The Global Positioning System or “GPS” is by definition ubiquitous and is now widely used for a wide variety of military, commercial and consumer applications. GPS is used for everything from missile guidance to guiding a backpacker who has wandered off the Pacific Crest Trail in a surprise Sierra Nevada snowstorm. Details of GPS system operation are published elsewhere. Suffice to say here that the GPS network of satellites provides information to a GPS receiver as long as it is “in view” of a least a handful of the dozen or so GPS satellites positioned in geostationary orbit. The GPS receiver or an associated processor calculates the current location of the receiver from the received information. The resulting location data may be expressed for example as latitude, longitude, altitude or in an equivalent coordinate system.
In recent years, the size and cost of GPS receivers and related equipment have diminished so dramatically so that the technology is now available in packages small enough to hand carry and at pricing levels that bring the equipment into the consumer marketplace. In fact, many mobile phones today include a built-in GPS receiver.
One growing application of GPS receivers is for navigation purposes in motor vehicles. Where a driver is unfamiliar with a desired destination location or the surrounding area, GPS-based navigation equipment can help, as it can determine the location of the vehicle at almost any time. Commercial vehicle applications are growing as well, from local garbage trucks to long-haul rigs.
One vendor of GPS equipment, known as Garmin, recited in a press release: “Thanks to the real-time information transmitted through the GPS-Buddy unit, fleet managers can know where their fleet is and communicate with the drivers 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week . . . . Every 60-seconds, a secured GPS-Buddy server receives information about the vehicle's location, speed, and status—such as engine data, loading door, and thermostat. The information is then available on the internet to GPS-Buddy customers. The data may be viewed at anytime on any device with internet access such as personal computers, Smartphones, or PDAs.” In short, it is known to upload location data and other information from a motor vehicle to a server.
While vehicle (or hand carried) navigation systems generally can acquire their present location via GPS, they must in all cases be programmed with a desired destination location (hereafter simply, “destination”) before the navigation system can assist in navigating to that location.
Programming a navigation system with a desired destination may be difficult for some users who are unfamiliar with the user interface at hand, and at any rate takes the user's time.
Systems and methods also are known for transmitting digital data over the voice channel of a wireless telecom network. Voice services have the advantages of low cost, high reliability and wide availability across various wireless networks and technologies. These are sometimes called “concierge” services in view of the human contact (via phone) and personalized service. Digital wireless data services by contrast are sometimes unreliable, and can vary in bandwidth, delay and other parameters across different networks and technologies.
Moreover, transmitting data in the voice channel has the characteristic that a voice call connection must be established. This enables substantially simultaneous voice and data communications. Thus, for example, an emergency call taker or concierge operator can talk to a person who requires assistance and, at substantially the same, time receive data such as the person's location or physiological or medical data. Live concierge operators can give verbal “turn-by-turn” driving instructions to guide a user to a desired location while the user is en route, typically by motor vehicle, as long as the vehicle is suitable equipped with integral wireless phone, voice-band or “in-band” signaling modem, etc. . . . Location data can be provided through the voice channel from the car to the concierge or other “call taker.” These services are expensive, however, because they are labor intensive. Some users prefer a more independent approach, using on-board electronic navigation equipment.
On-board navigation equipment is now available in some markets and built into some luxury automobiles and rental cars. These on-board navigation devices generally are “stand-alone” meaning that they operate without the assistance of a remote, live operator. They typically have a GPS receiver built into the equipment, or connected to it, to determine a present location of the car. They also have databases (e.g. stored on CD-ROM) with maps or other GIS data to aide navigation, or they can download them as required, for example via the wireless telecommunications network, internet-connected WAP, satellite etc. The stand-alone systems may provide recorded or simulated voice announcement of so-called “turn-by-turn” driving instructions to guide the user to a selected destination. In all cases the desired destination location must be input to the system. Programming a navigation system, i.e., to input the desired destination location, is clumsy and difficult, for example because of a very limited user interface, small display screen, etc. It is especially difficult and may be dangerous to attempt to input a desired destination address to a navigation device while a user is driving.