WO2010049925A2

WO2010049925A2 - Method and system for guiding a user to a specified landmark

Info

Publication number: WO2010049925A2
Application number: PCT/IL2009/001000
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nathan Sobovitz; Ronen Tal-Botzer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-10-29
Filing date: 2009-10-27
Publication date: 2010-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 2011-04-29
Also published as: WO2010049925A3

Abstract

A method and system for guiding a user to a specified landmark, an unmanned service center maintains a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto. A personal communications device conveys to the service center information that identifies the specified landmark. The service center extracts from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specified landmark and conveys representative data to the personal communications device, typically as a text or voice message or an image. In accordance with one embodiment, search criteria are entered in free text and a list of matching landmarks is conveyed to the user for selecting one or more landmarks and receiving directions for reaching them.

Description

Method and system for guiding a user to a specified landmark

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the use of mobile communication devices for obtaining location-specific information and to free-text or natural language algorithms suitable for use with such devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The need for help in finding landmarks of various kinds is well known. Global positioning system (GPS) and similar location determining devices have allowed users to locate themselves on our planet. Together with mapping software, the GPS network allows users to identify themselves with respect landmarks, streets, and the like. GPS- based systems have also been proposed for locating stationary objects, such as a vehicle parked in an unknown location.

By way of example, US Pat. No. 6,650,999 describes a device and an apparatus with the assistance of which a driver can locate his parked vehicle of unknown location. The information concerning the instantaneous location of the vehicle gained by a GPS- based navigation system located in the vehicle is transferred, prior to or at completion of parking, to a mobile terminal which can be carried along by the driver when leaving his vehicle and stored therein. When needed, the driver can recall the information concerning the parked location from the memory of the mobile terminal for display on a monitor in a recognizable manner. Instead of direct storage in the mobile terminal, the information concerning the parked location can also be stored in a remote intermediate memory to which the terminal has access.

It is thus clear that the basic concept of locating a parked vehicle using a mobile telephone is known. However, GPS-based systems require a transceiver that must be sufficiently powerful to make contact with at least three satellites. As such they are not suited for communication underground or in areas that are heavily reinforced with metal reinforcing bars that screen electromagnetic radiation. US Pat. No. 6,801,763 relates to techniques for communicating travel directions. A user while traveling may call an operator in an information/call center to request directions to a desired destination. In response, the operator obtains a directions file containing the requested directions. The requested directions are read from the directions file to the user by an interactive voice response (IVR) unit via synthesized voice.

Such a system enables a user to utilize a common communication device such as a telephone, mobile phone, PDA, facsimile device, pager, SMS device, etc. to obtain travel directions while he/she is driving, walking, or in other mode of transportation. US20080194227 discloses a method for remotely locating an entity attached to a locator device where a message is received at the locator device, in response to which a call is automatically initiated over the cellular network to enable a party answering the call to determine a location of the locator device. In some embodiments, the device may automatically initiate an emergency call over a control/data channel of cellular network to a Public Safety Answering Point, which may be equipped to receive text messages and/or videos requesting assistance and transmit a stored predetermined data stream to the Public Safety Answering Point that provides information about the entity that is missing and/or contact information to the party that initiated the activation of device.

US 2005/0288997 discloses a system for guiding a user in a network of pay points delivering goods or services, such as parking ticket dispensers for paying parking fees. For example, the system may be a parking meter system for use in a large, e.g. multistory car park, whereby each terminal has position information generating means and optimally means for guiding a customer to another meter. When the user wants to return to his vehicle or to feed the meter, the user may have difficulty in remembering where he parked his vehicle. To this end, means may be provided for downloading the information on the location of a machine from a suitable communication terminal of the user, such as a mobile telephone, for example in the form of an SMS message.

This approach is based on the assumption that the pay point will never be very far from the parked vehicle and so directing the motorist to the closest pay point will be sufficient for him to find his vehicle. The guidance information may comprise a map of one or more paths to the machine to which the user wishes to return from the machine supplying the information and may be conveyed via a text message such as SMS. The above prior art references require a custom infrastructure that includes some sort of transceiver affixed to the object to be located. Typically, the guidance information is nothing more than an identity of a parking location, such as the number of a parking bay in a multi-story car park. Alternatively, a GPS location device is required. None of the above approaches provides a generally applicable service that may be universally applied to any locale without the need for extensive modifications to an existing infrastructure and yet provides clear instructions that aid the user in locating a specified location without the need for specialized hardware.

Furthermore none of the above approaches allows free-text searching by a user for finding all matching suppliers or service providers in a geographically defined area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a generally applicable service that may be universally applied to any locale without the need for extensive modifications to an existing infrastructure and yet provides clear instructions that aid the user in locating a specified location without the need for specialized hardware.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided a method for guiding a user to a specific landmark, the method comprising: maintaining a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; receiving from a personal communications device information that allows the specific landmark to be identified; extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark; and conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method for obtaining guidance to a specified landmark, the method comprising: conveying to a service center via a personal communications device information that allows the service center to identify the specific landmark and extract a set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark from a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; and receiving at the personal communications device data representative of a set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto.

In accordance with yet a further aspect of the invention there is provided an unmanned service center for guiding a user to a specific landmark, the service center comprising: a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto, a first communications interface for receiving from a personal communications device information that identifies the specific landmark, a processor coupled to the first communications interface and to said database for extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark, and a second communications interface coupled to the processor for conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device.

In accordance with yet a further aspect of the invention there is provided a personal communications device for obtaining guidance to a specified landmark, the personal communications device comprising: a user interface coupled to a processor for compiling a message including information that identifies the specific landmark, a memory coupled to the processor for storing message data, a first communications interface coupled to the processor for conveying the message data to a service center so as to allow the service center to extract a set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark from a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto, a second communications interface coupled to the processor for receiving guidance data representative of said set of instructions, and an output unit coupled to the processor for rendering the guidance data intelligible to a user of the personal communications device.

The invention also contemplates a business method for allowing a user to access a service center for obtaining guidance instructions for reaching a specific landmark in a geographically defined area, said method comprising: maintaining a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; receiving from a personal communications device information that identifies the specified landmark; extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specified landmark; conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device; and levying a service charge against an account associated with at least one of: the personal communications device and a management center associated with said geographically defined area.

In accordance with a yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for matching suppliers or service providers in a geographically defined area to a client query, said method comprising: (a) obtaining supplier data and processing off-line so as to derive supplier- related search terms and parameters;

(b) receiving a customer query from a client communications device and processing in real time so as to derive query-related search terms and parameters; (c) correlating query-related search terms and parameters relating to the customer query with supplier-related search terms and parameters for all suppliers to derive a list of matching suppliers; and (d) conveying a list of matching suppliers to the client communications device.

Such a method may be used by a service center to match suppliers or service providers in a geographically defined area to a client query so as to send a list of matching suppliers to a client communication device. The client may then select one of the displayed suppliers for obtaining directions for reaching the selected supplier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing functionality of a system according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations carried out by a service center in the system shown in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations carried out by a personal communications device in the system shown in Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations of a business model for use by the service center of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram showing the basic principles of a search engine that may be used in the system of Fig. 1 for correlating client search terms with supplier- related terms so as to find suppliers matching a client search; and

Figs. 6 to 11 show details associated with an improved algorithm for use by the search engine of Fig. 5 allowing free text searches.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 shows functionally a system 10 for guiding a user to a specified landmark.

The system 10 includes an unmanned service center 11 to which a personal communications device 12 may be coupled via a communications network 13, such as a cellular telephone network or the Internet. The specified landmark will typically vary according to a desired application of the invention. For example, the invention may be employed in an airport parking system where the landmark is identified by the number of a parking bay and parking level. The invention may also be employed in a shopping mall where the landmark is identified by the code or name of a store. In a hospital environment, the landmark may be indicative of a specific department or ward. In a university campus, the landmark may be indicative of a specific faculty building or of a location therein. It is to be understood that these are merely non-limiting illustrative examples of scenarios depicting large and often confusing terrains where people can easily get lost and require clear directions to reach a desired location.

The service center 11 comprises a database 15 of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto. For example, Table I shows a suitable instruction set for reaching bay C5 in parking level -1 in an airport parking system: Proceed from baggage collection through customs. On exiting customs proceed through arrivals hall and turn right where you will see three elevators opposite the car rental office. Take any of the elevators and go down to floor 1. On exiting the elevator, turn left. Proceed past sections A and B until you arrive at section C. Bay C5 is on the left side.

Table I: Instruction set for multi-story parking lot

For example, Table II shows a suitable instruction set for reaching Mike's Cafe in a shopping mall:

If entering shopping mall on Trent Street, proceed straight from entrance. Go past the Foleys book store on the left hand side, where you will see an escalator. Take the Up-escalator to the second floor. Mike's Cafe is opposite the escalator. If entering shopping mall on Sudbury Lane, proceed straight from entrance past the first escalator until you reach MRV Music Store on the right. Take the second escalator up to the second floor. Continue straight past The Perfect Shoe. Mike's Cafe is on the right hand side five shops further down.

Table II: Instruction set for shopping mall

Table III shows a suitable instruction set for reaching Maternity in a hospital:

Enter Outpatients. Take any of the Up-elevators on the left hand side to the sixth floor. Maternity is on your left.

Table III: Instruction set for hospital

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations carried out by a service center 11 and Fig. 3 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations carried out by the personal communications device 12. A first communications interface 16 in the service center 11 receives from the personal communications device 12 information that identifies the specified landmark, and a processor 17 is coupled to the first communications interface 16 and to the database 15 for extracting from the database 15 the respective set of instructions for reaching the specified landmark. A second communications interface 18 is coupled to the processor 17 for conveying guidance data representative of the instruction set to the personal communications device 12. It will be understood that the first communications interface 16 and the second communications interface 18 may be a common interface. The processor 17 may include a parsing unit 19 for parsing the received information for deriving the specified landmark therefrom. This enables the information to be conveyed in the form of free text rather than rely only on predetermined fixed codes.

The personal communications device 12 comprises a user interface 20 coupled to a processor 21 for compiling a message including information that identifies the specified landmark. A memory 22 is coupled to the processor 21 for storing message data, and a first communications interface 23 is coupled to the processor 21 for conveying the message data to the service center 11 so as to allow the service center 11 to extract from the database 15 the appropriate set of instructions for reaching the specified landmark. A second communications interface 24 is coupled to the processor 21 for receiving guidance data representative of the received set of instructions, and an output unit 25 is coupled to the processor 21 for rendering the guidance data intelligible to a user of the personal communications device. Typically, the output unit 25 includes a display device for displaying the guidance data as a text message or image. However, the output unit 25 may include a vocalization unit for rendering the guidance data vocally. Optionally, the text message may include a link for allowing the user to download supplementary information over the Internet.

The memory 22 of the personal communications device 12 is preferably adapted to store the guidance data so that the user can access the service center 11 on arriving at his initial destination, for example immediately after parking his car in a multi-story car park; or upon arriving at a shopping mall or hospital etc. He then communicates to the service center 11 the relevant information defining his required destination and receives suitable guidance data which is stored a text message, which he can access whenever he is in doubt. So, for example, upon parking his car in a multi-story car park he can immediately receive and store a guidance message directing him how to find his car and can easily access this message later, even weeks later after returning from a trip abroad.

If desired, the user can also obtain the required guidance message well in advance before arriving at his destination. So, for example, before arriving at a shopping center, he can use the personal communications device 12 to call up the service center 11, possibly using a reserved code such as *9013, and specify his desired destination, e.g. Mike's Cafe. The guidance message is conveyed by the service center 11 in the usual manner for storage in the memory 22 of the personal communications device 12 for subsequent access. The service center 11 may be associated with a single geographically restricted area such as a shopping mall or parking lot and provide guidance relating only to the respective geographically restricted area. However, the invention also contemplates a much broader service where the service center 11 stores guidance messages relating to multiple geographically restricted areas. In this case, the user must identify the geographically restricted area in connection with which he needs assistance as well as the specific landmark therein. In some embodiments, identifying a specific landmark may be sufficient to identify both. For example, each parking level and bay in a multistory parking lot may be identified by a unique code. It is then sufficient for the user to convey the appropriate code to the service center to allow the service center to extract the correct guidance message. The same approach can also be used to identify stores in a shopping mall or wards in a hospital. But this requires some prior adjustment to the infrastructure such as by way of erecting notices identifying the code of each landmark.

In many cases, such prior adjustment can be avoided by allowing the user to enter the name of the landmark using free text. However, this introduces the possibility that different people will identify the same landmark using different text and this requires that the processor 17 in the service center 11 be adapted to parse received messages and correctly construe the intended landmark. To this end, the processor 17 may include a parsing unit 19 as described above that maps each word to a list of synonyms or phonetically similar words for identifying the intended landmark. When free text is conveyed to the service center this may be in the form of: "how do I find Mike 's Cafe in the Azrielli shopping center? " This uniquely identifies the intended landmark assuming that there is only one Mike 's Cafe and only one Azrielli shopping center. If duplicates are found in the database, so that the intended landmark cannot be uniquely identified, the service center can send an error message to the personal communications device 12 requesting additional data. This may be accompanied by a vocal alert, such as a ping to alert the user to the need to be more specific. So for example, he might receive a message: Mike 's Cafe has two locations (I) on the ground floor near the Foley's book store and a second one (2) on the third floor near the cinema. Which do you want (1) or (2)? Entering the additional data allows the service center to uniquely identify the correct landmark. Alternatively, this additional exchange can be avoided by providing alternative guidance messages to each location. Typically, the personal communications device 12 is a cellular telephone or PDA. However, the invention also embraces other forms of personal communications device that need not necessarily be portable, such as a personal computer, laptop and the like such as shown by way of illustration in Fig. 1. Likewise, it will be understood that the invention contemplates a new service that allows a user to access a service center for obtaining guidance instructions for reaching a specified landmark in a geographically defined area. Such a service will bring additional revenue to a cellular or IP service provider. Fig. 4 is a flow diagram showing the principal operations of such a business method. The database may be configured to allow searches having different levels of abstraction. For example, the lowest level of abstraction is when a target is uniquely identified, such as a unique store name or a unique number of a parking space. A higher level of abstraction is when a target is identified by a specific item within a defined category, e.g. "shirt" being a specified fashion item. An even higher level of abstraction is when a target is identified by category alone, e.g. "fashion". These levels are, of course, merely representative and each of them may have sub-categories, such as color, type (short sleeves, long sleeves, with collar, without collar, wool, acrylic and so on).

Although the approach as described above allows for the possibility of free-text searching, it has so far been described with regard to free-text searching of uniquely identifiable landmarks. However, the invention also encompasses free-text searching of a much more general nature that allows multiple targets to be identified that answer a search query. This type of search represents a higher level of abstraction, since it does not required that categories be pre-defined. For example, Table II shows instructions for locating Mike's Cafe in a shopping mall. But a user may not know Mike's Cafe by name and/or may simply wish to locate the nearest coffee shop or restaurant; or he may wish to search for all coffee shops in the mall according to other criteria, such as menu, price range, proximity, wheel chair access and so on.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram showing the basic principles of a search engine that may be used in the system of Fig. 1 for correlating client search terms with supplier-related terms so as to find suppliers matching a client search.

Figs. 6 to 11 show details associated with an improved algorithm for use by a search engine allowing free text searches that address this requirement. The algorithm includes off-line accumulation and pre-processing of data from service providers such as business enterprises who may periodically send information to the database manager for inclusion in the database. This information may be limited to basic data such as name, location and the like or it may include additional promotional information as depicted in Fig. 6 in the form of an offering. When the search engine is used in a cellular platform, the data may be conveyed by the service providers to the database manager in free text such as SMS. The parsing unit 19 parses the received search strings, filters out redundant terms that add no search value such as "stop words" according to a pre-defined list so as to generate a list of keywords. The keywords are passed to a number of different types of parallel sub-engines, which return further lists of similar or related terms. These may include, for example, regular web search engines, dictionary, thesaurus, ontology and morphology engines. The figure shows an offering conveyed to the database engine by SMS having the words "10% discount for the new string collection at H&M". The words "10%", "for", "the" and "at" are filtered out and the remaining terms are passed to each of the parallel sub-engines. Moreover, the parallel sub-engines are also interlinked so that target terms located by one sub-engine serve as source terms to the other sub-engines. In the figure, only adjacent sub-engines are shown interlinked so as not to obfuscate the drawing. In a preferred embodiment, all the sub-engines may be interlinked although this is not mandatory. It will likewise be appreciated that the number and type of sub-engines are not limited to what is shown in the figure.

Shown underneath each sub-engine is a list of terms that are output by the respective sub-engine, it being understood that these terms are derived from the initial filtered list as well as the results of the interlinked sub-engines. The web search engines include search engines such as Google™ that produce lists of ordered terms arranged by rank. The dictionary and thesaurus produce synonyms and other related terms. The ontology engine outputs words having an ideological connection to the search terms based on terms that are ontologically close to the search terms. So a search for humus may output tahini and sesame as matching terms. The ontology engine operates according to known algorithms that find all words within a specified radius of a search term and vice versa. That is to say, the ontology engine can also output a number that is indicative of the distance between two search terms. The morphology engine outputs linguistically-related terms. So the term new may produce newest, newer and so on. It will be understood that each of the sub-engines is known per se and the manner in which each sub-engine produces results is not a feature of the present invention, which resides in the interaction between the different sub-engines and the manner in which natural language search strings are processed in series and parallel by multiple sub-engines of different types to generate composite matches.

Fig. 7 shows an on-line stage that is carried out in real-time in response to a user sending an SMS free-text query. Since it makes reference to methods that are described in Figs. 8, 9 and 11, these methods will now be described.

Fig. 8 shows a first method referred to generically as Method 1 , which operates in a manner that is substantially identical to that described above with reference to Fig. 6, except that while the process shown in Fig. 6 operates on free-text messages conveyed by or obtained from service providers, the process shown in Fig. 8 operates on free-text messages conveyed by a user. The same method may be used to process not only free-text messages entered by a user but also specific properties or attributes of the matching results. For example, a user may enter a free-text search for "eating places in a given shopping mall" and the search engine may find Joe's Pizza Parlor, Dave's Donuts, Sally's Sandwich Bar and Kate's Coffee House. The method described with reference to Fig. 6 can then be applied to the name and category of each of these matching service providers so as to yield an expanded list of potential matches - all, of course, within the same geographically defined area, although the method shown in Fig. 6 to 11 is not restricted for use in a geographically defined area.

So, for example, Sally's Sandwich Bar may have categories of "take-away" and "fast food" while Joe's Pizza Parlor may have categories of "Italian", "take-away", "fast food" and "vegetarian". The names and categories of matching targets are all amenable to the search mechanism shown in Fig. 6 and will generally give rise to further matching targets such as "Cindy's Cookies", which sells food and Joe's Stationery Store which is clearly less relevant.

Reverting to Fig. 7 it is now seen that the method of Fig. 6 is applied in respect of offerings sent in free-text form to the database manager and in respect of search queries entered in free-text form by a user. The offerings and search results are cross- linked in the sense that words that are derived as the result of processing offerings serve as parameters for processing search queries and vice versa. For example, an offering by Joe's Pizza Parlor may provide as ontological matches massage and games. These words may cross-match to Fred's Fitness Club and Tina's Toy Store and the names of these enterprises are fed back as input to the search engine and yield further matches. The cross-linking allows potentially relevant businesses to be targeted even if they have not initiated an offering and thus renders the on-line search independent of the off-line offerings.

Fig. 9 shows a correlation matrix that is generated by a second method referred to generically as Method 2, which correlates each of the words output in response to the user search with each of the words matching the business categories for a given supplier. Each row in the correlation matrix relates to a specific supplier-related term, while each column in the correlation matrix relates to a specific customer search term as shown pictorially in Fig. 10. Multiple correlation matrices are thus compiled, each for a respective supplier. Each cell is a number between 0 and 1 that correlates the corresponding supplier-related term with the corresponding customer search term. The value of each cell may be a function of the following parameters: C is the correlation value;

X is the number of search occurrences of the supplier-related term as obtained using one or more search engines; Y is the number of search occurrences of the customer search term as obtained using one or more search engines; Z is the number of search occurrences of both terms; and

W is the distance in the ontology database between the two terms.

For example, in one embodiment the following formula was used:

where: / is an application-specific factor that may be set by the service provider.

Having computed each cell in the correlation matrix, it now remains to compute whether the supplier corresponding to the correlation matrix matches the customer search terms according to a given significance level. Thus for all the search terms in each row, if the average of the matrix values exceeds a first threshold and the standard deviation is less than a second threshold, there is said to be a match between the search terms and the supplier relating to this matrix. In other words, the supplier corresponding to this matrix is able to address the customer's requirements.

Fig. 11 summarizes the foregoing stages and shows the final stage of the algorithm depicted as Method 3, which uses Method 1 and Method 2 as previously described to find all suppliers matching a user query as follows:

1. Use Method 1 to derive a unified keyword and parameter list representing the context of each supplier;

2. Use Method 1 to derive a unified keyword and parameter list representing the context of the customer query; 3. Use Method 2 to correlate each term in each of the unified keyword and parameter lists so as to derive a list of suppliers that match the search terms; 4. Convey the list of matching suppliers to the customer device. It will be understood that the algorithm as described above is merely an example of one suitable approach for processing user queries so as to match suitable suppliers with a user-generated query. It will also be appreciated that although in one embodiment of the invention, user searches may be conveyed to the service center by SMS in free text, the principles of the invention are equally applicable for conveying search terms using natural language searches via other media. For example, on connecting to the service center, an interactive voice response (IVR) may prompt the user to enter search terms vocally, these being filtered and processed using a similar approach to that described above.

When used in the system of Fig. 1 to locate landmarks, the algorithm described above may be used to compile a list of matching landmarks or suppliers that match the user's search. This list may then be conveyed to the user's personal communications device for display thereby, thus allowing selection of one specific landmark by the user. Data indicative of the selected landmark may then be conveyed to the service center for obtaining instructions for reaching the specific landmark. Alternatively, instructions for reaching each matching landmark may be conveyed to the user's personal communications device with the matching list of landmarks. This obviates the need for a second round of communication but requires increased data traffic and caching a higher volume of data in the personal communications device.

It will be appreciated that the examples of free text searches described above are merely representative. In practice, the algorithm as described with references to Figs. 5 to 11 is equally suited for processing searches of more abstract nature, such as "I'm looking for a present for my wife" or "something that will excite my mother". It could also relate to the user's status, such as "I'm here with my classmates" or "I'm about to start college". All of these searches may be processed to generate complementary and orthogonal keywords that allow specific suppliers to be matched to the user's query.

It will also be appreciated that while the algorithm described with reference to Figs. 5 to 11 of the drawings is useful for guiding a user to a landmark according to search criteria entered by the user, it is more generally applicable for matching database terms pertaining to suppliers and other service providers to user searches of a general nature. Moreover, the suppliers do not need to be confined to a geographically defined area, although in the specific case where the algorithm is used to locate landmarks in a geographically bound area, such as a shopping mall, parking lot, airport and the like, potential landmarks will be inherently geographically defined. But the algorithm could well be used to locate all second hand bookshops selling a specified book by mail order, and in this case, no geographic limitation is implied.

It will also be understood that the system according to the invention may be a suitably programmed computer. Likewise, the invention contemplates a computer program being readable by a computer for executing the method of the invention. The invention further contemplates a machine-readable memory tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine for executing the method of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for guiding a user to a specific landmark, the method comprising: maintaining a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; receiving from a personal communications device information that allows the specific landmark to be identified; extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark; and conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said data is conveyed as a text message.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the text message includes a link for allowing the user to download supplementary information over the Internet.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said data is conveyed as a voice message.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said data is conveyed as an image message.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, including storing said data.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the easily recognizable landmarks are in a geographically constrained area.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the geographically constrained area is a parking lot.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the geographically constrained area is an airport.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the geographically constrained area is a shopping mall.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said information and data are conveyed over a cellular telephone network.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said information and data are conveyed over the Internet.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the information that allows the specific landmark to be identified is a natural language or free-text query and there is further included: (a) obtaining and processing data from potential landmarks so as to derive landmark-related search terms and parameters;

(b) receiving a customer query from the personal communications device and processing in real time so as to derive query-related search terms and parameters; (c) correlating query-related search terms and parameters relating to the customer query with landmark-related search terms and parameters for all landmarks to derive a list of matching landmarks; and

(d) conveying a list of matching landmarks to the personal communications device for rendering thereby.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the customer query is a natural language search.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the search terms are received as a text message.

16. The method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the search terms are received as a voice message.

17. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein correlating query- related search terms and parameters relating to the customer query with supplier-related search terms and parameters for all suppliers to derive a list of matching suppliers

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein obtaining and processing supplier data includes: receiving a natural language search string; parsing the search string and filtering out redundant terms so as to obtain a list of keywords; and using search engines of different types each for obtaining one or more matching terms for each keyword according to a respective search strategy so as to obtain respective lists of terms corresponding to the keywords.

19. The method according to claim 18, including feeding terms obtained with a first search engine to a second search engine of different type.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein receiving and processing a customer query includes: receiving a natural language search string; parsing the search string and filtering out redundant terms so as to obtain a list of keywords; and using search engines of different types each for obtaining one or more matching terms for each keyword according to a respective search strategy so as to obtain respective lists of terms corresponding to the keywords.

21. The method according to claim 18 or 20, wherein the search engines include two or more different types of search engine in the group consisting of: regular web search engines, dictionary, thesaurus, ontology and morphology engines.

22. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 21, wherein correlating query- related search terms and parameters with supplier-related search terms and parameters includes: generating a correlation matrix for each supplier wherein each cell is a number between 0 and 1 that correlates a corresponding supplier-related term with a corresponding customer search term; and computing whether the supplier corresponding to the correlation matrix matches the customer search terms according to a given significance level.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the respective value of each cell is a function of the following parameters: correlation value; number of search occurrences of the supplier-related term as obtained using one 5 or more search engines; the number of search occurrences of the customer search term as obtained using one or more search engines; the number of search occurrences of both terms; and the distance in the ontology database between the two terms.

10 24. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 24, wherein the supplier data is processed off-line.

25. A method for obtaining guidance to a specific landmark, the method comprising: conveying to a service center via a personal communications device information that allows the service center to identify the specific landmark and extract a set of 15 instructions for reaching the specific landmark from a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; and receiving at the personal communications device data representative of a set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks 20 in proximity thereto.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein said data is received as a text message.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the text message includes a link for allowing the user to download supplementary information over the Internet.

25 28. The method according to claim 25, wherein said data is received as a voice message.

29. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 28, including storing said data.

30. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 29, wherein the easily recognizable landmarks are in a geographically constrained area.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the geographically constrained area is a parking lot.

32. The method according to claim 30 or 31, wherein the geographically constrained area is an airport.

33. The method according to claim 30, wherein the geographically constrained area is a shopping mall.

34. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 33, wherein said information and data are conveyed over a cellular telephone network.

35. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 33, wherein said information and data are conveyed over the Internet.

36. A method for matching suppliers or service providers in a geographically defined area to a client query, said method comprising:

(a) obtaining and processing supplier data so as to derive supplier-related search terms and parameters; (b) receiving a customer query from a client communications device and processing in real time so as to derive query-related search terms and parameters;

(c) correlating query-related search terms and parameters relating to the customer query with supplier-related search terms and parameters for all suppliers to derive a list of matching suppliers; and

(d) conveying a list of matching suppliers to the client communications device.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the customer query is a natural language search.

38. The method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein the search terms are received as a text message.

39. The method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein the search terms are received as a voice message.

40. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 39, wherein correlating query- related search terms and parameters relating to the customer query with supplier-related search terms and parameters for all suppliers to derive a list of matching suppliers

41. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 40, wherein obtaining and 5 processing supplier data includes: receiving a natural language search string; parsing the search string and filtering out redundant terms so as to obtain a list of keywords; and using search engines of different types each for obtaining one or more matching 10 terms for each keyword according to a respective search strategy so as to obtain respective lists of terms corresponding to the keywords.

42. The method according to claim 41, including feeding terms obtained with a first search engine to a second search engine of different type.

43. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 42, wherein receiving and 15 processing a customer query includes: receiving a natural language search string; parsing the search string and filtering out redundant terms so as to obtain a list of keywords; and using search engines of different types each for obtaining one or more matching 20 terms for each keyword according to a respective search strategy so as to obtain respective lists of terms corresponding to the keywords.

44. The method according to claim 41 or 43, wherein the search engines include two or more different types of search engine in the group consisting of: regular web search engines, dictionary, thesaurus, ontology and morphology engines.

25 45. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 44, wherein correlating query- related search terms and parameters with supplier-related search terms and parameters includes: generating a correlation matrix for each supplier wherein each cell is a number between 0 and 1 that correlates a corresponding supplier-related term with a corres-

30 ponding customer search term; and computing whether the supplier corresponding to the correlation matrix matches the customer search terms according to a given significance level.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein the respective value of each cell is a function of the following parameters:

5 correlation value; number of search occurrences of the supplier-related term as obtained using one or more search engines; the number of search occurrences of the customer search term as obtained using one or more search engines; 10 the number of search occurrences of both terms; and the distance in the ontology database between the two terms.

47. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 46, wherein the supplier data is processed off-line.

48. An unmanned service center for guiding a user to a specific landmark, the 15 service center comprising: a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto, a first communications interface for receiving from a personal communications device information that identifies the specific landmark,

20 a processor coupled to the first communications interface and to said database for extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark, and a second communications interface coupled to the processor for conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device.

25 49. The service center according to claim 48, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said data as a text message.

50. The service center according to claim 49, wherein the text message includes a link for allowing the user to download supplementary information over the Internet.

51. The service center according to claim 48, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said data as a voice message.

52. The service center according to claim 48, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said data as an image message.

5 53. The service center according to any one of claims 48 to 52, wherein the personal communications device is adapted to store said data.

54. The service center according to any one of claims 48 to 53, wherein the easily recognizable landmarks are in a geographically constrained area.

55. The service center according to claim 54, wherein the geographically 10 constrained area is a parking lot.

56. The service center according to claim 54 or 55, wherein the geographically constrained area is an airport.

57. The service center according to claim 54, wherein the geographically constrained area is a shopping mall.

15 58. The service center according to any one of claims 48 to 57, wherein the first communications interface and the second communications interface are coupled to a cellular telephone network.

59. The service center according to any one of claims 48 to 57, wherein the first communications interface and the second communications interface are coupled to the

20 Internet.

60. The service center according to any one of claims 48 to 59, wherein the processor includes a parsing unit for parsing said information for deriving the specified landmark therefrom.

61. A personal communications device for obtaining guidance to a specific 25 landmark, the personal communications device comprising: a user interface coupled to a processor for compiling a message including information that identifies the specific landmark, a memory coupled to the processor for storing message data, a first communications interface coupled to the processor for conveying the message data to a service center so as to allow the service center to extract a set of instructions for reaching the specific landmark from a database of landmarks and

5 respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto, a second communications interface coupled to the processor for receiving guidance data representative of said set of instructions, and an output unit coupled to the processor for rendering the guidance data 10 intelligible to a user of the personal communications device.

62. The personal communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said guidance data as a text message.

63. The personal communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said guidance data as a voice message.

15 64. The personal communications device according to claim 61, wherein the processor is adapted to convey said data as an image message

65. The personal communications device according to any one of claims 61 to 64, wherein the memory is adapted to store said guidance data.

66. The personal communications device according to any one of claims 61 to 65, 20 wherein the easily recognizable landmarks are in a geographically constrained area.

67. The personal communications device according to claim 66, wherein the geographically constrained area is a parking lot.

68. The personal communications device according to claim 66 or 67, wherein the geographically constrained area is an airport.

25 69. The personal communications device according to claim 66, wherein the geographically constrained area is a shopping mall.

70. The personal communications device according to any one of claims 61 to 69, wherein the first communications interface and the second communications interface are coupled to a cellular telephone network.

71. A computer program comprising computer program code means for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 47 when said program is run on a computer.

72. A computer program as claimed in claim 71 embodied on a computer readable medium.

73. A business method for allowing a user to access a service center for obtaining guidance instructions for reaching a specified landmark in a geographically defined area, said method comprising: maintaining a database of landmarks and respective sets of instructions for reaching each landmark via other easily recognizable landmarks in proximity thereto; receiving from a personal communications device information that identifies the specified landmark; extracting from the database the respective set of instructions for reaching the specified landmark; conveying data representative of said set of instructions to the personal communications device; and levying a service charge against an account associated with at least one of: the personal communications device and a management center associated with said geographically defined area.