Patents by Inventor Thorsten W. Schmidt

Thorsten W. Schmidt has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8457884
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for operating a navigation system comprising the following method steps: a) calculating a route from a point of departure to a destination, said route being composed of a succession of route segments and junctions between the route segments and being selected by means of a route calculation process from a database in which a geographical region is described by route segments and junctions; b) calculating at least one maneuvering instruction which contains instructions for the user to follow the route starting from the current position; c) optically and/or acoustically outputting the maneuvering instruction in an output device, wherein prior to and/or during the calculation and/or prior to and/or during the output of the maneuvering instruction, a configuration file is read and interpreted by an interpretation module, and wherein configuring preset data for calculating and/or outputting the maneuvering instruction are stored in the configuration file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Garmin Würzburg GmbH
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt
  • Patent number: 8180568
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation system includes the following steps: a) computing a route from a starting point to a destination, wherein the route consists of a sequence of road segments and junctions between the road segments that is selected from a database, in which a geographic area is described in the form of road segments and junctions, with a route computation method, b) computing at least one maneuvering instruction that contains instructions for the user in order to follow the route from the current position, and c) computing and displaying a schematic maneuvering image on a display device, wherein the schematic maneuvering image graphically illustrates the maneuvering instructions in schematic form, wherein adjacent junctions that do not lie along the route and/or adjacent road segments that do not lie along the route and do not converge with a junction along the route are also analyzed during the computation of the schematic maneuvering image, wherein at least part of the adjacent road segmen
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Garmin Würzburg GmbH
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20110015855
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for operating a navigation system comprising the following method steps: a) calculating a route from a point of departure to a destination, said route being composed of a succession of route segments and junctions between the route segments and being selected by means of a route calculation process from a database in which a geographical region is described by route segments and junctions; b) calculating at least one maneuvering instruction which contains instructions for the user to follow the route starting from the current position; c) optically and/or acoustically outputting the maneuvering instruction in an output device, wherein prior to and/or during the calculation and/or prior to and/or during the output of the maneuvering instruction, a configuration file is read and interpreted by an interpretation module, and wherein configuring preset data for calculating and/or outputting the maneuvering instruction are stored in the configuration file.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2008
    Publication date: January 20, 2011
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20100217519
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for determining the estimated time of travel and time of arrival in the route determination on a digital road map by means of a speed table and by means of measured user speeds. Moreover, the present invention relates to a corresponding computer program product and to a digital storage medium as well as to a corresponding navigation device. The present invention is characterized by the feature that the speed table is classified into temporal classes (k, l, m, n) for at least one, preferably for each road category (B), wherein one temporal class is respectively allocated separate average speeds as a function of the weekday and/or the time of day (A).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2010
    Publication date: August 26, 2010
    Applicant: NAVIGON AG
    Inventors: Harald Englerth, Thorsten W. Schmidt, Feliu Ros
  • Publication number: 20090177388
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation system includes the following steps: a) calculating a route from a starting point to a destination, wherein the route consists of a sequence of road segments and junctions between the road segments that is selected from a database in which a geographic area is described by means of road segments and junctions with a route calculation method, b) calculating at least one lane instruction that contains instructions for the user in order to follow the calculated route in the form of a lane change maneuver based on the current position, and c) calculating and displaying a schematic lane image (12) on a display unit, wherein the schematic lane image (12) graphically displays the lane instruction in schematic form, wherein c1) a first lane course (13) is calculated that shows the lanes prior to the lane change maneuver, particularly at the current position; c2) a second lane course (14) is calculated that shows the lanes during the lane change maneuver, and c3) a combination of t
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20090143982
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation device that includes an input device for inputting operator commands and/or locations, particularly starting points and/or destinations, a road network database, a route calculation unit for calculating a planned route with consideration of the locations and the road network database, wherein the route leads from the starting point to the destination, a signal receiving unit for receiving position signals, particularly GPS signals, a position determining unit that determines the current position based on the position signals, and a voice output module that is able to generate and acoustically output a voice message, particularly maneuvering instructions, in dependence on predetermined boundary conditions by combining at least two voice message elements, wherein the voice message elements to be combined are analyzed prior to the acoustic output of the voice message, and wherein the voice message is changed in accordance with predetermined prioritization rules depending on th
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Inventors: Jochen Katzer, Thorsten W. Schmidt, Matthias Kahlow
  • Publication number: 20090063033
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation system including at least one first user terminal and at least one navigation device includes the following steps: a) inputting a destination and an appointed time into the user terminal; b) transmitting a message from the user terminal to the navigation device by means of remote data transmission, wherein said message contains a destination and an appointed time; c) receiving the message on the navigation device; d) calculating a route on the navigation device, wherein this route leads from the current location to the destination received with the message; and e) outputting the route.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2008
    Publication date: March 5, 2009
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20090037094
    Abstract: A method for operating a navigation system includes the following steps: a) computing a route from a starting point to a destination, wherein the route consists of a sequence of road segments and junctions between the road segments that is selected from a database, in which a geographic area is described in the form of road segments and junctions, with a route computation method, b) computing at least one maneuvering instruction that contains instructions for the user in order to follow the route from the current position, and c) computing and displaying a schematic maneuvering image on a display device, wherein the schematic maneuvering image graphically illustrates the maneuvering instructions in schematic form, wherein adjacent junctions that do not lie along the route and/or adjacent road segments that do not lie along the route and do not converge with a junction along the route are also analyzed during the computation of the schematic maneuvering image, wherein at least part of the adjacent road segmen
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2008
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Inventor: Thorsten W. Schmidt