Personal Navigation Device Safety Notification via External Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
Personal navigation devices (PNDs) lack the capability to provide users with real-time crime-related safety information, potentially leading users to unknowingly enter unsafe areas, risking loss or injury.
Innovation Solution
A personal navigation device equipped with a positioning system, networking capabilities, and a processor that queries a safety data server for safety information, displaying alerts and notifications based on the user's location, including crime levels and safety infrastructure, to inform users of potential dangers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If personal navigation devices provide only basic navigation functions, then device complexity remains low, but user safety information is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a safety data server as an intermediary component that stores and provides crime-related safety information. The PND communicates with this external server through network interfaces (Bluetooth/GPRS or 802.11) to obtain safety data, rather than embedding all safety information directly in the device. This intermediary approach allows the PND to provide comprehensive safety information while maintaining relatively simple device architecture.
2Reliability
If the PND queries safety data server continuously, then safety information timeliness is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The PND implements periodic querying of the safety data server rather than continuous monitoring. The device queries safety information at predetermined time intervals or when specific conditions are met (such as entering new geographic zones), balancing the need for timely safety information with energy conservation during battery operation.
3Loss of information
If the PND provides detailed safety information, then user safety awareness is improved, but information processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different levels or types of safety information based on specific locations. The PND queries safety data for particular geographic zones and provides targeted information relevant to each area (such as crime statistics, safety ratings, or hazard warnings) rather than uniformly processing all possible safety data types everywhere, thus reducing overall processing complexity while maintaining information completeness where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
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 including 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.