US 12,169,132 B1
Gaming to improve route guidance
Jennifer Marie Chandler-Bradley, Tampa, FL (US); Gabrielle Diane Salazar, San Antonio, TX (US); Ivan Ortiz, Little Elm, TX (US); Yevgeniy Viatcheslavovich Khmelev, San Antonio, TX (US); Carol Lyn Lawrence, Fair Oaks Ranch, TX (US); Keegan Patrick Hayes, Whitestown, IN (US); and Gregory Brian Meyer, San Antonio, TX (US)
Assigned to United Services Automobile Association (USAA), San Antonio, TX (US)
Filed by UIPCO, LLC, San Antonio, TX (US)
Filed on Oct. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/050,590.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/273,251, filed on Oct. 29, 2021.
Int. Cl. G01C 21/34 (2006.01); A63F 13/65 (2014.01); A63F 13/803 (2014.01); G01C 21/36 (2006.01)
CPC G01C 21/3461 (2013.01) [A63F 13/65 (2014.09); A63F 13/803 (2014.09); G01C 21/3415 (2013.01); G01C 21/365 (2013.01); G01C 21/3691 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle navigation system comprising a processor and machine-readable media including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive information about a geographic area from a virtual area simulator;
provide a virtual environment presenting a simulation of the geographic area to a user of an online gaming system, using the information about the geographic area;
receive input from the user to navigate through portions of the simulation while avoiding obstacles in the simulation, the input comprising actions for maneuvering a simulated vehicle from a starting point to a destination point;
determine effects of moving the simulated vehicle through the simulation based on the actions;
identify routes taken by the user from the starting point to the destination point, based on the effects;
analyze the routes to identify an optimal route based on at least one criterion;
generate map data including navigation data based on the optimal route; and
provide the map data to a navigation system for use in navigating a user vehicle from the starting point to the destination point in the geographic area.