The present invention relates to a method of directing a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, a plane or a ship, from at least one starting point to at least one destination.
Navigation systems installed in vehicles, such as, for example, motor vehicles, aircraft or ships may direct the driver of the vehicle rapidly, easily and reliably from a current location to a desired destination by visual or acoustic output of driving instructions without the driver of the vehicle or manner of locomotion having to plan a route before starting a trip or having to complete the remaining charting of the route on the basis of a map during the trip. For this, appropriate navigation data, based on road maps or other maps, for example, is stored in a memory in the navigation device, which may be on CD-ROM. The navigation device uses trip sensors and a compass plus optionally the signals of a GPS (global positioning system) transmitted by satellite to determine an instantaneous location of the vehicle and to calculate appropriate navigation instructions leading to a predefined destination.
With navigation devices from Blaupunkt-Werke GmbH, after the user makes appropriate entries, it is possible in calculating a route to eliminate sections of the route having a certain property. Thus, a menu item provided in an operating menu in the above-mentioned devices intended for motor vehicles allows the calculation of trip routes that do not include toll roads. With these devices, however, all toll roads used in calculating a route may be allowed or excluded.
The exemplary device according to the present invention is believed to have the advantage that individual route sections having a given property can be selected or deselected by the user on an individual basis. This may yield the further advantage that the user can determine an optimal route, such as, for example, in the sense of making an evaluation between the lowest possible trip cost, which might suggest avoiding toll roads as much as possible, and a minimized travel time, which would in turn make the use of toll roads seem appropriate.
It is believed to be especially advantageous here if route sections, such as, for example, toll roads, having a given property defined as part of the route calculation are output together with an available detour. This allows the user to make a direct comparison of the route section having the given property with the alternative route section, thus facilitating a decision for one of the two routes suggested.
Furthermore, it is believed to be advantageous if additional information characterizing the route section with the given property or the alternative route section is also output in addition to the route section having the given property and the alternative route section. This should make it easier for the user to make a decision about selection or deselection of a route section having the given property on the basis of a comparison between the toll road route section and the detour route, for example.
It is likewise believed to be advantageous if traffic congestion or other traffic obstacles such as construction sites or roadblocks can be preselected as a property characterizing a route section, so that the user can, if desired, detour route sections characterized in this way.