(19) United States
`(2) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0294332 A1
`(43) Pub. Date:
`Nov. 27, 2008
`LEVANON et al.
`
`US 2008029.4332A1
`
`(54) METHOD FOR IMAGE BASED NAVIGATION
`ROUTE CORRIDOR FOR 3D VIEW ON
`MOBILE PLATFORMS FOR MOBILE USERS
`
`(75) Inventors:
`
`Issac LEVANON, Raanana (IL);
`Yonatan LAVI, Raanana (IL)
`
`Correspondence Address:
`Lilling & Lilling PLLC
`PO Box 435
`Jerusalem 91003 (IL)
`
`(73) Assignee:
`
`3-D-V-U Israel (2000) Ltd.,
`Raanana (IL)
`
`(21) Appl. No.:
`
`12/015,068
`
`(22) Filed:
`
`Jan. 16, 2008
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/880,674, filed on Jan.
`17, 2007.
`Publication Classification
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`G0IC 21/36
`(52) U.S. Cl. ........................................................ 701/200
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`The invention proposes a method for displaying an image
`based navigation route corridor for 3D view on mobile plat
`forms for mobile users. The invention comprises the combi
`nation of some technical solutions. 1. Display of a relevant
`area around a selected or calculated route (route corridor). 2.
`Selection of the relevant area that is a small dataset. 3. Cre
`ation of the customized route corridor dataset. 4. Provide 3D
`viewers ability to allow the display of the created route cor
`ridor in 2D, isometric view, or 3D perspective and then allow
`3D maneuverability over the created route corridor. Combi
`nation of these technical solutions comprises a method of
`facilitating the display of the route corridor on mobile com
`puting platform in 3D perspective.
`
`Process start GºD
`
`
`
`Insert D8 root
`node to NPQ @
`
`Are the conditions
`
`Put node N in retrieval buffer,
`and insert all newly reachable
`nodes to NPQ with priority
`dictated as a function of each
`mode's spatial region
`
`.
`
`Retrieval buffer,
`maintains queries to
`DB and transfers query
`
`flush retrieval
`buffe?, and
`finalize off-line
`database
`
`
`
`Off-line
`database
`
`Storage device(s)
`available for off-liné
`use fixed or
`removal
`
`
`
`
`
`Node Priority
`Queue (NPQ)
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`GIS database with
`underlying spatial
`subdivision data
`structure
`
`
`
`
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 1 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`TERRAIN ELEVATION – 130
`
`FIG. 1
`
`
`
`ROUTE – 110
`
`3D BUILDINGS – 140
`
`PO| – 150
`
`:
`
`ROAD NETWORK- 120
`
`GEOGRAPHIC AREA – 100
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 2 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`FIG. 2
`
`Process start Gº
`
`
`
`Query for DB
`node
`
`
`
`
`
`Node Priority
`Queue (NPQ)
`
`
`
`
`
`Insert DB root
`- - - - - - - - node to NPQ Gº
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`GIS database with
`underlying spatial
`subdivision data
`structure
`
`
`
`
`
`flush retrieval
`buffer, and
`finalize off-line
`database
`
`Put node N in retrieval buffer,
`and insert all newly reachable
`nodes to NPQ with priority
`dictated as a function of each
`node's spatial region
`
`
`
`Retrieval buffer,
`maintains queries to
`DB and transfers query
`results to the offline
`database
`Gº)
`
`
`
`Off-line
`database
`
`
`
`
`
`Storage device(s)
`available for off-line
`use fixed or
`removal
`
`
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 3 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`SERVICES PROVIER
`
`310
`
`INTERNET
`
`300
`
`SERVICES
`RELATED
`APP
`
`F | G - 3
`
`ROUTE PROVIER
`
`ROUTE SERVER
`
`SEEVER APP
`
`ROUTING
`RELATED
`APP
`
`DATASET *
`STREAMING
`
`IMAGERY f ELEVATION | POI
`& GIS DATA
`
`MAAPPIND DATA
`
`|
`
`º r-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
`
`º
`
`r- - - - - - - - - - - - i
`
`i
`
`|
`|
`sº : .”
`; : SERVICESSERVER
`330 ; };
`: SEEVERAPP
`| #.59. ?cow #
`; ; ; ; RELATED ;
`; : ; J’
`;
`i ; ; ;
`APP---, ;
`;
`*f;
`|
`I
`tº
`* * * `,"
`I
`|
`:
`! l
`!
`!
`| | |
`|
`|
`| |
`:
`#
`|
`| 1
`!!
`|
`*
`* |
`
`I
`
`Kry
`
`!
`I
`
`t
`
`I
`I
`!
`I
`t
`
`- - - - - * -
`
`* ~ *
`
`*s-,
`
`*
`
`º,
`\,
`
`660
`|
`sºe
`
`610
`
`610
`
`
`
`WIRED OR
`WHRELESS
`COMMUNICATION
`
`
`
`690
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`<!-- *
`
`LocalsroßAGE MOB-F PHATFORM
`FIX OR REMOVAL
`\
`|
`600
`660
`
`PERSONAL COMPUTER
`
`\
`670
`
`APPLICATION
`
`RO]
`
`RELATED
`|
`
`800
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 4 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`
`
`FIG. 4a
`
`:: - EI
`
`
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 5 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`
`
`FIG. 4b
`
`-?i--
`
`?HÍ LE
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 6 of 8
`
`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`FIG. 4C
`
`
`|-|-|-|-|| HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
`No.?¢;#||
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 7 of 8
`
`US 2008/0294332 A1
`
`FIG. 4d
`
`
`
`IIIIII.nn-IIIIIII:-
`
` .ummmmmmuunuammm
`
`uu—III1IIIIIIInuumIIIIIquuumunulu—III-I-I-IInuIIII::-..........uIIII-IIIIIquIIIII-uunIIIInuIIquuu—III
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IIIquuruu—IIIIIIIIIqunu
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`“III-II
`HII
`IIIIIII
`
`I I I
`
`
`IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
`
`IIIIIIIIIIInnunIIIIII-nnuuunuquIII
`IIIIIIIIIIIIEHHIIIIIIIIIIII-I-
`
`
`
`.quII-I
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`Patent Application Publication
`
`Nov. 27, 2008 Sheet 8 of 8
`
`US 2008/0294332 A1
`
`III-III-III-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
`
`IIIIIII-IIII-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-
`
`IIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIIII
`
`III-IIIIIII—nflflflflllIlllIllIIIlIII
`
`IIIIIIIIIfluununnuuuunnunuuflnuuuuuuuuuuun-IIIIII
`
`
`
`"unuuunuununuuumanna"...".._nnulll
`
`
`
`nan-"mm
`
`
`
`Illuuuu
`
`
`
`.Ill"an"..."Eu-Ill-mwIIIEH:
`
`.unuuu...4Ill-"nu:.....Hu=llllllnuuuu
`
`
`lull-unnunuuuuunlllllllllnnnuun.eI'll—"Hun""nun"qu"Ell-Ill-
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`Nov. 27, 2008
`
`METHOD FOR IMAGE BASED NAVIGATION
`ROUTE CORRIDOR FOR 3D VIEW ON
`MOBILE PLATFORMS FOR MOBILE USERS
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`[0001] The present invention is directed to facilitating a
`navigational route corridor over imagery in 3D perspective
`for users of mobile computing platforms via a dynamic
`retrieval of Region Of Interest (ROI) as a subset from a
`navigation and/or Geographic Information System (GIS)
`database(s).
`
`BACKGROUND
`[0002] Modern commuters use different types of mobile/
`portable computing platforms to obtain various navigation
`services. Mobile/portable computing platforms that provide
`navigation features and services include both dedicated com
`puting devices and general purpose computing devices. Dedi
`cated computing devices include in-vehicle navigation sys
`tems, personal (i.e., portable or hand-held) navigation devises
`(PNDs) and personal travel assistance (PTA) systems. Gen
`eral-purpose computing devices include portable personal
`computers such as notebook computers, and personal digital
`assistants (PDAs). General purpose computing devices can
`provide navigation features and services by operating appli
`cation software and by using geographic data. Mobile or
`portable computing platforms that provide navigation fea
`tures and services include standalone systems that have geo
`graphic data and navigation application software installed
`locally, client devices that access geographic data or naviga
`tion application software located at a remote location, and
`hybrid devices that have some geographic data or navigation
`application software installed locally but obtain or use geo
`graphic data or navigation application software located at a
`remote location.
`[0003] Some of the various geographically-related features
`and services provided by the different types of mobile or
`portable computing platforms include route calculation and
`guidance. For example, some mobile/portable computing
`platforms provide users with optimum routes for road travel
`between the present location and a target destination within
`the geographic region.
`[0004] Using the user’s conscious input, and optionally
`automatic input regarding the user’s physical location, such
`as via a GPS system, a navigation application program run
`ning on or accessible by a mobile or portable computing
`platform system examines various paths between the starting
`point and target destination to determine the optimal route of
`travel there between. The user of the mobile or portable
`computing platform is then provided with information about
`the optimum route in the form of instructions that identify the
`maneuvers required to be taken by the end user to travel from
`the starting location to the destination location.
`[0005] Another geographically-related feature provided by
`some mobile/portable computing platforms is a business or
`person locating service, commonly referred to as electronic
`yellow or white pages. Such a service can identify addresses
`of individuals or businesses. These services can also identify
`for a user which businesses of a certain type (e.g., Chinese
`restaurants) are located within a given range (e.g., 3 miles) of
`a given location.
`[0006] Another geographically-related feature provided by
`some mobile orportable computing platforms provides infor
`
`mation to end users based upon their location. Some types of
`information, such as advertising, provide directed informa
`tion based upon the user's location, delivering advertising to
`end users who are traveling in a geographic region.
`[0007] A further geographically-related feature provided
`by some mobile or portable computing platforms provides
`details concerning 3D building for urban navigation. Such
`urban navigation attempts to provide a virtual representation
`of the real world by building shape, height, facade textures
`and images into 3D models. With appropriate 3D viewers, the
`urban scene is rendered on the computing device. New
`advances in technology in both hardware and software will
`transform the bird-eye-view to street-view where the virtual
`3D buildings becoming part of advance urban navigation
`system to be found in most mobile and portable devices in the
`near future.
`[0008] Although present mobile/portable computing plat
`forms that provide geographically-related features and ser
`vices are able to provide many useful advantages, there is
`room for further improvement.
`[0009] The purpose of this invention is to provide a solution
`for the off-line visualization of memory-consuming datasets
`such as aerial photography, terrain elevation and 3D build
`ings, within the storage and connectivity limitations of
`today’s mobile/portable computing platforms as navigation
`products, such as Personal Navigation Devices (PND’s).
`Typically, such a system cannot maintain a connection to a
`remote database server, and thus has to store all visualized
`content in its own storage devices, which don’t have nearly
`enough space to store the entire database.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`[0010] It is an objective of the invention to provide intuitive
`3D virtual reality navigation for navigating users on a mobile
`computing platform.
`[0011] It is another objective to provide a means to over
`come the limitation associated with mobile devices that are
`limited in processing power and storage area to present, in 3D
`perspective, the area surrounding a route using imagery and
`other navigational and GIS (Geographic Information System)
`based elements and databases such as but not limited to ter
`rain elevation, point of interest (POIs), and 3D buildings
`which may cover very large area such as entire continents and
`by an image based dataset, that required very large dataset
`compare to the traditional vector map and route presented on
`a vector generated map.
`[0012] To address these and other objectives, in a first
`aspect, the present invention comprises a method of facilitat
`ing the display of a Region-of-Interest (ROI) and more spe
`cifically a relevant area around a selected or calculated route
`(route corridor), presented on the aerial or satellite image with
`or without additional navigational elements such as terrain
`elevation, POIs, and 3D buildings.
`[0013] To allow the selection of relevant area that is a small
`dataset that may or may not be customized, as a subset from
`large size databases. This invention supports any formally
`defined ROI within the limitations of the technique used to
`create an ordering on the database nodes. The invention sup
`ports ROIs described as arbitrarily complex planar graphs,
`and general polygonal meshes. This naturally covers route(s)
`and/or closed area(s).
`[0014] To allow the customized creation of the route corri
`dor dataset, based on limitations dictated or controlled by
`others or set/preset by the user, covering among others but not
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`Nov. 27, 2008
`
`limited to, communication bandwidth to the device, and stor
`age space, whether on fixed or removable media, processing
`power and memory availability or allocated in the device that
`display the route corridor.
`[0015] In a second aspect a 3D viewer is provided to allow
`the display of the created route corridor in 2D, Isometric view
`or 3D perspective and then to allow 3D maneuverability over
`the created route corridor, including, but not limited to, the
`movement over the route corridor that may or may not be in
`any adjustable, preset or controlled by the user; direction
`from originto targetorvise versa, angle of view, height, zoom
`level and speed.
`[0016] To address these and other objectives, in a second
`aspect, the present invention comprises a method of facilitat
`ing the display of such ROI as route corridor on mobile
`computing platform in 3D perspective.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
`
`[0017|| For a better understanding of the invention and to
`show how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be
`made, purely by way of example, to the accompanying draw
`ings.
`[0018] With specific reference now to the drawings in
`detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of
`example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the
`preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are
`presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the
`most useful and readily understood description of the prin
`ciples and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard,
`no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention
`in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental under
`standing of the invention; the description taken with the draw
`ings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the
`several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
`In the accompanying drawings:
`[0019] FIG. 1 is a schematic 3D perspective of a virtual area
`illustrating an embodiment for representing 3D route corridor
`and associated navigation and GIS elements;
`[0020 FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the method used to construct
`FIG. 1:
`[0021] FIG. 3 illustrates database structure, file system, and
`data flow of FIG. 2; and
`[0022] FIG. 4 (a-e) illustrates a dynamic creation of ROI
`based on storage size availability used in 2D and 3D virtual
`scenery of FIG. 1;
`
`DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`
`[0023) A method and apparatus for the construction of an
`ordering relation between the nodes of a navigation, mapping
`or GIS database, based on a formal description of a Region
`of-Interest (ROI), and its use in a streaming read (download)
`process to build a subset of the original database is disclosed.
`[0024] This process may be terminated at any time, depend
`ing on programmable conditions, and all nodes that were
`successfully retrieved are then used to produce an off-line
`version of the database that provides the ability to view the
`relatively more important information in an off-line applica
`tion that does not have access to the original database. Users
`of mobile computing platforms are provided with a viewer
`that renders this off-line database, displaying the ROI as a
`route “corridor” in 2D, Isometric view or 3D perspective.
`
`[0025] This invention in its general form is known as “cach
`ing”, and is in widespread use. The invention is a novel
`application of this technique, in a specific way that outper
`forms a general-purpose cache mechanism applied on an
`on-line viewer to produce a database for the off-line applica
`tion.
`[0026] More specifically, we focus on a scenario where the
`user would like to plan a route between several known loca
`tions A1, ..., A. The ROI is determined as a subset of the road
`network (a sub-graph, as this network can be seen as a planar
`graph), containing one or more of the shortest (or otherwise
`best in respect to some quantifiable metric) routes starting in
`A, and reaching Aºi, for any value of i in {1, .
`. . . n-1}.
`However, this is just an example; the proposed method isn’t
`directly dependent on the exact details of the how the ROI
`geometry is constructed.
`[0027] The ordering relation between the nodes is con
`structed by assigning a real number (called priority) for any
`node N in the database.
`[0028] The GIS database employs a spatial subdivision
`scheme, so that each node in the database corresponds to a
`certain (possibly unbound) region. The priority assigned to
`any given node is computed as a function G of this region. A
`scalar field F is constructed given the ROI specifications, and
`then G(N) is defined as the integral of F over N’s region. One
`method of construction for F(x) is as some decreasing func
`tion of d(x), being the minimal distance between the geom
`etry of the ROI and x. Taking a hyperbolic function such as
`F(x)=1/(c4-d(x)”) for some constants c-0, p=0 in particular
`achieves a good balance in terms of the tradeoff between
`detail and coverage for regular (constant-density) datasets
`such as aerial photography.
`[0029] The streaming read process begins traversing the
`database, always selecting the node with the highest evalu
`ated priority and then retrieves that node. On tree-based data
`structures, such as Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) trees,
`Kd-trees or quad-trees, this can be implemented using an
`algorithm similar to Breadth-First Search (BFS) only using a
`priority queue instead of a regular First In, First Out (FIFO)
`queue. The scan is stopped when the conditions for termina
`tion apply (such as when a size limit is exceeded, or by an
`instruction from the user), orif the queue of available nodes is
`exhausted.
`[0030] This invention can also be applied simultaneously
`on multiple source databases that would share the same off
`line storage, simply by extending the order relation to apply
`between any two nodes from any two source databases. Also,
`the relative priority of nodes can be adjusted according to
`their relative memory cost-efficiency. Vector graphics data,
`for example, is vastly more memory-efficient than aerial pho
`tography, informally meaning that it provides more useful
`information for navigation purposes “per byte”, and thus
`should receive better priority. These techniques allow the
`system to manage the available storage for the off-line appli
`cation more intelligently.
`[0031] This invention has the following advantages in rela
`tion to general-purpose caching:
`[0032) 1. To prepare a cache for off-line use, an on-line
`viewer would normally have no way to access and visu
`alize all database nodes near or inside the ROI at the
`same time, so instead, the viewer would have to examine
`different combinations of positions and resolution lev
`els, making it much more difficult to prioritize between
`the nodes of each database and even more so between
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`Nov. 27, 2008
`
`different databases. It would take the evaluation of many
`different combinations because “spacing out” between
`the positions too much result in aliasing problems, mak
`ing this approach almost impractical for complex ROIs
`such as those produced by long-distance route planning.
`[0033] 2. A general-purpose read cache is typically used
`as a transparent layer of abstraction, in that the viewer
`reads “through” the cache without being aware of its
`existence. However, in the case of an off-line viewer,
`there is an issue that some seemingly accessible nodes in
`the databases may not exist in the cache, and thus cannot
`be retrieved—this type of failure may occur for any
`query to the database done by the application. In con
`trast, the off-line database created by the method herein
`is easierto use since allofits nodes are available off-line.
`[0034] 3. The hierarchy traversal used by this method can
`be seen as a “generator” for database node references, so
`by simply buffering these references it is easy to achieve
`high performance in the streaming read process by keep
`ing multiple simultaneous requests to the server. This
`takes care of the otherwise unreasonable time cost of
`waiting on the I/O, which would be the connection’s
`latency times the total amount of nodes retrieved. How
`ever, implementing this optimization in an on-line
`viewer is more difficult, because it typically maintains
`the requests for nodes corresponding to one specific
`resolution/position combination only; also, it has no
`way to estimate in real time what are the next k highest
`priority nodes (in regards to the entire ROI), which could
`make it download lesser-priority nodes that might not
`make it into the final cache at all, resulting in a waste of
`TeSOUIrces.
`[0035] With reference now to FIG. 1 a schematic 3D per
`spective of the geographic area 100. In a present embodiment,
`the display of the route area 105 defines a plurality of road
`networks 120, terrain elevations 130, 3D buildings 140 and
`POIs 150 and a route 110 within the geographic area 100.
`[0036] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the method used to produce
`the database from which to render images as depicted in FIG.
`1. At process start 200 the system sends a query 201 to the GIS
`database 235 and retrieves necessary information in order to
`be able to query the database for the root node of the spatial
`subdivision hierarchy, and then retrieves it and inserts it to the
`Node Priority Queue (NPQ) 220. The process then enters a
`loop 230, under termination conditions such as time and/or
`space limits. If the termination conditions are not met 230a,
`the program removes a single node from the NPQ 220, and
`places it in the retrieval buffer 233. The program then evalu
`ates the priority of all children of that node in the hierarchy.
`For each such node 232, an evaluation function is applied on
`the spatial region defined by that node in the spatial subdivi
`sion data structure. The result of this function is then used as
`priority and the node is inserted with that priority to the NPQ
`220. Then the process loops back to 230.
`[0037] The retrieval buffer 233 maintains a list of queries
`234 to the GIS database 235 consisting of nodes removed
`from the NPQ so far that have not yet been received. It may
`block the operation of step 232 to prevent the system from
`growing the buffer indefinitely. When a buffered query com
`pletes successfully, it stores the data and node information in
`preparation for use in the final off-line database 260.
`[0038] When the termination condition of the loop is met
`230b, the process 240 flushes the retrieval buffer 233, and
`finalizes the off-line database 260 from the data provided so
`
`far from the queries made by the retrieval buffer 233, so that
`it can then be used by the off-line application in place of the
`original database. It then transfers this database to the storage
`device(s) 265 used by the off-line application. After this, the
`process terminates 250.
`[0039| FIG. 3 illustrates a ROI system used in 3D virtual
`scenery of FIG. 1. The system comprised of a services pro
`vider 310 and route provider 320 and optional ROI provider
`810. Whereby the services provider utilize a services server
`311 and the route provider utilize a route server 321. Said
`services server 311 and route server 321 and ROI server 811,
`may utilize server application 330 to operate said servers. A
`related services application 312 may be controlled by said
`server application 330 for the services provider 310 that is
`connected to imagery, data storage 500 comprised of polarity
`of imagery, terrain elevation, POIs and GIS datasets, and
`route related application 322 may be controlled by said server
`application 330 for the route provider 320 that is connected to
`mapping data 550, and ROI related application 800 may be
`controlled by said server application 330 for the ROI provider
`810 that is connected to services provider 310 and route
`provider 320 via the Internet 300 or directly. The server
`application 330 also may control a communication applica
`tion 340 that connected each said server and services to the
`Internet 300.
`[0040] Said Internet 300 provides for a dataset streaming
`680 via wired 681 or wireless 682 communications.
`[0041] ROI related application 800 may be installed on the
`user personal computer 670, whereby relevant data streamed
`over the Internet 300 from the services provider 310 and route
`provider 320 is manipulated by the ROI related application
`800 to create the target ROI for a said route. The personal
`computer 670 may contain a 3D viewer 610 to preview the
`route and the ROI. Said ROI may be stored on the local
`storage 660 in the personal computer 670.
`[0042] The selected ROI may be streamed via wired or
`wireless communication 690 to the mobile platform 600 from
`the ROI provider 810 and/or from the user’s personal com
`puter 670 local storage 660. The said transferred ROI will be
`stored in the mobile platform 600 storage media 680 that can
`be fixed or removable media.
`[0043] The mobile platform may contain a 3D viewer in
`order to view the said ROI. The mobile platform may contain
`internally or connected via wire or wireless to locator device
`such as GPS in order to track the user mobile platform loca
`tion and place the location over the displayed ROI.
`[0044] FIG. 4 (a-e) shows the set of nodes selected from a
`quad-tree based database, using a simple ROI created by a
`route connecting between two locations, with varying limits
`on the size of the output database produced. The more
`memory is allotted, the more nodes surrounding the ROI can
`make it into the output database. Each node is shown graphi
`cally as a square depicting its region as defined by the quad
`tree's spatial subdivision.
`[0045] Thus the scope of the present invention is defined
`both combinations and sub combinations of the various fea
`tures described hereinabove as well as variations and modi
`fications thereof, which would occur to persons skilled in the
`art upon reading the foregoing description.
`[0046) In the claims, the word “comprise”, and variations
`thereof such as “comprises”, “comprising” and the like indi
`cate that the components listed are included, but not generally
`to the exclusion of other components.
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`

`

`US 2008/029.4332 A1
`
`Nov. 27, 2008
`
`We claim:
`1. A method of generating and facilitating the display of a
`Region-of-Interest (ROI) to users of mobile computing plat
`forms:
`Said ROI comprising of a relevant area around a selected or
`calculated navigational route namely route corridor
`Said ROI generated from datasets comprising of some or
`the combination of imagery, terrain elevation, Point-Of
`Interests, and 3D objects such as but not limited to 3D
`building with or without their images facades as graphic
`Or raster
`Said datasets are located on local or remote server
`Said route is selected or calculated from a local or remote
`Sever
`Said ROI generator function on local or remote server such
`server may be a hosted server or personal computer (PC)
`Said ROI generator determine the region of interest based
`on the information provided from the said selected or
`calculated route
`
`Said POI is small subset of the datasets indicated above
`Said ROI described as arbitrarily complex planar graphs,
`and general polygonal meshes. This naturally covers
`route(s) and/or closed area(s)
`Said ROI datasets is placed on the device storage, fixed or
`removable media
`Said ROI generator allow the customized creation of the
`route corridor dataset, based on limitations dictated or
`controlled by others or set/preset by the user, covering
`among others but not limited to, communication band
`width to the device, and storage space, whether on fixed
`or removable media, processing power and memory
`availability or allocated in the device that display the
`route corridor.
`Said ROI rendered on the device graphics display
`
`sk
`
`sk
`
`sk
`
`sk
`
`sk
`
`Microsoft Corp. Exhibit 1024
`
`