Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Continental Automotive Gmbh

Markus Schupfner

Torsten Mosis

Lutz-Wolfgang Tiede

Juergen Leimbach

The described navigation system makes use of the attribute pertaining to the existence of &ldquo;preferred directions,&rdquo; in particular, inside multi-story car parks. These preferred directions are not limited to a plane or to an orientation. Preferred directions are, in particular, longer entry and exit paths. The method detects a departure from the digitized area and then determines a preferred direction that is defined as a principle axis or a principle axis direction. When traveling within the non-digitized area, e.g. of a multi-story car park, the system monitors whether the vehicle moves within a predetermined limit of the previously defined principle axis direction. If this is the case, it is determined whether a deviation exists and this deviation is optionally corrected to conform with the principle axis direction. This enables compensation of errors that are caused, in particular, by the direction detection.

Navigation device and position correction method

A method for calibrating an angle sensor ascertains an output signal for a zero point and measures an associated operating temperature. The output signal and a reference signal stored for the operating temperature are used to form a new reference signal. A navigation system equipped with a temperature sensor for measuring the operating temperature of the angle sensor and with a memory for storing reference signals is also provided. The calibration method and the navigation system substantially eliminate angle sensor measurement errors attributed to temperature influences.

Method for calibrating an angle sensor and navigation system having an angle sensor

The navigation device and the corresponding method for position determination utilize dead reckoning. A position is calculated by a processor on the basis of measured values from a distance sensor and a direction sensor. The measured values are compared with a probable position on a stored digital road map. The deviation between the calculated position and the corresponding position on the digitized road map can be saved. Saved deviations form the basis of a correction value with which the calculated position can be corrected.

Navigation device and method for position determination by means of dead reckoning

A navigation system utilizes a digitized road network stored in a non-volatile memory and determines therefrom a travel route from a starting point to a destination point. A partial route is calculated from the starting point to an intermediate destination point and maneuvers for this partial route are generated and output to the user in order to guide the user even before the complete route to the destination point has been fully calculated. When a complete route from the starting point to the destination point has been calculated, the calculated complete route is overlapped with the partial route to define an intersection point between the two routes. The proposed maneuvers for that complete route are then output beginning from the intersection point.

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Wuppertal, Germany

Markus Schupfner