in the first storing unit that was identified as being nearest to the current route point, and

means for accessing information associated wit the POI identified as being nearest to the current route point; and

means for outputting the accessed information associated with the POI identified as being nearest to current route point.