Navigation system and method with location-aware accuracy and/or power adjustments

• US 9,612,124 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2012
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Segev, Jonathan, Reshef, Ehud
• Primary Examiner(s): SOOFI, YAZAN A
• Application Number:
  US14/126,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20140214314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 701410, 701408, 701467, 701468
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/47 the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/52 Determining velocity

Abstract

In a navigation system and method, location-aware adjustments may be made to the accuracy and/or power of the navigation system by changing at least one setting of a navigation system receiver in response to at least one characteristic of a navigation route and/or an estimated current position of the receiver. By providing location-aware adjustments, the accuracy may be increased when a higher accuracy is desired and may be decreased when a lower accuracy is sufficient based on the receiver location. A higher accuracy setting may be used, for example, when the estimated current position of a navigation system receiver is within the vicinity of a waypoint along the navigation route and a lower accuracy setting may be used at other times to reduce power consumption. Of course, many alternatives, variations, and modifications are possible without departing from this embodiment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining navigation data representative of at least an estimated current position of a navigation system receiver relative to a navigation route, the navigation route including one or more predetermined directions to arrive from the estimated current position to a destination location; and

changing at least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation system receiver to provide a high accuracy setting in response to the estimated current position being within a predetermined distance of a high accuracy waypoint, the high accuracy waypoint representing a fixed geographic location along the navigation route and being determined based upon the estimated current position and a destination location, wherein the high accuracy setting corresponds to a high power draw setting of the navigation system receiver; and

changing the at least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation receiver to provide a low accuracy setting in response to the estimated current position is travelling along a straight line relative to the navigation route, wherein the low accuracy setting corresponds to a low power draw setting of the navigation receiver.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining user destination data representative of the destination location; and

determining, in the navigation system receiver, the navigation route in response to the destination location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation data includes position, velocity and time (PVT) data representative of estimated position, velocity and time, and wherein position is defined using World Geodetic System (WGS) coordinates.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein changing the accuracy setting of the navigation system receiver comprises:

identifying the high accuracy waypoint along the navigation route;

determining if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance of the high accuracy waypoint;

applying a first accuracy setting if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint; and

applying a second accuracy setting if the estimated current position is not within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint, wherein the first accuracy setting provides higher accuracy navigation data than the second accuracy setting.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the navigation data includes position, velocity and time (PVT) data representative of estimated position, velocity and time, and wherein the PVT data is provided at a higher rate for the first accuracy setting than for the second accuracy setting.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a distance root mean square (DRMS) accuracy measurement is lower for the first accuracy setting than for the second accuracy setting.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein a dilution of precision (DOP) accuracy measurement is lower for the first accuracy setting than for the second accuracy setting.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the second accuracy setting requires lower power consumption in the navigation system receiver than the first accuracy setting.

9. The method of claim 2 further comprising obtaining map data representative of a predefined map, wherein the navigation route is calculated along the predefined map, and wherein the high accuracy waypoints are identified on the predefined map.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining navigation data comprises:

receiving a plurality of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals in the navigation system receiver, wherein the GNSS signals include at least a satellite transmission time and position;

processing the GNSS signals to determine pseudorange measurements;

processing the pseudorange measurements to determine position, velocity and time (PVT) data; and

providing the PVT data to an application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the accuracy setting includes changing a number of GNSS signals that are processed to determine pseudorange measurements.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the accuracy setting includes changing a sampling rate of the GNSS signals.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the accuracy setting includes changing a rate of reporting the PVT data to the application.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the accuracy setting include changing signal quality parameters.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the accuracy setting include processing the GNSS signals and/or pseudorange measurements with different accuracy parameters.

16. A navigation system receiver comprising:

a satellite signal receiver to receive a plurality of satellite signals broadcast from a plurality of satellites, respectively;

a tracker to process the satellite signals to obtain measurement data representative of measurements relative to the satellites, respectively;

a navigator to process the measurement data to obtain position, velocity and time (PVT) data representative of an estimated current position, velocity and time of the navigation system receiver; and

a processor to;

obtain navigation data representative of at least an estimated current position of the navigation system receiver relative to a navigation route, the navigation route including one or more predetermined directions to arrive from the estimated current position to a destination location;

change at least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation system receiver to a high accuracy setting in response to provide the estimated current position being within a predetermined distance of a high accuracy waypoint, the high accuracy waypoint representing a fixed geographic location along the navigation route and being determined based upon the estimated current position and a destination location, wherein the high accuracy setting corresponds to a high power draw setting of the navigation system receiver; and

change the least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation receiver to a low accuracy setting in response to provide the estimated current position is travelling along a straight line relative to the navigation route, wherein the low accuracy setting corresponds to a low power draw setting of the navigation receiver.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the application is configured to identify the high accuracy waypoint along the navigation route, to determine if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance of the high accuracy waypoint, and to cause a first accuracy setting to be applied if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint and cause a second accuracy setting to be applied if the estimated current position is not within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint, wherein the first accuracy setting provides higher accuracy navigation data than the second accuracy setting.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the satellite signal receiver is configured to receive a plurality of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals including at least a satellite transmission time and position data, wherein the tracker is configured to process the satellite transmission time and position data to determine pseudorange measurements, and wherein the navigator is configured to process the pseudorange measurements to determine position, velocity and time (PVT) data.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the application is configured to cause a change in signal and data processing to change the accuracy setting.

20. One or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable memories including instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

obtain navigation data representative of at least an estimated current position of a navigation system receiver relative to a navigation route, the navigation route including one or more predetermined directions to arrive from the estimated current position to a destination location;

change at least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation system receiver to a high accuracy setting in response to provide the estimated current position being within a predetermined distance of a high accuracy waypoint, the high accuracy waypoint representing a fixed geographic location along the navigation route and being determined based upon the estimated current position and a destination location, wherein the high accuracy setting corresponds to a high power draw setting of the navigation system receiver; and

change the least one of;

signal processing or data processing in the navigation receiver to a low accuracy setting in response to provide the estimated current position is travelling along a straight line relative to the navigation route, wherein the low accuracy setting corresponds to a low power draw setting of the navigation receiver.

21. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable memories of claim 20, wherein instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining user destination data representative of the destination location; and

determining, in the navigation system receiver, a navigation route in response to the destination location.

22. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable memories of claim 21, wherein changing the accuracy setting of the navigation system receiver comprises:

identifying the high accuracy waypoint along the calculated navigation route;

determining if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint;

applying a first accuracy setting if the estimated current position is within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint; and

applying a second accuracy setting if the estimated current position is not within the predetermined distance from the high accuracy waypoint, wherein the first accuracy setting provides higher accuracy navigation data than the second accuracy setting.