GB2528081A

GB2528081A - Improvements in automotive navigation systems

Info

Publication number: GB2528081A
Application number: GB1412162.8A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Adam Gelencser
Original assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
Current assignee: Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
Priority date: 2014-07-08
Filing date: 2014-07-08
Publication date: 2016-01-13
Also published as: GB201412162D0

Abstract

A method for providing route information to a driver, through a satellite navigation system, in order to find the driver a suitable parking location near to their destination. The method comprises determining a destination based on driver input; planning a route from a current location to the destination; identifying a plurality of parking candidates in the vicinity of the destination; selecting one of the candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the candidates, such as vacancy probability, weather conditions, traffic congestion and driver preferences including previous use of candidate locations by one or more drivers who use the system; and setting the selected candidate as the new route destination. The invention is therefore adaptive to the selected route of the navigation system to locate the most suitable parking location for the driver before the destination is reached based on a set of attributes associated with the parking location.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMOTIVE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to automotive navigation systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a strategy to assist the driver of the vehicle to find a parking location when the vehicle has reached its destination. Aspects of the invention also relate to a system for providing route information to a driver, to a vehicle incorporating the system, to a computer-implemented method for providing route information to a driver and also to a computer program product and carrier medium embodying the method.

BACKGROUND

Automotive navigation systems are now very popular and tend to be a standard or optional fitment in most new vehicles. They are also available as handheld units and to retrofit to vehicles that don't have such systems installed at the time of manufacture.

The main function of an automotive navigation system is to guide the driver from the current location of the vehicle to a destination that has been selected by the driver. Most navigation systems also have the facility for a user to select a point of nterest' along a route or at their selected destination and so guide a user to that point of interest.

As an illustration of this, consider a driver travelling along their guided route and noticing that they will need to refill their vehicle with fuel before they reach their destination. The driver may call up a point of interest (P01) list, select a Fuel Station' category, and select the fuel station that most closely matches their needs, be it brand of fuel, proximity and so on. Once a specific fuel station has been selected, the navigation system will then direct the driver to that destination.

As another example, consider a driver having travelled along their guided route and, having reached their destination, needing to find somewhere to park. Typically, a navigation system will display parking icons, usually denoted by a blue P', on the map which will give the driver an approximate idea as to where the nearest options for parking are located. However, it may not be easy to determine the location from the map, and requires the driver to apply some guesswork as to the route to the parking location.

Alternatively, the driver may try and set a parking location as a point of interest by selecting the P01 list, choosing the Parking' category and then selecting one of the parking locations that is presented to them, upon which the navigation system will provide the driver with guidance to the selected parking location. However, this approach is reactive in that it requires a significant level of driver involvement to navigate through the user interface of the navigation system to identify a list of parking options and select a preference. This imposes an undesirable driver workload.

It is against this background that the invention has been devised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an aspect of the invention the invention provides a method for providing route information to a driver, through a suitable navigation system, in order to find the driver a suitabe parking location near to their destination. The method comprises: determining a destination based on driver input; identifying a plurality of parking candidates in the vicinity of the destination; selecting one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination planning a route to the new route destination.

The invention is therefore adaptive to the selected route of the navigation system to locate the most suitable parking location for the driver before the destination is reached based on a set of attributes associated with the parking location. Beneficially, the driver is redirected to the parking location which does not require any input from the driver. In one embodiment, the step of planning a route to the new route destination occurs after an intial route has already been planned to the initial destination. In another embodiment, however, the step of planning a route to the new route destination occurs before a route has been planned to the initial destination.

In addition to a computer-implementable method, the invention can also be expressed as, and therefore also embraces, a navigation system for a vehicle comprising control means operatively linked to a GNSS transceiver and a map database, and wherein the control means is configured to: determine a first destination based on driver input; identify a plurality of parking location candidates in the vicinity of the first destination; select one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; set the selected parking candidate as the new route destination; plan a route to the new route destination.

The attribute data items may include one or more of the following: vacancy probability data associated with the parking candidates, through which a judgement may be made on the likelhood of the driver getting a free space at the parking location. This data item may be configured to be responsive to certain variables, such as the time of day or time of year for example.

weather condition data at the parking candidates, through which a judgement may be made as to whether a parking location that offers open air or covered parking may be more suitable for the driver.

traffic congestion data at the parking candidates, through which a judgement may be made as to the likelihood of the driver being caught in traffic on their way to the parking location. This data item may aso be responsive to variables such as seasonal variations in traffic but also changes in traffic density throughout the day.

driver preference data, through which account may be taken of a preference or preferences expressed by the driver for one or more particular parking locations.

The invention also extends to a vehicle including such a navigation system, a non-transient computer readable medium containing program instructions causing a computing device to perform the above method, and also to a computing device incorporating the computer readable medium.

Some attributes data items may be determined in real time, such as weather conditions associated with a particular parking candidate. However, it may be more appropriate for others of the attribute data items to be predetermined, for example whether the parking candidate offers covered or open air parking spaces.

The attribute data may also include information regarding how frequently the driver has used one of the parking candidates in previous journeys, thereby learning' from the past behaviour of the driver in order to influence the recommendation of which parking candidate is most suitable.

In one embodiment, the system may be configured to learn' about the parking behaviour of two or more drivers by recording to how many times a parking candidate has been used by alternative drivers. A specific driver may be identified through a suitable login procedure, or the driver may be identified through analysis of driver characteristics.

The attribute data items may have a relative weight so as to control the influence that each of the attribute data items has on the final recommendation of the most suitable parking candidate.

The step of setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination may occur as soon as the initial destination is determined. However, it is envisaged that this step may be better performed once the vehicle is within a predetermined range of the route destination.

Although the selection of the most preferred or suitable parking candidate may be made substantially transparent to the driver, optionally the driver may be consulted as to the appropriateness of the selected parking candidate and whether this should be set as the new destination.

Within the scope of this application it is expressly intended that the various aspects, embodiments, examples and alternatives set out in the preceding paragraphs, in the claims and/or in the following description and drawings, and in particular the individual features thereof, may be taken independently or in any combination. That is, all embodiments and/or features of any embodiment can be combined in any way and/or combination, unless such features are incompatible. The applicant reserves the right to change any originally filed claim or file any new claim accordingly, including the right to amend any originally filed claim to depend from and/or incorporate any feature of any other claim although not originally claimed in that manner."

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a navigation system; Figure 2 is a process diagram illustrating a functionality of the navigation system of Figurel; Figure 3 is a pictorial representation of a route taken towards a destination and three parking locations that are near to the destination; and Figure 4 is a pictorial representation of a set of attributes relating to a number of parking locations and a corresponding set of criteria for determining the most suitable parking location based on the attributes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

With reference to Figure 1, an automotive navigation system 2 comprises a navigation controller 4 that is operatively linked to an output display S of the vehicle and an input arrangement 8.

The output display 6 may be an LCD dsplay that is integrated into the dashboard or the centre console of the vehicle since this provides the cleanest mechanical solution to the driver. However, the display 6 may also be a retrofit unit or a handheld dedicated satellite navigation device or sat nay' or even a suitably equipped mobile phone.

The input arrangement B is shown here as separate to the output display 4 and, as such, may be any means for inputting driver commands and selections into the controller 4, such as a rotary selection dial, a keyboard or voice control unit. However, it is envisaged that the input arrangement 8 may also be combined with the output display 6 in the form of a touch screen HMI (human-machine interface) device as is common in modern vehicles. As such, the functionality of the navigation system is combined with other information channels that are delivered to the driver, such as radio information, vehicle data, parking proximity warnings and the like.

The controller 4 also receives inputs from a GNSS (global navigation satellite system) transceiver 10 and a mapping database 12. The GNSS transceiver 10 provides the controller with time and location data from a suitable satellite network (be it OPS or GLONASS) in the usual way. Similarly, the mapping database 12 provides a map of an area of interest -this may be a global map or a restricted region, for example Europe or the UK. The controller 4 may also input data into the mapping database 12, for instance based on details of closed roads, low bridges, diversion routes, traffic data trends and so on.

At this point, it should be noted that Figure 1 is a simplified representaton of a satellite navigation system in order to put the invention into a suitable context and that other parts, components and/or modules may be included in the satellite navigation system that are not discussed here for brevity.

Also, it should be noted that where a controller, component or module is described as being configured to perform a described function, this should be considered to mean that the relevant item includes a means for performing that function, for example that it may be programmed with a program, or may execute a program stored in an associated memory unit that causes the item to perform that function.

An objective of the invention is to improve the information provided to the driver at the point where the driver needs to park their vehicle when the destination has been reached. Up to now, facilities provided in navigation systems to identify parking places for the driver are restricted to simply displaying the location of the parking places. This approach is reactive and does not take into account the needs of the driver. The inventon improves on this by automatically identifying parking locations in the vicinity of the destination and evaluating these ocations against a set of predefined criteria to determine the suitability of each of the potential parking locations for the driver of the vehicle.

Furthermore, the invention may function automatically to redirect the driver to the best fit' parking location once they are approaching the destination that was initiated at the start of the journey. Interaction with the user can be significant, such as identifying a ranked list of parking locations and asking the user to confirm the best fit' parking location, or the system may function almost entirely in the background of the main navigational task so that the driver is just directed to the most suitable parking location in the vicinity of the destination. The system may also provide the facility to learn from previous journeys which parking locations the driver uses most frequently. The system is therefore able to learn' from previous driving behaviour which parking locations are preferred' by the driver and use this information to influence which parking location it recommends.

To achieve the above objectives, the navigation system 2 is provided with a parking module 20. The parking module 20 is shown here as a separate functional component to the controller 4 for convenience, although it will be appreciated that its functionality may be incorporated into the same physical firmware or software structures as the controller 4 so as to, in effect, be part of the controller 4.

The parking module 20 provides a proactive parking strategy for the navigation strategy that is more responsive to the needs of the driver. The parking module 20 may become operational at the beginning of a route guidance session, or, alternatively, at the point where the vehicle comes within a predetermined range of the destination, as will be explained. The primary role of the parking module 20 is to identify and evaluate parking locations that are near to a current destination of the navigation system, to re-route the guidance session towards the parking location that has been selected as most suitable for the driver, and also to build a database of parking locations that have been used by the driver to enable more effective future parking recommendations. As such, the parking module 20 is linked to the mapping database 12 and also to a parking location database 22. The parking module 20 also receives a data input 24 from the local area network (LAN) 26 of the vehicle which may be a CAN bus for example.

The functionality of the parking module will now be described in the context of a process depicted in Figure 2.

The process 100 starts at the initiation of a route guidance session, at step 102, at which point the user selects a route destination. This may be achieved by the user choosing a recent destination or my entering a postcode designation, or street name and house number combination, for example.

The navigation system then plans a route in the normal way at step 104 and starts route guidance at step 106. This is depicted in Figure 3 in which a vehicle V is shown travellng along a planned route R' towards a set destination D'.

At step 108, the system monitors the route guidance session until such time that the vehicle reaches a location that is a predetermined distance from the selected destination.

It is envisaged that this may be a distance of between around two to five miles which would give sufficient time for the user to be notified of the identification of a suitable parking location and for suitable adjustments to be made to the planned route.

Once the destination D is within range', as depicted by the range boundary B' in Figure 3, the parking module 20 reads the destination from the controller 4 and, at step 110, queries the mapping database 12 to retrieve all parking locations in the vicinity of the destination within a predetermined distance. That predetermined distance may be hardcoded into the parking module 20 or, alternatively, may be user selectable so as to increase or decrease the number of parking locations that the parking module 20 evaluates.

At this point, therefore, the parking module 20 has retrieved a plurality of possible parking locations which could be used by the driver for parking a convenient distance away from the destination. As can be seen in Figure 3, in this embodiment the mapping database 12 has returned three parkng locations, P1', P2, and P3', although this number is not meant to be limiting. From now on these parking locations will be referred to as parking candidates'. It should be noted here that although each of the parking candidates have been shown here as being located outside of the boundary B, this is simply for illustrative purposes and, as such, it is at least equally likely that the parking candidates are located inside the boundary B. Once the parking candidates P1-P3 have been identified, the process moves on to step 112 to evaluate or rank' the parking candidates P1-P3 into an order of suitability for the driver.

The parking module 20 does this by comparing each of the parking candidates against a predetermined set of criteria. The criteria are established in order to identify the parking candidate that will suit the needs of the driver most closely. As can be seen in Figure 4, in this embodiment the criteria are: -The probability that there will be parking spaces available at the parking candidate. Here, this factor is expressed as a percentage although this is not essential.

-Whether the parking candidate provides sheltered or open air parking. This factor will be relevant if the parking module 20 detects that it is raining or, alternatively, detects that rain is forecasted, which would mean that a sheltered parking candidate would be more suitable.

-Available access to the parking candidate. This provides a measure of the traffic congestion that is generally associated with the parking candidate.

-Distance to destination.

Although not shown here, the criteria may be weighted to emphasise the relative importance of certain ones of the criteria.

Other criteria are possible. For example it may be made possible for the driver to indicate a preference over the location of the parking candidate.

In evaluating each parking candidate P1 -P3, the parking module 20 gathers data relating to each of the parking candidates to define a respective set of attributes. The sets of attributes or attribute data items' are shown in the vertical columns in Figure 4 corresponding to each of the parking candidates P1 to P3 and it will be noted that each of the attributes corresponds to a respective one of the judging criteria.

The data relating to each parking candidate P1-P3 may be gathered from numerous sources. For example, the mapping database 12 may provide certain attributes, such as distance to the destination and historic traffic conditions. Data may also be gathered from online sources dedicated to the provision of such information such as traffic data services using the mobile phone network, parking services operators who may publish performance data about their parking locations in public forums, and meteorological services providing historic and current weather information. Such data may be sourced from the LAN 26.

The parking module 20 also may generate certain attribute data itself. For example, it may record data relating to previous visits that the vehicle has made to any of the parking candidates P1-P3. This attribute may have a significant influence on the suitabUity of a parking candidate. So, a frequently visited parking candidate will be more likely to be identified as the most suitable parking candidate for a future visit to the same destination.

The attribute data for each parking candidate P1 -P3 is stored in the location database 22 in the form of a suitable data structure.

In evaluating the attribute data of each of the parking candidates P1-P3, the parking module 20 determines which is the most suitable given the current destination D' by scoring each candidate based on how well its attribute data meet the respective criteria.

The parking module 20 will then rank the parking candidate P1-P3 and, accordingly, will select the highest ranking parking candidate P1-P3 to be the most suitable parking location for the driver on this journey.

Referring at this point also to Figure 3, at step 114 the parking module has selected parking candidate P2 as the most suitable parking location for the driver on this journey.

As can be seen, although the distance from the original destination D is further than P1, the driver has visited P2 more frequently, there is a higher probability of being parking spaces available, and traffic congestion (access' criteria) is lower. In this embodiment, at step 116 the route R is automatically redirected so that parking candidate P2 becomes the new destination. This does not require any input from the driver and so reduces driver workload at a crucial point in the journey, thereby enhancing safety and convenience.

Optionally, before re-directing the route R towards the selected parking candidate P2, the process may seek confirmation from the driver that the route should be revised. Here, the driver can be presented with a message asking whether the re-direction should proceed or, additionally, the driver could be requested to confirm the selection of the parking candidate. This is illustrated at step 118 as an optional step linked to the main process flow 100 by dotted lines.

The skilled person will appreciate that various modifications may be made to the specific embodiments described above without departing from the inventive concept as defined by the claims.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the identification of the parking candidates occurs as the vehicle is approaching its original destination. However, it has also been mentioned above that an alternative would be for the parking candidates to be identified before the route to the destination is initially calculated. This alternative is shown in Figure 2 by the alternate process marked with dashed lines and process steps marked with a prime symbol, i.e. process steps 110', 112', 114', 118 and 120'.

So, following the start of a route guidance session at step 102, the process proceeds immediately to step 110' at which point the mapping database 12 is queried to retrieve all of the parking locations in the vicinity of the destination within a predetermined distance.

The process then moves on to step 112' at which point the parking candidates P1 -P3 are evaluated as has been described above. Then, at step 114' the most suitable parking candidate P1-PS is selected and the process moves to step 104 at which point the route to the selected parking candidate P1-P3 is calculated by the navigation system. As before, it is an option here to request confirmation from the driver, shown at step 118', that the selected parking candidate P1 -P3 is acceptable for the driver.

The process continues as in the previous embodiment through steps 106 and 108 where route guidance is started and then the proximity to the destination is monitored. This embodiment offers additional flexibility that is an advantage in the event that conditions occur that change the suitability of the selected parking candidate P1-P3. At decision step 120', the process checks whether new data has become available that will influence whether the driver may wish to change the selected parking candidate. For example, traffic conditions in the area of the selected parking candidate may deteriorate significantly, or the weather conditions change such that undercover parking is now recommended.

If no new data is available, the process will proceed will terminate. However, if new data is available, the process once again runs through the parking candidate selection steps 110, 112, 114, 116 and, optionally, step 118 as described above.

The process may be run frequently whilst a route guidance session is in progress, for example every 10 seconds, although this frequency is not intended to be limiting.

In the above embodiment it is assumed that the same driver, or at least the same vehicle, will be making each journey. However, it may be the case that different drivers may use the vehicle or that the navigation system may be used by different people, in the case of a handheld device. Therefore, mean may be provided to identify the person who is using the navigation system and to factor this in to evaluating the parking candidates.

For example, the parking module may keep a record of how many times a parking candidate has been used previous by multiple users. The identification of the user may be accomplished by manual input, for example the user entering a username, or automatically by recognition of driving styles, by recognition of personalised key fob data, by identification of mobile phone SIM data, or by recognition of memorised driver seat configuration, for example.

The invention will now be expressed in the following numbered paragraphs: I. A method for providing route information to a driver in a vehicle, the method comprising: determining a destination based on driver input; identifying a plurality of parking candidates in the vicinity of the destination; selecting one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination; planning a route to the new route destination.

2. The method of paragraph 1, wherein the set of attribute data items includes one or more or the following: vacancy probability data associated with the parking candidates; weather condition data at the parking candidates; traffic congestion data at parking candidates driver preference data.

3. The method of paragraph 2, wherein one or more of the attribute data items are determined in real time.

4. The method of paragraph 2, wherein one or more of the attribute data items are predetermined values.

5. The method of paragraph 1, wherein the attribute data items includes data relating to how many times a parking candidate has been used previously by the driver.

6. The method paragraph 5, wherein the attribute data items further include data relating to how many times a parking candidate has been used previously by one or more alternative drivers.

7. The method of paragraph 6, including detecting which of the two or more drivers is driving the vehicle.

8. The method of paragraph 1, wherein each of the attribute data items have a relative weight.

9. The method of paragraph 1, wherein the step of setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination occurs once the vehicle is within a predetermined range of the route destination.

10. The method of paragraph 1, wherein the step of setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination includes displaying to the driver information regarding the new route destination.

11. The method of paragraph 10, further including requesting confirmation from the driver that the selected parking candidate should be set as the new route destination.

12. A navigation system for a vehicle comprising a controller operatively linked to a GNSS transceiver and a map database, and wherein the controller is configured to: identify a destination based on driver input; identify a plurality of parkng location candidates in the vicinity of the first destination; select one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; set the selected parking candidate as the new route destination; plan a route to the new route destination.

13. A vehicle including a navigation system in accordance with paragraph 12.

14. A non-transient computer readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computing device to perform the method of paragraph 1.

15. A computing device incorporating the non-transient computer readable medium of paragraph 14.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for providing route information to a driver in a vehicle, the method comprising: determining a destination based on driver input; identifying a plurality of parking candidates in the vicinity of the destination; selecting one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination; planning a route to a new route destination.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of attribute data items includes one or more or the following: vacancy probability data associated with the parking candidates; weather condition data at the parking candidates; traffic congestion data at parking candidates driver preference data.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more of the attribute data items are determined in real time.
4. The method of claims 2 or 3, wherein one or more of the attribute data items are predetermined values.
5. The method of claims ito 4, wherein the attribute data items includes data relating to how many times a parking candidate has been used previously by the driver.
6. The method claim 5, wherein the attribute data items further include data relating to how many times a parking candidate has been used previously by one or more alternative drivers.
7. The method of claim 6, including detecting which of the two or more drivers is driving the vehicle.
8. The method of claims 1 to 7, wherein each of the attribute data items have a relative weight.
9. The method of claims 1 to 8, wherein the step of setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination occurs once the vehicle is within a predetermined range of the route destination.
10. The method of claims 1 to 9, wherein the step of setting the selected parking candidate as the new route destination includes displaying to the driver information regarding the new route destination.
II. The method of claim 10, further including requesting confirmation from the driver that the selected parking candidate should be set as the new route destination.
12. A navigation system for a vehicle comprising control means operatively linked to a GNSS transceiver and a map database, and wherein the control means is configured to: identify a destination based on driver input; identify a plurality of parkng location candidates in the vicinity of the first destination; select one of the plurality of parking candidates based on a set of attribute data items associated with each of the parking candidates; set the selected parking candidate as the new route destination; plan a route to a new route destination.
13. A vehicle including a navigation system in accordance with claim 12.
14. A non-transient computer readable medium containing program instructions for causing a computing device to perform the method of claims 1 to 12.
15. A computing device incorporating the non-transient computer readable medium of claim 14.