Door to doorstep directions
OwnerEdwin Kong Sun Hoinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for providing general directions and supplementary information over a network that accesses a database and a map server. The map server provides general directions, maps, and geocode information. The database provides supplementary information such as a name of the building, a place to park, an elevator to take, a certain floor to meet on, and a particular person to meet. Each destination point includes customized supplementary information that provides specific directions relating to the destination point. The supplementary information can be unique to each particular business. The database can be updated by the user independent of updates to the map server. Combining the map server with the database allows a user to obtain specific door to door directions.
Claims21
A method of providing directions to a user comprising:
- receiving a starting point;
- receiving a destination point;
- providing general directions from the starting point to the destination point using a map server;
- providing supplementary information using a database;
- and
- displaying the general directions and supplementary information.
A method of providing directions to a user over a network comprising:
- establishing a connection from a Web browser to a server through the Internet;
- accessing a Web site from the Web browser;
- transmitting data in the form of a Web page from the server to the Web browser;
- inputting a starting point on the Web page with a user input device;
- accessing a list of businesses from a database;
- selecting a business having a business ID from the list of businesses using the user input device;
- transmitting the starting point from the Web browser to the server;
- searching the database for a business record corresponding to the business ID;
- transmitting the business record to the server;
- searching the business record for a geocode and supplementary information;
- transmitting the geocode to a map server to determine a route from the starting point to the destination point;
- displaying the route;
- and
- displaying the supplementary information.
A computer system for providing directions to a user over a computer network, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory connected to the processor, the memory including code for:
- receiving a starting point from a user;
- receiving a destination point from the user;
- providing general directions from the starting point to the destination point using a map server;
- providing supplementary information using a database;
- and
- sending the general directions and the supplementary information to the computer network for displaying the general directions and supplementary information.
A computer program product comprising:
- a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for displaying supplementary information, the computer program product comprising:
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to receive a starting point;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to receive a destination point;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to provide general directions from the starting point to the destination point using a map server;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to provide supplementary information using a database;
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to append the supplementary information to the general directions;
- and
- computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to display the general directions.
A computer program product that provides directions to a user comprising:
- code that receives starting point information;
- code that receives a destination point;
- code that provides directions from the starting point to the destination point using a map server;
- code that provides supplementary information using a database;
- code that displays the general directions and supplementary information;
- and
- a computer readable medium that stores the computer codes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.