Patent ID: 8209120

Claim:
A method for providing map information to a vehicle to enable an occupant of the vehicle to access the map information, comprising: forming a database including map data about roadways that the vehicle can travel on, the data including a speed limit for the vehicle in the roadways, the database being formed using a processor, the database including a plurality of map database segments, each of the plurality of map database segments having an associated date and time; installing the database on the vehicle; managing the database to ensure that the database has current data about a roadway on which the vehicle is currently situated or approaching; and displaying on a heads-up or other display visible to an occupant of the vehicle, data from the database to the occupant of the vehicle including a map derived from the map data from the database of an area around the vehicle, and the speed limit for the roadway on which the vehicle is travelling, the step of managing the database comprising: establishing wireless communications to the vehicle to enable data to be provided to the database, the database being managed using a processor; transmitting from the vehicle, requests to infrastructure to enable ascertaining whether the database has current map data for the roadway on which the vehicle is currently situated or is planning on travelling, the step of ascertaining whether the database has current map data comprising: obtaining, in response to the transmission of each request to infrastructure, a latest date and time of each segment of the map database to that portion of earth covered by the map database segment; comparing, using a processor on the vehicle, the associated date and time of each map database segment contained in the database with the obtained latest date and time of that same map database segment to determine whether the map database segment in the database in the vehicle has a date and time equal to or later than the obtained latest date and time; and only if not, using vehicle-to-vehicle communication, infrastructure-to-vehicle communication, Internet communication or a communications system in the vehicle to obtain the data for the map database segment associated with the latest date and time; and then including the obtained data for the map segment in the database with the latest date and time as a substitution for a corresponding map database segment previously included in the database and associating the latest date and time with the newly included map database segment in the database.