TWI409437B - Personal navigation device and its method for querying and displaying information of point of interest items - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a simple interface that can operate seamlessly across a mix of databases with different categorization, individually or concurrently, and limit categories offered to those categories directly relevant to a search term entered, a method of querying and displaying point of interest category and point of interest item information in a personal navigation device includes sending a search term to a first server, receiving matching category data from the first server, displaying a representation of the matching category, sending a query to a second server when the matching category is selected, receiving point of interest items corresponding to the matching category from the second server, and displaying data of the point of interest items.

Description

Personal navigation device and method for querying and displaying information of interest point items

The present invention relates to a method for a personal navigation device to query a point of interest (POI) item, and more particularly to a method for a personal navigation device to query and display information of a point of interest directory and a point of interest item.

Personal navigation devices use navigation satellite signals, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals, to determine the instantaneous location of a personal navigation device on any satellite-covered area on the Earth. When the location information is combined with the street map, the navigation function can be realized. Even when the user deviates from the path planned by the personal navigation device, the personal navigation device can utilize the instant location of the personal navigation device, find the current location of the user on the street map, and re-plan a path to safely guide the use. To the intended destination.

As the technology of personal navigation devices becomes more sophisticated, there are more features including color displays, voice prompts, and location points of interest. These features can be achieved by improving the liquid crystal display (LCD), touch screen, storage media, processing speed and efficiency, and the development and popularity of databases. Another important add-on function of the personal navigation device is a network interface module, and the network interface module can connect a Bluetooth wireless transceiver to a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) data machine. An integrated 802.11 wireless transceiver, a 3G wireless transceiver, or a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) wireless transceiver. A personal navigation device having a network interface module may be referred to as an "interconnected personal navigation device", and the connected personal navigation device can access an online database, and the online database can capture information about points of interest near the user's immediate location, or The point of interest information on the user's current path can be retrieved.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art description for querying a point of interest repository. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a search interface for displaying search results based on the query description of FIG. 1 . As shown in FIG. 1, the personal navigation device 110 accesses a point of interest repository 130 via a media server 120. The point of interest repository 130 has a directory listing of a large number of points of interest, and the media server 120 stores a directory of categories of most points of interest within the point of interest repository 130. In other words, the media server 120 stores a plurality of hosts. Directory, such as "restaurant" and "museum", and the main directory has a number of sub-directories under it, such as the main directory "restaurant" under the sub-directory "fast food", "Italian" and "Chinese"; main directory "museum" There are sub-categories "Art" and "History" underneath. There are two methods for accessing the point of interest repository 130. The first method is "item search", the personal navigation device 110 sends a search request to the media server 120, and the media server 120 directly sends the search request to the point of interest storage. The library 130, and the POI repository 130 transmits the search results (point of interest information) to the personal navigation device 110 via the media server 120. The second method is a "browsing directory", and the personal navigation device 110 browses a plurality of home directories and subdirectories under each home directory on the media server 120, and when the user selects a sub-directory of the lowest level, for example, In the sub-directory "Chinese" under the main restaurant "restaurant", the media server 120 retrieves the information of the Chinese restaurant near the personal navigation device 110 under the sub-directory "Chinese" from the POI repository 130.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the user selects the search for "Chinese" on the point of interest locator interface 220 on the personal navigation device 110, the media server 120 passes the query to the point of interest repository 130, and the point of interest repository 130 returns. Information about all Chinese restaurants near the current location of the personal navigation device 110. As shown in Figure 2, the search results list the names and addresses of "Chinese Hot Pot" and "Li Si Chinese Cuisine".

While prior art methods are capable of searching or browsing for the transmission of point of interest information to users of personal navigation devices, there are still some problems with prior art. First, the user may not know what words to enter as a search item. Second, the user cannot see the full directory tree, so there is no way to know which home directory to start searching for, and it may not be possible to determine if the item being searched has a corresponding directory. Users must make a choice between the two methods above, but it is difficult to decide which search method is more appropriate. Although sometimes a project is listed under multiple subdirectories at the same time, the above situation is not obvious when deciding to use the browse directory. Another problem is that project search may extend to multiple databases, some of which may only support text search or only support incompatible directory formats. In addition, the user search interface provided by the personal navigation device is only a small screen, so the user cannot see all the directories at once, which is very inconvenient for the user.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a personal navigation device to query and display information of a point of interest item, including inputting a search content to the personal navigation device via a user interface of the personal navigation device; and transmitting, by the personal navigation device, the search content Go to a first server to search for a point of interest directory that matches the search content; the personal navigation device receives a point of interest directory from the first server that matches the search content; the personal navigation device displays a point of interest that matches the search content a data of the directory; after the user interface of the personal navigation device selects a directory of points of interest that matches the search content, the personal navigation device sends a query request to a second server; the personal navigation device is from the second server Receiving a point of interest item under the point of interest list that matches the search content; and the personal navigation device displays the item of the point of interest item.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a personal navigation device to query and display information of a point of interest item, including inputting a search content to the personal navigation device via a user interface of the personal navigation device; the personal navigation device transmits the Searching the content to a first server to search for a POI directory that matches the search content; when the first server queries the plurality of directories and does not find a POI directory that matches the search content, the personal navigation device sends the Searching content to a second server; the personal navigation device receives a point of interest item corresponding to the search content from the second server; and the personal navigation device displays the item of the point of interest item.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a personal navigation device including a display; an input interface for receiving one of user input to search for content; and a network device for establishing a first network with a first server a circuit connection and a second network connection with a second server; a processing circuit for controlling the network device to send the search content to the first server, and analyzing the network device from the first server Receiving a directory of points of interest that matches the search content, controlling the display to display data of a point of interest directory that matches the search content, and controlling the network device to send a query request when selecting a point of interest directory that matches the search content through the input interface Go to the second server to query a point of interest item under the point of interest directory that matches the search content, and control the display to display information of the point of interest item received by the network device from the second server; and a data transmission line, Electrically connected to the display, the input interface, the network device, and the processing circuit.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a personal navigation device including a display; an input interface for receiving a search input by a user; and a network device for establishing a first network with a first server Connecting and establishing a second network connection with a second server; a processing circuit for controlling the network device to send the search content to the first server, after querying the plurality of items in the first server When the directory of points of interest that matches the search content is not found, controlling the network device to send the search content to the second server, and controlling the display to display the information of the point of interest item received by the network device from the second server And a data transmission line electrically connected to the display, the input interface, the network device, and the processing circuit.

Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for querying and displaying interest point catalogues and point of interest item information according to an embodiment of the present invention. The point of interest item may be a data structure containing a field of information, such as including name, longitude, latitude, address, phone number, email, and/or rating. Some points of interest items may be listed in one or more points of interest. The method can be performed using personal navigation device 110, a first server, such as media server 120, and a second server, such as point of interest repository 130 in FIG. The method includes the following steps: Step 300: Input a search content on a user interface of a person navigation device; Step 302: The personal navigation device sends the search content to a first server for querying the content that matches the search content. a point of interest directory; step 304: if the personal navigation device receives a point of interest directory from the first server that matches the search content; proceed to step 306; otherwise, skip to step 312; step 306: the personal navigation device proceeds from step 302 The queried one or more points of interest directory extracts some information, and then displays the extracted information; step 308: query a second server for the point of interest items under the one or more points of interest directory; step 310 : extracting, from the personal navigation device, some information from one or more points of interest items queried in step 308, and displaying the extracted information on the personal navigation device; step 312: searching according to inputting the user interface Content to query a second server for a point of interest item; step 314: the personal navigation device queries one or more of the items queried in step 312 POI items extracted some information, and thus display extracted information.

In step 300, the user may input a search content such as a string to a user interface of the personal navigation device, and the search content may be a plurality of American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). Character. For example, the user can enter the string "Chinese". The string can contain Boolean operators, such as "and", "or", and "no", or other operators. Therefore, the user can input "Chinese" or "Italian" instead of searching for "Chinese" and "Italian" respectively. Each non-operating sub-system in the string is a search key. The user can subdivide the string into search keywords and search operators by using "blank" characters, commas, semicolons, or other non-alphanumeric characters. In addition, the user can use the quotation mark to indicate that the entire phrase is searched instead of being broken into keywords, such as "Chinese hot pot", but when there is only one search keyword, it does not need to be expressed as a phrase.

In step 302, the personal navigation device sends the search content to the first server, and then queries the interest point directory for the search content according to the search content input in step 300. The personal navigation device can divide the search content into a plurality of packets and transmit the same to the first server through the network link. After receiving the plurality of packets from the personal navigation device, the first server extracts the search content from the plurality of packets to query the first server for the point of interest list that matches the search content. Based on the search content entered in step 300, an attempt can be made to find one or more points of interest directories stored in a plurality of directories of the first server. If a matching point of interest directory is found, according to the query executed in step 302, the first server will return a list of points of interest to the personal navigation device, and the point of interest directory may include the directory identifier, the number of items under the directory. , the directory name, the directory path, the directory structure associated with the directory, the subdirectory of the directory or the information of the main directory, etc., after which the personal navigation device can extract some information from the point of interest project and display the extracted information. On the personal navigation device (step 306).

In step 302, the personal navigation device may download a plurality of directories from the first server and store them in the memory of the personal navigation device, in addition to performing the query in the first server, or directly in the personal navigation. The memory of the device is searched. The query can also be performed by an application software that is not associated with the personal navigation device and the first server, and then the search results are sent to the personal navigation device. Regardless of which of the above, when a matching point of interest directory is found based on the search content, the personal navigation device can display the data in the matching point of interest directory (step 306). The compliant list of points of interest that is passed back to the personal navigation device may also be a directory above the list of points of interest in the plurality of points of interest directories found by the string. For example, if a "Chinese" point of interest directory is found based on the search content "Chinese", perhaps the directory that is passed back to the personal navigation device is "restaurant", and the "restaurant" is the upper directory of the "point of interest" directory "Chinese".

The data of the compliant POI directory may contain text, graphics, or other information related to the compliant POI directory, for example, the path of the compliant POI directory, and the path may be the full path of the compliant POI directory, for example , "Museum: History: World History: European History: French History", or a brief path, for example, "Museum: ... European History: France". The full path displays the matching POI directory and the names of all of its super-level directories; the abbreviated path only displays the matching POI directory and the name of an upper-level directory. A short path can also be an abbreviated version of the full path. For example, the abbreviated path may display a few letters at the front end of the full path, a predetermined number of dots (...), and a few letters at the end. The material of the point of interest directory may also be the name of the point of interest directory, for example, "France". Therefore, the path of the POI directory contains at least the name of the POI directory and the name of an upper directory. In the foregoing example, the point of interest directory "France" and its uppermost directory "Museum" and the upper directory "European history" are displayed in the form of a simple path. The path to the point of interest directory can be a full path tree or a simple tree. For example, "Museum" can be displayed on the first line, "History" can be displayed in the second line in a reduced manner, and so on to display "France". The information of the point of interest directory may also include the number of directories at the bottom of the point of interest directory, the number of directories from the lower layer to the lowest level of the point of interest directory, or the number of points of interest items belonging to the point of interest directory and its lower directory. The number in parentheses after the name of the point of interest directory is the number of lower directory or point of interest items. For example, "France (5)" shows that there are five lower-level directories or points of interest items under the directory "France". In the case where the point of interest directory has a lower directory, the personal navigation device can display the relationship between the point of interest directory and the lower level directory. For example, "France: Revolution" shows that the directory "France" has a lower level directory "revolution". The information of the point of interest directory may also contain information about the second server, and the second server stores the point of interest items under the directory of interest points. The second point of interest may be any server repository, like Infobel ^TM or Google ^TM. The personal navigation device or the first server can access more than one second server. Additionally, the first server and the second server may be the same server, the first server may perform all functions of the second server, and/or the second server may perform all functions of the first server.

If no query results are generated after performing the query in step 302, the method may proceed to step 312 based on the search content input to the user interface of the personal navigation device to query the second server for the point of interest item. When the search content does not match each of the directories, the search content may still find a point of interest item in the second server that matches the searched content, and then in step 314, the search result of the repository is received and displayed on the personal navigation device. If the directory search in step 302 finds a plurality of matching POI directories, the user can select a POI directory from a plurality of POI directories through a button, a touch screen, or other means, and then step 310 is performed. This can increase the efficiency of use of the second server because the range of the second server search can be limited to the point of interest items under the user's selected point of interest directory. In addition, when the user narrows down the repository for searching to only search for a smaller number of second servers, the search time and resources for accessing the second server can also be reduced.

Once the point of interest item based on the searched content is found, and the personal navigation device receives the information of the point of interest item directly from the second server, the first server, or through other application software, the personal navigation device displays the point of interest item. News. The information of the point of interest item may include a path, for example, in addition to the full path or the abbreviated path of the point of interest item, other information about the point of interest item may be included, such as which point of interest repository to find the point of interest The project, the address of the point of interest project, the phone number of the point of interest project, the evaluation of the point of interest project, and/or other information about the point of interest project.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic diagram of a personal navigation device 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The personal navigation device 40 can be a handheld device including a plurality of components, such as a display 400, a processing circuit 410, a memory 420, a satellite navigation receiver 430, a power supply 440, and a speaker 450. A network device 460, a data transmission line 470, and an input interface 480. The personal navigation device 40 can supply electrical energy through a battery unit or an external power source such as a vehicle rectifier. The input interface 480 can be a keyboard that receives user input. The input interface 480 can also be a touch layer suitable for the display 400, such as a touch screen. Processing circuit 410 can include logic circuitry, controller circuitry, and internal memory. The memory 420 can include a non-volatile memory chip and an external memory, such as a memory card. The network device 460 can be a wireless or wired network interface device, such as a general packet radio service (GPRS) data machine, and the network device 460 can establish a first server with a first server. A network connection and a second network connection with a second server. The satellite navigation receiver 430 can receive satellite navigation signals, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, and can determine the location of the personal navigation device 40 based on satellite navigation signals. The plurality of components described above may be coupled together via data transmission line 470 to transmit and receive instructions and data between different components.

Applying the method mentioned in the foregoing FIG. 3 to the personal navigation device 40, the search content can be input to the user interface through a soft keyboard displayed on the display 400 or a regular keyboard having a physical button. The interface is displayed on display 400 by processing circuitry 410. The search content is then sent to the first server via the network device 460 via the processing circuit 410, the network device 460 receives the matching point of interest directory from the first server, and the processing circuit 410 parses the matching point of interest directory and More representative information is displayed on the display 400. Based on the compliant list of points of interest, the processing circuit 410 can generate a first query request and send the first query request to the second server via the network device 460 to find a directory of interested points of interest at the second server. The point of interest item, the point of interest item is received via the network device 460 and then sent to the processing circuit 410, which then parses the point of interest item to extract the data therein, and the extracted data is displayed by the processing circuit 410. On display 400. If the network device 460 does not receive the matching point of interest directory from the first server, the processing circuit 410 may send the second query request based on the search content, and send the second query request to the second server through the network device 460. After the second server finds the point of interest item that matches the search content, the network device 460 receives the point of interest item from the second server, and sends the point of interest item to the processing circuit 410, which analyzes the point of interest item to extract the middle point. The information is displayed on the display 400. When the first server is queried, the processing circuit 410 may include the current location of the personal navigation device 40 such that the point of interest indicated by the point of interest item under the queried point of interest list is at a predetermined distance from the location of the personal navigation device 40. Within the scope. When the second server is queried, the processing circuit 410 may also include the current location of the personal navigation device 40 such that the point of interest indicated by the queried point of interest item is within a predetermined distance from the location of the personal navigation device 40. .

In contrast to the prior art, the method of the present invention allows a user to perform a directory search in a plurality of directories before performing a database search in the point of interest repository server. In addition, the present invention also allows the user to search all points of interest items directly at the point of interest repository server. Therefore, the present invention provides a more intuitive process for searching for a point of interest directory and a point of interest project, and also saves resources when the database search is performed under the directory of points of interest found after the directory search. This method allows the user to find more points of interest and interest point items faster, and also enables the user to find points of interest items in the personal navigation device without browsing through the complete directory tree.

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.

40, 110. . . Personal navigation device

120. . . Media server

130. . . Point of interest repository

220‧‧‧Point of Interest Locator Interface

300-314‧‧‧Steps

400‧‧‧ display

410‧‧‧Processing Circuit

420‧‧‧ memory

430‧‧‧Satellite navigation receiver

440‧‧‧Power supply

450‧‧‧Speakers

460‧‧‧Network devices

470‧‧‧Data transmission line

480‧‧‧Input interface

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art description query point of interest database.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the search interface for displaying search results based on the query description of Figure 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for querying and displaying information of a point of interest directory and a point of interest item according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a personal navigation device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

300-314. . . step

Claims (18)

A method for a personal navigation device to query and display information of a point of interest item includes: inputting a search content to the personal navigation device via a user interface of the personal navigation device; and transmitting, by the personal navigation device, the search content to a first server Searching for a point of interest directory in the plurality of directories included in the first server that matches the search content; the personal navigation device receives a point of interest directory from the first server that matches the search content; the personal navigation device displays a match The information of the POI directory of the search content, wherein the information of the POI directory that matches the search content includes the path of the POI directory and the POI directory, or a complete path of the directory above the POI directory and the point of interest a directory and a name of a directory above the directory of interest points; when the user interface of the personal navigation device selects a directory of points of interest that matches the search content, the personal navigation device sends a query request to a second server; the individual The navigation device receives, from the second server, a directory of points of interest that matches the search content Interest projects; and the personal navigation device to display information on the POI project. The method of claim 1, wherein the path is a short path. The method of claim 1, wherein the material of the POI directory that matches the search content includes information of a lower directory of the POI directory. The method of claim 1, wherein the material of the POI directory that matches the search content includes the number of directory directories below the POI directory. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the point of interest directory that matches the search content comprises displaying the data of the second server. The method of claim 1, further comprising the personal navigation device transmitting the location of the personal navigation device to the first server to query a point of interest directory that matches the search content within a predetermined distance range of the personal navigation device. The method of claim 6, further comprising the personal navigation device transmitting the location of the personal navigation device to the second server to query a point of interest item that matches the search content within a predetermined distance range of the personal navigation device. A method for a personal navigation device to query and display information of a point of interest item includes: inputting a search content to the personal navigation device via a user interface of the personal navigation device; and transmitting, by the personal navigation device, the search content to a first servo To search for a point of interest in the plurality of directories included in the first server that matches the search content a directory; when the first server queries the plurality of directories and does not find a directory of points of interest that matches the search content, the personal navigation device sends the search content to a second server; the personal navigation device from the second server The device receives the point of interest item that matches the search content; and the personal navigation device displays the item of the point of interest item. The method of claim 8, wherein displaying the material of the point of interest item comprises displaying a path of the point of interest item. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying the information of the point of interest item comprises displaying the point of interest of the point of interest item and the top directory of the point of interest item and the name of the point of interest item and the directory of the point of interest of the point of interest item. The method of claim 9, wherein the path is a short path. The method of claim 8, wherein displaying the information of the point of interest item comprises displaying a point of interest indicated by the point of interest item on a map. The method of claim 8, further comprising the personal navigation device transmitting the location of the personal navigation device to the second server to search for a point of interest item that matches the search content within a predetermined distance range of the personal navigation device. A personal navigation device includes: a display; an input interface for receiving one of user input to search for content; and a network device for establishing a first network connection and a second with a first server The server establishes a second network connection; a processing circuit is configured to control the network device to send the search content to the first server, and analyze the network device from the plurality of directories included in the first server Receiving a directory of points of interest that matches the search content, controlling the display to display data of a point of interest directory that matches the search content, and controlling the network device to send a query request when selecting a point of interest directory that matches the search content through the input interface Go to the second server to query the point of interest item under the point of interest directory that matches the search content, and control the display to display the information of the point of interest item received by the network device from the second server, wherein the search content is met The information of the POI directory contains the path of the POI directory and the POI directory, or a complete list of the directory above the POI directory. Diameter of the point of interest and the name of the directory and the parent directory of the directory point of interest; and a data transmission line, electrically connected to the display, the input interface, the network device and the processing circuit. The personal navigation device of claim 14, wherein the input interface is a touch layer of the display. The personal navigation device of claim 14, further comprising: a satellite navigation receiver for determining a location of the personal navigation device based on the received satellite navigation signal; wherein the processing circuit controls the network device to send the search When the content is sent to the first server, the location is sent to the first server along with the search content, and the point of interest directory corresponding to the search content is an interest that matches the search content within a predetermined distance range of the personal navigation device. Point directory. The personal navigation device of claim 16, wherein when the processing circuit controls the network device to send the query request to the second server, the location is sent to the second server along with the search content, and the The point of interest item for searching for content is a point of interest item that matches the search content within a predetermined distance range of the personal navigation device. The personal navigation device of claim 14, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to control the network device to send the search when a directory of points of interest that matches the search content is not found after the first server queries the plurality of items. Content to the second server, and controlling the display to display information of the point of interest items received by the network device from the second server.