Abstract:
A method of contextually displaying points of interest (POIs) on a personal navigation device according to a user&#39;s travel purpose includes storing a plurality of POIs into a memory of the personal navigation device, the POIs having corresponding POI category labels, entering a destination location into the personal navigation device and providing navigational instructions for a trip to the destination location, associating a travel category with the trip to the destination location, and displaying POIs whose corresponding POI category labels are included in the travel category associated with the trip to the destination location.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a personal navigation device, and more particularly, to a personal navigation device that displays points of interest that relates to a user&#39;s travel purpose for producing less cluttered maps that contain more relevant information. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Global Positioning System (GPS) based navigation devices are well known and are widely employed as in-car navigation devices. Common functions of a navigation device include providing a map database for generating navigation instructions that are then shown on a display of the navigation device. These navigation devices are often mounted on or in the dashboard of a vehicle using a suction mount or other mounting means. 
         [0005]    The term “navigation device” refers to a device that enables a user to navigate to a pre-defined destination. The device may have an internal system for receiving location data, such as a GPS receiver, or may merely be connectable to a receiver that can receive location data. The device may compute a route itself, or communicate with a remote server that computes the route and provides navigation information to the device, or a hybrid device in which the device itself and a remote server both play a role in the route computation process. Portable GPS navigation devices are not permanently integrated into a vehicle but instead are devices that can readily be mounted in or otherwise used inside a vehicle. Generally (but not necessarily), they are fully self-contained—i.e. include an internal GPS antenna, navigation software and maps and can hence plot and display a route to be taken. 
         [0006]    One useful feature of personal navigation devices is the ability to list nearby points of interest (POIs). In rural areas, POIs may be spread out far from each other, and can easily be shown on the display of the personal navigation device. However, when traveling through cities or other areas where there are many POIs in close proximity to one another, there can be tens of POIs located very close together. It is difficult to clearly show multiple POIs that are in very close proximity to each other on the display of a personal navigation device. Furthermore, depending on a user&#39;s travel purpose, most of the POIs may be irrelevant to the user on that particular trip. For instance, a user traveling on a business trip will have little interest in the personal navigation device displaying POIs corresponding to scenic areas. Therefore, there is a need to avoid displaying POIs that are not relevant to the user&#39;s travel purpose. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    It is therefore one of the primary objectives of the claimed invention to provide a method of displaying points of interest (POIs) on a personal navigation device that relate to a user&#39;s travel purpose. 
         [0008]    According to an exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, a method of contextually displaying points of interest (POIs) on a personal navigation device according to a user&#39;s travel purpose is disclosed. The method includes storing a plurality of POIs into a memory of the personal navigation device, the POIs having corresponding POI category labels, entering a destination location into the personal navigation device and providing navigational instructions for a trip to the destination location, associating a travel category with the trip to the destination location, and displaying POIs whose corresponding POI category labels are included in the travel category associated with the trip to the destination location. 
         [0009]    According to another exemplary embodiment of the claimed invention, a personal navigation device for contextually displaying points of interest (POIs) according to a user&#39;s travel purpose is disclosed. The personal navigation device includes a memory for storing a plurality of POIs having corresponding POI category labels, routing software for receiving a destination location and providing navigational instructions for a trip to the destination location, the trip to the destination location having a travel category associated with it, and a processor for controlling operation of the personal navigation device and displaying POIs whose corresponding POI category labels are included in the travel category associated with the trip to the destination location. 
         [0010]    It is an advantage that POIs related to the user&#39;s travel purpose are shown on the personal navigation device for display useful POI information to the user while at the same time not displaying POIs that the user is not interested during the current journey. The resulting map containing POI data will be less cluttered, and the POIs that are displayed will be more relevant to the user. 
         [0011]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a personal navigation device according to the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a screen showing travel categories that may be selected by the user of the personal navigation device. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a screen showing POI category labels that may be selected by the user when setting travel category preferences. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the present invention method of contextually displaying POIs on the personal navigation device according to a user&#39;s travel purpose. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a personal navigation device  10  according to the present invention. The personal navigation device  10  contains a display  12  which can be a touch sensitive display, a GPS receiver  14  for receiving the current coordinates of the personal navigation device  10 , a processor  16  for controlling operation of the personal navigation device  10 , a speaker  20 , and memory  30 . The memory  30  is used to store a map database  32  containing map data and points of interest. The memory  30  also stores routing software  34 , POI data  36 , travel category data  38 , and a user interface  18 . 
         [0017]    The POI data  36  stores a plurality of POIs, and each POI has at least one corresponding POI category label. Common category labels include “gas station”, “restaurant”, “hotel”, and so on. The POI category label corresponding to each POI makes it possible to conveniently group multiple categories of POIs into distinct travel categories. 
         [0018]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a screen  50  showing travel categories that may be selected by the user of the personal navigation device  10 . Six example travel categories are shown in  FIG. 2 , although the present invention is not limited to these travel categories. The six travel categories have a corresponding radio button  52 ,  54 ,  56 ,  58 ,  59 ,  60  beside the travel category name for allowing the user to select one of the pre-defined travel categories. Also, a button  62  is provided to allow the user of the personal navigation device  10  to define a new travel category. Radio button  52  corresponds to a tourist travel category, for which the user may be interested in gas stations, restaurants, scenic areas, and hotels. Radio button  54  corresponds to a business traveler travel category, for which the user may be interested in gas stations, restaurants, and hotels, but not scenic areas. Radio button  56  corresponds to a visiting client travel category, for which the user is a salesman who visits different clients every day and would be interested in seeing POI categories like restaurants, parking, and gas stations, but would not be interested in seeing scenic areas or shopping malls. Radio button  58  corresponds to a recreation travel category, for which the user may wish to take a leisurely drive around for relaxation and would be interested in seeing POI categories such as restaurants, bars and clubs, and scenic areas, but would not be interested in seeing bus stations or business buildings. Radio button  59  corresponds to a shopping travel category, for which the user would wish to drive to go shopping and would be interested in seeing POI categories such as stores and shops of all kinds, automatic teller machines (ATMs), and restaurants, but would not be interested in seeing scenic spots or hospitals. Radio button  60  corresponds to a return home travel category, for which the user may not want any POIs displayed on the personal navigation device  10 , with the possible exception of gas stations or other desired POIs. As shown in  FIG. 2 , radio button  54  is selected, meaning that the user is currently traveling on business. 
         [0019]    Each travel category can be customized by the user for containing only those POIs that belong to selected POI category labels. Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a screen  70  showing POI category labels that may be selected by the user when setting travel category preferences. In this example, since the user is traveling on business as indicated in  FIG. 2 , the user may choose to define which POI category labels belong to the business traveler travel category. In screen  70 , four different checkboxes  72 ,  74 ,  76 ,  78  are shown by way of example. Three of the checkboxes  72 ,  74 ,  78  have been selected for selecting POIs having POI category labels of “gas stations”, “restaurants”, and “hotels”, respectively. Checkbox  76  has not been selected for excluding POIs having the POI category label of “scenic areas”. Therefore, the user will not be shown POIs for scenic areas when traveling on a business trip, but will be shown POIs for gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. 
         [0020]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the present invention method of contextually displaying POIs on the personal navigation device  10  according to a user&#39;s travel purpose. 
         [0021]    Step  100 : Start. 
         [0022]    Step  102 : The user enters a destination location into the personal navigation device  10  and asks for routing assistance. The routing software  34  of the personal navigation device  10  then generates a route for the user to follow on a trip to the destination location. 
         [0023]    Step  104 : A travel category is associated with the trip to the destination location. This travel category, such as “tourist”, “business traveler”, “visiting client”, “travel”, “shopping”, or “return home”, may be manually selected by the user or may be automatically determined by the personal navigation device  10  according to the destination location entered. For instance, if the user entered a famous vacation resort as the destination location, the personal navigation device  10  can make an assumption that the user is a tourist and select the “tourist” travel category accordingly. As another example, if the user entered the user&#39;s home as the destination location, the personal navigation device  10  can make an assumption that the user is returning home and select the “return home” travel category accordingly. 
         [0024]    Step  106 : After the travel category is associated with the trip to the destination location, the personal navigation device  10  displays POIs corresponding to the travel category associated with the trip. 
         [0025]    Steps  108  and  110  can be optionally performed for adjusting the POIs shown on the display  12  of the personal navigation device  10  according to the user&#39;s progress on the trip to the destination location. 
         [0026]    Step  108 : Determine if data pertaining to the trip progress match predetermined criteria. A first criterion can refer to a clock of the personal navigation device  10  to count how many hours have elapsed since the user last stopped for a time period greater than a predetermined period of time. If the user has driven for many hours since the last stop, the user may wish to stop at a rest area or stop at a gas station to fill up with gas. A second criterion can use the clock to determine the current time of day. The time of day may determine what POIs the user is most interested in. For instance, the user may be looking for restaurants around breakfast, lunch, and dinner time, and may be looking for a hotel later in the day. A third criterion can be measuring how close the personal navigation device  10  currently is to the destination location. If the personal navigation device  10  is getting close to the destination location, the user may wish to stop and eat before arriving or stop and get a gift for the person that the user is visiting. If the trip progress data matches any of the predetermined criteria, go to step  110 . Otherwise, go to step  112 . 
         [0027]    Step  110 : Adjust which POIs the personal navigation device  10  displays according to the trip progress data measured in step  108 . In addition to displaying POIs belonging to certain POI category labels, other POIs belonging to other POI categories can be hidden from view so as to not obscure other more relevant POIs. 
         [0028]    Step  112 : End. 
         [0029]    In summary, the present invention provides a way to display POIs that are relevant to the user&#39;s travel purpose. Unrelated POIs are not shown, thereby reducing clutter and increasing the user&#39;s interest in the remaining POIs by keeping the POIs appropriate for the purpose of the user&#39;s trip. As a result, the personal navigation device provides the user with a more enjoyable experience and encourages the user to continue using the personal navigation device on future trips. 
         [0030]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.