Apparatus, system and method for clustering points of interest in a navigation system

A navigation system, apparatus and method utilizing a processor and a sensor, operatively coupled to the processor to determine a location of the navigation system. An input is configured to receive destination data, specifying a destination, and point-of-interest (POI) data from a user, wherein the processor is configured to process the destination data and the POI data to determine a plurality of POIs that are in closest proximity to the destination and clustering the POIs for presentation on a navigational map. The processor may be further configured to generate a route from the location of the navigation system, the destination and at least one of the POIs in the navigational map based on at least one of speed and distance.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is directed to navigation devices and systems. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to navigational processing for efficiently identifying and/or clustering points of interest (POI) on a navigational map.

Navigation systems are electronic, processor-based systems that aid in navigation. Navigation systems may be configured to be entirely on board a vehicle or vessel, or they may be located elsewhere and communicate via radio or other signals with a vehicle or vessel, or they may use a combination of these methods. Navigation systems may also be configured within a portable device, such as a laptop, smart phone, tablet and the like. Navigation systems may be capable of containing maps, which may be displayed in human readable format via text or in a graphical format, determining a vehicle or vessel's location via sensors, maps, or information from external sources, providing suggested directions to a human in charge of a vehicle or vessel via text or speech, providing directions directly to an autonomous vehicle such as a robotic probe, providing information on nearby vehicles or vessels, or other hazards or obstacles, and providing information on traffic conditions and suggesting alternative directions.

In existing navigation systems, users are capable of searching for POIs. However, users cannot efficiently search for multiple POIs simultaneously using generic names (e.g., “gas station”, “bank”, “restaurant”) and/or names specific to a generic category (e.g., “BP”, “Bank of America”, “TGI Fridays”). Furthermore, there are no existing systems that can intelligently cluster multiple POI results and process the results into an efficient routing for the user.

SUMMARY

Various apparatus, systems and methods are disclosed for processing navigational data such as POIs, which may be generically or specifically defined by the user, and clustering the data into groups in order to produce navigational routes that are optimized by speed and/or distance. Users may further be given the option to modify clustering results to provide further customization.

Under one exemplary embodiment, a navigation system is disclosed, comprising a processor, a sensor, operatively coupled to the processor, the sensor being configured to determine a location of the navigation system; an input, operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the input is configured to receive destination data, specifying a destination, and point-of-interest (POI) data from a user, and wherein the processor is configured to process the destination data and the POI data to determine a plurality of POIs that are in closest proximity to the destination and clustering the POIs for presentation on a navigational map. The POI data may comprise generic POIs or specific POIs that are associated with one or more generic POIs, wherein the processor may be configured to cluster at least one of a plurality of generic and specific POIs. The processor may be further configured to generate a route from the location of the navigation system, the destination and at least one of the POIs in the navigational map based on at least one of speed and distance. In one embodiment, the system may further include communications configured to transmit at least one of the location, destination and POIs to a remote navigation system. In another embodiment, the system processor may be configured to determine if the plurality of POIs that are in closest proximity to the destination are within a predetermined threshold distance, and determine at least one alternate POI that is in closest proximity to the destination based on the predetermined threshold distance.

In another exemplary embodiment, a processor-based method is disclosed for operating a navigation system, the method comprising determining a location of the navigation system; receiving destination data, specifying a destination, and point-of-interest (POI) data; and processing, in a processor, the destination data and the POI data to determine a plurality of POIs that are in closest proximity to the destination and clustering the POIs for presentation on a navigational map. In one exemplary embodiment, the POI data comprises generic POIs and/or specific POIs that are associated with one or more generic POIs, and wherein the clustering comprises clustering at least one of a plurality of generic and specific POIs. The method may further comprise generating a route from the location of the navigation system, the destination and at least one of the POIs in the navigational map based on at least one of speed and distance. In another embodiment, the method may comprise transmitting at least one of the location, destination and POIs to a remote navigation system. In another embodiment, the method may comprise determining if the plurality of POIs that are in closest proximity to the destination are within a predetermined threshold distance and determining at least one alternate POI that is in closest proximity to the destination based on the predetermined threshold distance.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments will be described herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they may obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

It will be understood that the term “module” as used herein does not limit the functionality to particular physical modules, but may include any number of software and/or hardware components. In general, a computer program product in accordance with one embodiment comprises a tangible computer usable medium (e.g., standard RAM, an optical disc, a USB drive, or the like) having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable program code is adapted to be executed by a processor (working in connection with an operating system) to implement one or more functions and methods as described below. In this regard, the program code may be implemented in any desired language, and may be implemented as machine code, assembly code, byte code, interpretable source code or the like (e.g., via C, C++, C#, Java, Actionscript, Objective-C, Javascript, CSS, XML, etc.).

Turning toFIG. 1, the drawing illustrates an exemplary vehicle system101comprising various vehicle electronics modules, subsystems and/or components. Engine/transmission module102is configured to process and provide vehicle engine and transmission characteristic or parameter data, and may comprise an engine control unit (ECU), and a transmission control. For a diesel engine, module102may provide data relating to fuel injection rate, emission control, NOx control, regeneration of oxidation catalytic converter, turbocharger control, cooling system control, and throttle control, among others. For a gasoline engine, module102may provide data relating to lambda control, on-board diagnostics, cooling system control, ignition system control, lubrication system control, fuel injection rate control, throttle control, and others. Transmission characteristic data may comprise information relating to the transmission system and the shifting of the gears, torque, and use of the clutch. Under one embodiment, an engine control unit and transmission control may exchange messages, sensor signals and control signals.

Global positioning system (GPS) module103provides navigation processing (seeFIG. 4) and location data for vehicle10. Sensors104provides sensor data which may comprise data relating to vehicle characteristic and/or parameter data (e.g., from102), and may also provide environmental data pertaining to the vehicle, its interior and/or surroundings, such as temperature, humidity and the like. Radio/entertainment module105may provide data relating to audio/video media being played in vehicle101. Module105may be integrated and/or communicatively coupled to an entertainment unit configured to play AM/FM radio, satellite radio, compact disks, DVDs, digital media, streaming media and the like. Communications module106allows any of the modules to communicate with each other and/or external devices via a wired connection or wireless protocol, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, etc. In one embodiment, modules102-106may be communicatively coupled to bus112for certain communication and data exchange purposes.

Vehicle101may further comprise a main processor107that centrally processes and controls data communication throughout the system ofFIG. 1. Storage108may be configured to store data, software, media, files and the like. Digital signal processor (DSP)109may comprise a processor separate from main processor107, or may be integrated within processor107. Generally speaking, DSP109may be configured to take signals, such as voice, audio, video, temperature, pressure, position, etc. that have been digitized and then process them as needed. Display110may be configured to provide visual (as well as audio) indicial from any module inFIG. 1, and may be a configured as a LCD, LED, OLED, or any other suitable display. Display may also be configured with audio speakers for providing audio output. Input/output module111is configured to provide data input and outputs to/from other peripheral devices, such as key fobs, device controllers and the like. As discussed above, modules107-111may be communicatively coupled to data bus112for transmitting/receiving data and information from other modules.

Turning toFIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment is illustrated, where a vehicle101(seeFIG. 1), is paired with one or more devices201(202,203) which may be registered to one or more users. Devices201may be registered with vehicle101using Bluetooth pairing or using WiFi or NFC registration, as is known in the art. Preferably, device201registrations are stored (e.g.,108) at the vehicle according to a device ID or SIM ID, and may further include a device user profile associated with each ID that may include demographic data, user interests, and/or user device/vehicle history. In the embodiment ofFIG. 2, devices202,203may configured to communicate navigational data with vehicle101, and may be further configured to communicate with each other. Portable devices201are also configured to communicate with wireless network204in order to send/receive data from a central server205. Similarly, in one embodiment, vehicle101may also be configured to communicate with network204. Server205may be also configured to perform back-end processing for devices201and vehicle101, and further communicate with other remote servers for additional functionalities, such as supplementary map data, navigational data, and the like.

FIG. 3is an exemplary embodiment of a portable computing device300(such as devices202,203ofFIG. 2), and may be a smart phone, tablet computer, laptop or the like. Device300may include a central processing unit (CPU)301(which may include one or more computer readable storage mediums), a memory controller302, one or more processors303, a peripherals interface304, RF circuitry305, audio circuitry306, a speaker321, a microphone322, and an input/output (I/O) subsystem311having display controller318, control circuitry for one or more sensors319and input device control320. These components may communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines in device300. It should be appreciated that device300is only one example of a portable multifunction device300, and that device300may have more or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or a may have a different configuration or arrangement of the components. The various components shown inFIG. 3may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

Memory (or storage)308may include high-speed random access memory (RAM) and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices. Access to memory308by other components of the device300, such as processor303, and peripherals interface304, may be controlled by the memory controller302. Peripherals interface304couples the input and output peripherals of the device to the processor303and memory308. The one or more processors303run or execute various software programs and/or sets of instructions stored in memory308to perform various functions for the device300and to process data. In some embodiments, the peripherals interface304, processor(s)303, decoder313and memory controller302may be implemented on a single chip, such as a chip301. In other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

Audio circuitry306, speaker320, and microphone321provide an audio interface between a user and the device300. Audio circuitry306may receive audio data from the peripherals interface204, converts the audio data to an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker321. The speaker321converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves. Audio circuitry306also receives electrical signals converted by the microphone321from sound waves, which may include encoded audio, described above. The audio circuitry306converts the electrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data to the peripherals interface304for processing. Audio data may be retrieved from and/or transmitted to memory308and/or the RF circuitry305by peripherals interface304. In some embodiments, audio circuitry306also includes a headset jack for providing an interface between the audio circuitry206and removable audio input/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headset with both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input (e.g., a microphone).

I/O subsystem311couples input/output peripherals on the device300, such as touch screen315and other input/control devices317, to the peripherals interface304. The I/O subsystem311may include a display controller318and one or more input controllers320for other input or control devices. The one or more input controllers320receive/send electrical signals from/to other input or control devices317. The other input/control devices317may include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and so forth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s)320may be coupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, infrared port, USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse, an up/down button for volume control of the speaker321and/or the microphone322. Touch screen315may also be used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards.

Touch screen315provides an input interface and an output interface between the device and a user. Display controller318receives and/or sends electrical signals from/to the touch screen315. Touch screen315displays visual output to the user. The visual output may include graphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof. In some embodiments, some or all of the visual output may correspond to user-interface objects. Touch screen315has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensors that accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact. Touch screen315and display controller318(along with any associated modules and/or sets of instructions in memory308) detect contact (and any movement or breaking of the contact) on the touch screen315and converts the detected contact into interaction with user-interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages or images) that are displayed on the touch screen. In an exemplary embodiment, a point of contact between a touch screen315and the user corresponds to a finger of the user. Touch screen215may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, or LPD (light emitting polymer display) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. Touch screen315and display controller318may detect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with a touch screen315.

Device300may also include one or more sensors316such as optical sensors that comprise charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors. The optical sensor may capture still images or video, where the sensor is operated in conjunction with touch screen display315. Device300may also include one or more accelerometers207, which may be operatively coupled to peripherals interface304. Alternately, the accelerometer207may be coupled to an input controller314in the I/O subsystem311. The accelerometer is preferably configured to output accelerometer data in the x, y, and z axes.

In some illustrative embodiments, the software components stored in memory308may include an operating system309, a communication module310, a text/graphics module311, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module312, audio decoder313and applications314. Operating system309(e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various software components and/or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components. Communication module310facilitates communication with other devices over one or more external ports and also includes various software components for handling data received by the RF circuitry305. An external port (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB), Firewire, etc.) may be provided and adapted for coupling directly to other devices or indirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.

Text/graphics module311includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on the touch screen315, including components for changing the intensity of graphics that are displayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object that can be displayed to a user, including without limitation text, web pages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys), digital images, videos, animations and the like. Additionally, soft keyboards may be provided for entering text in various applications requiring text input. GPS module312determines the location of the device and provides this information for use in various applications. Applications314may include various modules, including navigation software, mapping, address books/contact list, email, instant messaging, and the like. Navigation applications may be natively executed and operated on device300, allowing users to enter and process navigational and/or mapping data, as will be described in greater detail below.

Turning now toFIG. 4, an exemplary vehicle navigation system is disclosed comprising a car navigation unit401comprising a CPU402, GPS receiver403and gyroscope404. Additionally, navigation unit401may include communications405, allowing navigation unit401to communicate with portable devices, such as device300, discussed above. Navigation unit may receive vehicle speed signal406and R-range/parking signal407to track vehicle movement and status. Navigation unit401utilizes GPS receiver403to acquire position data to locate the user on a road in the unit's map database. Using a road database, unit401can give directions to other locations along roads also in its database. Dead reckoning using distance data from sensors attached to the drivetrain, gyroscope405and an accelerometer (not shown) can be used for greater reliability, as GPS signal loss and/or multipath can occur due to urban canyons or tunnels.

The road database for navigation unit401may be a vector map containing some area of interest. Street names or numbers and house numbers may be encoded as geographic coordinates so that a user can find some desired destination by street address or, as will be discussed in greater detail below, by a generic or specific name. Points of interest (waypoints) may also be stored with their geographic coordinates. Point of interest specialties include speed cameras, fuel stations, public parking, and so forth. Contents can be produced by the user base as a vehicle drive along existing streets (cellular, Wi-Fi) and communicating via the internet, yielding an up-to-date map. Navigation mapping formats may include geographic data files (GDF), and may also include other formats, such as CARiN, SDAL and NDS PSF.

Navigation unit401may be further coupled to LCD unit409and audio unit413, where LCD unit409may comprise LCD screen410, CPU412and on/off switch411. Audio unit413may comprise CPU414and power amplifier415. Output of audio unit413may be forwarded to audio amplifier408for output to a user.

Turning toFIG. 5, an exemplary process is shown for clustering POIs processed for a user. In one embodiment, the process ofFIG. 5may be performed on a portable device, such as the one illustrated inFIG. 3. In another embodiment, the process ofFIG. 5may be performed on a navigation unit, such as the one illustrated inFIG. 4. In still a further embodiment, the process ofFIG. 5may be shared between a portable device and a navigation unit. Such an embodiment is particularly advantageous in that computationally expensive processes may be performed on the portable device.

In step501, a user enters a destination (destination1) into a navigation system, and/or a navigation application executed on a portable device. In step502, a user may enter multiple POIs (POI1, POI2. . . POIx) into the navigation application. In step503, the navigation application calculates a route to the destination, and may perform further processing to determine locations of POIs nearest the destination. In step504, the navigation application determines if the POI entries are generic (e.g., “gas station”, “bank”, “restaurant”) and/or specific to a generic category (e.g., “BP”, “Bank of America”, “TGI Fridays”). Such a determination may be made by matching entries to a POI database and processing to establish categories. If an entry is generic (YES), the navigation processor looks for all generic POIs near the destination. If an entry is specific (NO), the navigation processor similarly looks for all specific POIs near the destination. The clustered POIs are then processed in507to see if their distance to the destination exceeds a given threshold (e.g., 5 miles). If the destination(s) exceed the distance threshold (YES), the navigation application searches for alternative POIs and may search for alternative POIs on route to the destination. In this embodiment, POIs may be separately clustered based on a search result and proximity. If the destination(s) do not exceed the distance threshold (NO), the processor causes screen or display to show the destination, together with the POI and/or clustered POI information in509. Depending on the result, a user may be given further options to change the POI setting to better match a user preference. Afterwards, navigation510may be initiated in which the most efficient (or preferred efficient) route to the destination, together with the clustered POIs, is executed.

FIG. 6illustrates an exemplary screen result based on processing illustrated in the example ofFIG. 5. Here a user enters destination (D) and POI data from an originating location (LOC). After entering one or more generic and/or specific POIs, the processor generates a plurality of POI information (POI1-POI6) relating to the destination area (D). After engaging in proximity processing the POIs deemed to be in closest proximity, or containing the most efficient route (POI2-POI4), are clustered (CL) as shown in the figure. After the cluster CL is presented and approved by the user, the navigation application provides routing information to the user to provide an efficient route for the destination (D) and POIs (POI2-POI4). In addition, the navigation application may further provide supplementary POI information relating to the optimized route, such as gas stations (G1-G3) along the route.

As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the present disclosure provides a POI clustering features that provides various advantages. In one embodiment, the navigation may be enabled by a companion iOS or Android app that would allow the user to enter the list of POIs desired. Leveraging the computational power of the mobile devices, the app may calculate the most convenient and efficient route to allow the user to stop by all the POIs. The route may also be communicated to a vehicle's head unit automatically in one embodiment. On a vehicle side, a navigation system may display the route to the user, monitor the vehicle's fuel level, and when applicable, notify driver to a nearby, on the route, gas station for refueling.

The user may enter a destination and in an additional field provide entries such as “bank, pharmacy, Wal-Mart” in the navigation system of the vehicle. The navigation system may present to the user at least one suggestion of a route to the entered destination and, starting from the destination, an optimized route to the desired POIs. If the user provided generic names, like “bank” or “pharmacy”, the navigation system will provide the nearest bank and pharmacy at the destination independent of the brand or name of the corresponding POI. If the user provided a specific name, like “Bank of America”, “CWS Pharmacy” and “Wal-mart”, the navigation system will search for the specific POIs. If the distance or time to a specific POI exceeds a (user definable) first threshold, the navigation system additionally suggests an alternative POI, if possible, with the possible time or distance to travel reduction. In one example, the navigation system may provide “Well Fargo instead of Bank of America: −7 miles; Target instead of Walmart: −12 miles”. If the user would choose “Well Fargo instead of Bank of America”, the alternative for “Target instead of Walmart” would be recalculated, because the route was changed and “Target instead of Walmart” might or might not be an economic alternative anymore.

In one embodiment, a user may define in settings that a search for “bank” always searches for a specific bank (e.g. Bank of America) or gas always searches for “BP”. If one of the POIs would exceed a second threshold, the navigation would search for an economic route that would include a stop along the main route to the destination. The system could, for example prompt the user: “From <destination1> the nearest Walmart is 35 miles away, do you want to stop over in <destination2>; (+4.3 miles) instead? YES/NO”. In another setting option, the user can define that the navigation system will always first search for economic stopovers along the main route to the destination to visit the desired POIs before searching the POIs at the destination entered.

Another example could be as a user is planning his weekend, he knows he needs to visit a friend at a nearby town. He also knows he still has to do his weekend shopping. In this clustering algorithm example, the user may be allowed to input a destination at his friend's house. From that point, the user can enter several POIs such as Target, Walmart, Costco, Bank, and a coffee shop to enjoy afternoon time with his friend. The algorithm will then automatically search for a cluster nearby the friends house which will include all the stores that the user can easily reach without driving around the town too much.

This clustering algorithm can also work for locations near a current location, near current route, or near a destination as already described above. Once the user finds the cluster of shops that he likes to visit over the weekend, he could also set other parameters such as departure time, arrival time. This way, the clustering algorithm can calculate the most optimal route for the user based on current traffic or future traffic prediction. The algorithm can also rearrange the orders of the shops to attend to make sure that the user doesn't go to a store before its opening time. Furthermore, the information regarding these clusters of shops will also be available for the user. These can include, store opening times, reviews from Yelp or other sources, and reservation availability.