Determining and navigating to a target location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9674669-B2
Application number	US-201514690594-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2015
Priority date	Apr 20, 2015
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting the location of a target, such as an event or another device, and navigating a device to the target are described herein. The device may be located inside of a building, and the target may be located inside the same building (or a nearby building). The location of the device and/or the location of the target may be determined using, for example, short-range wireless sensors, such as Bluetooth (e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy) sensors, Near Field Communication sensors, or other indoor location sensors. The device may navigate a user of the device to the target location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a user device, an invitation from a second user device for a user of the user device to go to a location of a target within a building;
displaying, at the user device, the invitation, including an option to select the target within the building;
sending, by the user device, a request for the location of the second user device;
receiving, from the second user device, an authorization message to share the location of the second user device;
in response to receiving the authorization message to share the location of the second user device, receiving, at the user device, a selection of the option to select the target within the building;
determining the location of the target within the building from among a plurality of discrete locations within the building;
determining, based on one or more location sensors, a location of the user device within the building;
determining a navigation path within the building from the location of the user device to the location of the target; and
generating, on a map of the building, a display of the navigation path within the building from the location of the user device to the location of the target for display on the user device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the target within the building is based on one or more second location sensors.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target comprises an event, and wherein determining the location of the event comprises:
accessing a calendar service comprising information for the event; and
determining, as the location of the event, a location identified in the information for the event.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target comprises an event, the method further comprising:
prior to receiving the selection of the option to select the event, receiving, at the user device, a notification of the event, wherein the notification is received a predetermined amount of time prior to a start time of the event; and
displaying, at the user device, the notification of the event, including an option to select the event.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target comprises a second user of the second user device.

6. The method of claim 1 . wherein the one or more location sensors comprise one or more Bluetooth sensors or Near Field Communication sensors.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a display of turn-by-turn directions within the building from the location of the user device to the location of the target for display on the user device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating, on the map of the building, the display of the navigation path comprises overlaying the navigation path on the map of the building.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating, on the map of the building, the display of the navigation path comprises generating, on the map of the building, a display of:
one or more display screen elements indicating the location of the user device within the building,
one or more display screen elements indicating the location of the target within the building, and
one or more display screen elements indicating the navigation path within the building from the location of the user device to the location of the target.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the target comprises determining the location of the target based on a communication between one or more second location sensors and a computing device located proximate to the one or more second location sensors.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target comprises an event, the method further comprising:
generating, for display at the user device, a notification indicating a start time for the event and indicating an amount of time to move from the location of the user device to the location of the event.

12. An apparatus comprising:
a display;
a processor; and
memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive an invitation from a second apparatus for a user of the apparatus to go to a location of a target within a building;
display, on the display of the apparatus, the invitation, including an option to select the target within the building;
send a request for the location of the second apparatus;
receive, from the second apparatus, an authorization message to share the location of the second apparatus;
in response to receiving the authorization message to share the location of the second apparatus, receive a selection of the option to select the target within the building;
determine the location of the target within the building, from among a plurality of discrete locations within the building;
determine, based on one or more location sensors, a location of the apparatus within the building;
determine a navigation path within the building from the location of the apparatus to the location of the target; and
generate, on a map of the building, a display of the navigation path within the building from the location of the apparatus to the location of the target for display on the display of the apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the target comprises an event, and wherein determining the location of the event comprises:
accessing a calendar service comprising information for the event; and
determining, as the location of the event, a location identified in the information for the event.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:
the target comprises a second user of the second apparatus,
the location of the target comprises a location of the second apparatus, and
determining the location of the target comprises determining the location of the second apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:
the target comprises an event,
the location of the target comprises the location of the event, and
determining the location of the event comprises:
accessing a calendar service comprising information for the event; and
determining, as the location of the event, a location identified in the information for the event.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the target comprises a second user of the second apparatus.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
receive an invitation from a second computing device for a user of the computing device to go to a location of a target within a building;
display the invitation, including an option to select the target within the building;
send a request for the location of the second computing device;
receive, from the second computing device, an authorization message to share the location of the second computing device;
in response to receiving the authorization message to share the location of the second computing device, receive a selection of the option to select the target within the building;
determine the location of the target within the building from among a plurality of discrete locations within the building;
determine, based on one or more location sensors, a location of the computing device within the building;
determine a navigation path within the building from the location of the computing device to the location of the target; and
generate, on a map of the building, a display of the navigation path within the building from the location of the computing device to the location of the target for display at the computing device.

18. The non-transitory computer-re

Assignees

• Citrix Systems Inc

Inventors

• Subramanian Navaneetha
• Thomas Timmi
• Mistry Shaunak
• John Suresh Mathew

Classifications

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/04 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01C21/206 Primary

  specially adapted for indoor navigation · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W4/024 Primary

  Guidance services · CPC title