SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING INDOOR NAVIGATION SERVICES

• US 20150153181A1
• Filed: 07/27/2011
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gildfind, Andrew, Rowe, Simon, Hawkins, John
• Application Number:
  US13/191,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20150153181A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation

Abstract

Aspects of a system and method for providing indoor navigation services are described herein. Aspects of the disclosure provide an efficient method for identifying a location of a client device using accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, and/or position markers. Elements of the system relate to the determination of particular user locations by receiving location information pertaining to position markers from a remote server. A client device may identify a position marker using a camera, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip, or other method. An identifier describing the position marker may be sent to a remote server, and the remote server may provide a precise location to the client device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing indoor navigation services, the method comprising:

estimating, using one or more processors, a position of a client device using a summation of detected movement of the client device;

identifying a fixed position marker using the client device, wherein the fixed position marker comprises a marker identifier that uniquely identifies the position marker from a plurality of position markers;

receiving at the one or more processors a set of marker information associated with the marker identifier, wherein the set of fixed marker information comprises a marker location of the position marker and environmental constraints for an area around the position marker; and

updating, using the one or more processors, the estimated position of the client device using the marker location and the environmental constraints.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixed position marker is a quick response code or a radio frequency identifier tag identified by the client device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the environmental constraints to improve the accuracy of the location client device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a movement vector of the client device to track client device movement from the position marker using on-board sensors of the client device; and

determining a new location of the client device using the movement vector and the marker location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the on-board sensors are at least one of an accelerometer, a step counter, and a gyroscope.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising improving the measured movement vector using data from at least one of a compass and a gyroscope.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a location request to a remote server, wherein the location request includes the marker identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the location request further comprises the estimated location of the client device such that the remote server may update the marker information with the estimated location of the client device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising extracting the set of marker information from data embedded within the position marker.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the position marker is a canonical position marker from the set of marker information; and

if the position marker is not a canonical position marker, using a secondary method of identifying the second location of the client device in response to the determination that the position marker is not a canonical position marker.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary method is at least one of cellular tower triangulation, global positioning system identification, or wireless access point identification.

3. (canceled)

13. A system for providing indoor navigation services, comprising:

a position marker database storing marker information in association with marker identifiers for a plurality of fixed position markers, wherein for each fixed position marker, the marker information comprises a marker location of the fixed position marker and environmental constraints for an area around the position marker; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, the at least one processor operable to;

receive, from a client device, an estimated position of the client device, the estimated position being based on a summation of detected movement of the client device;

receive, from the client device, the marker identifier associated with a particular position marker;

access the marker information associated with the marker identifier;

transmit the marker location and the environmental constraints to the client device for use in updating the estimated location of the client device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to update the marker information in the position marker database with the estimated location to improve the accuracy of the location of the particular position marker.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a new entry in the position marker database for a new position marker based on a location of the new position marker as identified by the client device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the particular position marker as canonical when the location of the particular position marker is established with greater than a particular accuracy threshold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the particular accuracy threshold is a minimum number of measurements received.

18. A computer-implemented method for providing indoor navigation services, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, an estimated client device location;

receiving, from the client device, a location request comprising a marker identifier;

accessing, using one or more processors, a set of marker data that comprises a marker location of one or more fixed position markers and environmental constraints for an area around the fixed position marker, wherein each of the fixed position markers is indexed within the set of marker data by a unique identifier;

determining, using the one or more processors a location of a fixed position marker associated with the marker identifier, wherein the determining comprises matching the marker identifier with the unique identifier;

determining, using the one or more processors, the location of the client device using the marker location and the environmental constraints; and

updating the set of marker data using the determined client device location.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

including the client device location in a portion of the set of marker data describing the position marker associated with the marker identifier; and

using the client device location to improve the accuracy of the location of the position marker associated with the marker identifier.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving an uninitialized marker identifier and an initial location estimate;

including the uninitialized marker identifier in the set of marker data as a new position marker; and

associating the initial location estimate with the new position maker.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving an additional location estimate for the new position marker;

including the additional location estimate in the set of marker data; and

determining a location of the new position marker using the additional location estimate and the initial location estimate.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining an estimated accuracy of the location of the new position marker based on at least one of a number of location estimates received for the new position maker and the location of a plurality of location estimates received for the new position marker; and

identifying the new position marker as a canonical position marker when the estimated accuracy exceeds a particular threshold value.

19. (canceled)

24. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

estimating a position of a client device using a summation of detected movement of the client device;

identifying a fixed position marker using a client device, wherein the fixed position marker comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies the position marker from a plurality of position markers;

receiving a set of marker information associated with the identifier, wherein the set of marker information comprises a marker location of the fixed position marker and environmental constraints for an area around the position marker; and

updating the estimated position of the client device using the marker location and the environmental constraints.

25. The storage medium of claim 24, wherein the position marker is a quick response code or a radio frequency identifier tag identified by the client device.

27. The storage medium of claim 24, further comprising using the set of environmental constraints to improve the accuracy of the client device location.

28. The storage medium of claim 24, further comprising:

identifying a movement vector of the client device to track client device movement from the position marker using at least one accelerometer to measure a velocity and a direction of travel; and

determining a new location of the client device using the movement vector and the marker location.

26. (canceled)