Way finder using proximity events

• US 9,933,265 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2013
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netclearance Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Netclearance Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Fernandez, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoltenberg, David J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ezewoko, Michael I
• Application Number:
  US13/937,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20140163867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,730 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1458
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A system that provides a way finder throughout a facility includes an array of sensors distributed throughout the facility, each sensor able to transmit a wireless beacon signal, each beacon signal including a unique sensor ID; at least one mobile device able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a first sensor from the array of sensors and generate a request for a route to a destination and further able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a second sensor from the array of sensors and generate an update request; and a server able to receive the request for the route and generate the route based on the fixed location of the first sensor and a location of the destination, the route traversing a section of the at least one path, where the server updates the route to the destination based on the fixed location of the second sensor.

Claims

1. A system that provides a way finder throughout a facility, the system comprising:

an array of sensors distributed throughout the facility, each sensor in the array able to transmit a wireless beacon signal, each beacon signal including a unique sensor ID associated with the each sensor, wherein each sensor in the array of sensors is placed at a fixed location along at least one path within the facility;

at least one mobile device able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a first sensor from the array of sensors and generate a request for a route to a destination and further able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a second sensor from the array of sensors and generate an update request; and

a server able to receive the request for the route and generate the route based on the fixed location of the first sensor from the array of sensors and a location of the destination, the route traversing at least a section of the at least one path, wherein the server updates the route to the destination based on the fixed location of the second sensor from the array of sensors after receiving the update request.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a storage having:

a map of the facility defining a plurality of locations associated with the way finder; and

a list of sensors in the array of sensors, each sensor in the array associated with the sensor ID and a location of the sensor relative to the map of the facility.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the storage also includes a set of destinations, each destination in the set associated with a location relative to the map of the facility.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the storage further includes a set of routes, each route in the set of routes defining a path from a location of a sensor to a location of a destination.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the request comprises the destination and a sensor ID detected by the mobile device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless beacon signal comprises at least one of a Bluetooth signal and a WiFi signal.

7. The system of claim 1, the mobile device further able to display a guide map, wherein the displayed guide map is based at least partly on the location of a detected sensor and the location of the destination.

8. A user device that allows a user to navigate within a facility having a set of proximity sensors, the user device comprising:

a processor for executing sets of instructions; and

a non-transitory medium that stores the sets of instructions, wherein the sets of instructions comprise;

determining that the user device has passed within a threshold proximity to a first proximity sensor from the set of proximity sensors, wherein each sensor in the set of proximity sensors is placed at a fixed location along at least one path within the facility;

determining a current position of the user device based at least partly on information associated with the first proximity sensor;

generating a request for a route to a destination within the facility based on the fixed location of the first proximity sensor and a location of the destination;

displaying the current position of the user device and a route to the destination within a map of the facility, the route traversing at least a section of the at least one path;

updating the current position of the user device based at least partly on information associated with a second proximity sensor from the set of proximity sensors when determining that the user device has passed within a threshold proximity to the second proximity sensor; and

displaying an updated route to the destination based on the updated current position.

9. The user device of claim 8 the sets of instructions further comprising:

receiving a selection of a destination associated with the facility;

determining a route from the current position to the destination; and

displaying the route within the map of the facility.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein receiving the selection of the destination comprises:

providing a list of potential destinations; and

receiving a selection of the destination from the list of potential destinations.

11. The user device of claim 10, wherein the list of potential destinations comprises a set of destinations defined by the facility.

12. The user device of claim 8 wherein the facility is one of a university, a hospital, a museum, a department store, a mall, an airport, and a corporate campus.

13. The user device of claim 8, wherein determining the current position comprises:

receiving a beacon signal from the first proximity sensor, the beacon signal comprising a sensor ID;

sending a request to a server application, the request comprising the sensor ID;

receiving a location associated with the sensor ID from the server application; and

determining the current position based at least partly on the received location.

14. The user device of claim 8, wherein the user device is one of a smartphone and a tablet.

15. An automated method that provides way finding based on proximity events, the method comprising:

associating, at a local server, each proximity sensor among an array of sensors with a location within a facility;

retrieving, from a storage, a set of destinations associated with the facility and associating each destination in the set of destinations with a specified proximity sensor from the array of sensors;

receiving, from a mobile device, a request comprising a unique sensor identifier associated with a particular proximity sensor from the array of sensors;

sending, to the mobile device, navigation instructions within the facility, wherein the navigation instructions are based at least partly on the location of the particular proximity sensor from the array of sensors and the set of destinations; and

updating the navigation instructions when another unique sensor identifier is received from the mobile device that is not associated with the particular proximity sensor.

16. The automated method of claim 15 further comprising determining that a mobile device is within a threshold distance of another sensor from the array of sensors.

17. The automated method of claim 16 further comprising:

determining a current position of the mobile device based at least partly on a location of the particular sensor; and

displaying the current position.

18. The automated method of claim 17 further comprising:

receiving a selection of a destination from the set of destinations;

generating a route from the current position to the selected destination; and

displaying the route.

19. The automated method of claim 18 further comprising:

determining that the mobile device is within the threshold distance of a second sensor;

determining an updated current position of the mobile device based at least partly on a location of the second sensor;

generating an updated route from the updated current position to the selected destination; and

displaying the updated route.

20. The automated method of claim 15 further comprising defining a set of routes from the location of each sensor within the array of sensors to each destination in the set of destinations.