Navigational soundscaping
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a positioning system configured to determine a first location;
a memory configured to store hierarchically-organized information associated with one or more landmarks, wherein the hierarchically-organized information is organized by a plurality of categories and a plurality of sub-categories, wherein a first audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information corresponds to a first audio sound concatenated with a second audio sound, wherein the first audio sound is associated with a first category of the plurality of categories, and wherein the second audio sound is associated with a first sub-category of the plurality of sub-categories; and
a processor configured to generate a first audio signal based on the first audio icon and the first location to enable user perception of a first landmark location of a first landmark relative to the first location, the first audio icon associated with the first landmark.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A navigational system generates audio cues that are perceived in a three-dimensional space, allowing users to aurally perceive the locations of mapped objects such as landmarks. The audio cues can be produced alone, or in some applications, produced in conjunction with a visual navigational map display to improve the overall efficacy of the system. The audio navigation system includes a positioning system to determine the location of a user, a memory to store hierarchically-organized information about one or more objects, and a processor to render an audio signal based on the hierarchically-organized information. The audio signal is rendered into an audio space corresponding to the user, so as to allow user perception of the location of at least one of the objects relative to the location of the user. The objects may be landmarks in the vicinity of the user.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a positioning system configured to determine a first location; a memory configured to store hierarchically-organized information associated with one or more landmarks, wherein the hierarchically-organized information is organized by a plurality of categories and a plurality of sub-categories, wherein a first audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information corresponds to a first audio sound concatenated with a second audio sound, wherein the first audio sound is associated with a first category of the plurality of categories, and wherein the second audio sound is associated with a first sub-category of the plurality of sub-categories; and a processor configured to generate a first audio signal based on the first audio icon and the first location to enable user perception of a first landmark location of a first landmark relative to the first location, the first audio icon associated with the first landmark. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of presenting audio information to a user, the method comprising:
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determining a first location via a positioning system; retrieving, from a memory, hierarchically-organized information associated with a first landmark based on the first location, wherein the hierarchically-organized information is organized by a plurality of categories, wherein at least one category of the plurality of categories includes a plurality of sub-categories, wherein a first audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information corresponds to a first audio sound concatenated with a second audio sound, wherein the first audio sound is associated with a first category of the plurality of categories, and wherein the second audio sound is associated with a first sub-category of the plurality of sub-categories; and initiating, at a processor, an output of a first auditory sound based on the first audio icon and the first location via one or more transducers, wherein the first auditory sound enables user perception of a first landmark location of the first landmark relative to the first location. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus comprising:
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means for determining a first location; means for retrieving hierarchically-organized information associated with a first landmark based on the first location, wherein the hierarchically-organized information is organized by a plurality of categories, wherein at least one category includes a plurality of sub-categories, wherein a first audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information corresponds to a first audio sound concatenated with a second audio sound, wherein the first audio sound is associated with a first category of the plurality of categories, and wherein the second audio sound is associated with a first sub-category of the plurality of sub-categories; and means for producing a first auditory sound based on the first audio sound, the second audio sound, and the first location, wherein the first auditory sound enables user perception of a first landmark location of the first landmark relative to the first location. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
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determine a first location via a positioning system; retrieve hierarchically-organized information associated with a landmark based on the first location, wherein the hierarchically-organized information is organized by a plurality of categories, wherein at least one category includes a first sub-category and a second sub-category, and wherein a first audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information associated with the first sub-category and a second audio icon of the hierarchically-organized information associated with the second sub-category correspond to different versions of a particular audio sound; and initiate an output of an auditory sound based on the first audio icon and the first location, wherein the auditory sound enables user perception of a landmark location of the landmark relative to the first location. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification