Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation – Employing position determining equipment
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-20
2002-08-13
Zanelli, Michael J. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
Employing position determining equipment
C701S211000, C340S995190
Reexamination Certificate
active
06434481
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of displaying sections of a digital map database, which are pictures or images of real geographic areas, the digital map database containing data regarding respective geographic elements. The present invention also relates to a digital map database, which is a representation of real geographic areas and which contains data regarding geographic formations and respective attributes for corresponding geographic elements. The present invention also relates to an operating unit of a navigation system with a display device for displaying sections of a digital map database, which are pictures or images of real geographic areas. The present invention relates further to a navigation system for a vehicle, especially a motor vehicle, with a navigation module, which makes a digital map database available, and with an operating unit connected with the navigation module, which has a display device for display of sections of the digital map database, especially for performing the above-mentioned process. In addition, the invention relates to an interface between a digital map database, which is a representation of real geographic areas and contains data of geographic elements, and to a display device for displaying sections of the digital map database.
2. Prior Art
Permanently installed navigation systems guide an operator of a vehicle, especially a motor vehicle, aircraft or ship, rapidly, simply and reliably to a desired destination, without requiring the operator to acquire and study map materials and arduously plan a route. For that purpose suitable navigation data, for example based on chart data, land map data or street map data, is available in the navigation system, for example, stored on CD-ROM as a digital map database. The navigation system uses, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System) to ascertain its present location in order to calculate navigation advisory messages, which guide the operator to his or her destination. The navigation data includes, for example, data regarding streets and roads for a motor vehicle as well as geographic information, such as data regarding mountains, oceans, woods, cultivated regions, buildings or other topographic elements, or additional information, e.g. such as data regarding restaurants, hotels, worthy sites or the like.
The digital map database is essentially a representation of a real street network and a suitable geographic region. This information from the digital map database is displayed on a display device in an operating unit in order to inform the operator. The number of geographic features and the degree of detail appearing in the display is selected differently to obtain an easy-to-read, clear display in different situations. For example, only major highways are shown on an overview map. Residential street maps should contain details up to residential buildings. The selection of the map features to be displayed substantially effects the readability and visibility of map sections displayed on the basis of a digital map database. This selection of features for display is especially important for maps displayed in a vehicle, since an operator of the vehicle must be able to ascertain all required information for route guidance with as brief as possible a glance at the display device. The map display significantly cannot be set up according to a generally established rule, but a relative importance should be assigned to the different displayed elements. For example, an overview map of the Ruhr region may significantly contain only expressways or major highways. A map of Arizona in the same scale could also contain, in contrast, comparatively smaller roads.
In navigation systems for a motor vehicle it is significant that the navigation module, which accesses the digital map database is separate from the display device and is also displayed separately. Thus the navigation module requires a predetermined interface for accessing the digital map database. This interface must permit setting up a digital map in different scales on the display device that has sufficient clarity.
The interfaces for navigation systems are, for example, made by NAVTECH or ETAK Inc.. These interfaces provide access to the physical memory format of the digital map database. Generally different types of digital map databases are used in different vehicles. Furthermore access conflicts can occur during access by the navigation module, for example for internal route computation, and operating unit processing, for example for production of a display of sections of the digital map database on the display unit. Furthermore the elements contained in the digital map database are described as “direct”, i.e. a highway or expressway is described as a street of the class “motorway” with a number. However it has been shown that standardization and agreement regarding classification of map elements is possible only to a very unsatisfactory degree which is unsuitable for display purposes.
It is not possible to perform an optimized pre-calculation of the important displayed elements for the respective display screen sections in the digital map database for every possible zoom stage and every possible display. Thus the operating unit must include means for deciding which elements should be shown and which elements should be suppressed during production of the display. The possible overlap of the displayed elements is an additional difficulty, which can occur, for example, with an island in an ocean. Also the relative overlap must be detected in the interface. Furthermore height or elevation information is generally not contained in the digital map database of a vehicular navigation system.
With the standard “direct” or absolute coded digital map according to the state of the art it is disadvantageous that the thinning out algorithms computed in the display device are operational only with certain physical data formats known in detail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for displaying sections of a digital map database in a navigation system in a vehicle, which does not have the above-described disadvantages and which dynamically adjusts the display of the sections of the digital map database, i.e. to the respective actual requirements.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved navigation system with an improved operating unit for performing the improved method of displaying sections of a digital map database, which does not have the above-described disadvantages and which dynamically adjusts the display of the sections of the digital map database.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved interface of the above-described type and an improved operating unit of the above-described type of the navigation system for performing the improved method.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an improved digital map database for the improved method of displaying predetermined sections of the database in a navigation system in a vehicle, which does not have the above-described disadvantages and which dynamically adjusts the display of the sections of the digital map database.
According to one aspect of the present invention the method of displaying a predetermined section of the digital map database, which represents a real geographic area, on a display device, the digital map data based containing map data representing geographic elements, includes
a) selecting respective geographic elements for display according to the predetermined section of the digital map database to be displayed; and
b) determining whether the respective geographic elements selected in step a) are associated with corresponding display-priority-determining attributes; and
c) evaluating the display-priority-determining attributes of the respective geographic elements having the display-priority-determining attributes in the predetermined section to determine whether they should be act
Binnewies Olaf
Fabian Thomas
Hessing Bernd
Jung Thomas
Nordsiek Walter
Robert & Bosch GmbH
Striker Michael J.
Zanelli Michael J.
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