Personal navigation system and associated methods

• US 8,744,765 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2010
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mine Safety Appliances Company (MSA Safety, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MSA Technology, LLC (MSA Safety, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, Paul A., Kodrin, David, Watson, Christopher Evan, Cron, Chadd, Pavetti, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, ISAAC G
• Application Number:
  US12/843,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• Field of Search: 701/220, 701/500, 701/412, 701/446, 701/469, 701/434, 701/505, 701/517, 702/141, 482/1, 482/51, 482/8, 482/9, 473/353, 473/270, 473/570, 735/10, 356/5.01
• US Class Current: 701/500
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/188 for accumulated errors, e.g. by coupling inertial systems with absolute positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers

Abstract

A personal navigation system, including: at least one inertial sensor module associated with a user, the inertial sensor module comprising at least one sensor to generate location data associated with the user; a communication device to receive and/or transmit at least a portion of the location data; and an onsite computer to communicate with the communication device and receive at least a portion of the location data; wherein at least one of the inertial sensor module and the onsite computer is configured to determine at least one activity of the user based at least in part upon the location data; wherein the onsite computer is programmed to configure a display including a representation of the user based at least in part upon the location data; wherein at least one of the determination and the configuration is performed substantially in real-time.

Claims

1. A personal navigation system, comprising:

(a) at least one inertial sensor module associated with a user, the inertial sensor module comprising at least one sensor configured to generate location data associated with the user, wherein the at least one sensor is configured to be worn adjacent a foot of the user;

(b) a communication device configured to at least one of receive and transmit at least a portion of the location data; and

(c) an onsite computer configured to communicate with the communication device and receive at least a portion of the location data;

(d) wherein at least one of the inertial sensor module and the onsite computer is configured to determine at least one activity of the user based at least in part upon at least a portion of the location data generated during a quiescent point of the foot of the user, and wherein the at least one activity is determined by correlating an orientation of the foot during the quiescent point to at least one of a plurality of activities including at least two of the following;

walking, running, crawling, climbing, rappelling, jumping, falling, riding an elevator, riding an escalator, or any combination thereof;

(e) wherein the onsite computer is programmed to configure a display including a representation of the user based at least in part upon the location data;

(f) wherein at least one of the determination and the configuration is performed substantially in real-time; and

(g) wherein the inertial sensor module is further configured to generate corrected location data using activity-specific error correction values, and the corrected location data is transmitted by the communication device to the onsite computer.

2. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein the location data comprises corrected location data generated by applying error correction to raw location data.

3. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is at least one of:

(i) a personal communication device located on the user and configured for communicating with at least one of the inertial sensor module and the onsite computer; and

(ii) a communication device integrated with the inertial sensor module and configured for communicating with at least one of a personal communication device located on the user and the onsite computer.

4. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one inertial sensor comprises at least one of:

at least one accelerometer, at least one gyroscope, or any combination thereof.

5. The personal navigation system of claim 4, wherein the at least one inertial sensor comprises a plurality of accelerometers and a plurality of gyroscopes.

6. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the inertial sensor module and the onsite computer comprise software configured to at least one of:

analyze raw location data, determine at least one activity of the user based at least partially upon the location data, apply activity-specific error correction values to generate corrected location data, configure a real-time graphical representation of the user based at least partially upon corrected location data, or any combination thereof.

7. The personal navigation system of claim 1, further comprising:

(a) an inertial sensor module communication device comprising a short range radio configured to transmit location data;

(b) a personal communication device comprising a long range radio configured to receive location data from the inertial sensor module communication device and transmit location data; and

(c) an onsite computer communication device comprising a long range radio configured to receive location data from the personal communication device and process at least a portion of the location data for use in configuring a display.

8. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein the communication device is integrated into a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus and the user is a firefighter.

9. The personal navigation system of claim 1, wherein the activity-specific error correction values comprise at least one unique activity-specific error correction value for each activity of the plurality of activities.

10. A method of determining the location of a user wearing an inertial sensor module on at least one foot, the method comprising:

(a) generating, by the inertial sensor module, raw location data;

(b) determining, based at least partially on the raw location data, at least one quiescent point for the at least one foot of the user;

(c) determining at least one activity of the user based at least partially on an orientation of the at least one foot during the at least one quiescent point;

(d) applying activity-specific error correction to the raw location data to generate corrected location data;

(e) transmitting the corrected location data to an onsite computer substantially in real-time; and

(f) configuring, by the onsite computer, a real-time graphical representation of the user based at least partially upon the corrected location data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising configuring a real-time graphical display of an activity of the user.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising continuously analyzing at least a portion of the raw location data to determine at least one of the minimum of the acceleration norm in three axes and the minimum angular velocity norm.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein, prior to generating raw location data, the method comprises acquiring, by the inertial sensor module, a common reference point.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting the corrected location data to an onsite computer comprises:

transmitting, substantially in real-time, the corrected location data from the inertial sensor module to a personal communication device located on the user; and

transmitting, substantially in real-time, the corrected location data from the personal communication device to the onsite computer.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising enabling two-way communication between the onsite computer and the personal communication device.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising performing drift error correction to the raw location data before applying activity-specific error correction.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the determination of at least one activity type of the user further comprises:

correlating the orientation of the at least one foot with a certain type of activity.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity-specific error correction comprises applying at least one unique value for each activity of a plurality of activities including at least two of the following:

walking, running, crawling, climbing, rappelling, jumping, falling, riding an elevator, riding an escalator, or any combination thereof.

19. A personal navigation system comprising at least one onsite computer having a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor of the computer, causes the processor to:

(a) receive location data generated by at least one sensor of at least one inertial sensor module located on the foot of a user;

(b) process the location data to determine a quiescent point of the foot of the user;

(c) determine an orientation of the foot during the quiescent point;

(d) determine an activity being performed by the user based at least partially on the orientation of the foot;

(e) apply at least one error correction value unique to the activity to the raw location data to generate corrected location data; and

(f) render, on a display and substantially in real-time, a graphical representation of the user based at least partially upon the generated corrected location data.

20. The personal navigation system of claim 19, wherein the at least one activity is determined by correlating the orientation of the foot to at least one of a plurality of activities including at least two of the following:

walking, running, crawling, climbing, rappelling, jumping, falling, riding an elevator, riding an escalator, or any combination thereof.