Map version control methods and apparatus for updating the use of network-maintained map data sets for mobile communication devices

Abstract

A map version control method of providing updates of network-maintained map data sets in mobile communication devices includes the steps of receiving a version of map data from a network database through a wireless communication network; causing the map to be visually displayed in a display in accordance with the version of the map data; maintaining storage of the version of the map data in a cache; receiving, through the wireless communication network, an indication indicating that an alternative or updated version of the map data corresponding to the map is available in the network database; identifying, at the mobile communication device, one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data; if the acceptance is identified: causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network, receiving the alternative version of the map data through the wireless communication network in response to the one or more requests, and causing the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the alternative version of the map data; and if the declination is identified: refraining from causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network and continuing to cause the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the version of the map data. The map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data may include one or more map objects that are unavailable in the map of the other version or an appearance that is different from the appearance of the map of the other version.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to attached figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram which illustrates pertinent components of a mobile communication device and a wireless communication network of a communication system;

FIG. 2 is a more detailed diagram of a preferred mobile communication device of FIG. 1, namely, a mobile station;

FIG. 3A is a system diagram of network components which provide mapping functionality in the mobile communication devices of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 3B illustrates a message exchange between a mobile communication device and a mapping server for downloading map content to the mobile communication device based on the system of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a Maplet data structure according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user interface of the mobile communication device;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of various software applications which may reside in the mobile communication device;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are illustrations of a positioning wheel of the mobile communication device;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of information which may be displayed in a visual display of the mobile communication device, the information being an address book contact of an address book of the mobile communication device;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a listing of the address book contact of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of the listing of the address book contact of FIG. 9, where a menu of functions which includes a map function may be invoked to display a map associated with the address book contact, an example of such map being generally shown later in FIGS. 13-14;

FIGS. 11-12 are flowcharts which help describe a map version control method for use in updating the use of network-maintained map data sets in mobile communication devices;

FIG. 13 is an example of a view of a map of a specified location, which has been rendered based on a version of a map data set maintained in a network database; and

FIG. 14 is an example of a view of the map at the same specified location as FIG. 13, which has been rendered based on the alternative or updated version of the map data set maintained in the network database.

Claims

1. A map version control method for use in providing updates of network-maintained map data sets in mobile communication devices, the method comprising the acts of: receiving a version of map data from a network database through a wireless communication network;causing a map to be visually displayed in a display in accordance with the version of the map data;maintaining storage of the version of the map data;receiving, through the wireless communication network, an indication indicating that an alternative version of the map data for the map is available in the network database;identifying one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data;if the acceptance is identified: causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network, receiving the alternative version of the map data through the wireless communication network in response to the one or more requests, and causing the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the alternative version of the map data; andif the declination is identified: refraining from causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent through the wireless communication network and continuing to cause the map to be visually displayed in the display in accordance with the version of the map data.

2. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the alternative version of the map data comprises an updated version of the map data.

3. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data includes one or more map objects that are unavailable in the version of the map data.

4. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data provides one or more map objects that are unavailable in the map corresponding to the version of the map data.

5. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data provides an appearance that is different from the appearance of the map corresponding to the version of the map data.

6. The map version control method of claim 1, further comprising: if the acceptance is identified: maintaining storage of the alternative version of the map data to replace the version of the map data.

7. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data comprises the further acts of receiving the acceptance or declination by an end user through a user interface of the mobile communication device.

8. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the act of identifying one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data comprises the further acts of identifying a stored configuration setting for a mapping application of the mobile communication device used for rending the maps in the visual display based on the map data.

9. The map version control method of claim 1, further comprising: wherein the stored version of the map data includes a version number of the map data; andwherein the act of receiving the indication indicating that the alternative version of the map data is available comprises the further act of receiving a version number of the alternative version of the map data.

10. The map version control method of claim 1, further comprising: wherein the stored version of the map data includes a version number of the map data;wherein the act of receiving the indication indicating that the alternative version of the map data is available comprises the further act of receiving a version number of the alternative version of the map data;comparing the version number of the alternative version of the map data and the version number of the version of the map data;if the version number of the alterative version of the map data is greater than the version number of the version of the map data, then performing the act of identifying and subsequent acts for receiving or refraining from receiving the alternative version of the map data; andif the version number of the alternative version of the map data is less than or equal to the version number of the version of the map data, then refraining from performing the act of identifying and subsequent acts of receiving or refraining from receiving the alternative version of the map data.

11. The map version control method of claim 1, wherein the map data comprises a plurality of maplets, each maplet including a version number of the map data.

12. The map version control method of claim 1, which is embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium and computer instructions stored on the computer readable medium which are executable by one or more processors of a mobile communication device for performing the method.

13. A mobile communication device, comprising: a wireless transceiver;one or more processors;a memory coupled to the one or more processors;a user interface which includes a visual display;the one or more processors being operative to: receive, via the wireless transceiver, a version of map data from one or more network databases;cause the version of the map data to be stored in a cache of the memory;cause a map to be visually displayed in the visual display in accordance with the version of the map data;receive, via the wireless transceiver, an indication indicating that an alternative version of the map data for the map is available;identify one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data;if the acceptance is identified: cause one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent via the wireless transceiver, receive the alternative version of the map data from the one or more network databases via the wireless transceiver in response to the one or more requests, and cause the map to be visually displayed in the visual display in accordance with the alternative version of the map data; andif the declination is identified: refrain from causing one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data to be sent via the wireless transceiver and continue to cause the map to be visually displayed in the visual display in accordance with the version of the map data.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the alternative version of the map data comprises an updated version of the map data.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to: if the acceptance is identified: maintain storage of the alternative version of the map data in the cache to replace the version of the map data.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are operative to identify the one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data by receiving the acceptance or declination by an end user through a user interface of the mobile communication device.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are operative to identify the one of an acceptance and a declination of the alternative version of the map data by identifying a stored configuration setting for a mapping application of the mobile communication device used for rending the maps in the visual display based on the map data.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the stored version of the map data includes a version number of the map data, further comprising: the one or more processors being operative to receive the indication indicating that the alternative version of the map data is available while also receiving a version number of the alternative version of the map data;the one or more processors being further operative to: compare the version number of the alternative version of the map data and the version number of the version of the map data;if the version number of the alterative version of the map data is greater than the version number of the version of the map data, then perform the identifying and subsequent receiving or refraining from receiving the alternative version of the map data; andif the version number of the alternative version of the map data is less than or equal to the version number of the version of the map data, then refraining from performing the identifying and subsequent receiving or refraining from receiving the alternative version of the map data.

19. A map version control method of providing updates of network-maintained map data sets for mobile communication devices, the method comprising: maintaining storage of a version of map data in one or more network databases;causing the version of map data to be sent from the one or more network databases to a mobile communication device via a wireless communication network, the map data corresponding to a map in the mobile communication device;maintaining storage of an alternative version of the map data in the one or more network databases while maintaining storage of the version of the map data;causing an indication to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network, the indication indicating that the alternative version of the map data corresponding to the map is available;if the mobile communication accepts the alternative version of the map data: receiving one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data via the wireless communication network and causing the alternative version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network in response to the one or more requests; andif the mobile communication device refrains from accepting the alternative version: refraining from causing the alternative version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network.

20. The map version control method of claim 19, wherein the alternative version of the map data comprises an updated version of the map data.

21. The map version control method of claim 19, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data includes one or more map objects that are unavailable in the version of the map data.

22. The map version control method of claim 19, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data provides one or more map objects that are unavailable in the map corresponding to the version of the map data.

23. The map version control method of claim 19, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data provides an appearance that is different from the appearance of the map corresponding to the version of the map data.

24. The map version control method of claim 19, further comprising: wherein the act of causing the version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device comprises the further act of causing a version number of the version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device; andwherein the act of causing the indication to be sent to the mobile communication device comprises the further act of causing a version number of the alternative version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device.

25. The map version control method of claim 19, which is embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium and computer instructions stored on the computer readable medium which are executable by one or more processors of a mobile communication device for performing the method.

26. A network mapping server which is adapted to maintain storage of a version of map data in one or more network databases; cause the version of map data to be sent from the one or more network databases to a mobile communication device via a wireless communication network, the map data corresponding to a map to be visually displayed in the mobile communication device; maintain storage of an alternative version of the map data in the one or more network databases while maintaining storage of the version of the map data; causing an indication to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network, the indication indicating that the alternative version of the map data corresponding to the map is available in the one or more network databases; if the mobile communication accepts the alternative version of the map data: receiving one or more requests for the alternative version of the map data via the wireless communication network and causing the alternative version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network in response to the one or more requests; and if the mobile communication device refrains from accepting the alternative version: refraining from causing the alternative version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network.

27. The network mapping server of claim 26, wherein the alternative version of the map data comprises an updated version of the map data.

28. The network mapping server of claim 26, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data includes one or more map objects that are unavailable in the version of the map data.

29. The network mapping server of claim 26, wherein the map corresponding to the alternative version of the map data provides an appearance that is different from the appearance of the map corresponding to the version of the map data.

30. The network mapping server of claim 26, which is further adapted to cause the version of the map data to be sent to the mobile communication device along with a version number of the version of the map data, and further adapted to cause the indication to be sent to the mobile communication device along with a version number of the alternative version of the map data.