Systems and methods providing tactile guidance using sensory supplementation
First Claim
1. A system that provides navigational assistance to a user comprising:
- a location identifier that provides a current location information within a building, area or geographic locale;
a direction determiner circuit that determines a direction information based on a current heading, the current location information and a desired destination; and
a tactile direction device that provides a non-focal direction cue to a user based on the determined direction information.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A tactile guidance system and method provides a user with navigational assistance through continuous background communication. This continuous background communication is realized through tactile cueing. By making the direction giving through tactile cues, a user'"'"'s main attention can focus on visual and auditory cues in the real world, instead of focusing on the direction giving device itself. An electronic compass maintains the orientation of a user. A navigation state is maintained as a combination of orientation, location and destination. A guidance server provides a mapping from a user'"'"'s current location to directions to a desired destination. Communication links maintain communication between the tactile direction device and the guidance server. The compass, tactile direction device, communication links and guidance server all interact to provide direction information to a user via a tactile surface. The tactile direction device is small enough to be hand-held or incorporated, for example, into a briefcase handle.
169 Citations
69 Claims
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1. A system that provides navigational assistance to a user comprising:
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a location identifier that provides a current location information within a building, area or geographic locale;
a direction determiner circuit that determines a direction information based on a current heading, the current location information and a desired destination; and
a tactile direction device that provides a non-focal direction cue to a user based on the determined direction information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
a tactile surface control circuit that translates the determined direction information into a control signal; and
a tactile surface that responds to the control signal to provide the non-focal direction cue to the user.
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3. The system of claim 2, wherein the tactile surface comprises at least one movable peg, movement of the at least one movable peg corresponding to the determined direction information.
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4. The system of claim 1, wherein the direction determiner circuit selects a compass rose segmentation map based on at least one of the current location information and the desired destination.
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5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a destination identification device that performs at least one of managing data corresponding to the desired destination, converting the desired destination into a user recognizable mnemonic, and storing of the desired destination.
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6. The system of claim 1, wherein the direction determiner circuit further determines whether traversing to a different floor is required to reach the desired destination, and updates the direction information to direct the user to a location to accomplish the floor change.
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7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a notification device that alerts the user when traversing to a different floor is required to reach the desired destination.
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8. The system of claim 7, wherein the tactile direction devices acts as the notification device.
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9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database that stores at least one direction information preference, the direction information preference pointing to a particular look-up table based on the user'"'"'s needs.
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10. The system of claim 9, wherein the database is located in the tactile direction device.
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11. The system of claim 9, wherein the database is located in a guidance server.
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12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a communication link, the communication link enabling communication between the guidance server and the direction determiner circuit.
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13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database that stores at least one look-up table, the look-up table providing a correlation between the current location information and the desired destination information.
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14. The system of claim 13, wherein the database is located in the direction determiner circuit.
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15. The system of claim 13, wherein the database is located in a guidance server.
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16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a communication link, the communication link enabling communication between the guidance server and the direction determiner circuit.
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17. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identifier is at least one of an electromagnetic signal transmitter, a bar code, a color code, or an infra-red emitter.
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18. The system of claim 1, wherein a portion of the direction information is determined by a guidance server, the guidance server determining a direction to reach a next location.
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19. The system of claim 1, wherein the direction determiner circuit is integrated with the tactile direction device into a single device.
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20. The system of claim 1, wherein the tactile direction device is a hand-held device.
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21. A method of providing navigational assistance to a user comprising:
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identifying a current location information within a building, area or geographic location;
determining a direction information based on the current location information, a current heading and a destination information; and
providing a non-focal direction cue to a user based on the determined direction information. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
selecting a compass rose segment map; and
converting the direction information to the non-focal direction cue based on the selected compass rose segmentation map.
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25. The method of claim 21, further comprising notifying the user when traversing to a different floor is required.
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26. The method of claim 25, wherein the notification is at least one of an audio cue, a visual cue or a tactile cue.
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27. The method of claim 21, further comprising translating at least one of the destination information or the current location information into a readable mnemonic.
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28. The method of claim 21, further comprising establishing a communication link between a tactile guidance device and a guidance server.
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29. The method of claim 28, further comprising accessing a database, the database storing at least one direction information preference, the direction information preference pointing to a particular look-up table based on the user'"'"'s needs.
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30. The method of claim 29, wherein the database is located in the tactile direction device.
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31. The method of claim 29, wherein the database is located in the guidance server.
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32. The method of claim 28, further comprising accessing a database, the database storing at least one look-up table, the look-up table providing a correlation between the current location information and the desired destination information.
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33. The method of claim 32, wherein the database is located in the tactile direction device.
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34. The method of claim 32, wherein the database is located in the guidance server.
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35. A tactile direction device that provides navigational assistance to a user through direction cues comprising:
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a direction determination circuit that determines a direction cue based on a current location within a building area or geographic area, a direction information and a current heading;
a tactile surface control circuit that translates the direction cue into a control signal; and
a tactile surface device that provides a non-focal direction cue to a user based on the control signal. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of providing navigational assistance to a user through a tactile direction device comprising:
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determining a direction cue based on a location base within a building area or geographic locale, a direction information and a current heading; and
translating the direction cue into a control signal; and
activating a tactile surface device that responds to the control signal and provides a non-focal direction cue to a user. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification