DE102008029430B4 - Method for operating a navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for operating a navigation system, comprising - an input device on which operator commands and / or location information can be entered, - a route network database in which the route network of a specific geographical area is described, the route network database additionally containing POI records for describing locations to be highlighted ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) contains, - a route calculation unit for calculating a route (7) taking into account the location information and the route network database, the route leading from a starting point to a destination, - a signal receiving unit for receiving position signals A position determination unit which determines the current position from the position signals, an output device on which data can be output for the user, a) at least one profile data record for specifying the requirements for an intermediate destination being read in on the input device; b) in a profile assessment module, the POI data records of different locations to be highlighted (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are compared with the profile data record and from this ...

Description

The invention relates to a method for operating a navigation system according to the preamble of claim 1.

Generic navigation systems, in particular navigation devices, are used for example as mobile or permanently installed functional units in motor vehicles in order to guide the driver along a route from a starting point to a destination point. Via an input device, the user can enter operator commands and make local entries and thereby enter into communication with the device. By receiving position signals, which are emitted in particular from positioning satellites, for example GPS satellites, a signal receiving unit of the navigation system can currently determine the position in cooperation with a position detection unit. Based on the data of a road network database, the planned route can also be determined by means of a route calculation unit and used as a basis for the route guidance process. The road network database of generic navigation systems additionally contains so-called POI data sets for the description of points to be highlighted (points of interest / POI). Such landmarks include, for example, gas stations, restaurants, attractions or other places that may be of particular interest to the user.

In order not only to be able to receive inputs from the user, but also to permit communication from the device to the user in the opposite direction, the navigation system is additionally equipped with an output device, for example a display and / or a loudspeaker. At this output device certain data for the user can be output, for example, announced acoustically and / or visually displayed.

In the case of the known navigation systems, it is also already possible that the user defines intermediate destinations and the navigation system subsequently calculates a new route which incorporates the intermediate destination. There are often use cases in which certain intermediate goals have not yet been taken into account in the travel planning, for example because a congestion or a need of the user is unpredictable. If, in such a situation, a new intermediate destination is to be integrated into the route, the originally planned itinerary must be left, at least temporarily. In such an unscheduled change of the route for driving a new intermediate destination, it is often the case that the driver knows the requirement profile of his wishes to the potential intermediate destination, but can not name a specific intermediate destination. For example, if the driver is stuck in a long traffic jam and gets hungry, he wants to quench his hunger by taking food in a restaurant or fast food restaurant, but without being able to name a very special restaurant or fast food restaurant for his selection. At the same time, the driver desires to satisfy his needs by the arrival of an intermediate destination, by which the original route is minimally extended, so that the detour caused by the intermediate destination is as short as possible. A disadvantage of the known navigation systems is that these navigation systems can not support the user in resolving this conflict of objectives.

From the printed prior art relates to US 6,401,034 B1 a navigation system having the ability for a user to specify a point of interest (POI) approached on a route to a final destination as a desired stopover. For this purpose, the POI is selected by a user, characterized and assigned to a specific type, and the route is adapted to the route destination in accordance with this stopover. It is taken into account that different POIs of a class mean differently large detours, whereby a detour assigned to a stopover is characterized on the basis of the arrival time. Then a user can decide if and which POI will be approached as a stopover. Based on this decision, a route recalculation is performed that takes into account the selected POI.

Furthermore, the shows US 2008/0120022 A1 a method for determining a route between a starting point and a destination point along a digitized road network. The method makes it possible to reach points of interest that are to be approached via several side roads. For this purpose, a route is optimized according to the POIs by calculating a total route taking into account all possible secondary roads. The minor roads are weighted by a factor so that the weighting of the minor roads can characterize a POI, with the weighting being equivalent to the detour.

This shows the EP 1 203 931 A1 a navigation system and a method executable therefor for outputting a certain number of geographic labels on an information unit. For this purpose, the units to be displayed are selected on the basis of the relative distance and weighted and displayed on the basis of an assigned category. Labels of a map for points of interest can be sorted by the distance between the current position of the information unit and the corresponding point of interest. This sorting can be done according to the relative positioning. It is further envisaged to choose a scaling factor according to the selected category and the weighting factor. Thus, a label of a selected category can be sorted and displayed by the shortest distance to the current position.

Based on this prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to propose a new method for operating a navigation system, which supports the driver in the selection of new intermediate goals, taking into account the requirement profile prescribed by the driver and each caused by the various intermediate goals detours.

This object is achieved by a method according to the teaching of claim 1.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The method according to the invention is based on the basic idea that the navigation system is equipped with a profile evaluation module and with a detour evaluation module. After the user has specified his requirements for the intermediate destination to be selected by inputting a profile data record by inputting to the input device, the profile data record in the profile evaluation module is compared with the POI data sets of different locations to be highlighted. For each of these places to be highlighted, a profile evaluation is derived by the profile evaluation module. If the user specifies his request to the intermediate destination, for example by the fact that he wants to eat something and is willing to devote little time, then the fast-moving restaurant profile can be used to select all fast-food restaurants as suitable intermediate destinations.

In parallel, in the detour evaluation module for each location to be highlighted, which has been evaluated in the profile evaluation module, the travel cost increment caused by this location during startup is determined and a detour evaluation is derived. In other words, this means that the additional travel costs caused by the start of an interim destination are included in the detour evaluation and are quantified by them.

After completion of the profile evaluation and the detour evaluation, both evaluation results are combined in a combined evaluation module and from this a combination rating is derived. The combination evaluation thereby forms the conflict of aims that the potential intermediate target is intended to meet well the requirements of the user on the one hand and on the other hand the least possible detour is to be caused by approaching the intermediate destination. The intermediate goal, which best solves this conflict, gives the best result in the combination score.

Finally, depending on the combination score, at least one location to be highlighted is then selected as a possible intermediate destination.

By fully capturing all costs associated with including an interim destination in the route, cost optimized interim destination planning can be ensured, taking into account the fulfillment of the user specified requirement profile. The realistic assessment of the control of an interim destination in the selection of an intermediate destination results in effective savings and thus an objective added value of the calculated route with integrated intermediate destination.

When approaching a newly integrated into the route intermediate goal, it is often advantageous if the route does not leave the same place and is approached after returning from the interim destination again. Rather, the detours to start the intermediate goal can often be considerably shortened by leaving the previous route at a departure point when approaching the intermediate destination and later approached again after returning from the intermediate destination at a different approach point. In order to make use of this advantage, according to the invention, at least one departure point and at least one access point can be transferred to the detour evaluation module, whereby the distance cost increase is calculated by subtraction between the sum of the route costs for the way to the intermediate destination and the travel costs for the return journey from the intermediate destination on the one hand and the travel costs for the distance between the point of departure and the point of arrival along the route is calculated. In this way, the evaluation of the detours can be further cost-optimized.

If several departure points or several access points are conceivable when approaching a possible intermediate destination, according to the invention all of these alternative departure points and / or access points to be used are transferred to the detour calculation module and the distance cost increment for the respective intermediate destinations to be evaluated is calculated for each individual combination , As a result, this means that for each combination of a departure point and an entry point, the evaluation routine is carried out separately and the result is evaluated with regard to the travel cost increase in the detour evaluation. From all evaluation results can then be the most suitable combination Departure point and access point can be selected by comparing the different detour evaluations.

The way in which the evaluation result of the combination evaluation according to the invention and the location to be highlighted is further processed is fundamentally arbitrary. According to a preferred variant of the method, the location to be highlighted, which is selected as a possible intermediate destination, is output at the output device, for example indicated on the display. The user then has, for example, the possibility to confirm the possible intermediate destination and thus to include it in the route planning for calculating a modified route.

The way in which the travel costs of the respective detour are calculated in the detour evaluation module is fundamentally arbitrary. The detours can be calculated and evaluated particularly realistically by calculating the path lengths that are additionally caused by the detour, or by calculating the estimated travel times that are correspondingly extended by the detour.

Basically, it makes sense to limit the search radius in the search for potential interim destinations, since otherwise an excessive number of locations must be evaluated in terms of their fulfillment of the requirement profile in the profile evaluation module and in terms of the additional travel costs caused by them in the detour evaluation module. This limitation of the search radius can be achieved by specifying a detour limit value. The detour rating of each location to be highlighted is then compared to this detour limit value and only the POI records for the determination of possible intermediate destinations, whose detour evaluation is less than the detour limit value, are processed. As a result, all places to be highlighted are excluded from the further evaluation from the outset, whose additionally incurred travel costs exceed a certain threshold.

In order to enable a realistic comparison of the requirement profile entered by the user with the data stored in the road network database, it is particularly advantageous if in the profile evaluation module the POI categories stored in the POI data sets, for example gas station, restaurant, hotel, sports ground, with the respective desired category stored in the profile record is compared.

In addition, the search sharpness in the profile evaluation can be further increased if at least one POI parameter is stored for each POI category. These different POI parameters can then be compared with the requirement profile and evaluated.

For the combined evaluation of profile evaluation and detour evaluation there are a lot of possibilities. The combination evaluation can be carried out in a particularly characteristic and simple manner if the quotient of the detour evaluation and the degree of agreement from the profile evaluation is calculated in the combination evaluation module. In other words, this means that the value of the detour evaluation is divided by the value of the profile evaluation. The smaller the resulting value of the combination score, the better suited is the respective landmark to be highlighted as an intermediate goal taking into account the fulfillment of the requirement profile and the additional travel costs caused by the start of the interim target.

For the combined evaluation of profile evaluation and detour evaluation, it is advantageous to normalize the degree of correspondence of the profile evaluation to a normal value, in particular to a percentage match.

Furthermore, it is advantageous, below a predefinable degree of agreement of the profile evaluation, in particular a standardized degree of agreement, not to carry out a combined evaluation, but to discard the respective POI data set in advance. Thus, the problem of a zero match and a quotient with 0 in the denominator can be avoided.

As an advantageous extension of the method according to the invention, it is conceivable that in addition to the combined evaluation of profile evaluation and detour evaluation for those POIs that are on the route, a profile evaluation is performed and these evaluation results are output together with the evaluation results of the method according to the invention. Thus it can be achieved that also POIs with detour 0 are included in the overall rating.

• a) unterproportional
• b) proportional
• c) überproportional

wobei für a) zusätzliche Kilometer bei gleicher Parameter-Übereinstimmung weniger stark ins Gewicht fallen. Die Auswahl der jeweiligen Strategie ist dabei vorteilhaft von den Nutzerpräferenzen abzuleiten.The weighting of the combined assessment can be carried out in a further advantageous embodiment according to different strategies:

• a) disproportionately
• b) proportional
• c) disproportionately

where for a) additional kilometers are less significant with the same parameter match. The selection of the respective strategy is advantageously derived from the user preferences.

It has been found to be advantageous to have a function such that f (x) sqrt (x), g (x) = log (x + 1), h (x) = sqrt ((x + 1) ² - 1), x = Detour or combined detour and distance from the current location, to be used for this.

In contrast, if the strategy were disproportionate, extending the detour would have a particularly large impact on the combined assessment. Here are some useful functions: f (x) = x ² , g (x) = e ^ x, h (x) = sqrt (1 + x ² ). Compared to static weighting factors, these functions have the advantage of having a large impact on the rating only after a certain Grenzumweglänge. Thus, with a small detour, the parameter match in the evaluation comes to bear, whereas, starting with a certain detour path, the weighting of the detour increases more and more during the evaluation.

When performing the combination evaluation for different places to highlight, a list of respectively assigned combination ratings results. This list could be displayed to the driver in whole or in part. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the place to be highlighted, which has the best combination score, is selected as a possible intermediate destination and, in particular, also output at the output device. The driver is thus not confused by various evaluation results, but it is issued only the most appropriate intermediate goal.

Basically there is the problem that in the search for a potential intermediate destination even the intermediate destination with the best combination score is in itself unsuitable, since even the best combination score is in absolute terms too poor. In order to preclude the issue of such inappropriate intermediate goals, the combination score of each potential intermediate point should be compared to an output threshold. Only if the combination score is better than the output threshold value, this corresponding intermediate destination is displayed. On the other hand, if the combination score falls below the quality threshold specified by the output threshold value, an error message is issued which informs the user about the unsuccessful search for a suitable intermediate destination.

Of course, the method according to the invention can be carried out on individual devices, for example mobile navigation devices or permanently installed navigation devices. In principle, however, it is also conceivable that at least part of the data required for the calculation of the combination evaluation, in particular the POI data sets, are stored on a data server spatially separated from the navigation system and are queried by the navigation system by remote data retrieval, in particular via the Internet. Thus, the inventive method can be carried out in particular in conjunction with an online server. For this purpose, for example, by means of a user profile entered on the navigation system, in particular a context-related user profile (since a user probably has different interests when traveling than when he is at home or at a holiday destination or at a business location), information is retrieved on the online server. It is irrelevant whether all data are online, or whether only POI-related additional information can be accessed online. Furthermore, the user profile can also be online, eg. For example, through a community platform where the user's own usage behavior can be used to determine or manually set a preference for specific categories or parameters.

Various aspects of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings.

Show it:

1 a schematic road map with several potential intermediate destinations;

2 the category weighting of the potential intermediate goals according to 1 ;

3 the detours of the potential intermediate goals according to 1 ;

4 various interim results of the profile evaluation of the intermediate goals according to 1 ;

5 the profile ratings and the combination ratings of the intermediate goals according to 1 ;

6 the road map according to 1 with the modified route after selecting the most appropriate intermediate destination according to combination score.

Based on the illustration in 1 to 7 the process of the invention will be explained with reference to an application example. This example concerns the journey of a family on holiday, with the planned route containing a traffic jam that informed the family about a detour recommendation. Since it is clear that the highway should be left at the next exit and the driveway is to take place according to the detour recommendation, the start and end point of the detour are clearly defined. The length of avoided by the bypass highway section results directly.

Since the family has been traveling for some time, it is decided to use the detour to a restaurant visit. It is thereby in the unknown for the family environment a restaurant sought, which can be achieved with as little detour. As an acceptable detour z. B. maximum of 10 kilometers compared to the detour recommendation considered. In addition, a restaurant is to be sought under various possibilities, which corresponds either to the category "fast food restaurant", the category "good middle class" or the category "Frutti di Mare".

In 1 the road network in the area in question is schematized. Various restaurants are in places to highlight 1 to 6 registered in the road network database of the navigation system. At the POI 1 is the restaurant Lobster Pot, at the POI 2 the restaurant Quick Pizza, at the POI 3 the restaurant Waldesruh, at the POI 4 the restaurant Zum Ochsen, at the POI 5 the restaurant Fish'n Chips and at the POI 6 the restaurant Fat Mac. The original route 7 contains a traffic jam and should therefore according to Umfahrungsempfehlung at the departure point 8th leave and at the access point 9 be approached again.

2 exemplifies the category weighting according to the wishes of the family in the vehicle. This category weighting can also be determined from a free profile or by accessing an online server.

3 exemplifies the result of the detour evaluation. For each of the POIs 1 to 6 the additional detour in kilometers was calculated by the arrival of the POI.

4 represents the comparison of category preferences with the actual POI parameters available for each POI.

In the upper part of 5 will be based on these various intermediate results for each of the POIs 1 to 6 carried out a profile evaluation. For the POI 1 (Lobster Pot), for example, results in a profile evaluation with the value 0.21.

In the lower part of 5 the determination of the combination rating is shown. The one for each of the POIs 1 to 6 determined detour in kilometers, which represents the detour evaluation, is divided by the respectively assigned profile evaluation value. For the POI 1 (Lobster Pot) results in a combination valuation with the value 142.857. As further from the list below 5 is apparent, results for the POI 6 (Fat Mac) the best combination rating with a score of 26,042. This will be the POI 6 selected as the most suitable intermediate destination.

In 6 is the modified route 10 shown, resulting from the departure of the original route 7 at the departure point 8th , the selected intermediate destination at the POI 6 and re-starting the original route 7 at the access point 9 results.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

Potential intermediate goal

2

Potential intermediate goal

3

Potential intermediate goal

4

Potential intermediate goal

5

Potential intermediate goal

6

Potential intermediate goal

7

Original route

8th

point of departure

9

Auffahrspunkt

10

Modified route

Claims (12)

Method for operating a navigation system, comprising - an input device, at which operator commands and / or location information can be entered, - a road network database, in which the road network of a specific geographical area is described, the road network database additionally POI data sets for the description of places to be highlighted ( 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 ), - a route calculation unit for calculating a route ( 7 taking into account the location information and the road network database, the route leading from a starting point to a destination point, a signal receiving unit for receiving position signals, a position determining unit which determines the current position from the position signals, an output device at which data for the Users can be output, wherein a) at least one profile data record for specifying the requirements for an intermediate destination is read in at the input device; b) in a profile evaluation module, the POI data sets of different places to be highlighted ( 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 ) are compared with the profile data record and from this a profile rating is derived for each location to be highlighted; c) in a detour evaluation module, by starting the various places to be highlighted ( 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 ) each determined Wegkeostenzuwachs and from this a detour evaluation is derived for each highlighted location; d) in a combination assessment module, of the profile scores and the detour scores for each place to be highlighted ( 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 ) a combination score is derived; e) at least one place to highlight, depending on the combination score ( 6 ) is selected as a possible intermediate destination, characterized in that the detour evaluation module has several departure points ( 8th ) from which the route ( 7 ) towards the intermediate objective ( 6 ) and / or several access points ( 9 ), where the intermediate objective ( 6 ) coming back on the route ( 7 ), whereby for each possible combination of a departure point ( 8th ) and an access point ( 9 ) the travel cost increase for all intermediate destinations ( 6 ) by subtraction between a) the sum of the travel costs for the way from the departure point ( 8th ) to the intermediate objective ( 6 ) and the travel costs for the return journey from the intermediate destination ( 6 ) to the access point ( 9 ) on the one hand and b) the travel costs for the route between the departure point and the access point along the route on the other hand is calculated. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the location to be emphasized as a possible intermediate destination ( 6 ) is output at the output device, in particular displayed. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in the detour evaluation module, the travel costs are calculated by calculating the path lengths or by calculating the estimated travel times. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the detour evaluation of each place to be highlighted ( 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 ) is compared with a predetermined detour limit value, wherein only the POI data sets for the determination of possible intermediate destinations are further processed whose detour evaluation is smaller than the detour limit value. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that in the profile evaluation module the POI category stored in the POI data sets is compared with the desired category stored in the profile data record. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the quotient of the detour evaluation and the degree of correspondence from the profile evaluation is calculated in the combination evaluation module for calculating the combination evaluation. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, for the combined evaluation of profile evaluation and detour evaluation, the degree of correspondence of the profile evaluation, in particular to a percentage match, is normalized. A method according to claim 7, characterized in that falls below a lower limit value for the degree of agreement of the profile evaluation, especially when falling below a lower limit for the normalized degree of agreement, the associated POI data sets are discarded. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that in the combination evaluation module the profile evaluation is weighted disproportionately or at a lower rate relative to the detour evaluation. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that only the place to be highlighted ( 6 ), which has the best combination score, is selected as a possible intermediate destination and, in particular, output at the output device. Method according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the combination score is compared with an output threshold, wherein below the output threshold value instead of the best combination score assigned highlighting place an error message is issued, which reports an unsuccessful search for a suitable intermediate destination. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 11, characterized in that at least part of the data required for the calculation of the combination evaluation, in particular the POI data records, are stored on a data server spatially separated from a navigation system and by the navigation system by means of remote data retrieval, in particular via the Internet , be queried.

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