Patent Description:
Many modem electronic devices support digital mapping services that provide interactive digital maps, navigation directions, and geographic commercial content (such as geographically relevant advertisements, for example). These digital mapping services can include client-side mapping applications and, in some cases, tasks executing on network servers. The network servers can select and provide geographic content to client devices, which may include personal computers, smartphones, and head units of vehicles. The geographic content can include responses to specific requests, results of geographic search queries, automatic suggestions, etc. In some cases, the network servers generate a large amount of content, which may take the user a long time to review.

<CIT> describes a destination analysis module which estimates at least one destination of a user given a partial path taken by the user within a geographic area. The destination analysis module operates by detecting a mode of transportation that a user uses to traverse the path such as automobile, public transportation, walking, etc. The destination analysis module then loads a model associated with the mode of transportation into a destination prediction module and estimates at least one destination based on the path and the model. The model has various components that depend on the mode of transportation, such as routing network information and prior probability information.

<CIT> describes a navigation device for providing guidance to a user's current location to a set destination waypoint. The device includes destination waypoint setting means for setting destination waypoints, history storing means for storing positional information on the set destination waypoints therein, storage controlling means for storing positional information on destination waypoints in the history storing means at a predetermined timing when destination setting means and guidance starts, displaying means for displaying the positional information stored in the history storing means, and destination waypoint selecting means for selecting destination waypoints out of the displayed positional information.

In accordance with the techniques of this disclosure, a digital mapping service determines that a client device is operating in a vehicle, selects geographic content relevant specifically to an automotive context, and provides the selected geographic content to the client device for display in the vehicle as a "car-friendly" list. In this manner, the digital mapping service minimizes unnecessary user interaction with a user interface, while in a car. The digital mapping service can provide the geographic content to the client device in response to a search query or a request for automatic suggestions, for example. The geographic content is based on previous interactions of the user of the client device with the digital mapping service. These interactions can include, for example, previous requests for navigation directions, previous searches, reviews of businesses, etc..

A content server according to claim <NUM> is provided.

A method for providing geographic content in an automotive context according to claim <NUM> is also provided.

A system according to claim <NUM> is also disclosed.

Generally speaking, when a system of this disclosure determines that a registered user is interacting with a digital mapping service in an automotive environment, the system adjusts the selection of automatically generated geographic content so as to make this information more relevant to the automotive environment. To interact with the digital mapping service, the registered user can invoke a mapping software executing in a head unit of a vehicle or in a portable device, for example. In some cases, the portable device can be connected to the head unit of the vehicle via a short-range communication link, so that the user can interact with the digital mapping software executing on the portable device via the user interface embedded in the head unit. Portable, embedded, and other devices that can execute mapping software are collectively referred to in this application as "client devices. " The user of a client device is referred to below as the driver of the car, but in general the user and the driver need not be the same person.

In an example implementation, a content server stores the driver's profile data that includes indications of past categorical searches, searches for specific businesses, reviews of businesses, requests for driving directions, etc. These indications can be stored with respective timestamps. The digital mapping software can request a list of recent queries, new search results, or personalized suggestions from the system for display in the vehicle. The request can include an indication that a client device is operating in a vehicle and, when the user drives several vehicles, an indication of which of the several vehicles the user is currently driving. In some embodiments, the user operates certain controls and/or installs certain applications on the client device to allow the content server to generate geographic content using this type of data.

In response, the system can "filter" the profile data to prioritize information related to driving in general and to the current context of the client device (e.g., the current location, the navigation route, the identity of the vehicle) in particular. The system can lower the priority of the data that probably has little or no relevance to present driving context and, in some cases, not provide this information to the portable device at all. For example, a certain driver typically may drive only to destinations within ten miles of her current location. The driver is unlikely to be interested in a destination outside of this range, and thus the system deprioritize data related to locations farther than ten miles from the current location of the driver.

An example system that generates geographic content in view of the automotive context is discussed next, followed by a discussion of an example portable device and an example content server that can operate in this system.

Referring first to <FIG>, a system <NUM> includes a portable user device <NUM> in communication with a head unit <NUM> of a vehicle via a short-range communication wired link such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) or a wireless link such as IEEE <NUM> (Bluetooth ®) or Wi-Fi Direct®. Additionally, the portable user device <NUM> communicates with a content server <NUM> via a communication network <NUM>, which can be a wide area network such as the Internet. The content server <NUM> is coupled to a geospatial database <NUM> and a user profile database <NUM>.

The portable user device <NUM> can be a portable computing device such as a smartphone or a tablet computer, for example. An example implementation of the portable device <NUM> is discussed with reference to <FIG>. The content server <NUM> can be implemented as a single device or a group of servers (e.g., a set of front-end servers and a set of back-end servers). The corresponding databases <NUM> and <NUM> can be implemented in any suitable manner, such as relational databases implemented in dedicated storage devices, dedicated groups of storage devices, or on the server <NUM>, for example. The content server contains a data filtering module <NUM> that prioritizes and assesses the relevance of user profile data <NUM> in view of the automotive context. An example implementation of the content server <NUM> is discussed with reference to <FIG>.

In operation, the portable device <NUM> determines that it is operating in an automotive environment. For example, the driver can explicitly direct output of the mapping software operating in the portable device <NUM> to the head unit <NUM> by operating appropriate user interface controls, or implicitly direct the output to the head unit <NUM> by connecting the devices <NUM> and <NUM> with a USB cable. The portable user device <NUM> then transmits, to the content server <NUM>, an indication that a digital mapping service has been invoked in an automotive context, the current location of the portable device <NUM>, and an identifier of the driver, according to an example implementation. The indication can also include an identifier of the head unit <NUM> associated with the vehicle. The identifier can be any suitable number or alphanumeric string sufficiently unique to the head unit <NUM> and/or the vehicle in which the head unit <NUM> is installed. For example, the identifier can be the serial number of the head unit <NUM> or the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the USB port on the head unit <NUM>.

The content server <NUM> identifies the user profile data <NUM> stored in the user profile database <NUM> associated with the driver. The user profile data <NUM> includes indications of past interactions of the user with a digital mapping service, which may include a chronologically ordered list of addresses searched, categorical searches, reviews submitted, business searched, etc. The user profile data <NUM> may also include locations that the driver frequently visits while using the vehicle associated with the head unit. The content server <NUM> also identifies relevant geospatial data stored in the geospatial database <NUM> as it pertains to the current location of the portable device and the user profile data <NUM>.

The data filtering module <NUM> filters the user profile data <NUM> based on its relevance to the automotive context to generate a car-friendly filtered list <NUM>. To assess relevance to the automotive context, the data filtering module <NUM> can use a set of signals <NUM> that can include such signals as distance from the route being driven, relevance to driving, etc. Locations in the user profile data <NUM> include destinations that are unreachable by car. The data filtering module <NUM> accordingly excludes the unreachable locations from the filtered list <NUM>. In another example, the data filtering module <NUM> may determine that the driver usually visits destinations within a ten- mile radius of the current location of portable user device <NUM>, and accordingly deprioritize or exclude destinations outside of the-ten mile radius from the filtered list <NUM>. As another example, because a driver frequently drives to a certain destination, the data filtering module <NUM> may assign a higher priority to that destination within the filtered list <NUM>. Further, the data filtering module <NUM> may assign priorities and/or exclude geographic content in view of other factors, such as, for example, distance from a current driving route, type of interaction with the digital mapping service associated with the location (e.g. seeking directions to a location may be more relevant than reviewing a business), and relevance of the business to the driving context (e.g. a gas station is highly relevant to the driving context).

The data filtering module <NUM> may also filter the user profile data <NUM> based on the identifier of the head unit <NUM> associated with the vehicle. A driver may have a tendency to drive to different locations in different vehicles. For example, a driver may use one car to drive to work on weekdays and a separate vehicle to drive the family on weekends. In this case, when the data filtering module <NUM> determines that the driver is using the first car, the driver's office may appear near the top of the filtered list <NUM>. However, when the vehicle filtering service <NUM> determines that the driver is using the second car, the data filtering module <NUM> may deprioritize or even exclude the office from the filtered list <NUM>. The data filtering module <NUM> may weigh these and other factors differently when determining the relevance of a destination to the automotive context.

After generating the filtered list <NUM>, the content server <NUM> transmits geographic content in accordance with the filtered list <NUM> to the portable user device <NUM>. More particularly, the content server <NUM> can transmit the geographic content in the form of an ordered list (corresponding to the order of the filtered list <NUM>), with each entry including a geographic search term, an identifier of a geographic location, the name and address of a business, etc. In some cases, the geographic content can include more robust data such as detailed descriptions of businesses and destinations, images, audio announcements, etc. Depending on the scenario, the portable user device <NUM> can display or playback the geographic content via the user interface of the portable device <NUM> or via the head unit <NUM>. The driver can scroll through the geographic content using finger gestures, voice commands, or by operating hardware buttons, for example.

In another implementation not falling within the scope of the claims, digital mapping and navigation software can be implemented in the head unit <NUM>. In this case, the head unit <NUM> can directly communicate with the content server <NUM>, and the portable user device <NUM> need not be used at all.

Now referring to <FIG>, a portable user device <NUM> can operate in the communication system <NUM> (as the portable user device <NUM>, for example) or in another suitable computing environment. The user device <NUM> includes processing hardware such as one or more processor(s) <NUM>, such as a central processing unit (CPU), coupled to a memory <NUM>. The memory <NUM> can include one or several persistent memory modules such as a flash memory, hard disc, optical disc, etc. and/or one or several non-persistent memory modules such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) module, readable by the processor(s) <NUM>. In some implementations, the one or more processor(s) also include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to more accurately and efficiently render graphics content. Further, the user device <NUM> can include a wired and/or wireless short-range communication interface <NUM> that supports a scheme such as Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi Direct®, or USB, and a long-range communication interface <NUM> that supports a scheme such as <NUM> (Wi-Fi®) or a suitable telephony protocol, for example.

The user device <NUM> further includes input and output device(s) <NUM> such as a touchscreen, a microphone, a non-touch screen, a keyboard, a mouse, speakers, etc. Further, the user device <NUM> in this example implementation includes positioning sensor(s) <NUM> which may include a GPS sensor and/or a proximity sensor, for example. The user device <NUM> in some embodiments can determine its current location using the communication <NUM> and <NUM> to locate Wi-Fi hotspots having known positions and perform triangulation. The components <NUM> - <NUM> can be interconnected via a digital bus <NUM>, for example.

The memory <NUM> stores a mapping/navigation module <NUM> that provides geographic data to a vehicle and, in some cases, receives data from the vehicle. In some embodiments, the mapping/navigation module <NUM> operates as a digital mapping module that generates an interactive digital map for display via a screen of the portable device <NUM> and/or the head unit of a vehicle. To this end, the user device <NUM> can receive geographic data in vector and/or raster format, as well as filtered lists of suggested destinations, from a content server, such as the content server <NUM> of <FIG>. The mapping/navigation module <NUM> can include compiled instructions, non-compiled instructions interpreted by another software module, or both. The mapping/navigation module <NUM> can be, for example, a standalone application, library, or a plugin.

The mapping/navigation module <NUM> is further configured to receive an indication a digital mapping service is invoked and a vehicle identifier via the short-range communication interface <NUM>, provide the indication and vehicle identifier to a content server (such as the server <NUM>) via the long-range communication interface <NUM>, and receive a filtered list of suggestion destinations and the relevant geographic content. When the mapping/navigation module <NUM> receives geographic content organized into a filtered list, the mapping/navigation module <NUM> can display at least a portion of the filtered list. Example operation of the mapping/navigation module <NUM> is further discussed with reference to <FIG>.

Next, <FIG> illustrates a content server <NUM> which can operate as the content server <NUM> of <FIG>, for example. The server <NUM> includes processing hardware including one or more processor(s) <NUM> coupled to a memory <NUM>. The example server <NUM> also includes a network interface <NUM> and a digital bus <NUM> via which the components of the server <NUM> are interconnected. The memory <NUM> stores a data filtering module <NUM>, which can be similar to the data filtering module <NUM> discussed above. The service <NUM> can be implemented, for example, using software instructions executable on the processor(s) <NUM>.

In an example scenario, the vehicle filtering service <NUM> receives an indication that a digital mapping service has been invoked in an automotive context, a user name associated with the driver, and a vehicle identifier. The service <NUM> can access a user profile database that may be coupled to the content server <NUM>. The user profile database may also be implemented in the memory <NUM>. The vehicle filtering service <NUM> generates a filtered list of suggested destinations to be transmitted to a portable user device. Example operation of the service <NUM> is further discussed with reference to <FIG>.

Referring generally to <FIG>, it will be understood that the portable user device <NUM> and the content server <NUM> can include additional components or, conversely, be implemented without some of the illustrated components. Further, two or more of the illustrated components can be implemented as a single component. Still further, some of the components illustrated as single blocks can be made up of multiple interconnected components.

<FIG> illustrates an example method <NUM> for communicating to a user a filtered list of automatically generated geographic content. The method <NUM> can be implemented in the content server <NUM> of <FIG> as a set of computer instructions, for example.

At block <NUM>, an indication that a mapping software was invoked in a vehicle is received. As discussed above, the indication can include vehicle context data including at least some of the following parameters: the identifier of the user as recognized by the digital mapping service, the current location of the vehicle, an identifier of the vehicle (when the user drives multiple vehicles). In some cases, the indication is received along with a request for geographic content, which may be explicit (e.g., "provide recent geographic search queries of the user" or "provide automatic suggestions") or implicit (e.g., "provide navigation directions from the current location to Sydney").

At block <NUM>, user profile data indicative of the user's past interactions with the digital mapping is retrieved, including time-stamped reviews, searches, requests for navigation directions, etc. Next, at blocks <NUM> - <NUM>, the profile data is selected and organized into a car-friendly list. In particular, the list of indications of past user's interactions is sorted chronologically at block <NUM>. Data related to searched-for businesses that are disposed farther than a certain distance D from the current location of the vehicle is filtered out at block <NUM>. In a similar manner, business reviews and other activities related to locations disposed farther than distance D can be filtered out. At block <NUM>, activities that are likely to be irrelevant to the automotive context are deprioritized and/or filtered out. For example, reviews of businesses may be filtered out while navigation directions may be retained.

It is noted that the method <NUM> can include activities related to selecting and prioritizing geographic content in addition to the actions discussed with reference to blocks <NUM> - <NUM>. For example, geographic content can be further filtered in view of the specific vehicle the user is driving.

At block <NUM>, the suggested geographic content is sent to the client device, in accordance with the list generated at blocks <NUM> - <NUM>.

Next, <FIG> illustrates an example method <NUM> for displaying a filtered list of automatically generated geographic content, which can be implemented in the portable device in <FIG>, for example. Similar to the method <NUM>, the method <NUM> can be implemented as a set of instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable one or more processors.

The method <NUM> begins at block <NUM>, where it is determined that a mapping service was invoked in a vehicle. For example, a mapping application operating in a smartphone can determine that the user chose to direct output to the head unit of a vehicle. An indication of the current automotive context is sent to the server at block <NUM>. Depending on the scenario, the indication can be sent as part of a request for automatic suggestions, a request for a list of recent activities, a request for navigation directions, etc. The indication of the current automotive context can include an identifier of the user, an identifier of the vehicle, the current location of the vehicle, an indication of current speed, etc. The geographic content is then received in response to the sent indication at block <NUM>, and displayed at block <NUM>.

The following additional considerations apply to the foregoing discussion. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter of the present disclosure.

Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of components or modules. Modules may constitute either software modules (e.g., code stored on a machine-readable medium) or hardware modules. A hardware module is tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardware module that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

A hardware module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware module in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term hardware should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the hardware modules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different hardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware module at a different instance of time.

Hardware and software modules can provide information to, and receive information from, other hardware and/or software modules. Where multiple of such hardware or software modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect the hardware or software modules. In embodiments in which multiple hardware modules or software are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such hardware or software modules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware or software modules have access. For example, one hardware or software module may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware or software module may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Hardware and software modules may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information).

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or processors or processor-implemented hardware modules. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a "cloud computing" environment or as an SaaS. For example, as indicated above, at least some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of machines including processors), these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., APIs).

As used herein, an "algorithm" or a "routine" is a self-consistent sequence of operations or similar processing leading to a desired result. In this context, algorithms, routines and operations involve physical manipulation of physical quantities.

In addition, use of the "a" or "an" are employed to describe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the description. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

Claim 1:
A method for providing geographic content in an automotive environment, the method comprising:
receiving (<NUM>), by a content server (<NUM>), via a communication network (<NUM>), a request for geographic content from a portable client device (<NUM>), wherein the request includes (i) an indication that a user has invoked a digital mapping service in a vehicle using the client device, (ii) a current location of the client device, and (iii) an identifier of the user;
in response to the request, automatically retrieving (<NUM>), by the content server, profile data (<NUM>) for the user, the profile data including indications of previous interactions of the user with the digital mapping service including destinations unreachable by car;
generating, by the content server, geographic content based on the indications of previous interactions in view of relevance of the previous interactions to an automotive context and excluding destinations unreachable by car; and
providing (<NUM>), by the content server, via the communication network, the geographic content to the client device for presentation in the vehicle.