The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 11, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2004
Maneesh Agrawala, San Francisco, CA (US);
Chris Stolte, Stanford, CA (US);
Maneesh Agrawala, San Francisco, CA (US);
Chris Stolte, Stanford, CA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for placing an annotation or label in a route map in an appropriate grid cell are described. Initially, the route map is partitioned into an initial grid; composed of candidate grid cells, into which the annotation or label can be placed. If necessary, a search for grid cells having sufficient adjacent object free grid cells is conducted. When no candidate grid cells are found during the identifying or searching stages, a grid subdivision scheme subdivides a portion of the grid cells in the initial grid to form a new grid. Then, the identifying and searching steps are repeated using the new grid. The process also ranks multiple candidate cells based on a density of objects in bordering grid cells. The candidate grid cell having the lowest density of objects in bordering cells is selected as the appropriate candidate grid cell.