WO2020034993A1

WO2020034993A1 - Navigation method and device

Info

Publication number: WO2020034993A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/100571
Authority: WO
Inventors: Huirong Yang; Wei Sun; Li Li
Original assignee: Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2018-08-14
Filing date: 2019-08-14
Publication date: 2020-02-20
Also published as: EP3837865A1; KR20210095851A; EP3837865A4; CN112585426A

Abstract

A navigation device (10) is provided which includes a receiving unit (11) configured to receive a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s), the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street (s) or area (s) for the user; an information processing unit (12) configured to determine information of the target street (s) or area (s); and a display unit (13) configured to display the target street (s) or area (s). Thereby, it is possible to provide more efficient navigation for the user when the user cannot determine an exact destination and/or cannot know information of the destination.

Description

Navigation Method and Device

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of navigation, and more particularly, to a navigation method and device.

Background

With the development of the Internet and the popularization of mobile intelligent terminals, people are increasingly relying on various navigation tools, such as navigation applications installed on mobile terminals (e.g. mobile phones) , or navigation systems installed on vehicles.

However, nowadays navigation tools are not sufficient to meet the various requirements of users, especially when a user is unfamiliar with his destination; for example, the user is unable to obtain exact information about his destination or still cannot determine his exact destination.

Summary

It is desirable to provide a navigation system and method, which can provide an efficient navigation for a user when the user is unable to obtain exact information about his destination or still cannot determine his exact destination.

In an aspect, a navigation method is provided, which includes receiving a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s) , the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street of area for the user; determining information about the target street (s) or area (s) ; and displaying the target street (s) or area (s) .

A navigation device is provided as well, which includes a receiving unit configured to receive a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s) , the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street (s) or area (s) for the user; an information processing unit configured to determine information of the target street (s) or area (s) ; and a display unit, which is configured to display the target street (s) or area (s) .

According to the method and device, street (s) or area (s) that matches the interest of the user may be determined as the target street (s) or area (s) according to the obtained data, in the case where the input provided by the user enable to indicate the category of his target, that is, the content of interest of the user, located in target street (s) or area (s) . For example, the user may input "snack street" , then it can be determined that the user is interested in snack, and thus, a street or area including a plurality of snack bars can be determined as and displayed as the target street or area to the user.

In an embodiment, determining the information of the target street (s) or area (s) includes: receiving the information of a plurality of targets of a category; determining a density of the targets of the category in each of at least one street or each of at least one area; and determining street (s) or area (s) for which the density of the targets of the category is higher than a predetermined threshold, as the target street (s) or area (s) .

According to the embodiment, even in the case where a specific definition regarding the destination of the input by the user cannot be obtained, it is possible to automatically determine a target-dense street or area of the category of interest to the user as the target street or area.

In a further embodiment, the information of the plurality of targets of the category is received from content /service providers including Meituan, Dianping, and navigation applications. This makes it easy to obtain the exact information about the targets of the category of interest.

In another embodiment, the information of the target street (s) or area (s) is determined directly based on information obtained from the Internet.

In still another embodiment, the information of the plurality of targets includes business hours of the plurality of targets, the method further includes comparing a current time with the business hours of each of the plurality of targets; determining the density of the targets of the category in each of the at least one street or each of the at least one area based on a comparison result.

According to the embodiment, it is possible to determine street (s) or area (s) in which targets of a category are dense just based on the targets of the category within business hours to correspond to a target street (s) or area (s) input by a user.

In still another embodiment, the method further includes displaying to the user an icon of a predefined target street or area indicating a category of targets located therein for the user to select. Specifically, the predefined target street (s) or area (s) can be displayed as different icons according to the categories of the targets located therein, which facilitates the user to select a corresponding target street or area.

In a further embodiment, the method further comprises highlighting the target (s) in the target street (s) or area (s) when the comparison result indicates that the current time is within the business hours of the target (s) .

In a still further embodiment, the method further comprises comparing a current time to a predetermined time range and receiving the information of the plurality of targets of the category if the current time is within the predetermined time range.

In another aspect, a navigation method is provided, including receiving information about object (s) , the information including business hours of the object (s) ; comparing a current time with the business hours of the object; and displaying the object (s) based on a comparison result.

There is also provided a navigation device including a receiving unit configured to receive information about object (s) , the information including business hours of the object (s) ; an information processing unit configured to compare the current time with the business hours of the object (s) ; and a display unit configured to display the object (s) based on a comparison result.

By considering the business hours of the targets during the navigation process, whether the user tends to search for a map or display a navigation map, the user can be provided with more exact and effective navigation information.

In one embodiment, displaying the object (s) based on the comparison result includes highlighting the object (s) when the comparison result indicates that the current time is within the business hours of the object (s) . This highlights and displays the target which is open at current time in the map, allowing the user to plan his destination based on the information.

In another embodiment, the current time is compared to a predetermined time range, preferably the predetermined time range indicates night; if the current time is within the predetermined time range, the information about the object is received.

This enables the navigation system to automatically switch, for example, at night, to implement a method according to an embodiment of the present invention, that is, to automatically start to consider the business hour of individual targets by responding to a search criteria input or consider the business hours of individual targets at night so as to display each of the targets in the map.

In yet another embodiment, the method further includes receiving an user input indicating target information of the user, the object (s) being determined based on the input by the user. This enables the user to input search criteria such as "pharmacies" , at the same time, this enables to obtain search results based on the user input, and then display the search results by considering business hours of the target (s) or the object (s) in the search results.

In a further aspect, a computer storage medium is provided having program code stored thereon, when executed, enables to perform the methods according to various embodiments of the present invention.

Brief description of the drawings

The features, characteristics, advantages and benefits will be apparent from the following detailed description in light of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a navigation method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 shows a block diagram of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 9 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a navigation method in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Various aspects and features of the present invention are described with reference to the above drawings. The above drawings are merely illustrative and not limiting. The size, shape, numeral, appearance, or function of each unit in the above-described drawings may be varied, instead of being limited to what shown in the drawings of the specification, without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In some cases, a user of a navigation system does not exactly know where he wants to go. For example, in summer, the user may want to go to a more lively place to dine (such as barbecue) to experience the lively atmosphere at evening, but not be sure about the name of the restaurant he want to go; or the user goes out to travel and wants to find a street or area with more local shops, but he does not know the specific location and its name. For example, the local specialty is jade, the user may want to visit a street or area where most shops selling jade are located. In this case, a navigation system is desired to provide some guidance to the user.

However, many nowadays life assistance applications or navigation systems do not include such assistance. For example, a night market in China is an area which often includes various types of shops, and where people tend to go at night, but the nowadays navigation systems cannot automatically identify and provide information about the night market.

Fig. 1 illustrates a navigation device 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 10 comprises a receiving unit 11, an information processing unit 12 and a display unit 13. The receiving unit 11 is configured to receive an input from outside, which includes but not be limited to an input from a user, an input from the Internet, an input from any database, and an input from any content or service provider.

Typically, the user can input a destination he expects to arrive at by manually entering and/or voice input in a search bar, or by clicking an icon on an interactive interface of the navigation device, as shown in Fig. 2.

According to the embodiments of the invention, when the user is not sure of the exact target store or location and wants to go to a street or area where a certain category of shops is located, the user is allowed to input content indicating a category of a target of interest located in a street or area as an input. For example, when the user wants to go to a more lively place to dine, the user can input ‘food street’ , ‘food court’ , ‘snack street’ , etc., even the user can directly input ‘dining’ , ‘disco’ , etc. ; of course other types of input are also expected, such as ‘bar street’ , ‘barbecue street’ , etc., as long as the user enters the category that can indicate the target of interest for the user. More conveniently, it can display icons of a predefined target street or area indicating the categories of the targets located therein for the user to selection, as shown by the arrow in Fig. 2.

It is contemplated that the navigation device 10 also has a storage function capable of pre-storing definitions of the information about the target street (s) or area (s) input by the user, particularly showing the corresponding relationship between a different user input and a category of a target of interest, for example, it can be determined from the corresponding relationship that the input of ‘catering street’ refers to that the category of the target of interest is a restaurant or beverage shop. In a case where the navigation device can pre-store the information about a target street or area together with its definition, even if the user inputs a relatively blurred target representation, the navigation device can determine the category of the target of interest for the user according to its definition. For example, the navigation device can define a "night market" , and thus determine the category of the targets of interest for a user according to the definition of the “night market” when the user inputs the ‘night market’ .

While the definition of the information about the target street (s) or area (s) input by the user can be stored by the navigation device 10, it is contemplated that the definition can be stored on other locations, such as a network, as long as it is available to the navigation device. It is also contemplated that such a definition will not be stored, but to determine the category of the target of interest for the user in a street or area by analyzing the information about the target street or area input by the user.

The information processing unit 12 is configured to determine the information about the target street (s) or area (s) based on a received user input, for example, the location of the target street (s) or area (s) on the map, which may be determined by longitude and latitude data. In a specific embodiment, the information processing unit 12 may first determine the category of the target of interest for the user based on the information about the target street (s) or area (s) input by the user, and then determine the location of the target street (s) or area (s) on the map based on the determined category.

The location of the target street (s) or area (s) on the map can be determined in at least two different ways. In an embodiment, after having determined the category of the target (e.g., shop) of interest for the user based on the target street (s) or area (s) input by the user, the information about the target street (s) or area (s) can be determined based on information obtained from the Internet (e.g., a website or social media) , such as its longitude and latitude data and/or its business hours.

In another embodiment, after having determined the category of the target of interest for the user, the receiving unit 11 is capable of obtaining information of a plurality of targets of this category from at least one of content/service providers including Dianping, Meituan or other navigation applications. The information of the targets includes at least location data of the plurality of targets of the category, such as longitude and latitude data.

The information processing unit 12 can determine a density of the targets of the category in each of at least one street or each of at least one area based on the information received by the receiving unit 11. For example, the density of targets of a category within a distance range may be defined by the number of the targets of the category withinthe distance range. In a specific example, a street or area containing more than five targets of the same category within a distance of 3 kilometers is defined as the street or area of that category, for example, a street or area containing more than five restaurants is determined as a dining street or area, and streets of others categories such as BBQ, bars, etc. are also expected. Preferably, the density of the targets of the category in each street or area within a certain range can be determined.

The information processing unit 12 is capable of comparing the determined density of the targets of the category in each street or area with a predetermined threshold, and determining a street or area for which the density is higher than the predetermined threshold as an actual target street or area. There may be more than one target street or area to be determined.

The display unit 13 displays a target street or area determined according to any of the above methods to the user, as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the left side illustrates target streets or areas determined in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The target streets or areas can be sorted according to the distance of each of the target streets or areas from the user's current position, or the target streets or areas can be sorted according to the number of targets in each of the target streets or areas, and other sorting criteria are also contemplated; the right side of Fig. 3 highlights the location of each of the target streets and areas, as well as the user’s current position on the map, particularly illustrates the outline and boundaries of each of the target streets or areas for user to view.

The user can select any one of the target streets or areas illustrated on the left, and Fig. 4 illustrates the interface after the user has selected any one of the target streets or areas. The above selection can be made by means of such as double clicking. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, the street or area numbered by “1” shown in Fig. 3 is selected. The left side of Fig. 4 shows targets of interest of the same category for the user in the selected street or area, which can be sorted by name, rating, average consumption, or distance from the user's current location; while the right side highlights these targets on the map. Afterwards, the user can select any of these targets as a final destination.

Alternatively, the user can only select any one of the target streets or areas, and use the target street or area as a final navigation target, for example, selecting the street or area numbered by “1” in Fig. 3 such as by a single click, and then clicking ‘Go’ in the interface shown in Fig. 3, result in navigating to the street or area. In this case, it enables to take a location closest to the user’s current location in the target street (s) or area (s) as the navigation location of the target street (s) or area (s) , or take the central location of the target street (s) or area (s) as the navigation location of the target street (s) or area (s) . The navigation location refers to a location for a target street (s) or area (s) at which the navigation ends.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to one situation. In a further embodiment, business hours of a target street or area, especially the business hours of the targets of interest, can be considered when determining the target street or area. For example, the information processing unit 12 can determine the business hours of a plurality of targets of a category of interest for a user based on received information (e.g., from various content/service providers or the Internet) , comparing current time with the business hours of each of the targets, and determining a density of the targets of the category of interest for the user in each of at least one street or each of at least one area based on the comparison results. For example, only the density of the targets of the category of interest for the user may be determined only based on the targets that are still open in each of the at least one street or each of the at least one area. Or since it needs time for the user to reach the target from his current location, only the targets of the category in each street or each area which will still be open for more than one hour from now on are used to determine the density of the targets of the category of interest for the user, and other opening hours range different from one hour are also expected.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart 100 of a navigation method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At 101, a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s) is received, the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street (s) or area (s) . In an embodiment, it is able to display for the user an icon of a predefined target street or area represented by the category of the targets located therein for the user to select.

At 102, information about the target street (s) or area (s) is determined. In an embodiment, the category of the targets of interest can be determined based on the received user input, and then the information of the target street (s) or area (s) is determined based on the determined category of the targets.

In a further embodiment, determining the information about the target street (s) or area (s) includes receiving the information of a plurality of targets of the category, such as receiving the information of the plurality of targets of the category from content providers/service providers including Meituan, Dianping, and other navigation applications; determining a density of the targets of the category in each of at least one street or each of the at least one area; and determining street (s) or area (s) for which the density of the targets is higher than a predetermined threshold as the target street (s) or area (s) . In another embodiment, the information about the target street (s) or area (s) is determined directly based on information obtained from the Internet. At 103, the determined target street (s) or area (s) is displayed to the user.

In a further embodiment, the information of the plurality of targets includes business hours of the plurality of targets, and the method further includes comparing a current time with the business hours of each of the plurality of targets; determining a density of the targets of the category in each of the at least one street or each of the at least area based on the comparison result.

Many shops are closed at night, and users often have difficulty in obtaining such information, which makes it inconvenient to provide users with night navigation, especially in emergency situations. For example, a user needs to buy a certain medicine immediately for a patient who has sudden onset in the middle of the night, but the user does not know which pharmacies are still open in the middle of the night, which wastes the user's time to find a pharmacy that is still open. Although the situation of night is relatively special, it can be expected that the same applies to daytime. For example, the bars are usually open at night, so in the current situation, finding a bar that is still in business hours during the daytime may also cause inconvenience to the user.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a navigation device capable of considering the business hours of a target input by a user or capable of displaying information indicating the business hours of each of the targets when searching for a destination.

Fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a navigation device 20 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 20 includes a receiving unit 21, an information processing unit 22, and a display unit 23. The receiving unit 21 is configured to receive information about object (s) , the information is indicative of business hours of the object (s) , and typically received from the Internet, various databases, or various content providers or service providers. Similar to the receiving unit 11, the receiving unit 21 is also capable of receiving other information about the object (s) from the user. It should be noted that the object (s) is not limited to the search result obtained after the user inputs the destination information (general search) when searching for the destination in the navigation system, and may also contain the case where each of the targets displayed on the map acts as the object, according to embodiments of the present invention, each of the targets is displayed on the map so that the user can know real-time information of the target (such as whether it is in business hours) , so that the user can plan his destination (target availability search) according to the need and the information of the target.

In an embodiment, it is possible to take only the targets related to the destination information input by the user in the navigation system as the objects, which is the case when the user has input the search criteria (general search) . As shown in Fig. 7, the user can input a search criterion in a search bar, or similar to Fig. 2, the icons of the predefined target streets or areas indicating the categories of the targets located therein can be displayed as the search criteria to for the user to select. This embodiment of the invention can be further combined with the embodiment described above with reference to Fig. 1 when the search criterion input by the user indicates the category of the object (s) of interest.

In one scenario, when it relates to searching for specific targets at a specific time, for example, the user wants to search for a location of a pharmacy that is still open at night, or the user wants to search for a location of a bar or disco that is still open during daytime, the user can enter ‘pharmacies’ , ‘bar’ or ‘disco’a s search the criterion. In this case, on one hand, the receiving unit 21 is capable of receiving user input as the search criterion from the user in order to find the eligible subject, the user input being capable of indicating the target information of the user, as described above, if the user inputs "pharmacy" , then, his target is a pharmacy, and the surrounding pharmacies are searched for as the objects; on the other hand, the receiving unit 21 receives the information indicating the business hours of the object (s) (for example, the searched pharmacy) .

The information processing unit 22 receives information indicating the business hours of the object (for example, the searched pharmacy) from the receiving unit 21. In one case, the information indicating the business hours of the object is expressed in the same representation manner as the current time, and then the current time can be directly compared with the business hours of the object, for example, the information indicating the business hours of the object is "5: 00-22: 00" , and the current time is "1: 00" , then it can directly compare between the two to determine the current time "1: 00" is not in the business hours "5: 00-22: 00" of the object .

In another case, the received information indicating the business hours of the object is different from representation manner of the current time, which requires the information processing unit 22 to optimize the received (e.g., time) structure of the information indicating the business hours of the object, such that the time information can be represented by a unified structure. For example, the information indicating the business hours of the object received by the receiving unit 21 is "8: 00 am -10: 00 pm" , and the current time is represented as "14: 00" , then it is necessary to optimize the business hours information or the current time structure. After performing the above optimization, the information processing unit 22 then directly compares the current time with the business hours of the object to determine whether it is within the business hours of the object.

If the current time is exactly within the business hours of the object, the display unit 23 can display the object based on the comparison result, for example, the searched object within the business hours can be displayed in the front position in a searched result list, or the searched object within the business hours can be highlighted in the map. Fig. 8 illustrates an interface of a navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, which shows a searched result with business hours. The search result list is shown on the left side, in which the searched objects within the business hours are in front, and the objects within business hours are highlighted on the right side in the map.

According to this embodiment, it provides the user with more accurate and efficient search and navigation by considering the business hours when searching for the targets, which enables to greatly save the user’s time, and reduce the user’s anxiety at a certain time period, such as at night, and thus it improves the user’s experience.

In another embodiment, the user may not have input the search criterion yet, but merely a map is displayed. In this case, a plurality of targets displayed in the navigation map can be taken as objects (target availability search) to be displayed by considering their business hours according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a scenario, the user simply wants to know the surroundings and is not sure about a destination to go, so only use a map displayed by a navigation system as a reference during his driving. In this case, according to an embodiment of the present invention, an object within business hours, for example, within a certain distance around the user's current position can be highlighted in the map, which facilitates the user to plan or select his destination during driving, for example, to select a destination within business hours as a navigation target.

According to this embodiment, all targets displayed in the current map, preferably all targets within the certain distance around the user’s current position, can be taken as the objects, and the receiving unit 21 receives information indicating the business hours of the targets from any one of the content or service provider.

The information processing unit 22 compares the current time with the business hours of each target, and the information processing unit 22 in this embodiment is functionally similar to the information processing unit 22 described previously.

The display unit 23 displays individual targets based on the comparison result, for example, it is possible to highlight targets that are still in business hours within the certain distance around the user. The target can be highlighted in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map and the targets that are still in business hours can be distinguished by color, brightness, etc.

In a further embodiment, the information processing unit 22 is capable of identifying the category of the targets in the business hours, such as a pharmacy, a convenience store, a hospital, etc., and the display unit 23 highlights the targets within business hours of different categories based on the category of the targets, such as pink for pharmacies, green for convenience stores, and red for hospitals.

In a three-dimensional map, it is also possible to highlight the entire building where the target is located for the user to view, as shown in Fig. 9. In order to highlight the target within business hours in the three-dimensional map, in an embodiment, the information processing unit 22 determines location data of the target in the map, such as longitude and latitude data, and the location data of the target is compared with polygon data of a predefined building in the map to determine whether the target is within the building, and if the target is located within the building, the display unit 23 highlights the building in the three-dimensional map.

The embodiments described above with respect to Figs. 6-9 are particularly suitable for navigating at night, and thus the above embodiments can be configured to be implemented only at night. For example, the information processing unit 22 of the navigation device 20 can further compare the current time with a predetermined time range, such as 22: 00-5: 00which indicates night, other time ranges are also contemplated. If the current time is within the predetermined time range, the information processing unit 22 sends a signal to the receiving unit 21 instructing it to receive information indicating the business hours of the object, and then the above embodiment will be performed.

In a further embodiment, the appearance of the display interface can be automatically changed based on determining the current time within a predetermined time range indicating the night, such as adjusting the background color to a dark color, or adjusting the brightness to be softer, so as to enable the user to feel more warm and/or comfortable at night, vice versa.

According to the above embodiment, a plurality of targets in a navigation map are highlighted by considering their business hours regardless of the search targets of the user, which can provide the user with more useful information, especially at night, and thus facilitat the user to plan his destination according to the map display. For example, a user who wants to dine at night can find that there is a restaurant still open in the vicinity of his current position by the map display according to the embodiment, and then the user can plan the restaurant as his destination conveniently by clicking. This provides the user with more effective information at night.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above mainly with reference to two embodiments and two scenarios (general search and target availability search) , and it is contemplated that the navigation device 200 can switch between the two scenarios.

Fig. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a navigation method 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. At 201, information about an object is received, the information indicating business hours of the object, and additionally, a user input can be received, the input indicative of target information of the user, in order to determine an object that actually needs to consider business hours. For example, in the case where a user searches for his destination, the user can input target-related information. Further, it is possible to receive information indicating the business hours of the searched destination. At 202, a current time is compared with the business hours of the object. At 203, the object is displayed based on the comparison. This includes highlighting the object when the comparison result indicates that the current time is within the business hours of the object.

In an embodiment, the navigation method further includes comparing current time with a predetermined time range; and receiving information about an object if its current time is within the predetermined time range. The predetermined time range may indicate night, such that various embodiments considering the business hours can be automatically initiated at night.

The various embodiments have been described above with reference to business hours, and it may be readily understood that in order to give a user a clearer guidance, business hours of respective targets can be directly displayed to the user. Further, considering that the user may need some time to enjoy service from the target, for example, the current time is 23: 55, and business hours of a certain store ends at 24: 00, even if the user arrives at the store, it is difficult to have time to enjoy the service, it is possible to determine target (s) that has a certain amount of time (e.g., one hour) from its business end time as the target (s) displayed according to various embodiments of the present invention when comparing the current time with the business hours. It is also possible to determine the amount of time by considering the distance of the target from the user’s current position.

The navigation devices and methods in accordance with the present invention have been described above with reference to various embodiments. Although the various navigation methods are not described in one-to-one correspondence with their corresponding devices, it should be understood that the features described with respect to the embodiments of various navigation devices are capable of finding corresponding features in their corresponding embodiments of navigation methods. In addition, although different navigation devices and methods are described with reference to different embodiments and/or scenarios, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the respective embodiments and features therein can be split and/or combined to accommodate to different scenarios, thereby achieving different technical effects.

Furthermore, although the navigation devices/methods of various embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the various units/steps specifically illustrated above, it should be understood that the respective units and/or steps described above can be split, combined, or even some of those can be deleted to achieve the corresponding effect.

The above acts may be implemented in the form of computer readable instructions encoded or embedded on a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable instructions, when executed by a computer processor (s) , cause the processor (s) to perform the acts described. Additionally or alternatively, at least one of the computer readable instructions is carried by a signal, carrier wave or other transient medium.

The invention has been described with reference to some preferred embodiments. Modifications or variations may occur to the skilled person upon reading and understanding the above embodiments. It is intended that the invention be construed to include such modifications and variations, as long as they fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

A navigation method, comprising:

receiving a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s) , the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street (s) or area (s) for the user;

determining information regarding the target street (s) or area (s) ; and

displaying the target street (s) or area (s) .
The navigation method of claim 1, wherein determining information regarding the target street (s) or area (s) comprising

receiving information of a plurality of targets of the category;

determining a density of the plurality of targets of the category in each of at least one street or each of at least one area; and

determining street (s) or area (s) for which the density of the plurality of targets of the category is higher than a predetermined threshold, as the target street (s) or area (s) .
The navigation method of claim 2, wherein the information of the plurality of targets of the category is received from content/service providers comprising navigation applications.
The navigation method of claim 1, wherein the information regarding the target street (s) or area (s) is determined based on information obtained from Internet.
The navigation method of claim 2, wherein the information of the plurality of targets includes business hours of the plurality of targets,

the method further comprising

comparing a current time with the business hours of each of the plurality of targets; and

determining the density of the plurality of targets of the category in each of the at least one street or each of the at least one area based on a comparison result.
The navigation method of claim 1, further comprising

displaying to the user an icon of a predefined target street or area indicating the category of targets located therein for the user to select.
The navigation method of claim 5, further comprising

highlighting the target (s) in the target street (s) or area (s) when the comparison result indicates that the current time is within the business hours of the target (s) .
The navigation method of claim 2 or 5, further comprising

comparing a current time to a predetermined time range; and

receiving the information of the plurality of targets of the category if the current time is within the predetermined time range.
A navigation device, comprising

a receiving unit configured to receive a user input regarding target street (s) or area (s) , the user input indicative of a category of target (s) of interest located in the target street (s) or area (s) for the user;

an information processing unit configured to determine information regarding the target street (s) or area (s) ; and

a display unit configured to display the target street (s) or area (s) .
The navigation device of claim 9, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive information of a plurality of targets of the category; the information processing unit is further configured to determine a density of the plurality of targets of the category in each of at least one street or each of at least one area, and determine street (s) or area (s) for which the density of the plurality of targets of the category is higher than a predetermined threshold, as the target street (s) or area (s) .
The navigation device of claim 10, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive the information of the plurality of targets of the category from content/service providers comprising navigation applications.
The navigation device of claim 9, wherein the information processing unit is further configured to determine the information regarding the target street (s) or area (s) based on information obtained from Internet.
The navigation device of claim 10, wherein the information of the plurality of targets includes business hours of the plurality of targets,

the information processing unit is further configured to

compare a current time with the business hours of each of the plurality of targets; and

determine the density of the plurality of targets of the category in each of the at least one street or each of the at least one area based on a comparison result.
The navigation device of claim 9, wherein the display unit is further configured to display to the user an icon of a predefined target street or area indicating the category of targets located therein for the user to select.
The navigation device of claim 13, wherein the display unit is further configured to highlight the target (s) in the target street (s) or area (s) when the comparison result indicates that the current time is within the business hours of the target (s) .
The navigation device of claim 10 or 13, wherein the information processing unit is further configured to compare a current time to a predetermined time range; and the receiving unit is further configured to receive the information of the plurality of targets of the category if it is determined that the current time is within the predetermined time range.
A computer storage medium having program code stored thereon, when executed, is capable of performing the method of any one of claims1-8.