Patent Application

App. No. 11/832,703

Abstract

Claims (28)

1 . A routing system for determining a user's geographical location and alerting the user to real or perceived safety or security threats in an area encompassing the geographical location; the system comprising:

an interface device adapted to communicate with a global positioning system (GPS) to display preselected GPS data, to accept criteria data defined by the user, and to display alerting information to the user; and

a routing system processor in communication with the interface device, the processor operative to employ a routing algorithm to determine a route to a destination designated by the user via the interface device, the processor further operative to alter the routing algorithm in accordance with the criteria data such that the route will avoid a specific threat or uncertainty.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the interface device is hand-held by the user.

3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the interface device is located on-board the user's vehicle.

4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the interface device further comprises:

a plurality of soft keys for respectively enabling the user to define a plurality of threat criteria.

5 . The system of claim 4 further comprising a soft key enabling the user to request re-routing.

6 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor communicates with the interface device via a satellite radio system.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor communicates with the interface device via one of a web-enabled telephone and a PDA-type device.

8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor communicates with the interface device via an internet connection.

9 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor utilizes a data base containing historical information for determining a potential threat level in a specific user locale.

10 . The system of claim 9 wherein the routing system processor runs a probabilistic model on the historical information to determine the potential threat level.

11 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor utilizes a data base containing real-time information for determining an actual threat level in a specific user locale.

12 . The system of claim 9 wherein the routing system processor utilizes a data base containing real-time information for determining an actual threat level in the specific user locale.

13 . The system of claim 1 wherein the routing system processor utilizes a neural network for learning habits and preferences of the user and updating the routing algorithm accordingly.

14 . A method for controlling a user routing system comprising:

identifying the user via a profile indicator;

receiving threat criteria associated with the profile indicator via an interface device;

determining a geographical location and desired destination of the user;

determining an initial user route to the destination with a routing algorithm;

retrieving historical information about the location;

retrieving real-time information about the location;

running a probabilistic model on the retrieved information to determine threat type and level; and

selecting an alternate route to the destination whenever the threat level exceeds a predetermined level associated with the user.

15 . The method of claim 14 further comprising updating a user profile using a neural network.

16 . The method of claim 14 further comprising updating the routing algorithm using a neural network.

17 . The method of claim 14 wherein the probabilistic model comprises a Monte Carlo model.

Assignments (11)