Direction list

• US 9,170,122 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Moore, Bradford A., Lopatin, Scott, van Os, Marcel, Lee, Woo-Ram
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAIGE, TYLER D
• Application Number:
  US14/056,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20140365118A1
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• Field of Search: 701/491, 345/661
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3632 Guidance using simplified or iconic instructions, e.g. using arrows G01C21/365 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position

Abstract

A mobile device that displays a list of traveling maneuvers or driving directions according to a route from a start location to a destination location is provided. The displayed list of driving directions includes a series of graphical items that each corresponds to a maneuver in the route. The displayed list of driving directions is updated dynamically according to the current position of the mobile device. Each maneuver actually taken or traveled causes the mobile device to display the item that corresponds to the taken maneuver differently. After a number of maneuvers have been taken, the graphical items that correspond to the taken maneuvers are removed from display and new maneuvers are brought into view.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a set of processing units; and

a machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one of the processing units, the program comprising;

a positioning module for providing a physical position of the mobile device;

a routing module for generating a list of directions for traveling on a route comprising a plurality of maneuvers from a starting location to an ending location; and

a display module for (i) displaying the list of directions as a plurality of graphical items, each graphical item representing a maneuver in the route, (ii) changing an appearance of a graphical item when the physical position of the mobile device indicates that a maneuver represented by the graphical item has completed, and (iii) maintaining the graphical item in display with its changed appearance for a predetermined period of time after the maneuver is executed before scrolling the list of directions.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of maneuvers comprises one or more notifications for traffic turns and one notification for the ending location.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein a maneuver is a movement that a carrier of the mobile device is required to perform in order to continue traveling on the route.

4. The mobile device claim 1, wherein a maneuver is a driving direction.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the physical position of the mobile device is supplied by a global positioning system.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein changing the appearance of the graphical item comprises making the graphical item less conspicuous than other graphical items in the list of directions.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a mobile device, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a list of directions for traveling on a route from a starting location to an ending location, the route partitioned into a plurality of segments, the list of directions comprising a plurality of items representing the plurality of segments;

altering an appearance of an item in the list of directions corresponding to a particular segment of the route when the mobile device is traveling along the particular segment; and

maintaining the item in display with its altered appearance for a predetermined period of time after a maneuver associated with the particular segment is executed before scrolling the list of directions.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein each item in the list of directions displays a length of the segment represented by the item.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the item corresponding to the particular segment includes a distance between a current position of the mobile device and a position of a step that terminates the particular segment.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein each item comprises a traffic maneuver that is required to continue traveling on the route.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the set of instructions for altering the appearance of the item comprises a set of instructions for making the item less conspicuous than other items in the list of directions.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processor of a mobile device, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a list of directions for traveling on a route comprising a plurality of maneuvers from a starting location to an ending location, the list of driving directions comprising a plurality of graphical items, each graphical item representing a maneuver in the route; and

updating the displayed list of directions according to a physical position of the mobile device, wherein said updating comprises;

when the physical position of the mobile device has traveled past a particular maneuver in the route, altering an appearance of a graphical item in the list of directions that corresponds to the particular maneuver; and

removing the graphical item that corresponds to the particular maneuver from the list of directions after the graphical item with the altered appearance has remained in display for a predetermined period of time after the particular maneuver is executed.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for updating the displayed list of directions further comprises a set of instructions for adding new graphical items to the list of directions to represent maneuvers in the route that were not previously displayed as part of the list of directions.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for updating the displayed list of directions is animated such that the removed graphical items disappear gradually from display and the added graphical items appear gradually into display.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions for altering the appearance of the graphical item comprises a set of instructions for making the graphical item less conspicuous than other graphical items in the plurality of graphical items.

16. A method comprising:

displaying, at a mobile device, a list of directions for traveling on a route comprising a plurality of maneuvers from a starting location to an ending location, the list of directions comprising a plurality of graphical items representing the plurality of maneuvers;

changing an appearance of a graphical item when the physical position of the mobile device indicates that a maneuver represented by the graphical item has completed; and

maintaining the graphical item with its changed appearance in display for a predetermined period of time after the maneuver is executed before scrolling the list of directions.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of maneuvers comprises one or more notifications for traffic turns and one notification for the ending location.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a maneuver is a movement that a traveler carrying the mobile device is required to perform in order to continue traveling on the route.

19. The method claim 16, wherein a maneuver is a driving direction.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the physical position of the mobile device is supplied by a global positioning system.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein changing the appearance of the graphical item comprises making the graphical item less conspicuous than other graphical items in the list of directions.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile device is performing a navigation operation based on the list of directions.