System and method for tracking a pedestrian
First Claim
1. A system for determining the geographic position of a blind pedestrian, comprising:
- a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;
a computer receiving first coordinates from said GPS receiver representing the system'"'"'s position;
instructions for accessing second coordinates representing locations in a region where said system is located to said computer, said instructions further accessing an associated feature list which contains specific features that describe said location and a file created during use of said system relative to locations travelled by said blind pedestrian;
first instructions in said computer for defining plurality correlations between said first coordinates and said second coordinates;
second instructions in said computer for selecting one of said plurality correlations and its associated features that are appropriate for said blind pedestrian; and
a voice synthesizer linked to said computer for phonetically describing the selected correlation and its associated features and relative to said file so that said pedestrian can audibly determine his position relative to said location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a global positioning system that helps a blind pedestrian navigate through a city. This system uses the Department of Defense Global Positioning System (GPS) and a Differential GPS receiver to determine a pedestrian'"'"'s longitude and latitude. Once these coordinates have been determined, they are correlated with a computerized map database. The map database holds the names and coordinates of specific locations, such as intersections, in a particular region. The system of the present invention retrieves the names of locations from the map database that are near the pedestrian. These names are then output to a voice synthesizer.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system for determining the geographic position of a blind pedestrian, comprising:
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a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a computer receiving first coordinates from said GPS receiver representing the system'"'"'s position; instructions for accessing second coordinates representing locations in a region where said system is located to said computer, said instructions further accessing an associated feature list which contains specific features that describe said location and a file created during use of said system relative to locations travelled by said blind pedestrian; first instructions in said computer for defining plurality correlations between said first coordinates and said second coordinates; second instructions in said computer for selecting one of said plurality correlations and its associated features that are appropriate for said blind pedestrian; and a voice synthesizer linked to said computer for phonetically describing the selected correlation and its associated features and relative to said file so that said pedestrian can audibly determine his position relative to said location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for tracking the movement of a handicapped pedestrian along a path, comprising:
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a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a computer for receiving first coordinates from said GPS receiver; a database providing said computer second coordinates representing locations in a region where said system is located, said database further comprising an associated features list which contains specific features describing said locations; a first set of instructions for said computer for correlating said first coordinates with said second coordinates to generate correlation data; a second set of instructions for said computer for repeatedly executing said first set of instructions as said pedestrian move along a path to produce a first correlation data set, and for saving said first correlation data set in a history file; a third set of instructions for outputting a phonetic description of the associated features describing each of the locations in said first correlation data set; and a voice synthesizer linked to said computer for verbalizing the output of the phonetic description so that said pedestrian can replay said history file to hear descriptions of locations that have been passed along said path. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for tracking a handicapped pedestrian along a path, comprising:
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receiving a first set of coordinates from a global positioning system (GPS) system corresponding to the location of said pedestrian travelling along a path; determining from said coordinates whether the pedestrian has changed direction and storing said coordinates and features associated with said coordinates at the point of direction change in a history file; storing said coordinates and said associated features to said history file whenever a predetermined period of time has passed, so that said history file contains a list of features associated with locations where the pedestrian changed direction as well as a list of features associated with locations taken at specific time intervals along the pedestrian'"'"'s path; and phonetically describing to said pedestrian his position relative to said location and said associated features. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification