System, method and/or devices for aligning a movement path with an indoor routing graph

• US 9,354,067 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Chao, Hui, Das, Saumitra Mohan, Chen, Jiajian
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US14/132,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20150168159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/408, 701/428
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1656 with passive imaging devices, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and devices for aligning a path of movement of a mobile device with an indoor routing graph. In one particular embodiment, a mobile device may trace a path of movement from a starting point to a point of intersection with a routing graph that defines feasible movement within an area. Responsive to a detecting a point of intersection, a mobile device may estimate a contiguous route from one or more locations of the routing graph to a starting point.

Claims

1. A method comprising, at a mobile device:

tracing a path of movement of said mobile device from a starting point based, at least in part, on one or more signals generated by one or more inertial sensors on board said mobile device;

detecting an intersection of said traced path of movement with one or more locations of a routing graph defining feasible movement within an area;

estimating a contiguous route from said one or more locations of said routing graph to said starting point based, at least in part, on said detected intersection and said traced path of movement; and

in response to a user input signal at said mobile device requesting navigation instructions leading to said starting point, rendering information indicative of at least a portion of said routing graph combined with at least a portion of said traced path of movement via a display of said mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein tracing said path of movement comprises:

processing signals generated by one or more inertial sensors.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said tracing said path of movement is based, at least in part, on one or more signals generated by at least one image sensor.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

suspending operation of said one or more inertial sensors responsive to detecting said intersection of said traced path of movement with said one or more locations of said routing graph.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting said intersection comprises:

obtaining one or more position estimations; and

matching said one or more position estimations with one or more points on said routing graph.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

prompting a mobile device user to move to a position at which said mobile device may obtain an estimate of location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting said intersection further comprises:

merging said routing graph with said traced path of movement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said merging comprises:

estimating a stride length of said mobile device user walking in said area; and

modifying at least a portion of said contiguous route responsive to said stride length estimate.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said modifying comprises:

increasing or decreasing a length of said at least a portion of said traced path of movement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said intersection comprises at least one segment defined by two or more position estimations and common to said traced path of movement and said routing graph.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rendering an estimated location of said mobile device relative to said contiguous route or relative to said routing graph.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said rendering said estimated location of said mobile device comprises:

indicating a confidence region of said estimated location of said mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rendering one or more return paths from an estimated location of said mobile device to said starting point.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

modifying at least a portion of said one or more return paths from a current estimated location of said mobile device to said starting point.

15. A mobile device comprising:

at least one onboard inertial sensor to generate one or more signals responsive to movement of said mobile device; and

one or more processors to;

trace a path of movement of said mobile device from a starting point based, at least in part, on one or more signals generated from said at least one sensor onboard said mobile device;

detect an intersection of said traced path of movement with one or more locations of a routing graph defining feasible movement within an area;

estimate a contiguous route from said one or more locations of said routing graph to said starting point based, at least in part, on said detected intersection and said traced path of movement; and

in response to a user input at said mobile device requesting navigation instructions leading to said starting point, render information indicative of at least a portion of said routing graph combined with at least a portion of said traced path of movement.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein said one or more processors are additionally to:

trace said path of movement by processing signals generated by said at least one sensor, wherein said at least one sensor comprises one or more image inertial sensors, one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, one or more magnetometers, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more pedometers, or any combination thereof.

17. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein said one or more processors are additionally to:

suspend operations of said at least one sensor responsive to detecting said intersection of said traced path of movement with said one or more locations of said routing graph.

18. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein said one or more

processors are additionally to:

process one or more output signals from said at least one sensor to estimate a stride length of a mobile device user walking in said area.

19. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein said one or more processors are additionally to:

initiate rendering an estimated location of said mobile device relative to said contiguous route or relative to said routing graph.

20. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein said one or more processors are additionally to:

accept a command from a user interface to indicate a return path from said one or more locations to said starting point.

21. An article comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon, which are executable by a special-purpose computing apparatus of a mobile device to;

trace a path of movement of said mobile device from a starting point based, at least in part, on one or more signals generated by one or more inertial sensors onboard said mobile device;

detect an intersection of said traced path of movement with one or more locations of a routing graph defining feasible movement within an area; and

estimate a contiguous route from said one or more locations of said routing graph to said starting point based, at least in part, on said detected intersection and said traced path of movement; and

in response to a user input at said mobile device requesting navigation instructions leading to said starting point, render information indicative of at least a portion of said routing graph combined with at least a portion of said contiguous route via a display of said mobile device.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further comprises machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by said special-purpose computing apparatus to:

trace said path of movement by processing signals generated by one or more image sensors, one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, one or more magnetometers, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more pedometers, or any combination thereof.

23. The article of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further comprises machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by said special-purpose computing apparatus to:

obtain one or more estimates of a current location of said mobile device; and

match said one or more estimates of said current location with one or more points on said routing graph.

24. The article of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further comprises machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by said special-purpose computing apparatus to:

process one or more output signals from at least one accelerometer to estimate a stride length of a mobile device user walking in said area.

25. The article of claim 24, wherein said storage medium further comprises machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by said special-purpose computing apparatus to:

modify at least a portion of said contiguous route responsive to said stride length estimate.

26. The article of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further comprises machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by said special-purpose computing apparatus to:

render a confidence region and an estimated location of said mobile device relative to said contiguous route or relative to said routing graph.

27. An apparatus comprising:

means for tracing a path of movement of a mobile device from a starting point based, at least in part, on one or more signals generated by one or more inertial sensors onboard said mobile device;

means for detecting an intersection of said traced path of movement with one or more locations of a routing graph defining feasible movement within an area;

means for estimating a contiguous route from said one or more locations of said routing graph to said starting point based, at least in part, on said detected intersection and said traced path of movement; and

means for rendering information indicative of at least a portion of said routing graph combined with at least a portion of said traced path of movement via a display of said mobile device in response to a user input signal at said mobile device requesting navigation instructions leading to said starting point.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, and further comprising:

means for processing output signals from one or more image sensors.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, and further comprising:

means for obtaining one or more position estimations; and

means for matching said one or more locations with one or more points on said routing graph.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, and further comprising:

means for increasing or decreasing a length of said at least a portion of said traced path of movement responsive to measurement of a stride length of a mobile device user.