ACQUISITION OF NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FOR A MOBILE STATION

• US 20110306323A1
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Do, Ju-Yong, Farmer, Dominic Gerard
• Granted Patent: US 9,229,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac

Abstract

Navigation assistance information for a mobile station is acquired based on a feature descriptor of an image of a visual beacon captured by the mobile station. The navigation assistance information includes locations of neighboring visual beacons, locations of wireless positioning resources; user environmental context information. The navigation assistance information may then be used to assist in navigating within the local environment. The visual beacon may be an artificial feature, such as a QR code or other type of matrix or bar code or a natural feature, such as a statute or architectural detail. The mobile station may request navigation assistance by transmitting the feature descriptor to a server. The server retrieves the navigation assistance information from a database based on the feature descriptor and optionally location information, which may also be provided in the navigation assistance request, and transmits the navigation assistance information to the mobile station.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

imaging a visual beacon within an environment;

generating at least one feature descriptor for the visual beacon;

requesting navigation assistance using the feature descriptor;

receiving navigation assistance information associated with the feature descriptor, the navigation assistance information including location of neighboring visual beacons, location of wireless positioning resources;

user context and environmental context; and

using the received navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual beacon is one of an artificial visual beacon in which data is encoded and a natural visual beacon in which data is not encoded.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes the size and type of neighboring visual beacons.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless positioning resources comprises at least one of SPS, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context comprises statistics of previous user information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein statistics of previous user information include at least one of average reported user speed, standard deviation of reported user speed, average reported user dwell time, and standard deviation of reported user dwell time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, a description of surrounding materials, and a map of the environment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the location of neighboring visual beacons in the navigation assistance information to assist in locating and imaging a neighboring visual beacon.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the location of wireless positioning resources in the navigation assistance information to assist in determining a current position using a wireless positioning resource.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising using at least one of the user context and environmental context in the navigation assistance information for adjusting the navigation processing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein adjusting the navigation processing comprises at least one of adjusting a rate of position acquisition, adjusting a state of a navigation filter, and determining positioning sources to be used in the navigation processing.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing user context information while navigating within the environment.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a navigation assistance request that includes at least one feature descriptor of a visual beacon;

retrieving navigation assistance information associated with the feature descriptor, the navigation assistance information including location of neighboring visual beacons, location of wireless positioning resources;

user context and environmental context; and

transmitting a navigation assistance message that includes the navigation assistance information in response to the navigation assistance request.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the navigation assistance request further includes location information, wherein retrieving navigation assistance information comprises searching a database based on the feature descriptor and the location information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes the size and type of neighboring visual beacons.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the wireless positioning resources comprises at least one of SPS, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the user context comprises statistics of previous user information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein statistics of previous user information include at least one of average reported user speed, standard deviation of reported user speed, average reported user dwell time, and standard deviation of reported user dwell time.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, a description of surrounding materials, and a map of the environment.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a second navigation assistance request that includes at least one feature descriptor of a second visual beacon;

searching a database based on the feature descriptor for the second visual beacon; and

storing the feature descriptor for the second visual beacon in the database when the second feature descriptor is not found in database.

23. A mobile station comprising:

a camera being operable to image a visual beacon within an environment;

a processor connected to the camera;

memory connected to the processor;

a display connected to the memory;

an imaging processing unit to generate at least one feature descriptor of an image of a visual beacon from the camera; and

software held in the memory and run in the processor to obtain navigation assistance information based on the feature descriptor, the navigation assistance information including location of neighboring visual beacons, location of wireless positioning resources;

user context and environmental context and to use the navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment.

24. The mobile station of claim 23, further comprising a wireless transceiver, wherein the processor transmits a navigation assistance request on the wireless transceiver and the navigation assistance information is received by the wireless transceiver.

25. The mobile station of claim 24, further comprising a position determination unit that uses the location of wireless positioning resources in the navigation assistance information to assist in determining a current position using a wireless positioning resource.

26. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the visual beacon is one of an artificial visual beacon in which data is encoded and a natural visual beacon in which data is not encoded.

27. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes the size and type of neighboring visual beacons.

28. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the wireless positioning resources comprises at least one of SPS, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points.

29. The mobile station of claim 28, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

30. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the user context comprises statistics of previous user information.

31. The mobile station of claim 30, wherein statistics of previous user information include at least one of average reported user speed, standard deviation of reported user speed, average reported user dwell time, and standard deviation of reported user dwell time.

32. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, a description of surrounding materials, and a map of the environment.

33. The mobile station of claim 23, wherein the environmental context comprises a map of the environment that is displayed on the display to assist to assist in locating a neighboring visual beacon.

34. The mobile station of claim 23, further comprising a position determination unit, wherein at least one of the user context and environmental context in the navigation assistance information is used for adjusting the position determination unit.

35. The mobile station of claim 34, wherein adjusting the position determination unit comprises at least one of adjusting a rate of position acquisition, adjusting a state of a navigation filter, and determining positioning sources to be used in the navigation processing.

36. A system for accessing and updated positional information for a mobile station comprising:

means for generating at least one feature descriptor of a visual beacon within an environment;

means for obtaining navigation assistance information based on the feature descriptor, the navigation assistance information including location of neighboring visual beacons, location of wireless positioning resources;

user context and environmental context and to use the navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment; and

means for using the navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the means for obtaining navigation assistance information comprises a means for transmitting a navigation assistance request that includes the feature descriptor of the visual beacon and a means for receiving the navigation assistance information.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the means for obtaining navigation assistance comprises a database of navigation assistance information and a means for searching for the database based on the feature descriptor.

39. The system of claim 36, wherein the navigation assistance information further includes the size and type of neighboring visual beacons.

40. The system of claim 36, wherein the wireless positioning resources comprises at least one of SPS, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points, and includes at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

41. The system of claim 36, wherein the user context comprises statistics of previous user information and includes at least one of average reported user speed, standard deviation of reported user speed, average reported user dwell time, and standard deviation of reported user dwell time.

42. The system of claim 36, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, a description of surrounding materials, and a map of the environment.

43. A computer-readable medium including program code stored thereon, comprising:

program code to determine at least one feature descriptor from an image of a visual beacon;

program code to obtain navigation assistance information based on the feature descriptor, the navigation assistance information including location of neighboring visual beacons, location of wireless positioning resources;

user context and environmental context and to use the navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment; and

program code to use the navigation assistance information to assist in navigating within the environment.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43, further comprising program code to transmit a navigation assistance request that includes the feature descriptor of the visual beacon.