Route Search Reachable Area Determination

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current navigation systems fail to accurately determine the reachable range of a vehicle, particularly electric vehicles, as they do not account for routing preferences and are computationally inefficient in calculating reachable locations, leading to a simplistic representation that does not consider road layouts and other factors affecting the vehicle's range.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method for performing a one-to-many route search on digital map data, where each link has an associated importance, allowing selection of links with importance equal to or greater than a predetermined level, and considering regions and points of interest, to determine the reachable area based on the vehicle's fuel load and routing criteria.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If traditional navigation systems calculate reachable range without considering routing preferences, then the calculation is simpler and faster, but the accuracy of reachable area determination deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of reachable area determinationVSAvoidcomplexity of route search algorithm
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the route search process into multiple stages: first performing a preliminary search to identify candidate routes, then applying filtering criteria based on routing preferences to determine the final reachable area. This segmentation allows the system to balance computational efficiency with accuracy by not all routes exhaustively evaluating all preferences for all possible routes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different levels of filtering intensity to different regions of the search space. Routes closer to the departure location undergo more stringent filtering based on routing preferences, while distant routes use less stringent criteria. This local quality approach ensures high accuracy for near-term routing decisions while maintaining computational efficiency for distant destinations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Measurement precision

If the system performs comprehensive route search considering all routing preferences, then the reachable area determination becomes more accurate, but the computational efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of reachable area determinationVSAvoidcomputational efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary filtering of routes based on routing preferences before conducting the full reachable area calculation. By pre-identifying and eliminating routes that clearly violate routing preferences, the system reduces the computational burden of the subsequent comprehensive search, thereby maintaining accuracy while improving efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a multi-pass search approach where the first pass evaluates only critical routing preferences to establish a preliminary reachable area, and subsequent passes evaluate additional preferences for routes within that area. This partial action strategy ensures that the most important routing constraints are always satisfied while reducing overall computational requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Ease of operation

If the system uses simplistic representation of reachable range, then the display is simpler and more intuitive, but the representation accuracy deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesimplicity of displayVSAvoidaccuracy of range representation
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent dynamically adjusts the representation parameters of the reachable area based on the user's fuel load and routing preferences. Instead of using a fixed circular representation, the system calculates and displays an irregular polygon that accurately reflects the true reachable boundaries while remaining visually interpretable. This parameter adaptation allows the display to maintain simplicity while improving accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

4Productivity

If the system filters links based on predetermined importance levels, then the route search becomes more efficient, but the versatility of route options deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveroute search efficiencyVSAvoidvariety of route options
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic importance level assignment where the filtering threshold for link importance is adjusted based on the current search context, such as the vehicle's fuel load, destination distance, and user preferences. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to efficiently filter out obviously suboptimal routes while preserving diverse route options that may become relevant under different conditions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP2867618B1Apparatus and method for route searching
Publication Date: 2019.03.20 TOMTOM NAVIGATION BV
  • EP2867618B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2867618B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP2867618B1 patent drawingFigure 4~6

AI summary

Embodiments of the present invention provide a one-to-many route searching method comprising searching map data to select links to form a plurality of routes from a departure node according to a cost function, and determining an extent of each route according to an objective function, wherein the searching of the map data is performed to a search boundary based upon a cost of an unreachable node.