Patent ID: 8073615

Claim:
A destination-prediction apparatus that predicts a destination of a moving object, said destination-prediction apparatus comprising: an obtaining unit configured to obtain trip history data indicating a trip history of the moving object; a position detecting unit configured to detect a present position of the moving object; a candidate-destination selecting unit configured to (i) search the trip history data obtained by the obtaining unit for trip history records containing the present position of the moving object detected by said position detecting unit, (ii) select a plurality of candidate destinations, and (iii) set an order of the selected plurality of candidate destinations on a basis of frequencies of the trip history records retrieved in the search; a display unit configured to display, according to the order, the plurality of candidate destinations selected by said candidate-destination selecting unit; a rule setting unit configured to (i) judge, for each of the plurality of candidate destinations, whether or not there is a rule for the candidate destination that the moving object moves to the candidate destination at a constant trip frequency during a certain unit period, and (ii) set the rule for the candidate destination when it is judged that there is the rule for the candidate destination, the rule including the certain unit period and the constant trip frequency; a unit-period frequency accumulating unit configured to specify an actual frequency for each of the plurality of candidate destinations for which a rule has been set by said rule setting unit, the actual frequency being (i) specified using the trip history data obtained by said obtaining unit during a current unit period, and (ii) a frequency at which the moving object has moved to the candidate destination during the current unit period; and an actual-frequency judging unit configured to judge, for each of the plurality of candidate destinations for which a rule has been set by said rule setting unit, whether or not the actual frequency specified for the candidate destination by said unit-period frequency accumulating unit satisfies the rule for the candidate destination by judging whether or not the actual frequency for the candidate destination has reached the constant trip frequency included in the rule for the candidate destination, wherein said display unit is configured to display the plurality of candidate destinations so as to reflect the judgment of the actual-frequency judging unit when said actual-frequency judging unit judges that the actual frequency specified for at least one of the plurality of candidate destinations satisfies the rule set for the at least one of the plurality of candidate destinations.