Acquisition of navigation assistance information for a mobile station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9229089-B2
Application number	US-81335110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2010
Priority date	Jun 10, 2010
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

Navigation assistance information for a mobile station is acquired based on a feature descriptor of an image of a visual beacon captured by the mobile station. The navigation assistance information includes locations of neighboring visual beacons, locations of wireless positioning resources; user environmental context information. The navigation assistance information may then be used to assist in navigating within the local environment. The visual beacon may be an artificial feature, such as a QR code or other type of matrix or bar code or a natural feature, such as a statute or architectural detail. The mobile station may request navigation assistance by transmitting the feature descriptor to a server. The server retrieves the navigation assistance information from a database based on the feature descriptor and optionally location information, which may also be provided in the navigation assistance request, and transmits the navigation assistance information to the mobile station.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
imaging a visual beacon within an environment with a mobile station;
generating, with a processor, at least one feature descriptor for the visual beacon;
obtaining, with the processor, locations of neighboring visual beacons associated with the feature descriptor, the neighboring visual beacons being different than the visual beacon imaged with the mobile station; and
using the locations of neighboring visual beacons with the processor to assist in navigating within the environment by updating the mobile station position during navigation based on a location of a neighboring visual beacon of the neighboring visual beacons when the neighboring visual beacon is imaged by the mobile station.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual beacon is one of an artificial visual beacon in which data is encoded and a natural visual beacon in which data is not encoded.

3. The method of claim 1 , further obtaining, with the processor, information including a size and type of the neighboring visual beacons.

4. The method of claim 1 , further obtaining, with the processor, locations of wireless positioning resources associated with the feature descriptor, wherein the wireless positioning resources transmit wireless signals and comprise at least one of a satellite positioning system, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points, and wherein the locations of wireless positioning resources is used with the processor to further assist in navigating within the environment.

5. The method of claim 4 , further obtaining, with the processor, at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

6. The method of claim 1 , further obtaining, with the processor, environmental context associated with the feature descriptor, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, and a description of surrounding materials, wherein the environmental context is used with the processor to further assist in navigating within the environment.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the locations of neighboring visual beacons to assist in locating and imaging a neighboring visual beacon.

8. The method of claim 4 , further comprising using the locations of wireless positioning resources to assist in determining a current position using a wireless positioning resource.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising using the user environmental context for adjusting navigation processing.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein adjusting the navigation processing comprises at least one of adjusting a rate of position acquisition, adjusting a state of a navigation filter, and determining positioning sources to be used in the navigation processing.

11. The method of claim 1 , further obtaining, with the processor, user context associated with the feature descriptor, wherein the user context comprises statistics of previous user information and wherein statistics of previous user information include at least one of average reported user speed, standard deviation of reported user speed, average reported user dwell time, and standard deviation of reported user dwell time, and wherein the user context is used with the processor to further assist in navigating within the environment.

12. A method comprising:
receiving, with a processor, a navigation assistance request from a mobile station, the navigation assistance request including at least one feature descriptor of a visual beacon imaged by the mobile station;
retrieving, with the processor, locations of other visual beacons neighboring the visual beacon and that are different than the visual beacon, the neighboring other visual beacons being associated with the feature descriptor; and
transmitting to the mobile station a navigation assistance message that includes locations of the neighboring other visual beacons in response to the navigation assistance request, the locations of the neighboring other visual beacons transmitted to enable the mobile station to navigate within the environment by updating the mobile station position during navigation based on a location of a neighboring visual beacon of the neighboring visual beacons when the neighboring visual beacon is imaged by the mobile station.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the navigation assistance request further includes location information, wherein retrieving the locations of the neighboring other visual beacons comprises searching a database based on the feature descriptor and the location information.

14. The method of claim 12 , further transmitting a size and type of the neighboring other visual beacons in response to the navigation assistance request.

15. The method of claim 12 , further retrieving with the processor locations of wireless positioning resources associated with the feature descriptor, wherein the wireless positioning resources and comprises at least one of a satellite positioning system, Femtocell, WiFi, and cellular signal access points, wherein the navigation assistance message further includes the locations of wireless positioning resources.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the navigation assistance information further includes at least one of signal type, signal power level, number of channels, frequency and time offset, and corresponding wireless channel characteristics, and tracking statistics including at least one of accuracy, continuity, integrity, and availability of the wireless positioning resources.

17. The method of claim 12 , further retrieving with the processor environmental context associated with the feature descriptor, wherein the environmental context comprises at least one of a description of the environment type, and a description of surrounding materials, wherein the navigation assistance message further includes the environmental context.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a second navigation assistance request that includes at least one feature descriptor of a second visual beacon;
searching a database based on the feature descriptor for the second visual beacon; and
storing the feature descriptor for the second visual beacon in the database when the second feature descriptor is not found in the database.

19. A mobile station comprising:
a camera being operable to image a visual beacon within an environment;
a processor connected to the camera, wherein the processor is configured
to generate at least one feature descriptor of an image of a visual beacon from the camera;
to obtain locations of neighboring visual beacons associated with the feature descriptor, the neighboring visual beacons being different than the visual beacon imaged with the camera; and
to use the locations of the neighboring visual beacons to assist in navigating within the environment by updating the mobile station position during navigation based on a location of a neighboring visual beacon of the neighboring visual beacons when the neighboring visual beacon is imaged by the mobile station.

20. The mobile station of claim 19 , further comprising a wireless transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the locations of neighboring visual beacons by being configured to transmit a navigation assistance request on the wireless transceiver that includes the

Assignees

• Do Ju-Yong
• Farmer Dominic Gerard
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Do Ju-Yong
• Farmer Dominic Gerard

Classifications

• G01S5/0236 Primary

  Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac · CPC title

• G01C21/20

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01S5/0252

  Radio frequency fingerprinting · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title