Claims
- 1. A distributed navigation system for providing navigation information to a navigable physical object, the system comprising:
(a) a navigation management component for managing the generation and transmission of navigation information to a navigable physical object (b) a navigation guidance interface for:
(i) receiving a route definition pertaining to the navigable physical object from a navigable physical object controller, wherein the navigable physical object controller is able to control the navigation of the navigable physical object according to the navigation information generated by the distributed navigation system; and (ii) transmitting the navigation information generated by the distributed navigation system to the navigable physical object controller; (c) a guidance component for generating the navigation information for the navigable physical; (d) a navigation services component for providing routing information to the distributed navigation system; and (g) a physical location sensor for obtaining the physical location of the navigable physical; wherein the components of the distributed navigation system are distributable on a plurality of computing devices in a distributed network, and wherein the components of the distributed navigation system communicate among themselves through the distributed network using a network protocol.
- 2. The distributed navigation system of claim 1 further comprising a caching component for temporarily storing navigation information for the navigable physical object while communications to the navigation guidance interface are interrupted.
- 3. The distributed navigation system of claim 1, wherein managing the generation and transmission of navigation information to a navigable physical object comprises:
(a) receiving the route definition pertaining to the navigable physical object from the navigation guidance interface; (b) constructing a navigation route for the navigable physical object according to the route definition and the routing information; and (c) initiating the generation and transmission of navigation information for the navigable physical object to the navigable physical object;
- 4. The distributed navigation system of claim 3, wherein generating the navigation information for the navigable physical object comprises generating the navigation information for the navigable physical object according to the physical location of the navigable physical object, the routing information, and the navigation route for the navigable physical object.
- 5. The distributed navigation system of claim 3, wherein the routing information provided by the navigation services component comprises:
(a) mapping and geocoding guidance information; and (b) point-of-interest guidance information.
- 6. The distributed navigation system of claim 5 further comprising a mapping and geocoding services component for providing mapping and geocoding guidance information to the navigation services component.
- 7. The distributed navigation system of claim 5 further comprising a point-of-interest guidance component for providing point-of-interest guidance information to the navigation services component.
- 8. The distributed navigation system of claim 2, wherein the navigation information generated by the guidance component includes predictive navigation information comprising navigation information for the navigable physical object generated according to a prediction criterion, and wherein the predictive navigation information is stored in the caching component for subsequent retrieval.
- 9. The distributed navigation system of claim 8, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a speed and a heading for the navigable physical object.
- 10. The distributed navigation system of claim 8, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a navigation route for the navigable physical object.
- 11. The distributed navigation system of claim 8, wherein the predictive navigation information is further generated according to personal preferences of the navigable physical object controller.
- 12. The distributed navigation system of claim 8, wherein the predictive navigation information is further generated according to previously generated navigation information.
- 13. The distributed navigation system of claim 8, wherein the navigation guidance interface obtains the predictive navigation guidance information from the caching component when the predictive navigation information corresponds to the physical location of the navigable physical object.
- 14. The distributed navigation system of claim 1, wherein the components of the distributed navigation system are distributed on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network according to the communication abilities of the plurality of computing devices.
- 15. The distributed navigation system of claim 14, wherein distributing the components of the distributed navigation system on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network according to the communication abilities of the plurality of computing devices comprises distributing the components on a plurality of computing devices having low latency, high bandwidth connections to the network.
- 16. The distributed navigation system of claim 1, wherein the components of the distributed navigation system are distributed on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network in order to optimize communication throughput among components of the distributed navigation system.
- 17. The distributed navigation system of claim 1, wherein the components of the distributed navigation system are distributed on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network in order to optimize communication reliability to the navigation guidance interface.
- 18. The distributed navigation system of claim 1, wherein the distributed navigation system generates navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects.
- 19. The distributed navigation system of claim 18, wherein the navigation management component coordinates navigation information between a plurality of navigable physical objects, such that the physical location of and navigation information for a first navigable physical object is used in generating navigation information for a second navigable physical object.
- 20. The distributed navigation system of claim 18, wherein the components of the distributed navigation system are distributable on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network in order to optimize communication throughput of navigation information for the plurality of navigable physical objects.
- 21. The distributed navigation system of claim 20, wherein distributing the components of the distributed navigation system on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network in order to optimize communication throughput of navigation information for the plurality of navigable physical objects comprises distributing the components on a plurality of computing devices in the distributed network having low latency, high bandwidth network connections.
- 22. The distributed navigation system of claim 20, wherein distributing the components of the distributed navigation system on the plurality of computing devices in the distributed network in order to optimize communication throughput of navigation information for the plurality of navigable physical objects comprises distributing the components on a plurality of computing devices in the distributed network having highly reliable network connections.
- 23. A method for providing navigation information for a navigable physical object by a distributed navigation system, comprising:
(a) receiving a route definition pertaining to a navigable physical object; (b) constructing a navigation route for the navigable physical object according to the route definition and routing information; and (c) providing navigation information for the navigable physical object to a navigable physical object controller able to control the navigation of the navigable physical object, wherein providing navigation information comprises:
(i) sensing the physical location of the navigable physical object; (ii) generating navigation information for the navigable physical object according to the physical location of the navigable physical object, the routing information, and the navigation route; and (iii) transmitting the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller.
- 24. The method of claim 23 further comprising repeatedly providing navigation information for the navigable physical object until a condition occurs.
- 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the condition occurs when the navigable physical object arrives at a destination identified in the route definition.
- 26. The method of claim 24, wherein the condition occurs when distributed navigation system is directed to stop providing navigation information for the navigable physical object.
- 27. The method of claim 23, wherein the routing information comprises mapping and geocoding guidance information.
- 28. The method of claim 23, wherein the routing information comprises point-of-interest guidance information.
- 29. The method of claim 23, wherein providing navigation information for a navigable physical object to a navigable physical object controller further comprises:
storing navigation information in a cache when the distributed navigation system is unable transmit the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller; retrieving the navigation information from the cache when the distributed navigation system is able to transmit the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller; and transmitting the navigation information to the navigable physical object.
- 30. The method of claim 23, wherein providing navigation information for a navigable physical object to a navigable physical object controller further comprises:
generating predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to a prediction criterion; storing the predictive navigation information in a cache; and retrieving the predictive navigation information from the cache when the predictive navigation information corresponds to the physical location of the navigable physical object; and transmitting the predictive navigation information to the navigable physical object controller.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a speed and a heading for the navigable physical object.
- 32. The method of claim 30, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a navigation route for the navigable physical object.
- 33. The method of claim 30 further comprising generating the predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to personal preferences of the navigable physical object controller.
- 34. The method of claim 30 further comprising generating the predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to previously generated navigation information.
- 35. The method of claim 23 further comprising providing navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects.
- 36. The method of claim 35, wherein providing navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects comprises generating navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects such that navigation information for a first navigable physical object is used to generate navigation information for a second navigable physical object.
- 37. A method for providing navigation information for a navigable physical object by a distributed navigation system, comprising:
(a) receiving a route definition pertaining to the navigable physical object by a navigation guidance interface of the distributed navigation system and transmitting the route definition to a navigation management component of the distributed navigation system; (b) constructing, using the navigation management component, a navigation route for the navigable physical object according to the route definition and routing information, wherein the routing information is obtained from a navigation services component of the distributed navigation system, the routine information comprising:
(i) mapping and geocoding guidance information obtained from a mapping and geocoding services component of the distributed navigation system; and (ii) point-of-interest guidance information obtained from a point-of-interest component of the distributed navigation system; and (c) providing navigation information to a navigable physical object controller able to control the navigation of the navigable physical object, wherein providing navigation information comprises:
(i) sensing the physical location of the navigable physical object with a physical location sensor of the distributed navigation system and transmitting the physical location to a guidance component of the distributed navigation system; (ii) generating navigation information for the navigable physical object, using a guidance component, according to the physical location of the navigable physical object, the routing information, and the navigation route; and (iii) transmitting the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller through the navigation guidance interface.
- 38. The method of claim 37 further comprising repeatedly providing navigation information for the navigable physical object until a condition occurs.
- 39. The method of claim 38, where the condition occurs when the navigable physical object arrives at a destination identified in the route definition.
- 40. The method of claim 38, where the condition occurs when the distributed navigation system is directed to stop providing navigation information for the navigable physical object.
- 41. The method of claim 37, wherein providing navigation information to a navigable physical object controller further comprises:
storing navigation information in a caching component of the distributed navigation system when the distributed navigation system is unable transmit the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller through the navigation guidance interface; obtaining the navigation information from the caching component when the distributed navigation system is able to transmit the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller through the navigation guidance interface; and transmitting the navigation information to the navigable physical object controller through the navigation guidance interface.
- 42. The method of claim 37, wherein providing navigation information to a navigable physical object controller further comprises:
generating predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to a prediction criterion; storing the predictive navigation information in a caching component of the distributed navigation system; and retrieving the predictive navigation information from the caching component when the predictive navigation information corresponds to the physical location of the navigable physical object; and transmitting the predictive navigation information to the navigable physical object controller through the navigation guidance interface.
- 43. The method of claim 42, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a speed and a heading for the navigable physical object.
- 44. The method of claim 42, wherein the prediction criterion comprises a predicted physical location according to a navigation route for the navigable physical object.
- 45. The method of claim 42 further comprising generating the predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to personal preferences of the navigable physical object controller.
- 46. The method of claim 42 further comprising generating the predictive navigation information for the navigable physical object according to previously generated navigation information.
- 47. The method of claim 37 further comprises providing navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects.
- 48. The method of claim 47, wherein providing navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects comprises generating navigation information for a plurality of navigable physical objects such that navigation information for a first navigable physical object is used to generate navigation information for a second navigable physical object.
- 49. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions capable of performing the method recited in claim 23.
- 50. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions capable of performing the method recited in claim 37.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/295,084, filed date May 31, 2001.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60295084 |
May 2001 |
US |