INDICATOR FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A TRAVEL ROUTE

Description

Title

Indicator for the announcement of a travel route

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

The available invention concerns an indicator for the announcement of a travel route, a navigation system for navigating along a travel route with such an indicator, as well as a procedure for the announcement of a travel route.

Vehicle navigation systems or also route computation programs determine the optimal route on the appropriate traffic routes depending upon computation criterion between start and a goal of a journey. The result, the route, is thus marked visually in a map by the marking of the traffic route sections which can be used. Another possibility exists in the announcement of a list with the designations of the traffic route sections which can be used, a route information list so called. About it is desirable to present to the user the route in compact and understandable form and to indicate if necessary the appropriate details. Furthermore a route information list offers the possibility of presenting additional information which is not to be mediated otherwise or only with difficulty.

In different systems, like e.g. in navigation systems of point of blue the DX or ex series, become excluding street names and - numbers as designation uses. The traffic route sections with the same complete designation are combined into an entry in the list. In remote areas it falls the user however heavily to orient itself alone at road designations.

In other systems apart from the designations of the traffic route sections themselves also the associated political areas, e.g. local or municipality names, are specified, whereby the comprehensibility is improved. In order to avoid thereby additional redundancies, the traffic route sections are assigned accordingly within an area by the subordination. The comprehensibility is improved by the additional area designations, by the increased information abundance removes the clarity however clearly. By fading out the traffic routes within designated areas, insignificant for the overview, the clarity can be improved somewhat, without doing thereby considerably without information little helpful for the first view. On the basis of the limitation of the number of lines in the announcement of typical woman driver formation systems on 6 to 10 lines it becomes clear that the description of route is hardly practicable despite the summary by a such text list.

Before this background the need exists to present to the user in the route information list a very compact and understandable announcement of the route process and to offer the possibility of refining the compactly summarized information when desired.

REVEALING THE INVENTION

In accordance with the available invention an indicator is made available to the announcement of a travel route, whereby the travel route exhibits a chain of route elements, and each route element a measure value and a quantity of attributes. The indicator covers a substring investigator, a computation unit, a sorter and a display unit. The substring investigator determines a coherent, the route element including substring of maximum length of route elements, which exhibit an identical attribute for each attribute at least one route element in each case. The computation unit computes in each case a total measure value from the measure values of the route elements of the substring for each substring. That

Sorter sorts the quantity of attributes at least for that a route element according to a size relation of the total measure values of the substrings of the attributes into a consequence of hierarchy levels, and the display unit indicates the attributes at least of the route element in hierarchical representation according to the hierarchy levels.

To indicate according to invention indicator permits it, travel route into particularly compact and understandable form, since it separates relevant under an abundance of attributes, which concern different in each case, mutually overlapping sections of the travel route, from less relevant information and the process of the route independently of their length in one by a viewer rapidly and represents way which can be seized intuitively.

In accordance with an execution form of the invention the measure value of a route element is a function of a distance and a travel time of the route element. This execution form is on the one hand particularly favourable, there well-known route planning and navigation systems both distance and travel time for each route element of a planned route makes available, so that those

Indicator of the available execution form with the data format of these systems is compatible. On the other hand with this execution form the relevance is measured by attributes on the basis of criteria, which are intuitively understanding for a user, who plans the travel route or it bereist, so that the user seizes the indicated route particularly fast and easy. For example becomes a user the name of an area, which is crossed on a longer distance, than more relevantly feel than the designation of a road, which will drive on only on a short section of the route. Also it becomes the names of a city, whose crossing takes a longer time, than more importantly estimate, than the designation of one on a Durchgangsstraße fast durchfahrenen to locality up.

Preferably the measure value is the distance, since the travel time on the user unknown or as insignificantly felt roads can be disproportionately high, while for the distance such a restriction is not valid

In accordance with an execution form of the invention the total measure value of a substring is the sum of the measure values of the route elements of the substring. This is particularly favourable, since so the relevance is judged by route sections built up from several route elements in a way intuitively comprehensible for the user. For example corresponds if as measure value the distance is used, the total measure value exactly the entire distance of the distance section built up from the route elements.

In accordance with an execution form of the invention the quantity of attributes covers special attributes. Furthermore the indicator plant exhibits a special preferring unit, which prefers special attributes in the consequence of hierarchy levels. This execution form is to be emphasized particularly favourably, because it permits it to make possibly existing classifications of the attributes usable in order particularly relevant information.

In accordance with an execution form of the invention the quantity of attributes covers localreferred attributes and stretch-referred attributes. The indicator exhibits thereby a local preferring unit, which draws a localreferred attribute in the consequence an attribute stretch-referred by hierarchy levels before, if the substring of the stretch-referred attribute has a first or last route element, which is route element of the substring of the localreferred attribute at the same time.

With this execution form for example the designation of a traffic route, which in-leads along the route from a place or into a place, becomes subordinate starting from the local border of the designation of the place. This has the advantage that the objectively subordinate role of the traffic route to tie up the place in which indicator hierarchy is reflected, so that the user seizes the indicated route intuitively particularly fast and efficiently. In accordance with an execution form the display unit summarizes agreeing attributes of neighbouring route elements in an entry within a hierarchy level. The display unit covers a control element, which makes subordinate attributes of the next lower hierarchy level alternatively visible for the entry. This makes it possible to represent by invisible making of lower hierarchy levels the route independently of their length in a compact form what makes the execution form particularly suitable for compact navigation equipment with small screens.

In accordance with an execution form the control element makes subordinate attributes of a localreferred entry in form of a tree structure visible. Likewise in accordance with an execution form the control element makes subordinate attributes of a stretch-referred entry visible by replacing the entry with a list of the attribute with in each case an entry of the next lower hierarchy level, stretch-referred summarized in the entry, by concatenations. The advantage of these structures is that they illustrate the spatial arrangement of the material world and thus easily to be seized are: A larger place corresponds to a spatially expanded area, within whose traffic routes and smaller places lie, against what subordinate attributes represent further information to a stretch-referred attribute to the same traffic route.

Under a further criterion of the available invention a navigation system is made available to navigating along a travel route, with an indicator to the announcement of the travel route after one of the managing requirements. Such a navigation system is characterised by the fact that it makes user the necessary information with particularly high efficiency to the traveler available, in particular a vehicle prominent, so that it can navigate more attention along the route faster and dedicate to traffic and the environment.

Furthermore under a further criterion of the invention a procedure for indicating a travel route is made available, in particular with an indicator according to invention, with which a chain is given by route elements of the travel route, and each route element a measure value and a quantity of attributes exhibits. SUMMARY OF THE FIGURES

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of an example of a travel route,

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of an execution form of an indicator in accordance with the available invention,

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of an execution form of a navigation system in accordance with the available invention, Fig. 4 is an example by means of the indicator of the available invention of an indicated

Route, Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a procedure for indicating a travel route in accordance with the available invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE REMARK EXAMPLES

Figure 1 shows exemplarily, in the kind of a representative map, a schematic representation of a travel route, as it is determined by well-known navigation or route planning systems. The route connects a starting point, here with a vehicle marked, and a goal, here marks by a flag symbol. It consists of a number of route elements 1-9, which form a chain in fixed order together afterwards, whereby the first route element 1 at the starting point of the journey begins, and which ends last route element 9 at the goal of the journey. Examples of route elements are both sections 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 of traffic routes and roads, railways or driving straining, and traffic centers 2, 4, 6, 8 like crossings, stations or ports. Thereby a part of a distance of the entire travel route is assigned to each route element in each case, whereby the distance has the value zero in case of of traffic centers. A travel time necessary for the travel along a certain route element has against it also in case of of

Traffic center not necessarily the value zero, since e.g. waiting periods at traffic lights or stations contribute to the entire travel time of the route.

Each route element of such a travel route can exhibit one or more attributes, which designate, describe it in different kind or for the route element relevant additional information contained. For example can be characteristic a road with one or more road numbers or street names, which are valid for a section of the road represented by the route element.

The elements in Fig. 1 represented route are to assist in the understanding with their respective distance, travel time and attributes in table 1 summarized:

Tab. 1: Original data of an exemplary route process

The attributes of the route elements are symbolically represented to their meaning contents by reference symbol 11-42 in table 1 and accordingly in categories „place name ", „road number ",

„Street name " and „crossing designation " arranged. Attributes are missing in each category for each route element.

As in Fig. 1 shown, leads the exemplarily regarded route starting from the route element 2 to inclusively to the route element 8 by an area 11, which represents a locality. The place name is accordingly „Hildesheim " in table 1 a place name of the area 11 assigned in each case, e.g. to the route elements 2-8. Likewise in Fig. 1 marked is a number of a road 21, which is valid for the route elements 1-4, e.g. the number of a federal highway „B21 ". Since the route element 1 follows outside, which lie route elements 2-3 however within the area 11, the route of the road 21 in the inside of the area 11. For the following route elements 5-8 up to the border of the area 11 a further road number 22 is valid, and after leaving the area 11 for the last route element 9 a third road number 23.

Along the route elements 5-6 the road 22 carries a street name 31, e.g. „Beethovenstraße additionally to its road number ", and along the route elements 7-8 a further street name 32. The crossings of appropriate route elements 2 and 6 are again provided with special crossing designations, which can be for example numbers or also names. Figure 2 shows an execution form of an indicator according to invention 200 in schematic representation for the announcement of a travel route, like e.g. in Fig. 1 route shown. The indicator plant covers a display unit 208 with a screen, on which in the enterprise the route which can be indicated appears, and a control element 214, with which a user can affect the announcement of the travel route interactively.

Preferably the indicator covers a memory 216 for storing a data structure, which represents the travel route which can be indicated as chain of, here exemplarily shown, route elements 1-6. The number of route elements of the chain depends thereby of the travel route which can be indicated, so that the memory 216 is appropriately so largely selected that also longer travel routes can be stored.

Everyone of the route elements exemplarily shown 1-6 exhibits a measure value 220, which is a measure for the portion of the respective route element of the entire route. As measure value know for example the distance, which travel time, which energy consumption or the transport costs serves, or function derived from or several of these values. Furthermore each route element exhibits a quantity of attributes 221-223, which as stretch-referred attributes 221 like street names or - numbers, when localreferred attributes 222 are categorized like motoring information e.g. dynamic like crossing designations, local and area names, or as special attributes 223 with special importance.

The indicator plant covers a set of operation units 202, 204, 206, 210, 212, which would drive through on the chain of route elements operations, put down in the memory 216, in order to bring it into a form suitable for the announcement with the display unit 208. These operation units can e.g. as program modules implemented by a microprocessor, or as hardware modules to be implemented. The operation units cover a substring investigator 202 for determining substrings of the chain of route elements 1-6, a computation unit 204 and a sorter 206, moreover a local preferring unit 212 and a special preferring unit 210 prefer-proves, their function mode in the following by the example of the data of the travel route from Fig, listed in table 1. 1 is more near described.

In the enterprise the indicator 200 receives a data structure, which represents a chain of route elements 1-9 of a travel route e.g. from an external route planning system. For further processing this data structure in memory 216 is stored. Alternatively the memory 216 a component of the route planning system, which determined the route, can its, so that a separate storage is void by the indicator 200. The substring investigator 202 determines then for each attribute at least one route element, a coherent, the route element including substring of maximum length of route elements, which exhibit an identical attribute. For example the substring investigator 202 begins with the first route element 1, which exhibits the road number 21 according to table 1 as attribute. The substring investigator examines now whether the neighbouring route element 2 likewise exhibits the road number 21 as attribute. Since this is according to table 1 the case, the substring investigator tests neighbouring route element 3 likewise for that the route element 2, whether it exhibits the road number 21 as attribute, and so on for the following route elements. With the examination of the attributes of the route element 5 the substring investigator does not determine the road number 21, and makes than result the determined connected substring available of the route elements 1-4, which exhibit all the identical attribute of the road number 21.

The substring investigator 202 repeats the descriptive operation for example next for the attributes of the route element 2 not considered yet and determines so a further connected substring of the route elements 2-8, which exhibit all the identical attribute of the place name 11. A third substring contains the route element 2 as only route element, since this exhibits the crossing designation 41 in contrast to its two neighbour elements 1 and 3 as attribute. In this way the substring investigator 202 assigns exactly a connected substring of route elements to each attribute of the route elements.

After conclusion of the operation of the substring investigator 202 the computation unit 204 for each determined substring computes a total measure value from the measure values of the route elements of the substring. In the following exemplarily the distance is used as measure value of the respective route elements 1-9. The computation unit 204 begins e.g. with, the connected substring of the route elements 1-4, which exhibit all the identical attribute of the road number 21, determined by the substring investigator 202, and sums up the distances of the route elements 1-4. Since the route element 1 and the route elements 2 and 4 a distance of 0 m exhibit a distance of 1000 m, the route element 3 a distance of 250 m, a total measure value of 1250 m for this substring results.

The computation unit 204 for the remaining substrings implements appropriate computations of a total measure value. The result on the basis the example route is summarized in table 2. Here to assist in the understanding of the following operations for each substring the total measure value of the substring was set in parentheses behind each attribute of this substring.

Tab. 2: Total measure values of the substrings for the exemplary route process

After the substring investigator 202 each attribute of the route elements a substring, and which assigned computation unit 204 of each substring a total measure value, thereby indirectly the total measure value of its associated substring is assigned to each attribute. This value is the distance noted in table 2 behind the respective attributes in parentheses.

The sorter 206 sorts for one of the route elements 1-9 the quantity of attributes of this route element now in each case according to a size relation of the total measure values of the substrings of the attributes into a consequence of hierarchy levels. Related to the representation in table 2 this means that the attributes in the same line are sorted in each case according to the total measure value noted in parentheses behind them. For example the sorter 206 begins with the first route element 1 of the route. This route element 1 exhibits the road number 21 as only attribute, that in the sorter 206 of a first, highest hierarchy level of the consequence of hierarchy levels is assigned. The route element 2 exhibits 2 three attributes with different total measure values of the associated substrings according to table. The sorter determined under these the road number 21 as attribute with the largest total measure value of 1250 m and assigns from there the first hierarchy level to the road number 21. Therefore the place name 11 has the second largest total measure value of 1000 m and into the second hierarchy level is sorted. The crossing designation 41 with the smallest total measure value of 0 m becomes into third

Hierarchy level sorts. In the result of the operation of the sorter of 206 attributes sorted on all route elements 1-9 into the consequence by hierarchy levels are summarized for the example route in table 3 in each case.

Tab. 3: According to total measure value sorted attributes of the route elements

In this way the attributes were already brought into a form suitable for the announcement in hierarchical representation by the display unit 208. Here the special preferring unit 210 can make a correction of the assortment of the attributes, in order attributes, which are due to a before-well-known classification as particularly importantly classified to assign a higher hierarchy level. Further corrections of the assortment are made by the local preferring unit 212, which is possible both before and after possible corrections with the special preferring unit 210.

In the enterprise the local preferring unit 212 draws a localreferred attribute in the consequence for the correction of the assortment an attribute stretch-referred by hierarchy levels before, if the substring of the stretch-referred attribute has a first or last route element, which is route element of the substring of the localreferred attribute at the same time. For example the place name 11, which is a localreferred attribute, in which second hierarchy level behind the road number 21 for the route element 2, which is a stretch-referred attribute, stands. The local preferring unit 212 examines now for the first and last route element of the substring of the road number 21, thus the route elements 1 and 4 whether these are likewise route elements of the substring of the local name 11. The local preferring unit 212 determines that this is for the route element 4 the case, and draws from there for the regarded route element 2 the place names 11 before the road number 21, so that these exchange the places in the consequence of hierarchy levels. In similar way the local preferring unit pulls 212 for the route elements 3 and 4 likewise the place name 11 before the road number 21.

Further localreferred attributes of the example route are the crossing designations 41 and 42. For the route element 2 the crossing designation 41 in the hierarchy behind the road number 21 stands. The local preferring unit examines the route elements 1 and 4 for the first and last route element of the substring of the road number 21, thus whether these are likewise route elements of the substring of the crossing designation 41. Since this is not the case, the assortment remains here unchanged. For the route element 6 the crossing designation 42 in the hierarchy behind the street name 31 stands. The local preferring unit examines the route elements 5 and 6 for the first and last route element of the substring of the street name, thus whether these are likewise route elements of the substring of the crossing designation 42. Since this is for the route element 6 the case, here the street name 31 and the crossing designation 42 exchange the places. Further preferring of the crossing designation 42 does not take place, since neither first nor the last route element of the substring of the road number 22 are a route element of the substring of the crossing designation 42.

The final, assortment of the attributes of the example route into the consequence of hierarchy levels, corrected by the local preferring unit 212, is represented in table 4. The attributes of the route elements 1-9 become, as in the description Fig. 4 more near implemented, by the display unit 208 in hierarchical representation according to its distribution on the hierarchy levels, shown in table to 4, indicates.

Tab. 4: By the local preferring unit assortment of the attributes corrected

Figure 3 shows in schematic representation of an execution form of a navigation system 300 in accordance with the available invention. The navigation system 300 exhibits a navigation unit 302, by means of an antenna 304 the radio signals receives and from these a geographical position determined. A route planning unit 306 plans a route using data from a kartografischen data base 308 a goal given from the present geographical position to and stores these as a chain of route elements 1, 2, 3 in memory 216, whereby each route element exhibits a measure value and a quantity of attributes, which are inferred for example from the data base 308. Furthermore the navigation system exhibits a substring investigator 202, a computation unit 204 and a sorter 206, who form together with a display unit 208 an indicator in accordance with the available invention and in the enterprise on the route elements the appropriate, above descriptive operations put down in the memory 216 would drive out, so that the route planned by the route planning unit 306 can be indicated to 208 in more appropriate, in the following exemplarily for the data 1, hierarchical representation described from table by the display unit.

Figure 4 shows sceen contents of the display unit 208 in four stages 400, 402, 404, 406, with which interactive announcement of the data from table 1, in hierarchical representation of the attributes of the route elements according to their assortment into the consequence of hierarchy levels in accordance with table 4. are thereby to the better explainableness, how already in table 1, which replaces attributes of the route elements symbolically by their respective reference symbols 11-42.

The stage 400 of the sceen contents shows the example route in very compact form, in which only the attributes are visible 21, 11, 23 of the highest hierarchy level. In the same hierarchy level lying, identical attributes of neighbouring route elements are summarized in an entry. In order to clarify this, numbers at the right edge of the sceen contents refer to the route elements summarized in each case in the entry standing before it; they are not a component of the sceen contents. Are visible the road number 21, the place name 11 and the road number 23, whereby the individual entry of the place name of 11 attributes from the highest hierarchy level of the route elements 2-8, identical by summarizing, is formed. At the small box with one, standing before the place name 11, „+ " - marking indicates to the user that below this attribute further attributes are present in lower hierarchy levels and can if necessary by means of the control element 214 be made visible.

With manipulation of the control element 214 a further stage is indicated to 402 of the sceen contents. In the second hierarchy level, below the place name 11 now the road numbers 21 and 22 are visible, during itself „+ " - marking into one „- “- marking changed, in order to refer to the expanded condition of the associated attribute. Here indicate the black, to the right pointing triangles to the user again that below the road numbers 21 and 22 further attributes are present in lower hierarchy levels and can if necessary by means of the control element 214 be made visible. Itself of the small box with „+” - marking in stage 400 appearance of these triangles marks besides the road numbers 21 and 22 as stretch-referred attributes, in contrast to localreferred attributes like the place name 11 and correlates with another function mode with manipulation of the control element 214, so that the semantic difference becomes clear into the understanding of the user supporting way. If the user selects for example the road number 21 in the third line of the stage 402 and if the control element 214 operates, then sceen contents result as in stage 404. Instead of the road number 21 in the third line now the crossing designation 41 and among them the road number 21 are visible, according to the three route elements 2-4, of which last the two are summarized due to identical attributes into an entry. The user is informed by now to the left the pointing triangle before these entries that directly below these attributes no further attributes are more present, which could be made visible.

If the user selects now the road number 22 and if the control element 214 operates, then sceen contents result as in stage 406. While the crossing designations 41 and 42 are in each case alone indicated, the road number 22 is placed to the street name 31 and 32 in front. This corresponds to a special rule, in accordance with which stretch and localreferred attributes are not combined in only one entry of the announcement, in order not to smear their semantic difference. Several stretch-referred attributes are combined against it whereby to the expression it comes that they are valid for the same distance section. The route elements 7-8 appear as single entry, since their attributes are identical, so that the allocation of the appropriate distance section is on the two route elements 7 and 8 for the user without meaning.

Figure 5 shows a flow chart of an execution form of a procedure according to invention for

Indicate to a travel route, e.g. with an indicator as in Fig. 2 represented. In step 500 the travel route is given in form of a chain by route elements, whereby each route element exhibits a measure value and a quantity of attributes. In step 502 for each attribute at least one route element, a coherent, by route elements, is determined the route element including substring of maximum length which exhibit an identical attribute. In

Step 504 is computed for each substring a total measure value from the measure values of the route elements of the substring. In step 506 at least, for that a route element, which sorts quantity of attributes according to a size relation of the total measure values of the substrings of the attributes into a consequence of hierarchy levels, becomes. In step 508 special attributes in the consequence are preferred by hierarchy levels, and in step 510 the attributes at least of the route element in hierarchical representation are indicated according to the hierarchy levels.