125 results about "Personal navigation device" patented technology

A toy and software application accessory extends the distinguishing play experience of a particular toy to a digital play experience on personal digital assistant, personal navigation device, or other electronic device like an iPod or iphone with an accelerometer, speaker, and a touch-sensitive display screen. The software application accessory creates a digital play experience or video game on the electronic device that presents avatars, dialog, and backgrounds that convincingly accessorize the physical toy. Wireless connectivity to a PC and the Internet allows the toy or the electronic device to download updates, modifications, and enhancements to its basic program. New personalities can be downloaded that change the toy play experience, and extend the play life of the toy by introducing new and creative play experiences. A personality accessory kit includes the new personalities, clothes, props, and other matching accessories.

A method of using road signs to augment Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate data for calculating a current position of a personal navigation device includes obtaining recent GPS coordinate data with the personal navigation device, obtaining an image from a camera of the personal navigation device, the image showing areas surrounding a road on which the personal navigation device is traveling, recognizing a sign in the image by performing image processing on the image, and using a known position of the sign to augment the recent GPS coordinate data in order to more precisely determine an actual location of the personal navigation device.

A method of displaying points of interest in a personal navigation device includes displaying a map on a display of the personal navigation device, receiving touch input at a touched position of the display, searching an area within a search radius of the touched position for points of interest, displaying points of interest located in the area within the search radius, wherein the found points of interest are represented by icons connected to their locations on the map with a line extending out from the touched position, spreading out the icons around the touched position to separate the icons from each other, and gradually increasing the search radius to create an enlarged area within the increased search radius and displaying additional icons corresponding to points of interest located in the enlarged area.

Methods and systems of operating a personal navigation device (PND) are disclosed. In particular, the methods and systems allow for the PND to obtain location data for each of one or more destinations from a destination source device over a wireless network link. In one embodiment, the destination source device is a server computer on a network or a mobile communications device (MCD) that is in proximity with the PND.

A method of assisting a user of a personal navigation device with automatically selecting a route after the personal navigation device transitions from driving mode to walking mode includes detecting a mode transition in the personal navigation device from driving mode to walking mode, recording a vehicle location where the mode transition from driving mode to walking mode occurs, receiving a request from the user to create navigation instructions to a destination location, determining a distance from the current location to the destination location, and guiding the user back to the vehicle location by providing walking instructions with the personal navigation device when the distance from the current location to the destination location is greater than or equal to a threshold distance and then guiding the user to the destination location by providing driving instructions with the personal navigation device.

A method of creating an exercise route for a user of a personal navigation device includes receiving a selection of a length of an exercise route to be generated, and generating a first plurality of suggested exercise routes, each suggested exercise route of the first plurality of suggested exercise routes being generated according to a current position of the personal navigation device, one or more waypoints to be visited along the suggested exercise route, and the selected length of the exercise route, wherein each of the first plurality of suggested exercise routes has a starting point and ending point substantially equal to one another and equal to the current position of the personal navigation device. The method further includes receiving, from the user, selection of a selected suggested exercise route from the first plurality of suggested exercise routes, and displaying routing instructions for the selected suggested exercise route.

A method of notifying a user of an appointment at a remote location includes receiving an appointment time and an appointment location inputted into a personal navigation device operated by a user, determining the current location of the personal navigation device, and determining the user's routing preferences when traveling to the appointment location. The method also includes estimating a travel time for the user to travel from the current location to the appointment location when traveling according to the user's routing preferences, determining a notification time based on the estimated travel time and the appointment time, and notifying the user of the appointment at the notification time.

A method of presenting alternate routes to a user of a personal navigation device includes providing navigation instructions for guiding the user on an original route selected by the user, receiving and analyzing dynamic traffic data, determining the presence of a first alternate route according to the dynamic traffic data, the first alternate route potentially requiring a shorter travel time than the original route, and prompting the user with a choice of following the first alternate route, wherein the first alternate route is described using the name of at least one street associated with the first alternate route.

Methods and systems for compensating for gyroscopic errors. A system uses magnetometers to detect and measure a magnetic field local to a personal navigation device. When the local magnetic field is quasi-static, the rate of change of the magnetic field is combined with the rotational rate of change of the device. This generates an estimated gyroscope error. The error can then be used to correct for time-varying inherent gyroscope errors.

A method of displaying points of interest in a personal navigation device includes displaying a map on a display of the personal navigation device, receiving touch input at a touched position of the display, displaying points of interest located near the touched position, wherein the points of interest are represented by icons, each icon being connected to its location on the map with a line extending out from the touched position, and spreading out the icons around the touched position to separate the icons from each other, the spread out icons being displayed in a pattern around the touched position, wherein a length of the line connecting each icon to its location on the map is not directly proportional to a distance from the corresponding point of interest to the touched position.

A method of locating nearby low priced items by utilizing a personal navigation device includes entering a shopping list of items a user wishes to buy through a user interface of the personal navigation device, the personal navigation device searching for each item on the shopping list in a database containing product price data and corresponding location data of stores selling one or more items on the shopping list, and the personal navigation device displaying search results for items on the shopping list that are found in the database, the search results including the price of the items and locations at which corresponding stores are located.

To provide useful information to a user of a personal navigation device (PND) related to their current mode of transportation the PND receives a plurality of satellite navigation signals, utilizes the plurality of satellite navigation signals to determine position of the PND, determines a plurality of data based on the plurality of satellite navigation signals, utilizing the plurality of data as inputs to a statistical model to determine the mode of transportation, determines the information corresponding to the mode of transportation, and displays the information corresponding to the mode of transportation.

A personal navigation device is set out including a display, memory, a processor, a wireless signal receptor and a user input receiver. The memory includes several destination identifiers indicative of a number of recently visited destinations. A database is also included, the database itself including digitized map data and descriptive data identifying features represented within the digitized map data. The personal navigation device also includes software capable of performing navigation between a current location determined from the wireless signals received and a destination at least partially identified by said user input. The software further includes a facility for displaying one or more categories of destination which when selected causes the display of one or more destination identifiers of the recently visited destinations of that category in list format, and for performing a search within the descriptive data representative of the particular destination category in response to the user input.

A method of automatically adding tags to photos based on content of the photos and geographical information about where the photo was taken includes taking a photo with a camera of a personal navigation device, generating a geographical tag for the photo with the personal navigation device and attaching the geographical tag to the photo to generate a geotagged photo, transferring the geotagged photo to an optical character recognition (OCR) server, performing OCR on the geotagged photo with the OCR server and generating image description tags from text recognized in the geotagged photo, attaching selected tags to the geotagged photo, the selected tags being selected from the generated image description tags, and uploading the geotagged photo along with the attached selected tags to a photo sharing server, photos on the server being searchable by geographical tags or selected tags associated with the photos.

The invention relates to a method for reminding a user of a future appointment. The method comprises the following steps: receiving an appointment time and an appointment place input into a personal navigation device operated by a user; determining the current position of the personal navigation device; determining a favorite route of the user to the appointment place; calculating an estimated travel time required for going to the appointment place from the current position by using the favorite route of the user; determining a reminding time according to the estimated travel time and the appointment time; and reminding the user of information about the appointment at the reminding time. Therefore, the user can go to the place by effectively and flexibly using the time before the appointment and does not worry missing the appointment time through the method.

A method of displaying points of interest in a personal navigation device includes displaying a map on a display of the personal navigation device, receiving touch input at a touched position of the display, and searching an area within a search radius of the touched position for points of interest. The method also includes displaying points of interest located in the area within the search radius, where the found points of interest are represented by icons connected to their locations on the map with a line extending out from the touched position, and spreading out the icons around the touched position to separate the icons from each other.

A method of adjusting a level of map detail for content displayed on a personal navigation device includes displaying a map of a current location of the personal navigation device on a display of the personal navigation device, calculating a current speed of the personal navigation device, adjusting a level of map detail according to the current speed of the personal navigation device to create an updated map, and displaying the updated map on the display of the personal navigation device.

The invention relates to a method for positioning neighbor shops by utilizing a personal navigation device and the personal navigation device. The method comprises the following steps that: a user inputs a plurality of commodities which the user wants to purchase into a shopping list through a user interface of the personal navigation device, and the personal navigation device searches each commodity on the shopping list in a database so as to find a plurality of shops which are close to the user and sell each commodity on the shopping list and prices of the commodities sold by the plurality of shops; and the personal navigation device displays a plurality of search results for the user to select a shop in which the user is about to purchase the commodities, and the personal navigation device guides the user to purchase the commodities in the shop which is selected by the user.

The invention relates to a navigation method and a personal navigation device for assisting parking nearby a destination. The method for assisting parking nearby a destination comprises the following steps of: receiving instructions from a user to generate navigation instructions on reaching a destination; determining whether the destination is located downtown; enquiring the user whether to park or not and selecting a parking lot if the user wants to park; and planning a path to the destination with the selected parking lot as a medium point. The invention further provides the personal navigation device for assisting parking nearby a destination. Thereby, the method can assist users with the personal navigation device in parking at the downtown where parking space is probably unavailable, and the personal navigation device provided by the invention can guide the user to walk to the destination from the parking lot. Furthermore, the personal navigation device can give more accurate estimated arriving time by taking the time taken by the user to walk to the destination from the parking lot into account, thereby more convenience is provided for the user.

An electronic personal navigational aid device configured to calculate a route and to automatically call a telephone number and deliver a message depending upon the location of the device along the route. The devices may further be configured, for example, to dial at a certain estimated time enroute to a delivery or pickup stop and / or to listen to an autodialed party to determine how many packages the autodialed party has for pickup.

A method of creating a customizable exercise route for a user of a personal navigation device is disclosed. The method includes receiving a selection of terrain type or difficulty level from the user, receiving a selection of a length of an exercise route to be generated, generating an exercise route for the user according to a current position of the personal navigation device, the selected terrain type or difficulty level, and the selected length of the exercise route, and providing routing instructions for the user to follow the generated exercise route.

To alert a user of dangerous driving or parking conditions, a personal navigation device for providing a safety notification includes a positioning device for determining position of the personal navigation device, a networking device for receiving safety information corresponding to the position from a safety data server, a display for displaying a user interface and a map, and a processor. The processor generates a query comprising the position, controls the networking device to send the query to the safety data server, parses the safety information received from the safety data server, and modifies the user interface displayed by the display based on the safety information.

To provide a simple interface that can operate seamlessly across a mix of databases with different categorization, individually or concurrently, and limit categories offered to those categories directly relevant to a search term entered, a method of querying and displaying point of interest category and point of interest item information in a personal navigation device includes sending a search term to a first server, receiving matching category data from the first server, displaying a representation of the matching category, sending a query to a second server when the matching category is selected, receiving point of interest data corresponding to the matching category from the second server, and displaying a point of interest described in the point of interest data.

A Personal Navigation Device (PND) includes: a Global Positioning System (GPS) module, a processing module, and a user interface module. The GPS module generates a current location value. The processing module, which is coupled to the GPS module, is utilized for comparing the current location value and a plurality of hint points. The user interface module, which is coupled to the processing module, provides a display device. When a difference between the current location value and any hint point is less than a first threshold, the display device displays stored real image data corresponding to the hint point.

The invention relates to a method for displaying multiple interesting points on a personal navigation device and a related device. The method for displaying multiple interesting points on the personal navigation device comprises the following steps of: displaying a map on a display of the personal navigation device; receiving touch input at the initial position of the display; searching the multiple interesting points in the area with a searching radius of the initial position; displaying the interesting points in the area with the searching radius, wherein the multiple searched interesting points are expressed by the corresponding icons, and each icon and the corresponding point on the map are connected through a line, and the line is extended outward by taking the initial position as a center; dispersing the multiple icons at the periphery of the initial position to ensure that the multiple icons are separated from each other; and gradually increasing the searching radius to ensure that the area with the searching radius is increased, and displaying the interesting points positioned in the enlarged area.

This present invention provides a navigation system and a portable head up display thereof. The navigation system comprises a navigation apparatus and a portable head up display. The navigation apparatus is for generating a command with navigation message. The portable head up display is for receiving and processing the command with navigation message in wired or wireless manner, and then displaying the graphic data corresponding to the navigation message. Furthermore, the portable head up display is able to broadcast an acoustic data corresponding to the navigation message. Hereby, a user owning the personal navigation device (PND) can place this portable head up display in the vehicle, and the effectiveness of the navigation message displayed on the windshield can be achieved.

A method of incorporating points of avoidance into navigation instructions generated by a personal navigation device includes storing a plurality of points of avoidance into a memory of the personal navigation device, each point of avoidance having corresponding position coordinates, receiving a request from a user of the personal navigation device to provide navigation instructions to a destination, creating a route that avoids the points of avoidance, and providing navigation instructions to guide the user on the created route.

The invention relates to a method for predicting a path by using a personal navigation device and the related personal navigation device. The method for predicting a path possibly adopted by a user comprises the following steps of: storing the profile information of the user of the personal navigation device in a memory of the personal navigation device; detecting a path which the user passes by at present when the user does not input a destination into the personal navigation device; determining all paths possibly adopted by the user according to the path which the user passes by at present; determining a path most possibly adopted by the user according to the profile information of the user; and providing the information of an area, which is about to be met by the user, in the path most possibly adopted by the user.