DIRECTIONAL AND X-RAY VIEW TECHNIQUES FOR NAVIGATION USING A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20180204386A1
• Filed: 03/13/2018
• Published: 07/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: CHEN, Jiajian, CHAO, Hui
• Granted Patent: US 10,354,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels

Abstract

Techniques for displaying navigation information on a mobile device are provided that include a method that includes obtaining an indication of a position and an indication of a direction associated with the mobile device, using the indication of the position, the indication of the direction, information regarding identities of POIs within a geographic region of interest, and information regarding areas associated with the POIs to determine at least one relevant POI, of the POIs, that is associated with the position and direction, and displaying at least one visual indication associated with each of the at least one relevant POI on the mobile device. The appearance of the at least one visual indication is dependent on at least one of a distance from the mobile device of the relevant POI associated with the visual indication or presence of a known physical barrier between the mobile device and that relevant POI.

Claims

1. A method of generating one or more augmented views, the method comprising:

determining a plurality of points of interest within a geographic area of interest based on a field of view of a camera;

obtaining an image of a portion of the geographic area of interest captured using the camera;

generating an augmented view by;

overlaying a first visual indication associated with a first point of interest over the image of the portion of the geographic area of interest, the first point of interest being disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest, wherein the first visual indication is rendered at a first transparency level; and

overlaying a second visual indication associated with a second point of interest over the image of the portion of the geographic area of interest, the second point of interest being disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest, wherein the first visual indication is displayed as overlapping at least a portion of the second visual indication based on the first point of interest being disposed at least partially behind the second point of interest in the geographic area of interest relative to the camera, and wherein the second visual indication is rendered at a second transparency level, the second transparency level being different than the first transparency level; and

displaying, on a mobile device, the augmented view.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first visual indication does not overlap at least a portion of the second visual indication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one visual indication has a size that is dependent on a distance from a mobile device of a point of interest associated with the at least one visual indication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a visual indication associated with a point of interest includes an image of the point of interest.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second transparency level has a lower transparency than the first transparency level.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more visual indications associated with one or more points of interest that are not visible in the field of view of the camera are displayed as at least partially transparent based on the one or more points of interest being at least partially obstructed from view by one or more objects in the geographic area of interest.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a transparency level of each of one or more visual indications is dependent on a presence of one or more physical barrier between a mobile device and the one or more points of interest.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more visual indications are displayed as opaque based on the one or more visual indications being associated with one or more points of interest that are visible in the field of view.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an updated augmented view, wherein at least one of the first transparency level of the first visual indication or the second transparency level of the second visual indication is adjusted in the updated augmented view based on movement of the camera relative to at least one of the first point of interest or the second point of interest.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic area of interest comprises an indoor environment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is in the indoor environment, wherein the second point of interest is in the indoor environment, and wherein the first point of interest is outside of the indoor environment.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is in a first indoor environment, wherein the second point of interest is in the first indoor environment, and wherein the first point of interest is in a second indoor environment.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transparency level of the first visual indication and the second transparency level of the second visual indication is based on the first point of interest being disposed at least partially behind the second point of interest in the geographic area of interest.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a first distance from the mobile device and the second point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a second distance from the mobile device, and wherein the first transparency level of the first visual indication is based on the first distance and the second transparency level of the second visual indication is based on the second distance.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a distance from the second point of interest, and wherein the first transparency level of the first visual indication and the second transparency level of the second visual indication is based on the distance.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a first distance from the mobile device and the second point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a second distance from the mobile device, and wherein the first visual indication is displayed as overlapping at least the portion of the second visual indication based on the first distance being greater than the second distance.

17. An apparatus for generating one or more augmented views, comprising:

a memory configured to store one or more images; and

a processor configured to;

determine a plurality of points of interest within a geographic area of interest based on a field of view of a camera;

obtain an image of a portion of the geographic area of interest captured using the camera;

generate an augmented view by;

overlaying a first visual indication associated with a first point of interest over the image of the portion of the geographic area of interest, the first point of interest being disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest, wherein the first visual indication is rendered at a first transparency level; and

overlaying a second visual indication associated with a second point of interest over the image of the portion of the geographic area of interest, the second point of interest being disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest, wherein the first visual indication is displayed as overlapping at least a portion of the second visual indication based on the first point of interest being disposed at least partially behind the second point of interest in the geographic area of interest relative to the camera, and wherein the second visual indication is rendered at a second transparency level, the second transparency level being different than the first transparency level; and

a display for displaying the augmented view.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the first visual indication does not overlap at least a portion of the second visual indication.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the second transparency level has a lower transparency than the first transparency level.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein one or more visual indications associated with one or more points of interest that are not visible in the field of view of the camera are displayed as at least partially transparent based on the one or more points of interest being at least partially obstructed from view by one or more objects in the geographic area of interest.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein a transparency level of each of one or more visual indications is dependent on a presence of one or more physical barrier between the apparatus and the one or more points of interest.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein one or more visual indications are displayed as opaque based on the one or more visual indications being associated with one or more points of interest that are visible in the field of view.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to generate an updated augmented view, wherein at least one of the first transparency level of the first visual indication or the second transparency level of the second visual indication is adjusted in the updated augmented view based on movement of the camera relative to at least one of the first point of interest or the second point of interest.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the geographic area of interest comprises an indoor environment, wherein the apparatus is in the indoor environment, wherein the second point of interest is in the indoor environment, and wherein the first point of interest is outside of the indoor environment.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is in a first indoor environment, wherein the second point of interest is in the first indoor environment, and wherein the first point of interest is in a second indoor environment.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first transparency level of the first visual indication and the second transparency level of the second visual indication is based on the first point of interest being disposed at least partially behind the second point of interest in the geographic area of interest.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a first distance from the apparatus and the second point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a second distance from the apparatus, and wherein the first transparency level of the first visual indication is based on the first distance and the second transparency level of the second visual indication is based on the second distance.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a first distance from the apparatus and the second point of interest is disposed within the portion of the geographic area of interest at a second distance from the apparatus, and wherein the first visual indication is displayed as overlapping at least the portion of the second visual indication based on the first distance being greater than the second distance.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a camera for capturing the one or more images.

30. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus comprises a mobile device with a camera for capturing pictures.