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EP-4394740-B1 - INTEGRATING ONLINE NAVIGATION DATA WITH CACHED NAVIGATION DATA DURING ACTIVE NAVIGATION

EP4394740B1EP 4394740 B1EP4394740 B1EP 4394740B1EP-4394740-B1

Inventors

  • DING, Yiyang Joy
  • Grennan, Kevin Michael

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20150618

Claims (11)

  1. A method for integrating online navigation directions with offline navigation directions, the method comprising: generating, by one or more processors (50) in a computing device (21), offline navigation directions from a first location to a second location using offline map data (62); displaying, by the one or more processors, the offline navigation directions via a user interface (58); subsequent to generating the offline navigation directions, receiving, at the one or more processors, online navigation directions from a navigation server (22) via a communication network (18); determining, by the one or more processors, a difference metric based at least in part on the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions; in response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is below a first range, not updating the display of the offline navigation directions; in response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is within the first range, updating, by the one or more processors, the display of the offline navigation directions with the online navigation directions, and providing a notification that an update has occurred; in response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is within a second range, updating, by the one or more processors, the display of the offline navigation directions with the online navigation directions and without providing a notification that an update has occurred; and in response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is above the second range, displaying the online navigation directions as an alternative route.
  2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions comprises: comparing, by the one or more processors, one or more offline waypoints in the offline navigation directions to one or more online waypoints in the online navigation directions; and calculating, by the one or more processors, the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions based on the comparison.
  3. The method of claim 2, wherein calculating the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions comprises: assigning, by the one or more processors, a weight to each of the offline waypoints and the online waypoints based on a distance from the computing device to the respective offline or online waypoint; and calculating, by the one or more processors, a weighted difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions.
  4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions further comprises: comparing, by the one or more processors, an estimated time for completing the offline navigation directions to an estimated time for completing the online navigation directions.
  5. The method of claim 2, wherein comparing one or more offline waypoints in the offline navigation directions to one or more online waypoints in the online navigation directions comprises: discarding, by the one or more processors, each of the offline and online waypoints that have been passed by the computing device (12); and comparing, by the one or more processors, the offline waypoints which have not been passed by the computing device to the online waypoints which have not been passed by the computing device.
  6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, whether to generate the offline navigation directions, the determination being based on a current status of the communication network.
  7. The method of claim 6, wherein the current status of the communication network (18) is determined based on at least one of: (i) a quality of service (QoS) of the communication network (18) or (ii) a type of wireless subscription.
  8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, by the one or more processors, an offline indicator via the user interface (58), wherein the offline indicator signifies to a user that the navigation directions were generated offline.
  9. The method of claim of 1, wherein determining a difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions comprises: receiving, at the one or more processors, a plurality of sets of online navigation directions from the navigation server, wherein each set of online navigation directions guides a user to the same second location via a different path; and determining, by the one or more processors, a difference metric between the offline navigation directions and each set of online navigation directions.
  10. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the display of the offline navigation directions using the online navigation directions comprises: displaying, by the one or more processors, at least one of: (i) estimated time data, or (ii) traffic data via the user interface using the online navigation directions.
  11. A portable device (12) configured to execute a method according to any of the preceding claims.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to digital mapping data and, more particularly, to merging online navigation data with offline navigation data. BACKGROUND The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Today, software applications executing in computers, smartphones, embedded devices, etc., generate step-by-step navigation directions which may include traffic data. Typically, a user specifies the first location and the second location, and a software application displays the directions immediately and/or as the user travels from the first location to the second location. In some cases, the software applications also produce voice announcements corresponding to the navigation directions. EP2051223 discloses providing a static and a dynamic navigation route to a vehicle navigation unit, when dynamic routing is available and comparing the static with the dynamic route. In cases where the static route is substantially equal to the dynamic route, a journey time is calculated for the dynamic route. The journey time of the dynamic route is then transmitted to the navigation unit and provided via an interface. If said routes are significantly different, journey times are calculated for both routes and compared. If the journey time of the dynamic route is less than or equal to the journey time of the static route, a simplified version of the dynamic route and the associated journey time is transmitted to the vehicle navigation unit. SUMMARY A digital navigation module operates in a user device to obtain directions from a navigation server when a network connection of acceptable quality is available, and generates the directions locally using offline map data at other times. In a typical case, the navigation server may store more up-to-date direction information than the user device by using real-time traffic data, road and closure data, weather data, etc. When the navigation module initially generates the directions locally and then receives updated directions from the navigation server, the navigation module provides the update via a user interface, in a least disruptive manner. For example, the update is provided without re-routing the user. To this end, the navigation module generates offline navigation directions locally via offline map data. Subsequently, when online navigation directions are available from the navigation server, the navigation module calculates the difference between the locally generated (or "offline") navigation directions and the server-generated (or "online") navigation directions. The navigation module then compares the difference between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions to a certain threshold value. When the difference between the online navigation directions and the offline navigation directions is below the threshold value, the navigation module merges the online navigation directions with the offline navigation directions by updating the display of estimated time, traffic, etc. Otherwise, when the difference is at or above the threshold value, the navigation module provides the online navigation directions as a selectable alternative to the offline navigation directions. In particular, an example of the techniques of the present disclosure, retained as being useful for understanding the invention, is a non-transitory computer-readable memory coupled to one or more processors and storing thereon (i) offline map data and (ii) instructions that implement a navigation module. The navigation module executes on the one or more processors to generate offline navigation directions from a first location to a second location using the offline map data, display the offline navigation directions via a user interface, and subsequent to generating the offline navigation directions, receive online navigation directions from a navigation server via a communication network. The navigation module further executes on the one or more processors to determine a difference metric based at least in part on the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions. In response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is below a certain threshold, the navigation module executes on the one or more processors to update the display of the offline navigation directions based at least in part on the online navigation directions. In response to determining that the difference metric between the offline navigation directions and the online navigation directions is not below the threshold, the navigation module