Facility wayfinding system

• US 10,156,446 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mappedin Inc.
• Original Assignee: Mappedin Inc.
• Inventors: Liu, Hongwei, Lee, Leander, Butler, Mitchell, Wei, Erkang
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kerrigan, Michael V
• Application Number:
  US15/631,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20170284811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A facility wayfinding system is provided which includes an interactive public display device and a mobile device, running a mobile wayfinding application. The interactive public display device, which is situated at a first location within a facility, displays a facility map showing facility units, receives a user selection of a facility unit as a second location, and displays a route from the first location to the second location on the facility map. The mobile device also displays the facility map, displays a route from a start location to a destination location on the facility map, and updates the start location to the first location and the destination location to the second location by synchronizing with the interactive public display device.

Claims

1. A wayfinding system for a facility including multiple facility units, the wayfinding system comprising:

a facility device configured to;

present a user interface on a display of the facility device;

display a facility map showing facility units via the public user interface;

receive a first location and a second location via the user interface, the second location corresponding to a facility unit of the facility units;

display a route from the first location to the second location on the facility map via the user interface; and

receive a uniform resource locator (URL) from a backend system comprising an identifier associated with the route; and

a mobile device configured to;

present a mobile user interface on a display of the mobile device;

receive the URL from the facility device;

via the URL, provide the identifier to the backend system;

receive, from the backend system, the first location and the second location;

update a start location to the first location and a destination location to the second location;

display the facility map via the mobile user interface; and

display the route from the start location to the destination location on the facility map via the mobile user interface.

2. The wayfinding system of claim 1, wherein the facility is an indoor facility.

3. The wayfinding system of claim 1, wherein the facility device is further configured to provide a promotional item relating to the facility unit via the user interface;

and

wherein the mobile device is further configured to receive the promotional item from the facility device.

4. The wayfinding system of claim 1, further comprising:

the backend system, wirelessly connected to the facility device and the mobile device, configured to;

provide the facility map to the facility device and the mobile device;

provide the route from the first location to the second location to the facility device; and

provide the route from the start location to the destination location to the mobile device.

5. The wayfinding system of claim 4, wherein the backend system is further configured to store identifiers, locations, and current selection states for the facility device.

6. The wayfinding system of claim 4, wherein the backend system is further configured to provide the first location and the second location to the mobile device upon receipt of the identifier.

7. The wayfinding system of claim 6, wherein the backend system is further configured to:

store identifiers, locations, and current selection states for the facility device; and

use the identifier to identify the facility device and to retrieve the current selection state for the facility device, wherein the current selection state includes the first location and the second location.

8. The wayfinding system of claim 4, further comprising:

a geographical information system (GIS), hosted internally by the backend system or supplied externally to the backend system, configured to store the facility map and associated facility metadata; and

the destination location.

9. The wayfinding system of claim 4, wherein the public display device is further configured to display a facility directory, listing the facility units, via the public user interface;

wherein the mobile device is further configured to display the facility directory, via the mobile user interface; and

wherein the backend system is further configured to provide the facility directory to the public display device and the mobile device.

10. The wayfinding system of claim 9, wherein the public display device is configured to display the facility map and the facility directory on a same screen of the public user interface;

and wherein the mobile device is configured to display the facility map and the facility directory on different screens of the mobile user interface.

11. The wayfinding system of claim 9, wherein the display of the public display device is a touch-screen display;

and wherein the public display device is configured to receive the user selection by detecting a user touch on a facility unit on the facility map or in the facility directory.

12. The wayfinding system of claim 1, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies the public display device among multiple interactive public display devices.

13. The wayfinding system of claim 1, wherein the facility device is configured to provide the first location and the second location to the backend system.

14. The wayfinding system of claim 13, wherein the facility device is configured to receive the first location and the second location as a user selection.

15. The wayfinding system of claim 13, wherein the backend system is configured to provide the first location and the second location to the mobile device upon receipt of the identifier.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile device, cause the processor of a mobile device to execute a mobile wayfinding application for integration into a wayfinding system for a facility including multiple facility units, wherein the mobile wayfinding application causes the mobile device to:

present a mobile user interface on a display of the mobile device;

display a facility map, showing the facility units, via the mobile user interface;

display a route from a start location to a destination location on the facility map, via the mobile user interface;

receive a uniform resource locator (URL), the URL comprising an identifier associated with the route to obtain, from a backend system, a first location and a second location, wherein the mobile device is situated at the first location within the facility, and the second location comprises a location of a facility unit selected by a user of the mobile device; and

update the start location to the first location and the destination location to the second location upon obtaining the first location and the second location from the backend system.

17. A facility device for a facility including multiple facility units, the facility device configured to:

present a user interface on a display of the facility device;

display a facility map showing facility units via the public user interface;

receive a first location and a second location via the user interface, the second location corresponding to a facility unit of the facility units;

display a route from the first location to the second location on the facility map via the user interface; and

receive a uniform resource locator (URL) from a backend system comprising an identifier associated with the route.

18. The facility device of claim 17, wherein the facility device is wirelessly connected to a mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured to:

present a mobile user interface on a display of the mobile device;

receive the URL from the facility device;

via the URL, provide the identifier to the backend system;

receive, from the backend system, the first location and the second location;

update a start location to the first location and a destination location to the second location;

display the facility map via the mobile user interface; and

display the route from the start location to the destination location on the facility map via the mobile user interface.

19. The facility device of claim 18, wherein the facility device is further configured to provide a promotional item relating to the facility unit via the user interface;

and

wherein the mobile device is further configured to receive the promotional item from the facility device.

20. The facility device of claim 18, wherein the facility device is wirelessly connected to the backend system, and the backed system is configured to:

provide the facility map to the facility device and the mobile device;

provide the route from the first location to the second location to the facility device; and

provide the route from the start location to the destination location to the mobile device.