Providing location and spatial data about the physical environment

• US 9,710,564 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2013
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jarvis, Matthew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Taelor
• Application Number:
  US13/905,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,510 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/08 Devices or methods enabling eye-patients to replace direct visual perception by another kind of perception
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2003/063 with tactile perception
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/501 connected to external computer devices or networks
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5012 using the internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5064 Position sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5092 Optical sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/5097 wireless
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 3/061 with electronic detecting or guiding means
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/10 Elderly or infirm
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0264 at least one of the systems being a non-radio wave positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/003 using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 using audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/007 using both tactile and audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/008 using visual presentation of the information for the partially sighted

Abstract

A system and computer program product are provided for providing location and spatial data about the physical environment. The system is configured to sense a tag provided in the environment by a mobile device; receive data from the tag at the mobile device, the data including location and spatial data relating to the physical environment of the tag; and represent the location and spatial data from the tag by the mobile device. In one embodiment, sensing a tag may include sensing a tag in the form of a machine-readable symbol; and receiving data from the tag receives data by processing an image of the machine-readable symbol by the mobile device. In another embodiment, sensing a tag includes sensing a tag in the form of a transmitter device; and receiving data from the tag receives data by receiving a signal by the mobile device.

Claims

1. A system for providing location and spatial data about a physical environment, in a form of a mobile device comprising:

a sensing component configured to sense a tag provided in the physical environment by a mobile device, wherein the sensing component is configured to sense a symbol tag in a form of a machine-readable visual symbol encoding the location and spatial data about the physical environment and sense a signal tag in a form of a transmitter device;

a tag data receiver configured to receive data from the tag at the mobile device, the data including location and spatial data about the physical environment of the tag, wherein the tag data receiver is configured to receive the data from the tag by processing an image of the machine-readable visual symbol by the mobile device and receive the data from the tag by receiving a signal by the mobile device, wherein the tag data receiver includes a camera configured to identify a location of the tag by processing the image of the machine-readable visual symbol and a signal receiver configured to receive data about a hazard in the physical environment from the tag by receiving the signal; and

a data representing component configured to represent the location and spatial data from the tag by the mobile device.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

multiple tags provided in the physical environment that are each configured to provide location and spatial data about the physical environment, wherein the spatial data identifies physical dimensions of an object in the physical environment.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a decoding component configured to decode the data received from the tag to retrieve the location and spatial data.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data representing component is configured to represent the data by audio means.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data representing component is configured to represent the data by tactile means.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data representing component is configured to represent the data by augmented reality means with the location and spatial information overlain over the live video as textual information.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tag data receiver includes a camera for viewing a live video of the physical environment of the mobile device;

and

wherein the data representing component is configured to represent the location and spatial data by augmented reality over a view of the live video.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tag data receiver includes a camera for viewing a live video of a physical environment of the mobile device, wherein the camera is configured to zoom in to gather further details of the tag responsive to the tag being sensed by the sensing component.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein processing the image of the machine-readable visual symbol comprises ascertaining the location and spatial data about the physical environment defined by the machine-readable visual symbol.

4. A system for providing location and spatial data about a physical environment, in a form of a mobile device comprising:

a sensing component configured to sense a tag provided in the physical environment by a mobile device;

a tag data receiver configured to receive data from the tag at the mobile device, the data including location and spatial data about the physical environment of the tag, wherein the tag data receiver includes a camera configured to identify a location of the tag by processing the image of the machine-readable visual symbol and a signal receiver configured to receive data about a hazard in the physical environment from the tag by receiving the signal;

a data representing component configured to represent the location and spatial data from the tag by the mobile device; and

a next tag component configured to determine, from the data received from the tag, a location of another tag configured to provide location and spatial data defining a physical environment of the another tag.

12. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the processing the image of the visual symbol comprises ascertaining the location and spatial data about the physical environment defined by the visual symbol.