Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation – Employing position determining equipment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-23
2003-10-14
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
Employing position determining equipment
C701S210000, C701S025000, C701S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06633812
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for manipulating source data to determine a route from a predetermined starting point to a predetermined destination for a means of conveyance, in particular for a motor vehicle, airplane, or ship, based on a digital database that includes predetermined route segments k
i
with correspondingly assigned nodes n
i
that interconnect predetermined route segments k
i
, where respective weights g
i
are assigned to the route segments k
i
and/or the nodes n
i
.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Navigation systems, such as those based on GPS (Global Positioning System), help the driver of a means of conveyance to navigate a route to a predetermined destination. The navigation system selects an optimum path, i.e., route, at least on the basis of starting and destination coordinates and a corresponding digital database that is largely a representation of the real road grid. However, when a navigation system determines routes autonomously, existing navigation systems are partly or entirely unable to take into account real traffic events, such as traffic jams in a specific route segment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of the type mentioned in the preamble which eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages and suitably converts the effects of such traffic events in a real traffic situation to a digital map.
According to the present invention, this is accomplished in that weights g
i
are varied, as a function of external events, before a route finding algorithm determines the route.
The advantage of this is that, particularly when determining an optimum route using a route finding algorithm, the alternative routes obtained after manipulating the existing digital map pay particularly close attention to the underlying, real traffic situation.
To achieve optimum routing, the route finding algorithm determines the route in a way that minimizes the sum of weights g
i
.
In one preferred embodiment of the method, weight g
i
is a length l
i
of a route segment k
i
, a travel time t
ki
of a route segment k
i
, and/or a waiting time t
ni
at a node n
i
. A node can be, for example, a border crossing or a tollgate, and the waiting time refers to the respective processing time.
A data source suitably supplies data to vary weights g
i
that are processed in a data sink. The data source can be, for example, a traffic report receiver, an event data bank, and/or a data bank for mapping traffic reports to the database, and the data sink can be, for example, a traffic report data-processing software program in a navigation computer of the navigation system.
To vary the weights according to events, the external events are classified for predetermined weight variations by the data source and/or the data sink.
In one preferred embodiment, weight g
i
is a travel time t
ki
of route segment k
i
, where a varied weight t
ki
new
is obtained according to the following equation:
t
k
i
new
=
l
k
i
V
(
k
i
)
·
100
Δ
V
c
,
where V(k
i
) is an assumed velocity for route segment k
i
, and DV
c
is a variation in route segment velocity caused by an external event.
In an alternative, preferred embodiment, weight g
i
is a travel time t
ki
of route segment k
i
, where the database has a hierarchical layout, and a varied weight t
ki
new
is obtained according to the following equation:
t
k
i
new
=
t
k
i
new
(
1
)
-
t
k
i
new
(
2
)
=
(
l
k
i
V
(
k
i
)
·
100
Δ
V
c
·
Δ
l
levelj
100
)
+
(
l
k
i
V
(
k
i
)
·
(
1
-
Δ
l
levelj
100
)
)
where V(k
i
) is an assumed velocity for route segment k
i
, DV
c
is a variation in route segment velocity caused by an external event, and D|
Level j
is the length percentage of overall edge length designating the proportionate manipulation on a generalization level j of the hierarchical database.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4937753 (1990-06-01), Yamada
patent: 5561790 (1996-10-01), Fusaro
patent: 5845228 (1998-12-01), Uekawa et al.
patent: 6192312 (2001-02-01), Hummelsheim
patent: 6230099 (2001-05-01), Fabian
patent: 6385531 (2002-05-01), Bates et al.
patent: 0 702 210 (1996-03-01), None
patent: 0782 120 (1997-07-01), None
Martin Jan
Walkling Uwe
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Hernandez Olga
Kenyon & Kenyon
Robert & Bosch GmbH
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