Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2003-02-25
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S457000, C342S450000, C342S457000, C701S208000, C340S995190
Reexamination Certificate
active
06526284
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of data communications, and in particular to the provision of information to a portable or other mobile device such as a mobile telephone, a lap-top or palm-sized data processing device, a data processing system integrated within a vehicle, or any other mobile receiver device.
BACKGROUND
Currently, solutions for providing information for route planning and associated tourist guides are delivered as static databases to work with an application (e.g. Microsoft AutoMap), usually on a CD-ROM. The main disadvantages of such solutions are that the finite space of the storage medium restricts the scale of the information and, being static, the information is inherently dated. The storage capacity issue is being worked on by Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. and others, but this and the lack of currency of information remain significant issues especially for supplementary data such as hotel guides and services information which is associated with a map.
Alternative solutions which provide a dynamic solution are typically based on the World Wide Web Internet service. Since the information held on a Web server computer can be updated whenever appropriate, it is possible to ensure that the information accessed by end users via their Web Browsers is current. However, such solutions require the user to either download the pertinent information to their laptop or other portable device before leaving on a journey, or having to browse the information over an expensive dialup service to the Internet during the journey.
UK patent application GB-A-2195868 proposed an alternative solution in which a plurality of transmitters, located in different regions and broadcasting on different frequencies, each broadcast map information relating to their respective regions. Portable receivers are able to receive broadcasts from any of the transmitters and are able to display a map generated from the broadcast information.
Significant problems with the solution suggested in GB-A-2195868, and with many other dynamic solutions, include the problems inherent in currently available wireless communications of potential failures to receive a complete transmission. Such failures may occur for example because the mobile device is temporarily shielded during receipt of a transmission, such as when a user drives into a tunnel, or because the mobile device moves out of the range of the transmitter during receipt of a transmission. Also, the mobile device may be switched off during receipt of a transmission. These problems are emphasized by the typically large amount of geographic information which has to be successfully transmitted in order to give reasonable map detail, since this is relevant to both the likelihood of a failure before transfer is complete and the time required for retransmission.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has announced development of a map processing technology which automatically processes maps into a simplified form before they are transmitted to a PDA. The simplified maps have a reduced data size compared with the original maps and so can be transmitted more quickly as well as being easier to read on PDA screens. Although such a solution increases the likelihood of map data being transferred before a communication failure occurs and reduces the transfer time, the Matsushita map reduction solution does not solve the problems of communication failures which occur during a data transfer.
Additional disclosures of map broadcasting solutions which suffer from the above-described problems of communication failures can be found in Japanese patent application JP6229768 (which describes FM broadcasting of map data and uses a position detector, superimposing the vehicle position on a map image generated from the broadcast data) and JP8201085 (which describes a navigation system implementing a method for reducing the requirement for switching of FM broadcasting stations by selecting an optimal FM broadcasting station for a recommended route to a destination). Additionally, French patent application FR2742565 discloses data being broadcast by digital radio and then being filtered on receipt to extract information relevant to the current zone in which a vehicle is located.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for broadcast of geographic information to mobile devices, in which the information is organised for transmission as a plurality of data elements which each relate to and include an identification of a particular segment or region of a map. Positions on the map can be defined with reference to segments or regions. For the purposes of data transmission, the data elements are treated as independent of each other.
“Geographic information” in this context includes map and route information and any information which has a geographic relevance such as weather, traffic and local services information.
The data elements each include a map reference which is sufficient to uniquely locate them in a map. This independent self-identification of map location within each data element ensures that the data elements can be transmitted and received independently of each other and received elements can then be processed at the mobile device to build up a meaningful representation of received geographic information even if one or more of the transmitted data elements is not received. Thus, the present invention is more robust than an “all or nothing” approach to broadcasting of geographic information.
With independence between data elements during transmission, there is no constraint on the order in which data elements are received. A preferred embodiment of the invention broadcasts the geographic data as a data carousel, with each data element being retransmitted periodically (i.e. similar to broadcast of TeleText information). This supports filling in of gaps in a map. Geographic information within a data element for which receipt initially fails but which is successfully received on retransmission can be inserted into the appropriate place in the map.
In a first aspect, the invention provides a method of distribution of geographic information to mobile devices via a wireless communications network, the method including: generating a plurality of data elements to contain the geographic information, each data element relating to and including an identifier of a specific single segment of a segmented map; and broadcasting the data elements via the wireless communications network for receipt by the mobile devices.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a data processing system for generation of data elements containing geographic information, for distribution to mobile devices, the data processing system including a data processing component for separating input geographic information into data components which are each related to a single segment of a map, in accordance with a defined map segmentation, and combining one or more of the data components related to a specific map segment with an identifier of the specific map segment to create a data element.
In a third aspect, the invention provides a wireless data communications network for transmission of geographic information from a first data processing system to mobile devices, the network comprising: a first data processing system including means for generating a plurality of data elements to contain the geographic information, each data element relating to and including an identifier of a specific single segment of a segmented map, and means for distributing the data elements via the network to a plurality of geographically distributed transmitters; and a plurality of transmitters for broadcasting the data elements via wireless communications for receipt by the mobile devices.
In a fourth aspect, the invention provides a mobile data communication and data processing device including: a receiver for receiving wireless broadcast transmissions including receiving data elements which each include geographic information related to a specific sing
Sharp Christopher Edward
Stanford-Clark Andrew James
Duffield Edward H.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Nguyen Lee
LandOfFree
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