Patent ID: 8682340

Claim:
A method for communicating location-based information in response to a direction information query from a mobile device, the method comprising: wherein the location-based information is separated into critical information and supplementary information and wherein the mobile device is in communication with an application server via a communication network; receiving the critical information at the mobile device in response to the direction information query, the critical information defining a critical path having at least one critical waypoint; monitoring a signal strength for conformance with a predefined threshold level of acceptable wireless communication between the mobile device and the communication network; determining, while the device is communicating with the communication network, that the mobile device may lose contact with the communication network after the signal strength drops below the predefined threshold; and in response to the determining, receiving and caching the supplementary information at the mobile device at a virtual waypoint located geographically adjacent the at least one critical waypoint; wherein the critical information initially received at the mobile device comprises a minimized set of route instructions to direct a user of the mobile device to a target destination.