Wearable system for providing walking directions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10012505-B2
Application number	US-201615349935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2016
Priority date	Nov 11, 2016
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

A wearable computing device includes an input device, a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a camera, and a memory that is designed to store a database of landmarks and corresponding locations. The device includes a mobile processor that is designed to receive first user input indicating that the user is traveling from a starting location to a destination location and second user input indicating that new landmarks are present. The processor is designed to determine locations of the new landmarks based on the current location, the inertial measurement data, and/or the detected image data. The processor is designed to update the database to include the new landmarks and corresponding locations. The processor is designed to update the database to include an ordered list of landmarks including the new landmarks in order of their appearance from the starting location to the destination location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable computing device for creating a database usable for navigation comprising:
an input device configured to receive input from the user;
a global positioning system (GPS) sensor configured to detect a current location of the wearable computing device;
an inertial measurement unit (IMU) configured to detect inertial measurement data of the wearable computing device;
a camera configured to detect image data corresponding to an environment of the wearable computing device;
a memory configured to store a database including a plurality of landmarks and corresponding locations; and
a mobile processor coupled to the input device, the GPS sensor, the IMU, the camera, and the memory and configured to:
receive first user input from the input device indicating that the user is traveling from a starting location to a destination location,
receive second user input from the input device as the user is traveling indicating that new landmarks are present,
determine locations of the new landmarks based on at least one of the current location of the wearable computing device, the inertial measurement data of the wearable computing device, or the detected image data corresponding to the environment of the wearable computing device,
update the database to include the new landmarks and the locations of the new landmarks, and
update the database to include an ordered list of landmarks including the new landmarks placed in order of their appearance from the starting location to the destination location such that the ordered list of landmarks corresponds to a route from the starting location to the destination location.

2. The wearable computing device of claim 1 further comprising an input/output port coupled to the mobile processor and configured to communicate with a remote server and wherein the database is stored in the remote server and is accessible by multiple computing devices.

3. The wearable computing device of claim 1 further comprising an output device coupled to the mobile processor and configured to output data, wherein the mobile processor is further configured to:
receive third user input from the input device at a later time corresponding to a request for navigation instructions from the starting location to the destination location;
determine the navigation instructions based on the ordered list of landmarks and at least one of the current location of the wearable computing device, the inertial measurement data of the wearable computing device, or the detected image data corresponding to the environment of the wearable computing device; and
cause the output device to output the navigation instructions.

4. The wearable computing device of claim 3 wherein the mobile processor is further configured to:
update the database to include the new landmarks by storing the detected image data associated with the new landmarks in the memory; and
further determine the navigation instructions by determining a location of one of the new landmarks relative to the wearable computing device by comparing the detected image data to the stored image data and by determining a heading from the one of the new landmarks to a next landmark in the ordered list of landmarks.

5. The wearable computing device of claim 1 wherein the mobile processor is further configured to:
periodically determine a location marker corresponding to a location or an image as the user is traveling from the starting location to the destination location;
update the database to include the location marker; and
update the ordered list of landmarks to include the location marker in its ordered location relative to the new landmarks from the starting location to the destination location.

6. The wearable computing device of claim I wherein:
the memory is further configured to store product availability data corresponding to whether each of a plurality of products is available in a retail location;
the destination location includes one of the plurality of products;
the detected image data indicates that the one of the plurality of products is unavailable; and
the mobile processor is further configured to update the product availability data to indicate that the one of the plurality of products is unavailable.

7. The wearable computing device of claim 1 further comprising an output device configured to output data and an input/output port coupled to the mobile processor and configured to communicate with a remote server that stores product availability data corresponding to whether each of a plurality of products is available in a retail location and wherein the mobile processor is further configured to:
receive third user input including a desired retail location and a list of desired products;
communicate with the remote server via the input/output port to determine whether each of the desired products is available at the desired retail location; and
cause the output device to output data indicating that each of the desired products is available at the desired retail location or output data indicating which of the desired products is not available at the desired retail location.

8. The wearable computing device of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of landmarks includes at least one of a building, a plant, a tree, a sign, a road, a sidewalk, a light, a door, or a hallway.

9. A wearable computing device for providing navigation instructions to a user comprising:
an input device configured to receive input from the user;
an output device configured to output data;
a global positioning system (GPS) sensor configured to detect a current location of the wearable computing device;
an inertial measurement unit (IMU) configured to detect inertial measurement data of the wearable computing device;
a camera configured to detect image data corresponding to an environment of the wearable computing device;
a memory configured to store a database including a plurality of landmarks and corresponding locations; and
a mobile processor coupled to the input device, the output device, the GPS sensor, the IMU, the camera, and the memory and configured to:
receive first user input from the input device indicating that the user is traveling from a starting location to a destination location,
receive second user input from the input device as the user is traveling indicating that new landmarks are present,
determine locations of the new landmarks based on at least one of the current location of the wearable computing device, the inertial measurement data of the wearable computing device, or the detected image data corresponding to the environment of the wearable computing device,
update the database to include the new landmarks and the locations of the new landmarks,
update the database to include an ordered list of landmarks including the new landmarks placed in order of their appearance from the starting location to the destination location such that the ordered list of landmarks corresponds to a route from the starting location to the destination location,
receive third user input from the input device at a later time corresponding to a request for navigation instructions from the starting location to the destination location,
determine the navigation instructions based on the ordered list of landmarks, and cause the output device to output the navigation instructions.

10. The wearable computing device of claim 9 further comprising an input/output port coupled to the mobile processor and configured to communicate with a remote server and wherein the database is stored in the remote server and is accessible by multiple computing devices.

11. The wearable computing device of claim 9 w

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Dayal Rajiv
• Chen Tiffany L
• Ching Patrick K
• Northcutt Brandon D

Classifications

• G06V10/751

  Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching · CPC title

• G01S19/14

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01S19/47

  the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial · CPC title

• G06F16/00

  Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor · CPC title

• G01C21/3602

  Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera · CPC title