Abstract:
The present invention describes a mobile communication device with e-map data, a phone book and wireless communication, and an application method thereof. The mobile communication device uses integrated e-map data, a phone book, and wireless communication capabilities to display point-of-interest information on said device or to transfer said point-of-interest information to another mobile communication device through wireless transmission to implement a data query and data sharing function, thereby supplementing capabilities found in prior-art mobile communication devices.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention discloses a mobile communication device with e-map data, a phone book, and wireless communication, and an application method thereof, allowing the mobile communication device to include e-map data, the phone book and the wireless communication capabilities to provide more convenience for the user.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Nowadays people search the yellow pages, browse the internet or call telephone directory service to find a phone number of a shop, a tourist spots or an organization, and the query result must be written down on a note or memorized by a user for further dialing purpose.  
         [0005]     A mobile phone has virtually become a necessity in everyday life, and a mobile phone can provide additional functions, such as working with a GPS module to provide real time and consistently updated digital data for a position, or using wireless network transmission interface to enable communication among different mobile phones.  
         [0006]     Taiwan patent publication No. 200406592, entitled, “A mobile communication device capable of positioning and real-time display of positioning information and a method thereof”, discloses a GPS communication module externally connected to a mobile phone. GPS data are displayed on the mobile phone screen, while an electronic map of the present location of the mobile phone is obtained from a carrier and displayed on the mobile phone screen.  
         [0007]     Moreover, Taiwan patent issued No. 535115, entitled, “A mobile communication device”, discloses a mobile communication device used by a person or located in a vehicle operating in operation anywhere to exchange specific data with a moving or motionless vehicle, enabling verification of the specific communication of every vehicle from a farther distance.  
         [0008]     Furthermore, Taiwan patent issued No. 1220720, entitled, “Simple map and data query system”, discloses a simple map and data query system having a hierarchy menu for users to search by layer, or to jump search the content, to reduce greatly the complexity of the operating interface and the time taken in a map or data query.  
         [0009]     Although the above-mentioned prior arts provide various advantages and features to the users, however, their functions tend to be simple.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     In order to provide maximum convenience to users, the present invention discloses a mobile communication device with e-map data, a phone book, and wireless communication, and an application method thereof, allowing the mobile communication device to maximize its benefits.  
         [0011]     The object of the present invention is to enable mobile communication devices to combine functions of e-map data, a phone book and wireless communication to provide maximum convenience to users.  
         [0012]     Therefore, the present invention discloses an application method for a mobile communication device with e-map data, comprising: displaying a data display interface; receiving query data; calling a e-map data query engine unit to request the e-map data by using the query data; returning a query result and displaying the same on a human-machine data processing interface unit; and executing a command input by a user through the human-machine data processing interface unit.  
         [0013]     Also, the present invention discloses a mobile communication device with e-map data, comprising: e-map data; an e-map data query engine unit for receiving query data to search the e-map data; and a human-machine data processing interface unit for connecting the e-map data query engine unit to display a query result. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an inner structure of the mobile communication device in the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the mobile communication device in the present invention;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating an application method of the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a phone book application of the present invention;  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating how the mobile communication device integrating e-map data works to receive e-map data; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating how the mobile communication device having no integrated e-map data works to receive e-map data. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]     In order to better explain the skills, methods and efforts taken in implementing the objects of the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed description and the appended drawings. The appended drawings, however, are for reference and descriptive purpose only, and are not intended to limit the present invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an inner structure of the mobile communication device in the present invention. The mobile communication device disclosed in the present invention is a mobile phone or a PDA (personal data assistant), comprising e-map data  10 , e-map data query engine unit  12 , a human-machine data processing interface unit  14 , a wireless transmission interface unit  16  and a dialing unit  20 . The e-map data  10  stores numerical geospatial data and the point-of-interest (POI) information comprising phone numbers, addresses, and geospatial data. The e-map data query engine unit  12  connects to the e-map data  10  for processing messages from POI search and map query, map portraying, and POI information query.  
         [0023]     The human-machine data processing interface unit  14  connects to the e-map data query engine unit  12 . The human-machine data processing interface unit  14  comprises a map display interface  140 , a point-of-interest search information interface  142  and a phone book interface  144 . The map display interface  140  is used for displaying maps. The point-of-interest search interface  142  is for POI information input/output. The phone book interface  144  is for storing names, phone numbers and addresses. The wireless transmission interface unit  16  (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) connects to other mobile communication device for connection and data transfer. The dialing unit  20  connects to the map display interface  140 , the point-of-interest information search interface  142  and the phone book interface  144  for data input.  
         [0024]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the mobile communication device in the present invention. The diagram shows the wireless interconnecting structure used by the mobile communication device in the present invention to communicate with other mobile communication devices. The mobile communication device disclosed in the present invention comprises the e-map data  10 , the e-map data query engine unit  12 , the human-machine data processing interface unit  14 , the wireless transmission interface unit  16  and the dialing unit  20 . The e-map data  10  stores numerical geospatial data and the point-of-interest (POI) information, comprising phone numbers, addresses, and geospatial data. The e-map data query engine unit  12  connects to the e-map data  10  for processing messages from POI searches, map queries, map portraying, and POI information queries.  
         [0025]     The human-machine data processing interface unit  14  connects to the e-map data query engine unit  12 . The human-machine data processing interface unit  14  comprises a map display interface  140 , a point-of-interest information search interface  142 , and a phone book interface  144 . The map display interface  140  is used for displaying maps. The point-of-interest information search interface  142  is for POI information input/output. The phone book interface  144  is for storing contacts, phone numbers and addresses. The wireless transmission interface unit  16  (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) connects to other mobile communication device for connection and data transfer. The dialing unit  20  connects to the map display interface  140 , the point-of-interest information search interface  142  and the phone book interface  144  for data input.  
         [0026]     In  FIG. 2 , the other mobile communication device is a mobile phone, which can be a mobile communication device having integrated e-map data or a mobile communication device having no integrated e-map data.  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating an application method of the mobile communication device with e-map data, a phone book and wireless communication disclosed in the present invention. In step S 100 , a data display interface is displayed. In step S 102 , query data are received. The query data are input by a user via the human-machine data processing interface unit.  
         [0028]     In step S 104 , a e-map data query engine unit is called to request the e-map data by using the query data. The e-map data query engine unit comprises an electronic map engine and a point-of-interest information engine, and the e-map data comprises an electronic map and a point-of-interest information. In step S 106 , a query result is returned and displayed on the human-machine data processing interface unit. The query result is a text, a point-of-interest information, a map graph or a combination thereof. In step S 108 , a command input by a user is sent via the human-machine data processing interface unit. The command comprises importing the text or the point-of-interest information into a personal phone book, transferring the text or the point-of-interest information to a dialing unit for dialing, using a wireless communication scheme to transmit the query results to other mobile communication devices, or a combination thereof. The personal phone book is included in the human-machine data processing interface unit, while the wireless transmission scheme transmits via SMS/MMS, infrared, Bluetooth or wireless local area network.  
         [0029]     In step S 110 , whether an end-of-search signal is received is determined. If the end-of-search signal is received, then the search is terminated. If not, the process returns to the receiving step S 102 .  
         [0030]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a phone book application of the present invention. The phone book application flow chart comprises the following steps. In step  200 , a phone book interface is initiated. In step S 202 , query data are received. The query data are input by a user via the human-machine data processing interface unit. In step S 204 , an e-map data query engine unit is called to request the e-map data by using the query data. The e-map data query engine unit comprises an electronic map engine and a point-of-interest information engine, and the e-map data comprises an electronic map and point-of-interest information.  
         [0031]     In step S 206 , a query result is returned and displayed on the human-machine data processing interface unit. The query result is a text, point-of-interest information, a map, or a combination thereof. In step S 208 , a command input by a user via the human-machine data processing interface unit is executed. The command comprises importing the text or the point-of-interest information into a personal phone book, transferring the text or the point-of-interest information to a dialing unit for dialing, using a wireless communication interface to share the query results with other mobile communication devices, or a combination thereof. The personal phone book is included in the human-machine data processing interface unit, with the dialing unit being a keyboard implemented on the mobile communication device, and the wireless transmission interface being SMS/MMS, infrared, Bluetooth or wireless local area network. In step S 210 , whether an end-of-search signal is received is determined. If the end-of-search signal is received, then the search terminates. If not, the process then returns to opening step S 200 .  
         [0032]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating how the mobile communication device with e-map data works to receive e-map data. In step S 300 , point-of-interest (POI) information is received. The POI information is transmitted via SMS/MMS, infrared, Bluetooth or wireless local area network. In step S 302 , whether the POI information is to be imported into e-map data is determined. The e-map data comprise an electronic map and POI information. This step automatically decides to import the POI information into the e-map data if the POI information conforms to a format and/or if a user has input an importing command. If yes, then the POI information is imported into the e-map data in step  304 ; if not, then no POI information is imported. In step S 306 , whether the POI information includes an image information is determined. If yes, then in step S 308 , whether the image information is to be viewed is determined. In the step of determining if the image information is to be viewed, it is determined if the image viewer program supports the format of the image information and/or whether a user has issued a viewing command. Otherwise, if the POI information does not include image information, then the integrated image viewer program proceeds to the next executing step or the user manually selects the next desired step. In this embodiment, the process of receiving the e-map data completely stops. In the step of determining if the image information is to be viewed; if yes, then the image viewer program is called to display the image information in step S 310 . Otherwise, the integrated image viewer program proceeds to the next executing step or the user manually selects the next desired step. In this embodiment, the process of receiving the e-map data completely stops.  
         [0033]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating how the mobile communication device having no integrated e-map data works to receive e-map data. In step S 400 , POI information is received. The POI information is transmitted via SMS/MMS, infrared, Bluetooth or wireless local area network. In step S 402 , the text of the POI information is displayed. In step S 404 , whether the POI information includes an image information is determined. If yes, then whether the image information is to be viewed is determined in step S 406 . Otherwise, if the POI information does not include image information, the integrated image viewer program proceeds to the next executing step or the user manually selects the next desired step. In this embodiment, the process of receiving the e-map data completely stops. In the step of determining if the image information is to be viewed, if yes, the image viewer program is called to display the image information in step S 408 . Otherwise, the integrated image viewer program proceeds to the next executing step or the user manually selects the next desired step. In this embodiment, the process of receiving the e-map data completely stops.  
         [0034]     The present invention provides a mobile phone using basic functions with integrated electronic map and wireless transmission technology to display user specified POI information on the mobile phone screen or to transfer to other mobile phone, in which the other mobile phone has (or hasn&#39;t) integrated electronic map.  
         [0035]     The advantages of the present invention are: 
        1. A real-time query is enabled by using a mobile phone integrated electronic map and a POI database.     2. A user can choose to import the text part of the query result from the POI database into a personal phone book for later use.     3. The query result can be an image (electronic map) or text (phone number, address, longitude or latitude data in the POI info), which can be transmitted to another mobile phone via wireless transmission scheme such as SMS/MMS, infrared, Bluetooth, or wireless local area network to facilitate data sharing.        
 
         [0039]     Although the present invention has been described with one of the preferred embodiments shown accompanying with the drawings, one of ordinary skilled in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.