The present invention relates generally to field of vehicle navigation systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method of providing routing assistance based on travel profiles.
Technological advances in sensing technology, coupled with recent political moves (the decision to unscramble GPS information, and the mandate for cell phone location support for 911), are leading to a state in which high quality location information for an individual or automobile can be easily tracked in real time. Information of higher quality is currently available from automotive systems, which typically rely on additional accelerometers, and additional sensors to more accurately track the vehicle""s movements.
With a global positioning system (GPS) satellite, different on-board vehicle navigation systems are made available to provide drivers with directional information such as, for example, routes and street maps. A position sensor together with a map database can be used to identify the position of the vehicle as well as the traveling direction of the vehicle. The vehicle navigation systems may compute a shortest route to take the driver from a source location to a destination location.
Automobile navigation systems like the one described above may use a technique known as xe2x80x9cdead reckoningxe2x80x9d to estimate the position of the vehicle as the vehicle travels. In dead reckoning, the heading of the vehicle and the distance traveled from a previously calculated position are first determined based on data received from on-board sensors (e.g., compass and odometer). A new position of the vehicle is then estimated by applying the measured parameters to well-known equations. Dead reckoning is subject to certain sources of error, however, which accumulate as the vehicle travels. Therefore, the estimated position of the vehicle is periodically compared to the street map database and adjusted to correct for such error. The map database is a key component to the reliability of the navigation system. The map database has to be accurate and up-to-date for a system to work properly. The map database usually comes on CD-ROM or DVD.
The navigation system and the map database together generally provide detailed driving information for most of the major metropolitan areas. The driving information however is not geared to any particular driver. Two drivers in two different vehicles going from the same source to the same destination may receive the same driving information from two similar navigation systems. This makes the navigation system not user friendly as each driver may have different preferences. It would be advantageous to customize the navigation system for each user.