Navigation system including automatic suppression of navigation prompts for known geographic areas

1. A method for selectively suppressing audio turn-by-turn instructions on a navigation system, the method comprising:

maintaining a step n-gram table for an identified entity, wherein an entry in the step n-gram table comprises:

a navigation step n-gram identification, and

a count value;

generating a turn-by-turn direction for the identified entity including:

a step n-gram identification,

a description of a navigation direction, and

a known status of the step n-gram to the identified entity, wherein the known status is established according to a criterion including at least the count value for the navigation step n-gram;

presenting the turn-by-turn direction to a user corresponding to the identity;

determining a completion of the step n-gram corresponding to the turn-by-turn direction; and

updating, in accordance with the completion of the step n-gram, the entry in the step n-gram table, wherein the updating includes at least incrementing the count value,

wherein during the presenting, an audio part of the turn-by-turn instruction is selectively suppressed based upon the known status of the turn-by-turn instruction, when the navigation system operates in an audio turn-by-turn suppression mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step n-gram is a step bigram comprising a sequence of two identified steps.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a time stamp indicating a last time the count value was incremented after completion of the step n-gram by the identified entity, and

wherein the known status of the step n-gram is further established by the criterion including the time stamp.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the updating includes updating the time stamp.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a known status indicator.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step n-gram table is maintained by a navigation server communicatively coupled to a vehicle navigation unit via a mobile wireless communications.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising resetting the known status of the entry of the step n-gram in the table to a false state solely based upon a passage of time since the count value was incremented.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, providing an enable control button on a user interface to facilitate user control over disabling audio turn-by-turn suppression.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer-executable instructions for carrying out a method for selectively suppressing audio turn-by-turn instructions on a navigation system, wherein the method comprises:

maintaining a step n-gram table for an identified entity, wherein an entry in the step n-gram table comprises:

a navigation step n-gram identification, and

a count value;

generating a turn-by-turn direction for the identified entity including:

a step n-gram identification,

a description of a navigation direction, and

a known status of the step n-gram to the identified entity, wherein the known status is established according to a criterion including at least the count value for the navigation step n-gram;

presenting the turn-by-turn direction to a user corresponding to the identity;

determining a completion of the step n-gram corresponding to the turn-by-turn direction; and

updating, in accordance with the completion of the step n-gram, the entry in the step n-gram table, wherein the updating includes at least incrementing the count value,

wherein during the presenting, an audio part of the turn-by-turn instruction is selectively suppressed based upon the known status of the turn-by-turn instruction, when the navigation system operates in an audio turn-by-turn suppression mode.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the step n-gram is a step bigram comprising a sequence of two identified steps.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a time stamp indicating a last time the count value was incremented after completion of the step n-gram by the identified entity, and

wherein the known status of the step n-gram is further established by the criterion including the time stamp.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the updating includes updating the time stamp.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a known status indicator.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the step n-gram table is maintained by a navigation server communicatively coupled to a vehicle navigation unit via a mobile wireless communications.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises resetting the known status of the entry of the step n-gram in the table to a false state solely based upon a passage of time since the count value was incremented.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises, providing an enable control button on a user interface to facilitate user control over disabling audio turn-by-turn suppression.

17. A computer system comprising:

a processing hardware; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium including computer-executable instructions for configuring the processing hardware to carry out a method for selectively suppressing audio turn-by-turn instructions on a navigation system, wherein the method comprises:

maintaining a step n-gram table for an identified entity, wherein an entry in the step n-gram table comprises:

a navigation step n-gram identification, and

a count value;

generating a turn-by-turn direction for the identified entity including:

a step n-gram identification,

a description of a navigation direction, and

a known status of the step n-gram to the identified entity, wherein the known status is established according to a criterion including at least the count value for the navigation step n-gram;

presenting the turn-by-turn direction to a user corresponding to the identity;

determining a completion of the step n-gram corresponding to the turn-by-turn direction; and

updating, in accordance with the completion of the step n-gram, the entry in the step n-gram table, wherein the updating includes at least incrementing the count value,

wherein during the presenting, an audio part of the turn-by-turn instruction is selectively suppressed based upon the known status of the turn-by-turn instruction, when the navigation system operates in an audio turn-by-turn suppression mode.

18. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the step n-gram is a step bigram comprising a sequence of two identified steps.

19. The computer system of claim 17 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a time stamp indicating a last time the count value was incremented after completion of the step n-gram by the identified entity, and

wherein the known status of the step n-gram is further established by the criterion including the time stamp.

20. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the updating includes updating the time stamp.

21. The computer system of claim 17 wherein each entry in the step n-gram table further includes a known status indicator.

22. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the step n-gram table is maintained by a navigation server communicatively coupled to a vehicle navigation unit via a mobile wireless communications.

23. The computer system of claim 17 further comprising resetting the known status of the entry of the step n-gram in the table to a false state solely based upon a passage of time since the count value was incremented.

24. The computer system of claim 17 further comprising, providing an enable control button on a user interface to facilitate user control over disabling audio turn-by-turn suppression.