COGNITIVE AND/OR PHYSIOLOGICAL BASED NAVIGATION

• US 20110118969A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: HONEYWELL INTELLECTUAL INC.
• Inventors: Krishnaswamy, Kailash
• Application Number:
  US12/619,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20110118969A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers

Abstract

A method of navigation comprising receiving, from at least one sensor, physiological sensor data indicative of at least one physiological attribute of a person and generating navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data.

Claims

1. A method of navigation comprising:

receiving, from at least one sensor, physiological sensor data indicative of at least one physiological attribute of a person; and

generating navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation-related information comprises at least one of:

a navigation solution;

a navigation state for the person;

a navigation state of a vehicle associated with the person;

a navigation state of an object associated with the person;

an identity of a landmark;

a location of a landmark; and

whether an entity is a friend or foe.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the physiological sensor data is indicative of at least one of a cognitive state of the person and cognition of the person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the physiological sensor comprises at least one of:

an electroencephalogram (EEG);

an electrocardiogram (ECG);

an electrooculogram (EOG);

an impedance pneumogram (ZPG);

a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor;

a blood volume pulse (BVP) sensor;

a respiration sensor;

an electromyogram (EMG);

a blood pressure sensor;

a brain temperature sensor;

a body temperature sensor; and

a neuro-infrared optical brain imaging sensor,

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the navigation-related information as a function of at least some of the physiological data comprises associating at least some of the physiological data with a navigation state.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a neural network is used in associating at least some of the physiological sensor data with the navigation state.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving other sensor data from at least one other sensor, wherein the navigation-related information is generated from at least some of the physiological sensor data and at least some of the other sensor data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least some of the physiological sensor data is used as an input to a sensor fusion process in connection with generating the navigation-related information.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one physiological sensor to generate physiological sensor data indicative of at least one physiological attribute of a person;

a processor communicatively coupled to the sensor, wherein the processor is configured to generate navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the navigation-related information comprises at least one of:

a navigation solution;

a navigation state for the person;

a navigation state of a vehicle associated with the person;

a navigation state of an object associated with the person;

an identity of a landmark;

a location of a landmark; and

whether an entity is a friend or foe.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the physiological sensor comprises at least one of:

an electroencephalogram (EEG);

an electrocardiogram (ECG);

an electrooculogram (EOG);

an impedance pneumogram (ZPG);

a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor;

a blood volume pulse (BVP) sensor;

a respiration sensor;

an electromyogram (EMG);

a blood pressure sensor;

a brain temperature sensor;

a body temperature sensor; and

a neuro-infrared optical brain imaging sensor,

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein at least some of the physiological sensor data is indicative of at least one of a cognitive state of the person and cognition of the person.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to generate the navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data by associating at least some of the physiological sensor data with a navigation state.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a neural network is used in associating at least some of the physiological sensor data with the navigation state.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising at least one other sensor to generate other sensor data, wherein the processor is configured to generate the navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data by generating a navigation solution derived from at least some of the physiological data and at least some of the other sensor data.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the other sensors comprise at least one of:

an inertial sensor, a speed sensor, a heading sensor, an altimeter, a global position satellite (GPS) receiver, and an imaging sensor.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to use at least some of the physiological sensor data as an input to a sensor fusion process in connection with generating the navigation solution.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the sensor fusion process comprises a Kalman filter.

19. A program product for use with at least one physiological sensor that generates physiological sensor data indicative of at least one physiological attribute of a person, the program-product comprising a processor-readable medium on which program instructions are embodied, wherein the program instructions are operable, when executed by at least one programmable processor included in a device, to cause the device to:

receive the physiological sensor data from the sensor; and

generate navigation-related information derived from at least some of the physiological sensor data.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program instructions are further operable, when executed by at least one programmable processor included in a device, to cause the device to, as a part of generating the navigation-related information, associate at least some of the physiological sensor data with a navigation state.