Personal navigation assistance systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9547988-B2
Application number	US-201414579989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2014
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a personal navigation assistance system detecting an upcoming trip of a user to a destination, accessing data associated with the upcoming trip from a plurality of disparate information sources, aggregating the accessed data associated with the upcoming trip, generating, based on the aggregated data, navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip, and providing the navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip to a computing device for presentation to the user. In certain examples, aggregated data includes real-time parking space availability information, and the navigational assistance content includes parking assistance content generated based on the real-time parking space availability information. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a personal navigation assistance system, an upcoming trip of a user to a destination;
accessing, by the personal navigation assistance system, data associated with the upcoming trip from a plurality of disparate information sources;
aggregating, by the personal navigation assistance system, the accessed data associated with the upcoming trip, the aggregated data including real-time parking space availability information;
generating, by the personal navigation assistance system based on the aggregated data, navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip, the navigational assistance content including parking assistance content generated based on the real-time parking space availability information; and
providing, by the personal navigation assistance system, the navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip to a computing device by providing one or more graphical user interface views for display on a display screen associated with the computing device for presentation to the user, at least one of the one or more graphical user interface views including a near expiry map that depicts a geographic layout of a plurality of parking spaces and that includes one or more indicators showing a remaining amount of time on one or more parking meters associated with one or more parking spaces included in the plurality of parking spaces.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the computing device is a mobile computing device; and
the method further comprises:
detecting, by the personal navigation assistance system, a change in the real-time parking space availability information during the trip;
updating, by the personal navigation assistance system based on the change in the real-time parking space availability information, the navigational assistance content; and
providing, by the personal navigation assistance system during the trip, the updated navigational assistance content to the mobile computing device for presentation to the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of disparate information sources comprise one or more smart parking meters that transmit the real-time parking space availability information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the real-time parking space availability information transmitted by the one or more smart parking meters comprises information indicating whether a parking space is currently occupied.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the navigational assistance content is personalized to the user based on user profile data that includes at least one of user preference information and vehicle information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the aggregated data includes information regarding a plurality of parking zones that are geographically proximate to one another;
the generating of the navigational assistance content includes identifying a parking zone included in the plurality of parking zones as being an area where the user is more likely to find an available parking space as compared to at least one other parking zone included in the plurality of parking zones; and
the providing of the navigational assistance content to the computing device further includes providing a parking suggestion based on the identified parking zone.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the aggregated data further includes weather forecast information;
the generating of the navigational assistance content includes predicting how weather indicated by the weather forecast information will affect at least some parking spaces included in a plurality of parking spaces; and
the providing of the navigational assistance content to the computing device further includes providing a parking suggestion based at least in part on the weather forecast information.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by the personal navigation assistance system based on the aggregated data, that a vehicle associated with the user is parked in a parking space during the trip;
recording, by the personal navigation assistance system, a geographic location of the parking space; and
providing, by the personal navigation assistance system, parking space return information to the computing device to facilitate the user returning to the parking space after the trip.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by the personal navigation assistance system based on the aggregated data, that a vehicle associated with the user is parked in a parking space during the trip; and
providing, by the personal navigation assistance system while the vehicle is parked in the parking space, information to the computing device regarding one or more services that are available to be performed with respect to the vehicle while the vehicle is parked in the parking space during the trip.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the aggregated data includes crowd sourced information that is used to determine a wait time for each of a plurality of airport security lines; and
the providing of the navigational assistance content to the computing device further includes suggesting a particular parking space to facilitate the user accessing an airport security line included in the plurality of airport security lines that has a shortest wait time.

11. The method of claim 1 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

12. A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, navigational assistance content associated with an upcoming trip of a user to a destination, the navigational assistance content generated based on data that is associated with the upcoming trip, that is accessed from a plurality of disparate information sources, and that includes parking assistance content generated based on real-time parking space availability information; and
providing, by the computing device, the navigational assistance content for display in one or more graphical user interface views on a display screen associated with the computing device, at least one of the one or more graphical user interface views including a near expiry map that depicts a geographic layout of a plurality of parking spaces and that includes one or more indicators showing a remaining amount of time on one or more parking meters associated with one or more parking spaces included in the plurality of parking spaces.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computing device, updated navigational assistance content that is updated based on a change in the real-time parking space availability information during the trip; and
providing, by the computing device during the trip, the updated navigational assistance content for display on the display screen.

14. The method of claim 12 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

15. A system comprising:
at least one physical computing device that:
detects an upcoming trip of a user to a destination;
accesses data associated with the upcoming trip from a plurality of disparate information sources;
aggregates the accessed data associated with the upcoming trip, the aggregated data including real-time parking space availability information;
generates, based on the aggregated data, navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip, the navigational assistance content including parking assistance content generated based on the real-time parking space availability information; and
provides the navigational assistance content for the upcoming trip to an additional computing device by providin

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Moore Allen

Classifications

• G01C21/3685 Primary

  the POI's being parking facilities · CPC title

• G08G1/14 Primary

  indicating individual free spaces in parking areas · CPC title

• G08G1/096775

  where the origin of the information is a central station · CPC title

• G08G1/0141

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title

• G08G1/147

  where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre · CPC title