Navigation system for determining a route to a destination

• US 7,925,435 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2005
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Brülle-Drews, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATTON, SPENCER D
• Application Number:
  US11/122,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20060178821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,169 Days
• Field of Search: 701/200, 701/201, 701/202, 701/204, 701/206, 701/207, 701/208, 701/209, 701/213, 340/988, 340/995.1, 340/995.11, 340/995.12, 340/995.19, 340/995.2, 340/995.21, 340/995.23
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3688 Systems comprising multiple parts or multiple output devices (not client-server), e.g. detachable faceplates, key fobs or multiple output screens
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map

Abstract

A pedestrian route navigation system (“PRNS”) in a vehicle capable of determining a route from a final parking position of the vehicle to a predetermined destination, comprising a final parking position unit and a pedestrian route calculation unit. The PRNS may include a display unit capable of outputting data concerning the route to the predetermined destination, and a transmitting/receiving unit capable of transmitting the data to a mobile information unit of the user of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A pedestrian route navigation system (“

PRNS”

) in a vehicle for determining a pedestrian route from a final parked position of the vehicle to a predetermined destination, the navigation system comprising;

a final parking position unit configured to determine the arrival of the vehicle at the final parked position;

a pedestrian route calculation unit configured to determine the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination;

a control unit in signal communication with the final parking position unit and the pedestrian route calculation unit, where the control unit is configured to derive data describing the pedestrian route; and

a disabling/enabling unit in signal communication with the control unit, where the disabling/enabling unit is configured to check at least one criterion relating to the data describing the pedestrian route other than whether or not the pedestrian route exists, and configured to enable outputting of the data describing the pedestrian route when the criterion is satisfied and to disable outputting of the data when the criterion is not satisfied, where the criterion includes a determination that a structure in which the final parking position is located has more than one exit.

2. The PRNS of claim 1, further including a database in signal communication with the final parking position unit and the pedestrian route calculation unit, where the database comprises vehicle roadmap data and pedestrian roadmap data.

3. The PRNS of claim 2, where the database further comprises line tables data.

4. The PRNS of claim 1, further including a display unit in signal communication with the control unit, where the display unit is configured to provide the data describing the pedestrian route to a user of the vehicle.

5. The PRNS of claim 4, where the display unit comprises a visual display unit in the vehicle.

6. The PRNS of claim 4, where the display unit comprises audio loudspeakers in the vehicle.

7. The PRNS of claim 1, where the disabling/enabling unit is in signal communication with a switch in the vehicle, the switch having a first position corresponding to disabling the outputting of the described data and a second position corresponding to enabling the outputting of the described data, where the disabling/enabling unit is selectively disabled and enabled in response to manual switching of the switch by the user of the vehicle.

8. The PRNS of claim 1, further including a transmitting/receiving unit in signal communication with the control unit, where the transmitting/receiving unit is for transmitting the data describing the pedestrian route from the control unit to a mobile information unit.

9. The PRNS of claim 8, further including a database comprising roadmap data in signal communication with the transmitting/receiving unit, where the transmitting/receiving unit receives the roadmap data from the database.

10. The PRNS of claim 1, where the criterion comprises a determination that a road on which the predetermined destination is located is different than a road on which the final parking position is located.

11. The PRNS of claim 1, where the criterion comprises a determination that the predetermined destination may be reached by walking at a predetermined speed within a predetermined amount of time.

12. The PRNS of claim 1, where the criterion comprises a determination that the predetermined destination is located within a pedestrian area.

13. The PRNS of claim 1, where the data describing the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination comprise an indication of a pedestrian route to the predetermined destination, an indication of the direction to the predetermined destination, an indication of the time it takes to arrive at the predetermined destination, an indication of the distance of the path to the predetermined destination, an indication of a straight line path to the predetermined destination, and an indication of characteristics of the pedestrian route to the predetermined destination.

14. A pedestrian route navigation system (“

PRNS”

) in a vehicle, comprising;

means for detecting a current position of the vehicle;

means for determining a route from the current position to a predetermined destination;

means for detecting whether the vehicle has reached a final parking position;

means for determining a pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination;

means for deriving data describing the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination;

means for outputting the data describing the pedestrian route to the user;

means for determining whether a criterion relating to the data describing the pedestrian route other than whether or not the pedestrian route exists is satisfied, and enabling or disabling said means for outputting data describing the pedestrian route in response to whether the criterion is satisfied, where the criterion includes a determination that a structure in which the final parking position is located has more than one exit.

15. The PRNS of claim 14, further comprising a data base comprising roadmap data, the roadmap data comprising vehicle roadmap data and pedestrian roadmap data.

16. The PRNS of claim 15, where said means for determining the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination determines a pedestrian route using the pedestrian roadmap data.

17. The PRNS of claim 14, where the data describing the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination comprise an indication of a pedestrian route to the predetermined destination, an indication of the direction to the predetermined destination, an indication of the time it takes to arrive at the predetermined destination, an indication of the distance of the path to the predetermined destination, an indication of a straight line path to the predetermined destination, and an indication of characteristics of the pedestrian route to the predetermined destination.

18. The PRNS of claim 14, further comprising a transmitting/receiving unit that transmits the data describing the pedestrian route from the final parking position to the predetermined destination to a mobile information unit of the user of the vehicle.

19. The PRNS of claim 14, where the criterion comprises a determination that a road on which the predetermined destination is located is different than a road on which the final parking position is located.

20. The PRNS of claim 14, where the criterion comprises a determination that the predetermined destination may be reached by walking at a predetermined speed within a predetermined amount of time.

21. The PRNS of claim 14, where the criterion comprises a determination that the predetermined destination is located within a pedestrian area.