TWI385408B - Method of displaying multiple points of interest on a personal navigation device - Google Patents

Description

Method for displaying a plurality of points of interest on a personal navigation device

The present invention relates to a method of displaying a plurality of points of interest on a person's navigation device, and more particularly to a method in which a point of interest close to a dispersed position becomes a flower shape surrounding a contact position.

In today's automotive positioning systems, navigation devices are mostly based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). The navigation device typically includes a map library that provides navigational indications and a display that displays navigational indications. The navigation device for a vehicle is usually set up on the dashboard of a car in a mosaic manner or other mosaic method.

The term "navigation device" generally refers to a device that can navigate a user to a predetermined destination. The device typically has an internal system for receiving location data, such as a GPS receiver, or the internal system can be coupled to a receiver for receiving location data. The device may calculate the path itself, or may communicate with a remote server that can calculate the path and provide navigation information related to the device, or the device itself is a hybrid device. Both the device itself and the remote server can play the role of path computation. A personal GPS navigation device does not need to be permanently integrated with the car, but instead it needs to be able to be mounted in the car immediately or in the car. In general (but not necessarily), they can be completely self-sufficient, for example, a person’s navigation device usually contains an internal GPS antennas, navigation software, and maps can therefore be used to map and display the path a user wants to take.

A convenient feature of the personal navigation device is that it can list points of interests near a specified location (or path). In the suburbs, the points of interest may be scattered far from each other and thus can be easily displayed on the display of the personal navigation device. However, when traveling in a city, or in areas where other points of interest are densely populated, it is possible that dozens of points of interest are very close to each other. It is difficult to display so many points of interest that are close to each other on the display of the personal navigation device. To deal with this problem, the prior art used several different methods to provide information about the user and the point of interest on the personal navigation device.

One of the methods is to give different priority values to different types of points of interest. For example, an office building type of interest point has a lower priority value, while a hospital or a sightseeing spot has a higher priority value. Once the priority value is established, the personal navigation device can only display points of interest whose priority values are greater than or equal to a certain minimum priority value. If the number of points of interest greater than or equal to a certain minimum priority value is too large, the personal navigation device can only display those points of interest with the highest priority value.

The traditional method of displaying points of interest has a problem: if several points of interest appear at a same or very close position, only the image of the point of interest with the highest priority value will be displayed. Another related question that arises is that even if a point of interest has been selected as the destination of the user's journey, it will not be revealed in the above situation. It is shown on the display of the personal navigation device because the priority value of the type of interest point to which it belongs is not large enough.

In addition, the traditional approach also makes it difficult for users to further subdivide the types of points of interest. For example, choose a restaurant that sells curry from the types of restaurants, or choose a chain of Starbucks from a variety of coffee shops, and the like.

Another problem is that the area of the map displayed on the display of the personal navigation device changes when the user continues to drive. When the field of view of the viewing map changes due to continuous driving movement, the displayed points of interest may change over time because of their relative position and priority values, and sometimes disappear when appearing on the displayed map area. Images that sometimes disappear when they disappear are very inconvenient for the user.

Many manufacturers of personal navigation devices include too much information on points of interest in the map of the personal navigation device. Too many points of interest are not applicable to the average user, but a gimmick that manufacturers display the superior performance of their machines. Interest points that are not applicable to general users, such as restaurants, ATMs, etc. These points of interest are not the points of interest that drivers use every day while driving, but only when the driver needs them. Points of interest that will be utilized.

After displaying the points of interest on the map, the user may select one of the points of interest and want to get more information about the point of interest. However, if the user points of interest are prioritized because of the type of interest point itself, as mentioned above. When the value is not high enough to be displayed on the display of the personal navigation device, the user has no choice. Or, when the point of interest is not displayed on the display because the car is moving, the user can only find out the points of interest that they are interested in by zooming in and moving the map. This is a bit puzzling, why users can't find the points of interest on the map through their personal navigation devices, and they also determine where the point of interest is on the map.

Another problem is that when the points of interest are too close to each other, the user clicks on the location of the point of interest on the map. Because there are too many points of interest at the same time, the personal navigation device cannot identify the user. Which point of interest is of interest and provides its details to the user correctly.

An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for displaying a point of interest on a person navigation device, comprising: receiving a touch input at a contact position on the display; searching for an area searching for a radius range centering on the contact position Whether there is a point of interest or not; displaying a point of interest in the area of the search radius, wherein each point of interest in the area of the search radius is displayed through an image on the display and through a contact a line extending from the position, connecting the image to a position corresponding to the point of interest on the map; and dispersing the image around the contact position such that images surrounding the contact position are separated from each other.

It is an object of the present invention to provide information on a user's point of interest in a very conspicuous manner. In order to achieve this, the number of points of interest that are preset to be displayed on the map of the personal navigation device is small, and are points of interest that are generally of interest to the general driver, such as landmarks, sightseeing spots, and the like.

Please refer to Figure 1. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing roads 12 and 14 and points of interest 16 and 18 on a map 10. The point of interest 16 is a landmark, and the point of interest 18 is a sightseeing spot. If the user wants to find out more about the points of interest 16 or 18, the user can further click or touch them. If the user touches other portions of the map 10 that have no points of interest, the personal navigation device of the present invention can also provide a search function for points of interest in the vicinity. The only requirement of the present invention is that the user must touch the display screen of the map 10, but does not need to use a mouse or other point-selected device to move the cursor to the desired position.

Please refer to Figure 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the display of points of interest in the radius R1 centered on the contact point 15 in another map 20. When the user touches the contact position 15, the points of interest in the area 22 of the radius R1 centered on the contact point 15 are searched. If there are several points of interest in the area 22, each point of interest is displayed as an icon, and the image is connected by a line to the position of the image on the map. In order to make these images easy to recognize, these images will fan out around the user's fingertips, so the user will see clustered points of interest. Please go back to Figure 2. Image 30 represents a point of interest 31 Parking lot. The image 30 is connected to the point of interest 31 through a line 32. Other similar images in Fig. 2, such as image 33, represent a restaurant, image 34 represents a golf course, image 36 represents a museum, image 38 represents a hospital, and image 40 represents a passenger center. Although each of the images 30, 33, 34, 36, 38, and 40 corresponds to a position on the map, and each of the images is connected to the corresponding position by a line, but the space is limited, only in FIG. 2 The image 30, the point of interest 31, and the line 32 connecting the two are shown and described numerically.

If the user continues to touch the screen at the touch point 15, the search process will repeat, but search for a slightly larger search radius. Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the display of points of interest in a radius R2 centered on the contact point 15 in another map 50. Since the user continues to touch the screen at the contact point 15, the search radius is expanded from the original R1 to the larger R2. As the search radius increases, the search area 52 also increases, so the image of the point of interest displayed on the map 50 also increases until the upper limit of the image (eg, 50) that can be displayed on the map has been reached, or until the connection is reached. The line of the image to the corresponding position on the map has been too long to be displayed on the map 50, or until all the points of interest on the map 50 have been displayed. The images 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, and 80 displayed in the area 52 in Fig. 3 each have a corresponding position on the map 50. When the number of images is increased, according to the design of the present invention, the image will be automatically displayed at a position farther away from the user's fingertip, so that the image that is originally clustered near the user's fingertip will spread to a single image. The shape of a cloud or the shape of a flower. The images surrounding the user's fingertips (contact points 15) may be arranged in a symmetrical manner or in an irregular manner. Then the pattern is arranged in a way.

When these clustered images are too close to each other, in order for more images to be clearly visualized, some of the images will move farther away from the contact position 15. When doing so, images that are farther from the contact position 15 are moved further away from the contact position 15 than those that are closer to the contact position 15. For example, the image 64 and the images 62 and 66 in Fig. 3 are closer to the contact position 15 because it corresponds to the position on the map and the position corresponding to the images 62 and 66 on the map. Close to the contact position 15.

In general, the method for searching for a point of interest in the present invention occurs when the user continuously presses the contact position 15 and then appears from an image that is closer to the contact position 15. Then, as the radius increases, the distance contact position 15 Far images appear gradually. Once the user's fingertips are no longer touched away from the contact position 15, these already displayed images will continue to appear for a short period of time. This short period of time is enough for the user to find out the points of interest they need from these points of interest, and further click on it to get more information about it, such as the detailed address or phone number of the point of interest, etc. . When the user taps the image of the point of interest with the fingertip, in addition to obtaining information related to it, the user can also choose to obtain navigation information on how to proceed to the point of interest. If the user selects this function, the user can directly get the navigation information to the point of interest without inputting the address of the point of interest, that is, the "direct navigation" function. After a short period of time, the image will gradually disappear or disappear instantly. When the user first touches this screen, a function menu will also be timely appear. This menu is used to provide users with key functions that can be used at this point of interest, such as "Search Nearby", "Search Nearby", "Direct Navigation", "Set as Start", "Shelp", " Rebooking as a center" and so on.

The key to the invention is the quality of these images and animations. Each displayed image needs to be placed in an appropriate location on the screen. Ideally, an image is connected to the point of interest with a radial line centered at the contact location 15. However, if the positions of the two points of interest are very close, or on the same line, the positions of the two images need to be adjusted so that the two images can be displayed on the screen at the same time. In order to adjust the position of the two images, the position of other images on the screen will also be slightly changed. The motion of the image can also be represented in an animated manner, the images appear one after another, and then the existing image is moved to the appropriate position on the screen so that the next new image can continue to appear. . It's important that the images don't jump around. Instead, they should swim like objects in the water and extend to the optimal position on the screen, so that the display space of the screen can be optimally utilized.

The basic "image layout algorithm" of the present invention will be described below. If there is no space limitation between the images, each image is connected to a point of interest corresponding to the map through a radial line centered at the contact position 15. However, if the positions of the two points of interest are very close, or on the same line, the line connecting the points of interest of the two points of interest that are farther away from the contact position 15 and their corresponding images will be extended as much as possible. The farther the point of interest is from the contact position 15, the longer the line connecting it to the corresponding image will extend. Otherwise, a mutually exclusive factor is applied to the two points of interest to enable them to They are evenly separated from each other. This may be to move the image radially closer to or away from the contact position 15 or to move the image in the direction of the tangent.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a flow chart of a method for displaying a point of interest on a person navigation device according to the method of the present invention. The steps included in Figure 4 are as follows: Step 100: Start.

Step 102: Receive a touch input of the user at the contact position 15.

Step 104: Display the images within the current search radius and disperse the displayed images to make them easy to recognize.

Step 106: Determine whether the touch input of the user is continuously received at the contact position 15. If yes, proceed to step 108. If no, proceed to step 112.

Step 108: Determine whether the displayed image reaches the upper limit value. The upper limit may be the upper limit of the number of images displayed, or the line connecting the image and the point of interest has been extended too long to be displayed on the screen, or within the map displayed on the screen, there is no more More points of interest can be displayed. If the upper limit has been reached, then proceed to step 104, and if no, proceed to step 110.

Step 110: Increase the search radius. Go back to step 104.

Step 112: Since the user no longer touches the contact position 15, after a predetermined period of time, the image gradually disappears from the map.

Step 114: End.

The present invention also provides a method of searching for a selected type of point of interest in an area of a search radius range centered on the contact position 15, and displaying only images of the selected point of interest type. The selected types of points of interest may also be given priority values such that when the touch input is continuously input at the contact position, other types of points of interest having lower priority values may be displayed one after another.

In summary, the present invention provides a method of displaying points of interest that can be clearly displayed even if the points of interest are located close to each other. Images corresponding to points of interest are automatically scattered so that all points of interest within the radius of the search are easily visible.

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

100,102,104,106,108,110,112,114‧‧

30,33,34,36,38,40,60,62,64,66,68,70,72,74,76,78,80‧‧ images

16,18,31‧‧‧ points of interest

Map of 10,20,50‧‧

12, 14 ‧ ‧ roads

R1, R2‧‧‧ search radius

22,52‧‧‧Search area

32‧‧‧Connect the line between the image and the point of interest

15‧‧‧Contact location

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing two roads and two points of interest on a map.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the display of points of interest within a radius R1 centered on the contact point in another map.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the display of points of interest within a radius R2 centered on the contact point in another map.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a method of displaying a point of interest on a person navigation device in accordance with the method of the present invention.

100,102,104,106,108,110,112,114‧‧

Claims (25)

A method for displaying a point of interest on a personal navigation device includes: displaying a map on a display of the personal navigation device; receiving a touch input at a contact position on the display; searching for one of the touch locations Searching for a point of interest in the area of the search radius; displaying a point of interest in the area of the search radius, wherein each point of interest in the area of the search radius is displayed by an image on the display, and Connecting the image to a position corresponding to the point of interest on the map through a line extending from the contact position; and dispersing the image around the contact position such that the image around the contact position Separating from each other; wherein the touch radius is correspondingly increased when the touch input received at the contact position continues for a longer period of time, and as the search radius increases, relative to the search radius Images of additional points of interest in the area of the range are also displayed. The method of claim 1, wherein the image that is dispersed surrounds the contact location. The method of claim 1, wherein when the number of points of interest in the area of the search radius ranges increases, an image of a portion of the points of interest located in the area of the search radius is extended from the Contact the location further away. The method of claim 3, wherein the point of interest that is further away from the contact location is connected to the corresponding image through a longer line. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping displaying the additionally increased image when the number of displayed images exceeds an upper limit of the threshold. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping displaying the additionally increased image when the search radius exceeds an upper limit of the threshold. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuously displaying the image around the contact location for a preset time after the touch input is no longer received. The method of claim 7, comprising: when a user touches one of the images in the continuously displayed image, the user can select to obtain information related to the image. The method of claim 7, further comprising when the user touches one of the continuously displayed images, the user can select navigation information on how to proceed to the point of interest. The method of claim 9, comprising: if the user chooses to obtain navigation information on how to proceed to the point of interest, the user can directly obtain navigation information to the point of interest without inputting the address of the point of interest. The method of claim 7, further comprising controlling the image around the contact position to gradually disappear after the preset time expires. The method of claim 7, further comprising controlling the image around the contact position to disappear instantaneously after the preset time expires. The method of claim 1, wherein the position of the image around the contact location is migrated such that the different images do not overlap each other. The method of claim 13, wherein the image around the contact position radially migrates outward, and the length of the line connected to the image around the contact position becomes longer. The method of claim 13, wherein the image around the contact location migrates in a direction of all lines to maintain a length of a line connected to an image around the contact location. The method of claim 1, wherein the lines connecting the images around the contact location are migrated such that they are not interlaced. The method of claim 16, wherein the image around the contact position radially migrates outward, and the length of the line connected to the image around the contact position becomes longer. The method of claim 16, wherein the image around the contact location migrates in a direction of all lines to maintain a length of a line connected to an image around the contact location. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting a search type of the point of interest in the area of the search radius range centered on the contact position, and displaying only the image corresponding to the restricted interest point of the search type. The method of claim 19, wherein the search category of the selected point of interest is additionally increased when the touch input is continuously received. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a touch input on a displayed image; and displaying an interest corresponding to the displayed image according to the touch input on the displayed image Additional information about the point. The method of claim 1, wherein the image around the contact location is arranged in an irregular pattern around the contact location. The method of claim 1, wherein each point of interest is assigned a priority value. The method of claim 23, wherein each point of interest is displayed in order according to the size of the assigned priority value. The method of claim 24, wherein when the touch input received at the contact location continues for a longer period of time, the number of displayed points of interest is additionally increased, and the increased point of interest is The size of the priority value assigned according to the point of interest is sequentially increased.