29995results about "Instruments for road network navigation" patented technology

An Integrated Routing / Mapping Information System (IRMIS) links desktop personal computer cartographic applications to one or more handheld organizer, personal digital assistant (PDA) or "palmtop" devices. Such devices may be optionally equipped with, or connected to, portable Global Positioning System (GPS) or equivalent position sensing device. Desktop application facilitates user selection of areas, starts, stops, destinations, maps and / or point and / or route information. It optionally includes supplemental online information, preferably for transfer to the PDA or equivalent device. Users' options include route information, area, and route maps. Maps and related route information are configured with differential detail and levels of magnitude. Used in the field, in conjunction with GPS receiver, the PDA device is configured to display directions, text and map formats, the user's current position, heading, speed, elevation, and so forth. Audible signals identifying the next turn along the user's planned route are also provided. The user can pan across maps and zoom between two or more map scales, levels of detail, or magnitudes. The IRMIS also provides for "automatic zooming," e.g., to show greater detail or closer detail as the user approaches a destination, or to larger scale and lower resolution to show the user's overall planned route between points of interest. The IRMIS also enables the user to mark or record specific locations and / or log actual travel routes, using GPS position information. These annotated location marks and / or "breadcrumb" or GPS log data can be saved, uploaded, displayed, or otherwise processed on the user's desktop geographic information or cartographic system. The IRMIS application and data may be distributed online and / or in tangible media in limited and advanced manipulation formats.

Method and system for obtaining information about objects in the environment outside of and around a vehicle and preventing collisions involving the vehicle includes directing a laser beam from the vehicle into the environment, receiving from an object in the path of the laser beam a reflection of the laser beam at a location on the vehicle, and analyzing the received laser beam reflections to obtain information about the object from which the laser beam is being reflected. Analysis of the laser beam reflections preferably entails range gating the received laser beam reflections to limit analysis of the received laser beam reflections to only those received from an object within a defined (distance) range such that objects at distances within the range are isolated from surrounding objects.

Mobile systems and methods that overcomes the deficiencies of prior art speech-based interfaces for telematics applications through the use of a complete speech-based information query, retrieval, presentation and local or remote command environment. This environment makes significant use of context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for one or more users making queries or commands in multiple domains. Through this integrated approach, a complete speech-based natural language query and response environment can be created. The invention creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. The invention may organize domain specific behavior and information into agents, that are distributable or updateable over a wide area network. The invention can be used in dynamic environments such as those of mobile vehicles to control and communicate with both vehicle systems and remote systems and devices.

A location-based and preference-based system and method for matching the profiles of the attributes and / or characteristics of persons, places and / or things with the expressed preferences of mobile users such as travelers, to alert and direct such users to any places having attributes matching the user's express preferences. In particular, the system comprises a mobile device such as a GPS-capable PDA that stores the user's preferences and communicates with a server that contains or accesses the profiles of the persons, places or things to compare the profiles and preferences. Comparison of the user's preferences with the various profiles allows the user only to be informed of those persons, places and / or things that it is likely to be interested in. The system and method thus provides for a mobile real-time point of interest exchange network.

System and methods for determining and disseminating current traffic information and / or route information are presented. For example, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, traffic condition information is collected from mobile units that provide their location or position information. The traffic condition may be determined, for example, based on the difference between the velocity of each mobile unit and the speed limit corresponding to their location. Furthermore, the fastest routes between two locations may be determined and provided based on historical and / or current conditions and provided to a mobile unit. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, route information may be utilized to determine whether a mobile unit (e.g., associated with a vehicle) is allowed or prohibited from traveling along a certain route.

A system and method for creating a unified commercial real estate data model through collection, distribution and use of information in connection with commercial real estate and for creating a web-based marketplace that facilitates the efficient and secure buying and selling of commercial properties. The invention provides a digital marketplace in which the members of the commercial real estate and related business community can continuously interact and facilitate transactions by efficiently exchanging accurate and standardized information. The present invention also facilitates mortgage lending and provides enough information to allow lenders to underwrite a property. The present invention also provides a mobile data gathering and dissemination vehicle as well as a system tracking and dispatch of mobile vehicles. The present invention further provides correlation of data stored in a remote location to vehicle position in real time.

A system and method for searching and retrieving location information associated with one or more points of interests, whereby the search criteria can be dependent upon the location of a point of interest with respect to the the real-time position of the user, and any preferences or search restrictions selected by the user, such as rating information about the point of interest. Upon selecting a point of interest from the search result, the user is then given further information regarding the selected point of interest, including but not limited to directions for traveling to the point of interest. Additionally, preferred embodiments of the present invention can provide to the user a proximity notification once the user is within a certain distance from the point interest. Finally, while at a point of interest, the user can provide to the system information regarding the point of interest, such as rating of the food of a restaurant, without having to specifically identify the point of interest as the system can self-identify the point of interest by using the position information of the user.

Methods and systems are disclosed for a vehicle status reporting system for allowing a user to define when a user will receive a vehicle status report about the status of a mobile vehicle, in relation to a location, for establishing a communication link between the system and the user, and for delivering the status report during the communication link, the status report indicating occurrence of one or more events.

A navigation system has a display screen which can be divided into a plurality of windows for simultaneously displaying different classifications of routes in the same scale, or different routes from a present position or starting point to a destination or return to a route from which a car has deviated.

In an en-route navigation system such as for a vehicle, an image of a cable is presented as a navigation object in a head-up display to indicate a route that the vehicle should follow. In particular embodiments the cable appears to an observer to be a real cable existing in the landscape and extending higher than the head of the observer as would, for example, a trolley cable. The cable is illustratively displayed volumetrically and with an optic flow that is consistent with the optic flow of the landscape when the vehicle is moving, thereby creating the impression that it is real. As a result, the cable can be displayed without any accompanying images that correlate points on the cable with locations in the landscape and yet nonetheless serve as a very useful tool for indicating to a driver the route over which the vehicle should go. The cable may be in any of a number of forms including a continuous line, a line with non-closely-spaced gaps, a line having non-closely-spaced segments that have a different luminance from the rest of the line or a string of closely-spaced objects.