Apple Applies For "Podmap" Patent

GPS technology is out of the picture for the iPhone, but Apple has more in store to take it's place. An Apple patent application was recently published for what they call a "podmap", or a sort of on-demand podcast containing maps and spoken directions to help users find their way around.

The concept described in the patent involves four core components. Users request a set of driving instructions, which are sent to a remote map server. The map server returns textual based directions and run them through a text-to-speech engine. The audio directions would be sent to a "podmap creator", which pieces them together, along with visual media like maps, into a video podcast. This is then stored on an RSS server.

"In this regard, the application server can reply to the client program to notify the client that the requested podmap is now available from the podmap RSS server. The client program can then interact with the podmap RSS server to retrieve the requested podmap," Apple said.

"Furthermore, once the client program includes the requested podmap, the client program can transfer or copy the podmap to the portable media device," the company continued. "In any event, once the requested podmap is resident at the client or the portable media device, the podmap is able to be played on such devices. Due to their support of media playback, the client and the portable media device can also be referred to as media playback devices. When being played, the podmap presents to the user of the device the voice directions and the corresponding images so that the user is able to successfully navigate from the start location to the destination location. It is particularly useful to play on the portable media device because it can be easily carried or transferred by the user."

[via AppleInsider]