System and method for reducing the amount of repetitive data sent by a server to a client for vehicle navigation
View Patent ↗A system and method for reducing the amount of repetitive data sent by a server to a client for vehicle navigation. The system includes a computer-based vehicle unit located in a vehicle, a gateway configured to wirelessly send and receive trip information to and from the vehicle unit, and a computer-based server in communication with the gateway over a network. The vehicle unit wirelessly receives signals from a computer-based server that includes the desired navigation information in packet form. The vehicle unit includes a user interface component that presents the received navigation information and records user requests. The server processes the requests, generates a trip plan according to the navigation information and sends the generated trip plan back to the vehicle unit via a gateway when a request has been completed.
1. A vehicle navigation method comprising:
initiating a trip request utilizing a computer-based global positioning system (GPS) locatable in a vehicle, the trip request having vehicle coordinates determined by the computer-based GPS;
receiving the trip request by a gateway in signal communication with the computer-based GPS;
wirelessly conveying the trip request from the gateway to a server remotely located from the vehicle;
processing the trip request by the server to generate a trip plan;
wirelessly conveying the trip plan to the gateway; and
receiving the trip plan from the gateway for presentation by the computer-based GPS.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trip request includes trip voice instructions conveyed by a microphone in signal communication with the computer-based GPS unit.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the trip request by the server to generate the trip plan comprises determining a destination of the trip plan by interpreting trip voice instructions with voice recognition processing.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trip plan includes navigation prompts at least one of a visual prompt presentable on an interface of the computer-based GPS and voice prompts conveyable by a speaker in signal communication with the computer-based GPS.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining if the vehicle is adhering to the trip plan, wherein determining adherence comprises:
determining a distance between the vehicle coordinates and a trip plan location; and
if the vehicle coordinates are not within a threshold value from the trip plan, sending present vehicle coordinates to the server, generating a new trip plan and trip plan table based on the sent present vehicle coordinates, and sending the new trip plan table to the vehicle.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein processing the trip request by the server to generate the trip plan includes:
before a voice prompt is stored at the vehicle, requesting the non-stored voice prompt from the server and transmitting the non-stored voice prompt from the server to the vehicle; and
presenting the transmitted voice prompt.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising saving the sent voice prompt according to a corresponding identifier.
8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising purging—the sent voice prompts according to a scheduled purge request.
9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising purging—the sent voice prompts according to a user purge request.
10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising purging the sent voice prompts according to a server generated purge request.
11. A vehicle navigation system comprising:
a computer-based global positioning system (GPS) locatable in a vehicle, the computer-based GPS having a user interface configured to receive a trip request communicated from a user, the trip request includes vehicle coordinates determined by the computer-based GPS;
a gateway in signal communication with the computer-based GPS; and
a server remotely located from the vehicle, the server configured to wirelessly receive the trip request from the gateway, process the trip request to generate a trip plan, and wirelessly convey the trip plan to the gateway for communication to the computer-based GPS.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the trip plan includes a table of locations with associated navigation prompts.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein:
the computer-based GPS is configured to compares present vehicle coordinates to the trip plan table; and
if, according to the comparison, the vehicle coordinates are within a threshold value from a location in the table, the GPS presents the navigation prompt associated with the location in the table that is within the threshold value of the vehicle's location.
14. A vehicle navigation apparatus comprising:
a computer-based computer-based global positioning system (GPS) locatable in a vehicle, the computer-based GPS having a user interface configured to receive a trip request communicated from a user, the trip request having vehicle coordinates determined by the computer-based GPS;
means for entering trip voice instructions;
means for determining vehicle coordinates;
means for sending vehicle coordinates and the entered voice instructions to a server over a network for the generation of a trip plan;
means for receiving and conveying the trip plan to the user.