Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation – Employing position determining equipment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-07
2002-09-24
Camby, Richard M. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
Employing position determining equipment
C701S213000, C701S208000, C701S025000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06456930
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technology for obtaining information concerning guidance such as routes by using the description of Markup Language. More particularly, this invention relates to a technology that is applied to a car navigation system, a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a mobile telephone terminal (PDC (Personal Digital Cellular)), a PHS terminal (Personal Handyphone System), etc., and utilized for supplying various route information and additional information, such as road guidance, tourism guidance, distribution plans, tour plans, trafficcontrol, scheduling, entertainments and local government services, through a network and electronic media.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, along with the remarkable development of mobile terminals such as the car navigation system and PDA, it has become possible to obtain various information without any limitation in locations. However, problems have arisen as the saturation level of mobile terminals has increased. For example, the network load increases and the processing load increases in the information supplying service device because of an increase in the amount of traffic. For this reason, there have been strong demands for means and methods for effectively solve the above-mentioned problems.
FIG. 56
is a block diagram that shows a conventional guide information supplying system
10
. For example, this guide information supplying system
10
searches for a current position of a guide information requesting device
60
that is installed in a car which is running. When this car has reached a target position (for example, an interchange of an express way or a tourist point), guide information related to the target position (for example, traffic information, tourism information) is supplied to the guide information requesting device
60
.
The guide information supplying device
20
is provided with a searching function for searching for the current position of the car in which the guide information requesting device
60
is installed, a matching function for making a matching between the current position informed from the guide information requesting device
60
every predetermined interval of time and a target position on a route through which the car is traveling, and a guide information supplying function for supplying guide information related to the target position at the time when the matching has been made.
These guide information supplying device
20
and guide information requesting device
60
become communicatable through the Internet
30
, a traveling object network
40
, a radio station
50
and a radio link R. In the guide information supplying device
20
, the communication interface
21
serves as an communication interface for the guide information supplying device
20
.
A control unit
22
controls respective parts of the guide information supplying device
20
so that the above-mentioned searching function, the guide information supplying function, etc. are achieved. The matching processing section
23
achieves the above-mentioned matching functions. A guide information database
24
is a database that stores pieces of guide information that correspond to target positions respectively placed on a plurality of routes. A storage section
25
stores route information, etc., required for the pursuit for the current position. A bus
26
connects the respective parts of the guide information supplying device
20
.
The guide information requesting device
60
is, for example, a car navigation system installed in a car, and provided with functions, such as a current position informing function for informing the guide information supplying device
20
of the current position that changes with time in traveling every predetermined interval of time and a guide information presenting function for presenting the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device
20
at the time when the car has reached a target position on one of the routes to the driver, etc.
An antenna
61
is provided with a function that transmits and receives electric waves used for carrying out communications with the radio station
50
through the radio link R. The communication interface
62
serves as communication interface to an external device. A control unit
63
controls the respective parts of the guide information requesting device
60
so that the above-mentioned current position informing function, the guide information presenting function, etc. are achieved.
A current position information acquiring section
64
utilizes the GPS (Global Positioning System) so that it acquires the current position information related to the current position represented by the latitude/longitude every fixed interval of time. The GPS, which is an electric wave navigation system developed in the United States, is a system for carrying out three-dimensional measurements, that is, latitude, longitude and altitude, by using not less than four satellites for a positional measurement at one time.
Among the three-dimensional measurements, latitude, longitude, and altitude, the current position information acquiring section
64
uses the information of latitude and longitude as the current position information. A display section
65
is constituted by a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), etc., so that it displays guide information, map information, etc. A bus
66
connects the respective parts of the guide information request device
60
.
In the above-mentioned arrangement, if a car travels from a start point to an end point through a certain route, the control unit
63
of the guide information requesting device
60
transmits the current position information from the current position information acquiring section
64
every fixed interval of time. Thus, the current position information is received by the guide information supplying device
20
through the radio link R, the radio station
50
, the traveling body network
40
and the Internet
30
every fixed interval of time.
Based upon the current position information successively received every fixed interval of time, the control unit
22
of the guide information supplying device
20
pursues for the car in which the guide information requesting device
60
is installed. Moreover, the matching section
23
makes a matching between the current position of the car and the target position within the guide information database
24
so that it monitors whether or not the two positions are coincident with each other within a predetermined range of error.
When the car has arrived at the target position on the route (for example, an interchange in an express way), a matching is made between the current position and the target position. For such matching, the control unit
22
acquires guide information related to the target position (for example, traffic information) from the guide information database
24
. The control unit
22
transmits the guide information to the guide information requesting device
60
.
The guide information is received by the guide information requesting device
60
through the Internet
30
, the traveling object network
40
, the radio station
50
and the radio link R. Thus, the control unit
63
allows the display section
65
to display the traffic information as guide information.
FIG. 57
is a block diagram that shows an arrangement of a guide information supplying system
70
that shows another conventional structural example. In this figure, those parts corresponding to the respective parts shown in
FIG. 56
are indicated by the same reference numerals.
In this guide information supplying system
70
, for example, to a guide information requesting device
90
installed in a car in travel is preliminarily downloaded a guide information database
83
that stores guide information respectively related to a plurality of target positions located on a plurality of routes from a guide information supplying device
80
, and when there is a match between the current position and the target position on the guide info
Maeda Yoshiharu
Naito Hirohisa
Takayama Kuniharu
Camby Richard M.
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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