HK1151608A - Dynamically mapping images on objects in a navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

Method of and system for displaying information on a display. The method has the following actions: a) accessing a 3D model with 3D objects 5 b) showing on said display a graphical display of one or more scenes comprising a moving view on one or more of said 3D objects as seen from a certain moving point of view, said one or more 3D objects comprising at least one advertisement space, said at least one advertisement space having an advertisement space location and an advertisement space size, c) receiving a message inclusive of message data and message location data, d) in dependence on a distance between said moving point of view and said one or more 3D objects, mapping said message data on said at least one advertisement space if said advertisement space location is associated with said message location data such that said message data overlays said advertisement space in said display.

Description

Dynamically mapping images on objects in a navigation system

Technical Field

The invention relates to dynamically mapping a message on a 3D object in a 3D world representation shown on a display. The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for performing the operations, as well as to a computer program product and a data carrier comprising the computer program. The message may be or may relate to an advertisement. In the context of the present invention, a "message" should be interpreted in a broad sense. That is, the term "message" is understood to encompass at least one 2D or 3D image, and may also include an audio message. The image may include a single picture taken from reality, an animated picture, a trademark-like symbol, text, etc. Also, the image may be a series of moving pictures (such as video), such as a moving 2D or 3D object showing a realistic derivation or animation.

Background

It is known to present advertisements on a display in a navigation system onboard a vehicle as the vehicle is driving along a road.

For example, US 7089264 discloses a "virtual bulletin board" which shows a user of a navigation device an advertisement to the user as the user passes along a road through a predetermined "virtual bulletin board" location. The description is not very specific as to what is "presented" to the user. Figure 9 appears to indicate that the advertisement is an audio message to the user.

US 6285317 discloses a navigation system having a three-dimensional display of a scene on a display of a navigation system on board a vehicle. The three-dimensional display shows an image of an area that is also visible through a windshield of a vehicle driven by the driver. The navigation system is programmed to calculate a route for the driver to drive from a departure location to a destination location. The navigation system generates an image of an arrow having a direction according to the next manipulation that the driver will have to perform according to the calculated route. The navigation system is also programmed to process the image and the arrow such that the arrow overlies the image on the display such that it indicates in the image the road segment that the driver will take. In an embodiment, US 6285317 discloses wirelessly supplying road information from a service provider online to a navigation system so that real-time updated data can be shown on a display. By doing so, for example, restaurants visible on the display may be highlighted to attract the attention of the driver and other passengers of the vehicle. Virtual billboards or air-borne blimps or the like may be shown in the scene generated on the display.

PCT/NL2006/050265 discloses a mobile mapping system that can be used to collect pictures of real world buildings and laser scan samples related to the buildings. The pictures and samples are stored in a memory. A subset of the laser scan samples are related to a facade of a building. Also, the memory stores position data about each laser scan sample and picture. The picture includes data about a wall of the facade and data about texture elements in the wall. The processor automatically identifies walls in the picture and texture elements in the picture while scanning the sample using the laser. Some texels, such as wall parts, doors and windows, may be automatically removed from the picture after being identified in this way, and replaced by a reference to a reference texel. This document does not disclose a way of dynamically updating an image on a predetermined part of an object in a scene shown on a display in a navigation system.

US 7,451,041 discloses a web-based navigation system. The system has a user interface and a computer server accessible to a map database, an actual image database, and an advertisement database. The map database includes geographic map data. The actual image database includes a plurality of images of the roadway taken by the camera from the perspective of the driver. This camera may be mounted on a special data acquisition vehicle to drive along a route, after which the image is used in a navigation system. Also, the image corresponds to a 360 degree field of view. The advertisement database includes advertisement data. The user may request that the system provide visual route guidance information to be displayed on the display. The system may guide the user along the route to the destination by continuously recreating the view along the virtual road as the vehicle actually travels along the road. The driving along the virtual road shown on the display is generated by showing the user via the display a sequence of images taken by the camera at an earlier time, thus generating a virtual "drive-through". The system also replaces the polygonal areas in the actual image with advertisements from an advertisement database and in this way presents the advertisements to the user of the navigation system as if the advertisements were presented in the polygonal areas in the actual image.

A disadvantage of the system according to US 7,451,041 is that the sequence of images on which the driving is based comprises images taken one after the other with a certain time delay. When presented continuously to the user, it may appear to simulate a video driving along a road, but in reality it only shows a jerky sequence of still images. Furthermore, the images are obtained from well-defined points on the road, thus providing a 2D basis only for simulated 3D views on the display.

The field addressed by the invention relates to the presentation of advertisement-like messages on 3D objects in a 3D environment presented on a display of a navigation system, which may be a "virtual" navigation system. A virtual navigation system may be defined as a system whereby a user can virtually move through a 3D world, for example in an animated vehicle, as supported, for example, by suitable software on a computer system or by a suitably programmed website. Hereinafter, when the term "navigation system" is used, reference is made to both physical and virtual navigation systems.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements to navigation systems having a display that presents a three-dimensional scene to a user with a message, such as an advertisement, overlaid or superimposed on a 3D object in the scene, which can be dynamically updated.

To this end, the invention relates to a system according to claim 1.

By applying the invention, messages, e.g. relating to advertisements, are displayed by the system on the surface of 3D objects that are also present in the real world. Such object surfaces may be part of building facades or advertising panels such as billboards. This avoids confusion for the user when navigating in the 3D world when the system is a physical navigation system, as no different objects than the real world around him will be shown on his display. In contrast to the prior art, these objects are 3D objects that are thus stored in a database. These 3D objects are stored as part of a 3D model that defines the physical structure of the object and the exact location of its constituent parts on the surface of the earth. This is a vector-based data model, but some kind of image may be used. This provides the system with the possibility of showing realistic video-like views on these objects and their advertisements as seen from the position of different viewers as they move through reality, rather than jerky concatenation of images. Furthermore, the present invention will behave naturally when virtually traversing data even at heights above the normal nominal height of the vehicle. This is because the prior art using images will appear incomplete because the viewing position can see the edges of the image space. In contrast, 3D object models can be viewed realistically from all angles. And finally, in embodiments showing the location of roads, as well as attributes such as street names, steering limits, etc., the present invention integrates well into real navigation systems.

In an embodiment, the invention relates to a method of displaying a message on a display in a system according to a further independent claim. The other independent claims relate to a computer program product and a data carrier with such a computer program product allowing such a method to be performed on a system, as well as to a communication system comprising such a system and a server allowing such messages to be downloaded wirelessly to said system.

Drawings

The present invention will be explained in detail with reference to some drawings which are only intended to show embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope. The scope of the invention is defined in the appended claims and by their technical equivalents.

The drawings show that:

figure 1 shows a vehicle with a navigation system,

figure 2 shows a computer arrangement of a microprocessor which may be used as the navigation system of figure 1,

figure 3 shows an example of a picture on a display of a navigation system,

fig. 4 shows the example of fig. 3, but with a message overlaid on the advertising space on the surface of the object in the picture.

Detailed Description

The invention is applicable to all kinds of navigation systems: handheld devices, PDAs and mobile phones with navigation software, and in-vehicle navigation systems built into vehicles. The present invention can be implemented in any type of standard navigation system available on the market today. For a better understanding of the invention, hereinafter, the application in one possible in-vehicle navigation system will be explained in further detail. However, this does not exclude any other type of implementation, such as a handheld device or a navigation system in an aircraft. Furthermore, the invention is also applicable to a virtual navigation system, in which a person virtually moves through a realistic animation, as indicated in the introduction to the present description.

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle provided with a navigation system. The vehicle 1 is provided with a plurality of wheels 2. The vehicle 1 is also provided with a navigation system. As shown in fig. 1, the navigation system may include the following components:

a position determining device, which may comprise a GPS (global positioning system) or other GNSS (global navigation satellite system) unit, connected to the antenna 8, and arranged to communicate with a plurality of satellites SLi (i ═ 1, 2, 3, …), and to calculate position signals from signals received from the satellites SLi. The GPS system may also deliver heading data (i.e., direction of travel) and speed of the vehicle 1. The GPS system may be a DGPS system (differential GPS) or a GPS system augmented by a WAAS (wide area augmentation system) that provides an accuracy of 1 δ/1 meter (except possibly white noise). The GPS system is connected to a microprocessor μ P arranged to process the GPS output signal.

Microprocessor μ P connected to the GPS unit. Based on the signals received from the GPS system, the microprocessor μ P determines suitable display signals to be displayed on the display 18 in the vehicle 1, informing the driver where the vehicle is located and possibly in what direction it is driving. The display 18 may be a so-called head-up display, HUD. However, in the context of the present invention, the microprocessor μ P may be programmed with route planning software to calculate a route from a departure location to a destination location for a driver of the vehicle. This destination location is entered, for example, by the driver via a keyboard 6 connected to the microprocessor μ P. The keyboard 6 may also be used by the driver to ask the microprocessor mup to show other information, as known to those skilled in the art. Instead of the keyboard 6, any alternative means used by the driver to communicate with the microprocessor μ P may be used, such as a touch screen or a voice converter. The microprocessor generates suitable routing instructions for the driver including visual data shown on display 18 and audible data via speaker 29 (fig. 2). Such route planning software is known from the prior art and need not be further elucidated here. Hereinafter, only the features of this software that are essential to the invention are set forth in detail. The microprocessor mup is also arranged to communicate wirelessly with a remote computer arrangement, e.g. operated by a service provider. The microprocessor may download the message from this remote computer arrangement and dynamically refresh the message as shown on the display 18, as will be explained further below.

As shown, to enhance the accuracy of the position determination, the position determination system may include a DMI (distance measuring instrument). This instrument is an odometer that measures the distance traveled by the vehicle 1, for example by sensing the number of revolutions of one or more of the wheels 2. DMIs may operate at 10Hz or at sampling frequencies above 10 Hz. The DMI is also connected to the microprocessor μ P to allow the microprocessor μ P to take into account the distance measured by the DMI when processing the output signal from the GPS unit. DMI has not been widely used in-vehicle navigation systems, but may be better applied in the (near) future.

In yet another embodiment, and to further enhance the accuracy of the position determination, the position determination system may comprise an IMU (inertial measurement unit). Such an IMU may be implemented as three gyroscope units arranged to measure rotational acceleration and three accelerometers arranged to measure translational acceleration in 3 orthogonal directions. The IMU/gyroscope and accelerometer may operate at a sampling frequency of 200 Hz. The IMU is also connected to the microprocessor μ P to allow the microprocessor μ P to take measurements of the IMU into account when processing the output signals from the GPS unit. Similar to DMI, IMU has not been widely used in-vehicle navigation systems, but may be better applied in the (near) future.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are other navigation sensors that may be added to or substituted for the arrangements described above.

The system may also include components for receiving broadcast messages (RDS TMC, TPEG..) or point-to-point connections such as GPRS in an embodiment. But also trusted elements such as SIM cards with unique IDs can be integrated allowing the navigation system to be uniquely identified in communicating with third party devices.

The navigation system may have integrated mobile phone functionality that allows the user to have hands-free phone calls with third parties. Additionally or alternatively, the system may comprise a communication device arranged to communicate with the user's mobile telephone via a wired or wireless connection (e.g. via a bluetooth or infrared connection), for example to allow the user of the mobile telephone to use the microphone and speaker of the system during a hands-free telephone call.

In fig. 2, an overview of a microprocessor μ P that can be used according to the invention is given. The microprocessor μ P includes a processor 11 for carrying out arithmetic operations.

The processor 11 is connected to a number of memory components, including a hard disk 12, Read Only Memory (ROM)13, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM)14, and Random Access Memory (RAM) 15. Not all of these memory types need necessarily be provided.

The processor 11 is also connected to means for a user to input instructions, data etc., such as a keyboard 16, a touch screen and/or a voice converter.

A reading unit 19 is provided which is connected to the processor 11. The reading unit 19 is arranged to read data from and possibly write data on a physical data carrier, such as a floppy disk 20 or a CDROM 21. Other data carriers may be magnetic tapes, DVDs, CD-R, DVD-R, memory sticks, etc., as known to those skilled in the art.

The processor 11 is connected to a display 18, such as a monitor or LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, or any other type of display known to those skilled in the art. The processor 11 is also connected to a speaker 29.

The processor 11 is connected via a wireless connection to a communication network 27, such as a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the internet, etc., by means of the I/O means 25. The processor 11 is arranged to communicate with other communication arrangements over a network 27.

The physical data carrier 20, 21 may comprise a computer program product in the form of data and instructions arranged to provide the processor with the ability to perform the method according to the invention. However, this computer program product may alternatively be downloaded via the telecommunication network 27.

The processor 11 may be implemented as a stand-alone system, or as a plurality of parallel operating processors, each arranged to carry out the subtasks of a larger computer program, or as one or more main processors with several sub-processors.

The microprocessor mup in the navigation system is programmed to show on the display 18 a graphical display of a scene associated with the scene that the driver of the vehicle is visible through the windshield of his vehicle. As the position of the navigation changes and thus the viewpoint changes, the graphical display of the scene also changes. An example of such a scenario is shown schematically in fig. 3. The scene shown comprises one or more road segments 30 of a road network, one or more buildings 32 and a billboard 34. The building 32 may have one or more doors 42 and one or more windows 44. The building has surfaces 36, 38 that are unoccupied by a door 42 or window 44 and are adapted to display an overlying image, such as an advertisement. Bulletin board 34 has a surface 40 adapted to display such overlying images. Of course, the space on the surface of objects such as buildings and bulletin boards suitable for displaying messages is not limited to surfaces that do not have texture elements (e.g., doors and windows) in reality. However, as will be explained below, portions without such texture elements may be automatically detected, which enhances the speed of production when such spaces are marked in the picture.

The pictures (possibly including text) or animated images are stored in a memory, which may be the memory of the microprocessor mup within the vehicle itself or the memory of a remote computer arrangement of the service provider. In the latter case, the microprocessor μ P is programmed to wirelessly download such pictures or animated images from the service provider's server.

In an embodiment, the download from this server may be allowed only in case of a subscription. Subsequently, to achieve this, the server should have stored the ID of the navigation system of the user who has subscribed to the service. This may be implemented in any manner known to those skilled in the art. For example, the navigation system may have a SIM card with a SIM card ID that is sent to the server any time the navigation system connects to the server to download one or more messages.

This subscription may be personalized. The server may request that a user of the navigation system complete a questionnaire when he subscribes to the service. Based on the answers given on the questionnaire, each subscriber can be classified in a certain subscriber profile. Each subscriber profile may be assigned a different service profile. The criteria may be, for example, a revenue range; personal interests such as cars, sports, culture, etc.; the type of vacation, etc. Based on this, different messages can be sent to the navigation system. For example, a BMW driver may receive a message other than a Suzuki (Suzuki) driver.

This subscription may be a paid or gratuitous subscription.

Alternatively, no subscription is required at all to receive the advertisement. For example, the navigation system may be offered for free as long as the provider determines that the "buyer" accepts to receive the advertisement.

For the present invention to work, one or more surfaces of a 3D object should be marked as being locations on which messages, such as advertisements, may overlay. The following method can be used for this purpose.

The preparation of the 3D model with the 3D object is performed by an off-line computer arrangement which may be set in a similar way to the computer arrangement shown in fig. 2. This 3D model is a vector-based data model. However, this vector-based model may be extended by some image in the 3D object texture, for example. The computer arrangement stores a suitable software program to generate and store the 3D model. To this end, this software program may instruct a processor of the computer arrangement to perform the following actions;

-receiving and storing in a memory a picture or animated image of a real world object. Such pictures may be made using a mobile mapping system such as that explained in PCT/NL 2006/050265. Alternatively or additionally, such pictures may be made using an air vehicle or satellite. Such pictures or animated images may be produced using a camera or laser scanner and may be used to generate data in the form of 3D models that may be used to show graphical displays of one or more scenes that, as seen from some moving viewpoint, constitute a moving view of such real-world objects. How such a 3D model with 3D objects can be made based on such pictures or animated images is prior art and need not be further explained here.

Automatically identifying or allowing an operator to identify surfaces on such 3D objects on which a message, such as an advertisement, may overlay, and mark such surfaces with a mark in memory. This surface will be referred to as "ad space".

In the first case, the method as disclosed in PCT/NL2006/050265 may be used. The computer arranges the texture elements that are then programmed to identify walls or wall portions on which such other messages of the 3D object may suitably overlie and thus may serve as advertising space. This wall or wall portion may suitably be a surface 36, 38 of a building facade that comprises only bricks or at least does not comprise any doors and/or windows. Alternatively, the computer arrangement is programmed to identify a suitable advertising space, including a wall portion and one or more texture elements that meet specific requirements, such as windows only on upper floors. However, this textured element may also be the surface 40 of the bulletin board 34.

In the second case, the computer arrangement presents 3D objects such as buildings 32 and bulletin boards 34 to the operator on the display, and provides the operator with the option of marking surfaces 36, 38, 40 on such objects on which another message, such as an advertisement, may be overlaid. This may be done, for example, by allowing the operator to mark a surface 36, 38, 40 with a mouse using a cursor on the display as such "advertising space" and then storing the marking of this surface 36, 38, 40 obtained in this way in memory. In this way, specific ad features may be generated, for example, during the creation of the 3D model. While using mobile mapping data as input for generating such 3D models, the operator can easily detect suitable locations for advertisements, such as bulletin boards, advertising windows, posts, and the like.

Some more details are now provided on how the storage of such markings of the surfaces 36, 38, 40 may be implemented in the memory of the service provider's server. Such surfaces 36, 38, 40 will be referred to hereinafter as "advertising space". Such ad spaces need not necessarily be two-dimensional. Alternatively, this advertising space may have a 3D shape similar to a building or 3D billboard.

Each advertising space is of a size and shape and is stored against a "base advertising value", for example, based on other surrounding and other relevant map features, such as the importance of the road on which the area is located in reality (e.g., located in a rural or urban area), the size of the advertising space, etc. Thus, each ad space may be sold as a point, line, horizontal 2D area, vertical 2D area, 3D area on a "real" ad space.

One application is dynamic advertising that links to advertising space on a POI (point of interest) because messages can be directly linked to the location, type and activity of the POI.

Attributes of the ad space stored in the memory of the service provider's server may be:

-location coordinates of the advertisement space. For a flat ad space, these coordinates may be four coordinates in 3D space, corresponding to where the ad space is located on earth. These four coordinates may be: upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. In case the ad space is not flat, then the external coordinates of this non-flat space should be given.

-a time period during which this ad space is available. By specifying the coordinates of the time and the location of the ad space in this manner, it can be dynamically changed in the 3D city model over the existing space in the 3D city model.

-a period of time during which the content of a certain message is available. The longer the period of time, the more expensive it may be for an advertiser of the message.

The time of message presentation itself. For example, showing a certain message at a certain date and time may be more expensive for an advertiser than other dates and times. For example, it may be more expensive to show a certain brand of beer when shown closer to the time of an important soccer game.

-the size of the advertisement space. This may be automatically calculated from the stored coordinates, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The size may be m²Or any other suitable unit.

-a "value attribute" depending on the importance of the location of the space in the real world. For example, space on a house in a small street will be much cheaper than space on a house in a large street with much traffic. The following parameters may affect the importance of the ad space:

actual size of the advertisement space

General location of the advertising space, e.g. distance to the road traveled by the user of the navigation system or distance to a location where a sporting event may be held

Location of advertisement space on building

Functional road class where advertisement space is located

Predicted traffic density of O position

Time and duration of rental

Complexity and quality of the display, e.g. 2D or 3D images.

How the 3D model is finally rendered is not important in the end-user application, i.e. in the navigation system used by the end-user.

In one embodiment, the navigation system itself stores data about the 3D object based on the 3D model in its memory 12, 13, 14, 15, for example one of the memories shown in fig. 3. A 3D object such as a building may have walls provided with texture elements such as windows and doors. To this end, the wall may be provided with texels selected from a reference set of texels. By using references to such reference texture elements, memory space may be saved, as explained in more detail in PCT/NL 2006/050265. The data about the 3D model may be updated wirelessly by the navigation system by downloading updated data from the 3D model from a server of the service provider. This updated data will include updated data regarding surfaces on the object where new advertising space has become available (e.g., new billboards along the road traveled by the user).

In use, the navigation system will receive the content of a message (e.g., an advertisement) that will overlie the advertising space in the picture or animated image shown on the display 18, as well as coordinates from the service provider's server indicating where the message should be located.

Preferably, such coordinates are geocoded coordinates. However, in order to be more flexible and able to handle situations where the advertiser does not have geocoded information to make geocoded relevant advertisements available, both the service provider's server and the navigation system may be provided with so-called map-independent location referencing technology software. One example of such software is used in an Agora-C encoder and decoder arranged to automatically provide Agora-C codes to geospatially relevant advertisements in order to allow the navigation system to position the advertisements at the correct locations on the display 18. Details on such Agora-C encoders and decoders can be found in ISO standard 17572-3. Such systems may be extended to define the coordinates of the 3D object if extension is required.

In an embodiment, the processor 11 maps the coordinates of the received message to the coordinates of the ad space as shown on the display 18, as instructed by a software program stored in memory 12, 13, 14, 15, and thus the message is shown over the area of the texture of the 3D model from which the ad space was originally calculated.

The processor 11 is still able to visualize the message as an icon or as an image with the original size in the advertisement space even in case no 3D model is available in the navigation system.

FIG. 4 shows an example of how an advertisement 46 may be shown to a user on display 18. The advertisement overlies an advertising space 36 on the building 32.

Similarly, advertisements 48 may be shown in the advertising space 40 on the billboard 34. In addition to the advertisement, an audio message may be played by the navigation system, as schematically indicated in fig. 4 with reference 49. The audio message may, for example, be a well-known tone of a brand name related to the advertisement shown on billboard 34.

When a user (e.g., a driver of a vehicle housing the navigation system) approaches the advertising space, the navigation system will change the size and perspective of the scene to, for example, correspond to the current location. Thus, as billboard 34 is approached, the system will present billboard 34 and advertisement 48 in an increasing format. Since the 3D object in which the advertisement space is located is stored as part of the 3D model, the processor of the navigation system can easily calculate the way in which the 3D object should be displayed on the display of the navigation system depending on the position of the navigation system relative to the corresponding 3D object as presented in reality.

Also, depending on the distance between the user in reality and the real world bulletin board 34, the navigation system may perform at least one of the following actions:

increasing the level of detail, i.e. resolution, of the advertisement presented on the billboard 34 when the user approaches the real world billboard 34.

Dynamically amending the content of the advertisement when approaching the real world bulletin board, e.g. only showing bottles at a first distance, such as 100m, followed by showing bottles with product name like "beer" at a second distance, such as 50m, and finally showing bottles with product name and manufacturer name like "happiness" at a third distance, such as 25 m. The advertising information necessary to do so may be received by the navigation system online from the service provider's server, and may be requested by the navigation system from the server depending on the distance to the real world bulletin board 34. Alternatively, the navigation system may have received all this information within one message, e.g. received from a server when at a certain distance from a real world bulletin board, such as 200 m.

Instead of the message relating to the ad space itself popping up on the display 18 within a certain distance from the real world object, an icon may be presented only in the ad space on the display, which may be operated as a link by the user of the navigation system. By operating the link, the navigation system will then present the message itself.

Virtually rotating bulletin board 34 on display 18 so that bulletin board 34 is presented from a viewpoint that is perpendicular to the surface of bulletin board 34.

In one embodiment, the display 18 is a touch screen that allows a user to touch the advertising space with, for example, a finger or pen or the like. When doing so, the touch screen sends a signal for this purpose to the processor 11, the processor 11 being arranged to interpret this signal as if the user operated a hyperlink to the advertiser's website. The processor 11 then establishes a link to this website and presents the content of the website to the user on the display 18. The website image may include additional buttons that may be operated by touching the display 18 to allow the user to find certain specific information. Instead of using a touch screen, the navigation system may be provided with other input devices, such as a mouse pad operable by a user's finger, which allows the user to navigate a cursor over the website and search for information from other web pages of the advertiser by selecting certain buttons on the display 18.

In one embodiment, one such button relates to the phone number of the advertiser. When the phone number is operated, the navigation system calls the advertiser and establishes a phone link between the advertiser and the user's mobile phone. Such a mobile phone may be a built-in phone in a navigation system in a vehicle that allows a user to have a hands-free conversation with an advertiser. However, the navigation system may alternatively be arranged to use its I/O device 25 to make a wireless connection with a separate mobile device of the user, for example via a bluetooth connection.

Instead of, or in addition to, the distance to the real world object being a parameter that affects the content of the message shown on the display 18, the speed of the vehicle housing the navigation system may affect the content of the message shown on the display 18. As is understood by those skilled in the art, the speed of the vehicle may be calculated by the navigation system from satellite signals received by a GPS (or GNSS) unit or from signals from the DMI (if present). Alternatively, the speed signal received from a speed measuring device present in any vehicle may be used by the microprocessor μ P. The options for this speed-related presentation of messages are as follows:

for example, a certain message may only be shown when the vehicle is driving below a certain threshold speed. This option can be advantageously used when traffic situations are complex and any additional information presented to the driver may distract him/her from driving. This complex location may be a complex meeting point.

In yet another embodiment, the information content shown on the display 18 may be coupled to the speed of the vehicle. For example, the microprocessor μ P may be programmed to show only bottles when the vehicle is driving at speeds greater than 90 km/hour, bottles with product names such as "beer" when the vehicle is driving at speeds of 50-90 km/hour, and finally bottles with product names and manufacturer names such as "happy" when the vehicle is driving at speeds below 50 km/hour. Also, the advertising information necessary to do so may be received by the navigation system online from a server of the service provider, and may be requested by the navigation system from the server depending on the speed of the vehicle. Alternatively, the navigation system may have received all this information within one message, e.g. received from a server when at a certain distance from a real world bulletin board, such as 200 m.

Instead of the message itself relating to the ad space popping up on the display 18 within a certain distance from the real world object, only an icon may be shown, which may be operated as a link by the user of the navigation system. By operating the link, the navigation system will then present the message itself. The microprocessor μ P can be programmed to allow this link to be operated only when the vehicle is stopped.

In another embodiment, the advertisement relates to an announcement that people can purchase or get something under certain conditions (e.g., at a very low price), and the navigation system shows a button on the display with text similar to "the nearest purchase location". If the button is operated, the processor 11 will respond by calculating a route from the location to the nearest point of sale of the advertised good/service while using LBS related information regarding the advertisement received from the service provider's server. Alternatively or additionally, while displaying the advertisement, the processor 11 is also arranged to display a further message such as "sports store sold-mall 2 miles along the road" at a suitable location on the display 18.

Basically, there are two types of advertisements: non-geographically related (e.g., items like mobile phones) or geographically related (e.g., stores or restaurants). Based on the type of relevant advertisement, the relevant advertiser may decide to advertise its advertisement as a non-geographic advertisement, i.e., the advertisement will be displayed in an advertisement position that is not directly related to the advertisement; or as a geographic advertisement, i.e., the advertisement will be displayed in an advertisement position directly related to the advertisement.

In the case when an advertiser wants to advertise non-geospatially relevant information, such as a good (mobile phone, etc.), the advertiser may even specify that the information is to be advertised at the location of one or all stores in a particular area where the particular good is provided. Also here an Agora-C encoder may be used to target the advertisement as an area or 3D object.

In general, the system described above allows non-geo-relevant advertisements as well as geo-relevant advertisements to be dynamically uploaded, updated, surfaced, and managed on fixed or mobile devices in GIS and navigation applications.

It has been explained above that the system can be used by a service provider that provides mobile navigation applications using server-based stored content managed by a service operator. However, in alternative embodiments, the service provider may provide an internet mapping application.

In an embodiment, the navigation system is programmed to allow the user to turn the advertising feature on and off.

It is observed that by using a 3D model in the present invention, the construction of a 3D display is different from that in prior art video-based systems. Because the 3D model can be manipulated in all 3 dimensions, there is no video, but a constant rendering of the scene at a possibly new viewpoint, as the input indicates that the viewer has moved. This is flexible and allows the computer arrangement to really take into account where the driver of the vehicle with the navigation system has moved or where the internet surfer in the virtual environment has navigated his viewing position. By using a vector-based 3D model database, the graphical display can be presented faster. Moreover, they provide a great deal of flexibility. For example, map attribute data of a navigation map database may be seamlessly added to a 3D scene, which is not easily done in 2D image construction as known from the prior art.

It is to be understood that the invention is solely limited by the appended claims and their technical equivalents. In this document and in the claims hereof, the verb "to comprise" and its conjugations is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, and items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. In addition, reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements. The indefinite article "a" thus usually means "at least one".

Claims (21)

1. A system comprising a processor (11) and a display (18) connected to the processor (11), the processor being connected to a memory storing a computer program, the memory comprising instructions and data in order to allow the processor to perform the following actions:

a) a 3D model having 3D objects is accessed,

b) showing a graphical display of one or more scenes on the display, the scenes constituting a moving view on one or more of the 3D objects as seen from a moving viewpoint, the one or more 3D objects including at least one advertisement space having an advertisement space position and an advertisement space size,

c) receiving a message comprising message data and message location data,

d) mapping the message data on the at least one advertisement space such that the message data overlays the advertisement space on the display if the advertisement space location is associated with the message location data depending on a distance between the moving viewpoint and the one or more 3D objects.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said system is a navigation system and comprises position determining means for determining a position of said system in a road network, said point of view being said position of said navigation system, said computer program comprising instructions and data in order to allow said processor to perform the following action before action a):

establishing a direction of travel of the navigation system based on data received from the position determining device,

and the one or more scenes shown on the display in act b) correspond to scenes visible to a user of the navigation system in the direction of travel.

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the memory stores route planning software arranged to allow the processor to calculate a route to be followed from a start location to a destination.

4. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein the advertisement space location and the message location data have a geocoded location data format.

5. The system of any of claims 2-4, wherein the computer program comprises instructions and data in order to allow the processor to download data about position data of 3D objects of the 3D model that are visible in the graphical display, and the advertisement space position and the advertisement space size from a remote server.

6. The system of any of claims 2-5, wherein the computer program comprises instructions and data in order to allow the processor to download data about the 3D model including the message data and message location data as a function of the location of the navigation system itself relative to the at least one ad space location.

7. A system according to any one of claims 2 to 6, the processor being arranged to show on the display at least one of contact information and a link to a website relating to the message, the system comprising an input device which allows the user of the navigation system to select the link when it is shown and to generate a selection signal therefor, the computer program comprising instructions and data so as to allow the processor to show the website on the display upon receipt of the selection signal.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the input device allows the user to navigate on the website and operate one or more links shown on the website.

9. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the processor is arranged to generate an audio message relating to the advertisement via a speaker.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein one such link relates to a telephone number of a telephone, and the computer program comprises instructions and data in order to allow the processor to establish a telephone link between the telephone and a subscribing mobile telephone when the user operates the one link.

11. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein the computer program comprises instructions and data in order to allow the processor to perform at least one of the following actions depending on the distance between the viewpoint and the ad space position:

increasing the resolution of messages presented on the display,

dynamically modifying the content of the image as the distance becomes smaller or as it is enlarged,

virtually rotating the advertising space on the display such that the advertising space is shown from a viewpoint that is substantially perpendicular to a surface of the advertising space.

12. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the computer program comprises instructions and data so as to allow the processor to present on the display icons operable as links by a user of the system prior to mapping the message data on the at least one advertising space.

13. The system of any of the preceding claims, wherein the computer program comprises instructions and data in order to allow the processor to show messages in dependence on the speed of the system in at least one of the following ways:

a certain message is only shown if the speed is below a certain threshold speed,

changing the content of the message in dependence on the speed of the system,

an icon operable as a link by a user of the system is shown on the display prior to mapping the message data on the at least one advertising space, and such link is allowed to operate only when the system is stopped.

14. A method of displaying information on a display in a system comprising a processor (11) and a display (18) connected to the processor (11), the method comprising:

a) a 3D model having 3D objects is accessed,

b) showing a graphical display of one or more scenes on the display, the scenes constituting a moving view on one or more of the 3D objects as seen from a moving viewpoint, the one or more 3D objects including at least one advertisement space having an advertisement space position and an advertisement space size,

c) receiving a message comprising message data and message location data,

d) mapping the message data on the at least one advertisement space such that the message data overlays the advertisement space on the display if the advertisement space location is associated with the message location data as a function of a distance between the mobile viewpoint and the one or more 3D objects.

15. A computer program product comprising instructions and data which are loadable by a system and allow a processor of the system to perform the method according to claim 14.

16. A data carrier comprising a computer program product according to claim 15.

17. A communication system comprising a system according to any of claims 1 to 13 and a service provider server comprising a server processor and a server memory, the server memory storing the data relating to the 3D model, the system and the service provider server being arranged to communicate with each other wirelessly, allowing the system to download the data relating to the 3D model upon request.

18. A method of processing a digital image, comprising:

a picture or animated image of a real world object is received by means of a computer system and stored in a memory,

generating a 3D model from the picture or animated image,

advertising space on such objects that may be overlaid with messages, such as advertisements, is automatically identified or allowed to be identified by an operator, and such advertising space is marked with a marker in the memory, which also stores at least 3D coordinates defining the advertising space, allowing different messages to be mapped on the advertising space on a dynamic basis.

19. A computer system comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions and data such that the processor is allowed to perform the method of claim 18.

20. A computer program product comprising instructions and data which are loadable by a system and allow a processor of the system to perform the method according to claim 18.

21. A data carrier comprising a computer program product according to claim 20.