WO2008129437A1

WO2008129437A1 - System and method for displaying a static map

Info

Publication number: WO2008129437A1
Application number: PCT/IB2008/051379
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wilhelmus J. J. Stut
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2007-04-18
Filing date: 2008-04-11
Publication date: 2008-10-30

Abstract

A system is described comprising a display (15) for displaying a static map (200). Static maps are displayed 'in one fixed orientation with respect' to the display ( 15). The orientation of static maps often does not correspond to the orientation of the display. In order to overcome this problem the system comprises information providing unit for providing explicit indications to a user on how the display (15) should be rotated, so that the map orientation and the display orientation at least substantially coincide.

Description

System and method for displaying a static map

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Technical field

The present invention relates to a system comprising a display for displaying a static map, i.e. a map having a fixed orientation with respect to the display and a corresponding method.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

In order to find their way, people often use maps. Traditionally, paper maps were used, but thanks to the advent of small mobile appliances, such as mobile phones and PDAs electronic maps have become very popular. Basically, two kinds of electronic maps can be distinguished:

1. static maps, i.e. maps that are displayed on the screen in one fixed orientation. Typically, the upper part of the map / display shows the northern part, the left-hand side of the map / display shows the western part, etc. Most websites that explain visitors how to get to a particular location contain static maps, which can be downloaded for later usage in a mobile appliance.

2. dynamic maps, i.e. maps that are displayed on the screen in changing orientations. Typically the orientation of these maps corresponds to the direction or heading of the user: so if the user is heading west, the upper part of the display shows the western part of the map, etc. These maps are typically used by navigation systems such as the Philips

Personal Navigation System and TomTom.

Although dynamic maps are very convenient since they are always shown in the right direction, their disadvantage is that they are typically part of commercial navigation systems which currently have the following drawbacks: - a navigation system may not cover each geographic region. For example,

TomTom GO 910 today only covers Europe, the USA and Canada. It cannot be used in other parts of the world. navigation systems use their own maps and notation styles, and do not allow other organizations to provide their own maps with drawings or pictures of buildings, or with company logos. navigation systems update their maps to cope with the fact that roads are altered, but they do not provide navigation support at temporary events such as festivals and exhibitions.

These drawbacks are overcome by static maps, either on paper or on a display. However, the disadvantage of static maps is that their orientation often does not correspond to the orientation of the user. So, if the user is looking in the western direction, the upper part of the map / display which is held by the user, may point in another direction, e.g. north. As a consequence people are often struggling with the orientation of the map / display. They turn it clockwise or counter-clockwise until they think it is in the right direction.

The patent US 6,868,337 B2 discloses a portable communication device comprising a GPS module for determining the present position, an electronic compass module for detecting an azimuth, a display, and a wireless communicator. Herein, the position information representing the destination and present position is transmitted towards the navigation server, which in turn provides the map information including the destination and present position, based on which corresponding icon symbols are indicated in the map displayed on the screen. In addition, the azimuth is also indicated by an angle departing from a north direction of the map information. Specifically, an azimuth arrow symbol is displayed in proximity to the icon symbol representing the present position in the map, or the icon symbol is inclined by the aforementioned angle. In this way the user is informed of his position and his direction.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for displaying a static map.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This and other objects of the invention are achieved by a system according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 21. Favorable embodiments are defined in the dependent claims 2-20.

According to an aspect of the invention a system is provided comprising: a display for displaying a map in a fixed orientation with respect to the display and information providing means for providing explicit indications on how the display should be rotated in order for a map orientation and a display orientation to at least substantially coincide. The explicit indications instruct the user in which direction the display should be rotated. In this way, the user is enabled to rotate the display such that the static map is held in the correct direction (i.e. the northern part of the map facing north, etc.).

Preferably, the user is also provided with an indication that the map orientation and the display orientation at least substantially coincide. If this is the case, the user knows that the display orientation is correct and that he should not rotate it any further.

According to an embodiment the indications are displayed on a border of the map for example by means of pixels at a border of the display or by means of LEDs surrounding the display. In this way, no potentially disturbing indications are displayed in the map itself.

According to a further embodiment the indications are displayed by means of light effects. For example, one color may be used to instruct the user to rotate the display in the clockwise direction and another color for instructing him to rotate in the counterclockwise direction. Alternatively, dynamically changing light patterns may be used as rotation indications. The light pattern moves in the direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) wherein the display should be rotated. In this way, intuitive and comprehensible indications are provided to the user.

Further ways of providing comprehensible indications are displaying arrows showing the direction of orientation, providing the indications audibly or providing the indications by means of vibrations.

According to a still further embodiment the system comprises map orientation determining means for determining the orientation of the map and orientation correction determining means for determining how the display should be rotated in order for the map orientation and the display orientation to at least substantially coincide based on the map orientation and the display orientation. In this way, the system may be used for maps with any orientation direction and not only for maps whose upper part corresponds to the north.

Preferably, the orientation of the map is determined based on metadata of the map provided by the map provider. This metadata for example comprises the orientation of the map or coordinates of at least two corners of the map. In this way, the map orientation may be determined without the need of complex algorithms.

The orientation correction determining means may determine the number of degrees and the direction of the needed display rotation in order for the map orientation and the display orientation to at least substantially coincide. In this way, the user may also be provided with an indication how much the display should be rotated. According to a still further embodiment the system comprises display orientation determining means for determining the orientation of the display. The display orientation determining means are preferably implemented by means of a compass, because apart from compasses being cheap, some electronic devices wherein the system according to the invention can be implemented already comprise a compass, nowadays.

The system according to the present invention may be advantageously implemented in a portable device such as a mobile telephone or a PDA.

According to a further aspect of the invention a method is provided for use with a system comprising a display for displaying a map in a fixed orientation with respect to the display, the method comprising the step of: providing explicit indications on how the display should be rotated in order for a map orientation and a display orientation to at least substantially coincide.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which: Figure 1 shows a display with a static map in a first orientation.

Figure 2 shows a display with a static map in a second orientation.

Figure 3 shows a conceptual overview of the system according to the present invention.

Figure 4 shows an example of a map with a map orientation other than north. Figure 5 shows an example of the rotation indications according to the present invention.

Throughout the figures like reference numerals refer to like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The system according to the invention is preferably implemented as a small computer. This computer is preferably implemented in a portable device 10, with a display 15 that can show a static electronic map 20, for example as contained in a PDF file. In the example shown in figures 1 and 2 the static map 20 is oriented to the north, as is shown by the symbol 210. This means that the northern direction of the map 20 corresponds to the top of the display 15. Figure 1 shows that a user 30 is looking in western direction. The user holds the display 15 in a normal way, i.e. with the top pointing away from him (generally also pointing a little upwards). In this case, the orientation of the static map 20 does not correspond to the orientation of the user 30. According to the invention, the user is provided with explicit indications on how to rotate the display 15 / device 10 such that the orientation of the static map 20 corresponds to the direction or looking of the user 30. This is shown in figure 2, where the user has rotated the display 15 / device 10 a quarter of a turn in clockwise direction. Now the top of the display 15 points to the right hand side of the user 30, i.e. in the northern direction. The left side of the display 15, which corresponds to the western direction of the static map 20, now points away from the user 30. So, the user 30 now holds the static map 20 in the right direction.

Conceptually the system 100 consists of four main parts, which are shown in figure 3 : map orientation determining unit 110 for determining the orientation of the map, e.g. north. display orientation determining unit 120 for determining the current orientation of the display, e.g. west. orientation correction determining unit 130 for determining how the device must be turned to show the map in the right direction, e.g. 90° clockwise. - information providing unit 140 for informing the user about the required orientation change of the display, e.g. by using colored light.

These parts are further discussed herein after. The orientation is expressed in terms like north and west or in degrees, where north corresponds to 0°, east to 90°, south to 180° and west to 270°. It should be noted that the map is displayed on the screen in one fixed orientation.

The map orientation determining unit 110 determine the orientation of the map. The orientation of the map corresponds to the desired orientation of the display. Conventionally, on most geometrically accurate maps north corresponds to the upper part of the map. In this case the map orientation and thus the desired orientation is 0°. However, in some maps, like the map 200 shown in figure 4 the north does not correspond to the top of the map as shown by the symbol 210. So, the upper part of the map corresponds to another direction, in this case southwest.

The map orientation can be determined as follows: the provider of the map provides the orientation of the map, e.g. the map 200 has orientation 225° (or southwest); the provider of the map provides the GPS coordinates of at least 2 corners of the map, which can be used to calculate the map orientation. These data can be added to the meta-data of the map, published on the website, etc. However, other mechanisms than the ones described herein above may be used as well for determining the map orientation.

The display orientation determining unit 120 determine the current orientation of the display / device. A typical solution is to use a digital compass. Note that some appliances, in particular some mobile phones already have a digital compass. When the display is held north, the display orientation determining unit 120 give an output of 0°, when held east the output is 90°, etc. Instead of an embedded compass, one may also envision a separate compass that sends its output to the system via a wired or wireless connection.

The orientation correction determining unit 130, based on the map orientation received from the map orientation determining unit 110 and the display orientation received from the display orientation determining unit 120, calculate the angle (the number of degrees) that the display must be turned in the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction such that the orientation of the map and the orientation of the display are the same. It automatically calculates the minimum number of degrees: so instead of turning the display 270° clockwise, it suggests to turn the display 90° counter-clockwise.

The orientation correction determining unit 130 uses the following function / algorithm, where "desiredOrientation" is the output of the map orientation determining unit 110 and "currentOrientation" is the output of the display orientation determining unit 120:

correction (desiredOrientation, currentOrientation) { corr = desiredOrientation - currentOrientation;

if corr > 180° then corr = corr - 360°; if corr < -180° then corr = corr + 360°;

return corr;

}

Some examples are shown in the table below.

The information providing unit 140 inform the user how to turn the display / device. Thereto, explicit indications of the direction of rotation are provided to the user. According to an embodiment this may be done by using light effects at the border of the map. To show the light pattern the pixels at the border of the screen may be used. Alternatively, the screen may be surrounded by small LEDs.

The light pattern may use colored lights. For example, when the display: is held correctly, the border of the map is green; - should be turned clockwise, the border is blue; should be turned counter-clockwise, the border is red. As an alternative, a dynamically changing light pattern can be used. For example, when the display: is held correctly, the border of the map is green; - should be turned clockwise, the light turns clockwise; should be turned counter-clockwise, the light turns counter-clockwise. Figure 5 shows the use a moving light pattern for given feedback to the user on the desired rotation. The figure shows the display 15 with map 200. There is a plurality of LEDs arranged around the display. LEDs that are switched on are depicted grey in the figure. LEDs that are switched off are white in the figure. The figure shows the LEDs at three moments in time. Over time the light pattern moves counter-clockwise to inform the user that the display must be turned counter-clockwise. If the user does not turn the display, the pattern will continue. When the device has been turned in the right direction, all lights become green. Alternatively, the information providing unit 140 may use arrows shown at the border of the map 200 that point in the direction of the desired rotation. The arrows remain visible until the user has turned the display in the right direction. According to a further alternative the information providing unit 140 may use audible messages to indicate the desired rotation, for example "turn the display clockwise", "turn the display counter-clockwise" and "stop". In this case, the user may also be instructed how much the display should be rotated, for example by the message "rotate the display a quarter of a turn clockwise", or the like.

Alternatively or additionally, the information unit 140 may generate vibrations as long as the display 15 is not correctly orientated.

Since it is not needed and also difficult to keep the device in exactly the same orientation as the map, the information providing unit 140 may inform the user that the map is held correctly when the correction value as received from the orientation correction determining unit 130 is in a certain range, e.g. between -10° and +10°.

If the device contains a GPS sensor and if the GPS coordinates of the corners of the map are known (e.g. given by the provider of the map), then the system can also show the current position of the device on the map. Preferably, all four main parts of the system 100 shown in figure 3 are implemented in a small portable electronic device 10 having a display 15. However, it is possible that the parts are distributed. In particular, the map orientation determining unit 110 and the orientation correction determining unit 130 could be arranged externally to the portable device, for example they could be implemented in a server that is accessible over the internet.

Furthermore, the system 100 could do without the map orientation determining unit 110 in case that it is only used for maps with the same map orientation, for example for maps of which the upper parts correspond to the north. The vast majority of the presently available maps have this map orientation, so such a system would be useful. In that case the orientation correction determining unit uses the standard assumption that the map orientation is θ°.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a wide range of applications. Accordingly, the scope of patented subject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplary teachings discussed, but is instead defined by the following claims. Any reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting the scope thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. System (100) comprising: a display (15) for displaying a map (20) in a fixed orientation with respect to the display (15), and information providing means (140) for providing explicit indications on how the display (15) should be rotated in order for a map orientation and a display orientation to at least substantially coincide.

2. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for providing an indication that the map orientation and the display orientation at least substantially coincide.

3. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for displaying the indications on a border of the map.

4. System (100) according to claim 3 wherein the information providing (140) means are adapted for displaying the indications by means of pixels at a border of the display (15).

5. System (100) according to claim 3 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for displaying the indications by means of LEDs surrounding the display

(15).

6. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for displaying the indications by means of light effects.

7. System (100) according to claim 6 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for displaying the indications by means of colored light.

8. System (100) according to claim 6 wherein the information providing means

(140) are adapted for displaying the indications by means of dynamically changing light patterns.

9. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means

(140) are adapted for displaying the indications by means of arrows showing the direction of orientation.

10. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for providing the indications audibly.

11. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein the information providing means (140) are adapted for providing the indications by means of vibrations.

12. System (100) according to claim 1 further comprising map orientation determining means (110) for determining the orientation of the map (20).

13. System (100) according to claim 12 wherein the map orientation determining means (110) are adapted for determining the orientation of the map based on metadata of the map (20).

14. System (100) according to claim 13 wherein the metadata comprises the orientation of the map (20).

15. System (100) according to claim 13 wherein the metadata comprises coordinates of at least two corners of the map (20).

16. System (100) according to claim 1 further comprising orientation correction determining means (130) for determining how the display (15) should be rotated in order for the map orientation and the display orientation to at least substantially coincide based on the map orientation and the display orientation.

17. System (100) according to claim 16 wherein the orientation correction determining means (130) are adapted for determining the number of degrees and the direction of the needed display rotation in order for the map orientation and the display orientation to at least substantially coincide.

18. System (100) according to claim 1 further comprising display orientation determining means (120) for determining the orientation of the display (15).

19. System (100) according to claim 18 wherein the display orientation determining means (120) are a compass.

20. Portable device comprising the system (100) according to any of the claims 1-

19.

21. Method for use with a system (100) comprising a display (15) for displaying a map (20) in a fixed orientation with respect to the display, the method comprising the step of: providing explicit indications on how the display (15) should be rotated in order for a map orientation and a display orientation to at least substantially coincide.