System and method for navigating a facility

• US 20070219711A1
• Filed: 03/14/2006
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Raiyani, Samir, Pei, Robert, Kaldewey, Tim, Sobol, Sneschana
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/383 Indoor data

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for enabling the monitoring and navigation of a complex of known rooms or facilities having known objects, attributes and/or people associated therewith, wherein different locations of the objects, attributes and/or people within the facilities are related and accessible over known, well-defined alternate paths. Sensor information may be used to facilitate the monitoring and navigation of the facility. At least some systems and methods may be used to enable the navigation of a building or a set of buildings by displaying an interactive graphical map of the building on a display device carried by a user.

Claims

1. A system for enabling the monitoring and navigation of a facility including a plurality of identifiable spaces each associated with one of a plurality of exits, the spaces and exits being linked by a network of pathways, or for determining the position and travel history of tracked resources residing in one of the spaces or moving along the pathways, comprising:

(a) a map database operable to store digital map data relating to the facility;

(b) a position determination system operable to receive sensor information from at least one sensor, the sensor information identifying the various resources, spaces, and associated exits, the position determination system further operable to develop relational data identifying a relative position of each said resource, space, and exit within said facility, based on the sensor information and the map data; and

(c) a location database operable to store said relational data in tables including space-identifying data, tracked-resource data, and exit-identifying data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the position-determination system is further operable to time-stamp the relational data, and further including a travel history archive operable to store time and position data relating to a tracked resource of the tracked resources, using the time-stamped relational data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the tables further include adjacent exit-relational data, point-identifying data, and/or non-adjacent exit-connecting data.

4. The system of claim 3, further including a location services engine operable to respond to a user request and to use said space-identifying data, said tracked-resource data, said exit-identifying data, said adjacent exit-relational data, said point-identifying data, and/or said non-adjacent exit-connecting data to provide services including one or more of identifying and displaying the shortest path between any two of said exits, identifying and displaying the closest tracked resource, providing intrusion alerts for restricted spaces, and/or displaying travel history of tracked resources.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes a plurality of electromagnetic sensors disposed within the spaces and/or along the connecting paths throughout the facility and operable to identify a position of a person or object within the facility.

6. The system of claim 1, further including a user interface operable to receive, from the user, information and services requests to the system, and further operable to display outputs generated by the system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user interface includes a multimodal interface that is operable to receive the information and service requests by voice command, and further operable to audibly provide intrusion alerts.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the user interface is operable to receive a user input and to display output, and includes a web browser on a computer terminal, the web browser supporting scalable vector graphics.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the position determination system includes a positioning engine operable to correlate location co-ordinates of the resources with co-ordinate information of the spaces, using the map data;

and

a position adaptor operable to provide the location co-ordinates of the resources and the co-ordinate information of the spaces in a format for use with a user interface.

10. A method of finding the shortest path between a starting space and a destination space in a facility including a plurality of identifiable spaces each associated with one of a plurality of identifiable exits, the spaces and exits being linked by a network of pathways, and the facility having a database identifying within the facility each said identifiable space and the spatial co-ordinates of at least one exit associated with each said space, the method comprising:

(a) selecting from said database a starting space and a destination space between which the shortest linking path is to be determined;

(b) selecting the spatial co-ordinates for a first exit associated with the starting space and the spatial co-ordinates for a second exit associated with the destination space;

(c) using a shortest path algorithm to calculate the lengths, in distance or time of travel, of a plurality of paths linking said first and second exits; and

(d) determining the shortest overall path from the calculated plurality of paths.

11. The method of claim 10, further including superimposing the shortest overall path on a map for display.

12. A method of finding a tracked resource closest to a user within a facility including a plurality of identifiable spaces each associated with one of a plurality of identifiable exits, the spaces and exits being linked by a network of pathways, the tracked resource being identified by the user as having a pre-defined attribute, and the facility having a database identifying within the facility each said identifiable space and the spatial co-ordinates of at least one exit associated with each said space, the method comprising:

(a) determining spatial co-ordinates of a first space occupied by said user;

(b) determining spatial co-ordinates of a first exit associated with said first space;

(c) identifying a particular type of tracked resource by receiving a specification of a pre-defined attribute thereof;

(d) determining, within said facility, second through n spaces, where n is an integer, each of which is occupied by a tracked resource having said pre-defined attribute;

(e) determining the spatial co-ordinates of second through n exits, each of which is associated with a corresponding one of said second through n spaces;

(f) using a shortest path algorithm to calculate multiple sets of paths respectively linking said first exit and each of said second through n exits;

(g) determining the shortest path in each said set of paths; and

(h) determining the shortest overall path among said shortest paths.

13. The method of claim 12, further including superimposing the shortest overall path on a map for display to thereby indicate the tracked resource closest to the user.

14. A method of determining and updating the traffic history of tracked resources moving over time among various spaces in a facility including a plurality of identifiable spaces each associated with one of a plurality of identifiable exits, the spaces and exits being linked by a network of pathways, the facility further including a database identifying within the facility each said identifiable space and the spatial co-ordinates of at least one exit associated with each said space and calculated shortest paths between all pairs of exits associated with the facility, the method comprising:

(a) identifying a particular type of tracked resource by receiving a specification of a pre-defined attribute thereof;

(b) determining spaces within said facility occupied by each said particular type of resource at successive points in time;

(c) archiving the spatial co-ordinates of an exit associated with each said space occupied by one of said resources at each said point in time;

(d) using the archived spatial co-ordinates of said exits to determine a potential path followed by each said resource;

(e) determining pairs of adjacent exits associated with each said potential path by correlating the potential paths followed by each said resource with predetermined co-ordinates of adjacent exits within said facility;

(f) calculating a parameter for each pair of adjacent exits through which at least one of said potential paths passes; and

(g) using a shortest path algorithm based on the calculated parameter to calculate the shortest paths between at least some pairs of exits associated with the facility.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

(h) updating the calculated shortest paths in the database.