Systems and methods to direct foot traffic

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9863778-B2
Application number	US-201514974959-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Dec 18, 2015
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods for directing foot traffic are disclosed. Crowd data is gathered from one or more crowd data sources to monitor crowd densities of a geographic area. Locations are received for pedestrian client devices within the geographic area. Augmented reality commands are determined and supplied to the pedestrian client devices to direct movement of users, generally away from more dense zones and toward less dense zones within the geographic area. The augmented reality commands may direct haptic augmented reality output by a pedestrian client device and/or an accessory associated therewith.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system to direct foot traffic comprising:
a crowd monitor to receive crowd data from one or more sensors to monitor crowd densities of a geographic area, including detecting a crowd density of a more dense zone within the geographic area and a crowd density of a less dense zone within the geographic area;
a context detection module to detect social context associated with the crowd densities of the geographic area;
a crowd manager electronically coupled to the crowd monitor, the crowd manager to:
receive from the crowd monitor crowd densities of the geographic area,
receive from the context detection module the social context associated with the crowd densities;
receive a location of each of a plurality of pedestrian client devices within the geographic area; and
supply one or more augmented reality (AR) commands based at least in part on the social context to one or more pedestrian client devices of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to direct movement of one or more users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices away from the more dense zone and toward the less dense zone.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the crowd manager determines the one or more AR commands based on the crowd densities, including the crowd density of the more dense zone and the crowd density of the less dense zone.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR commands direct movement of users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to alter a foot traffic pattern within the geographic area.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR commands are to be received by an AR coordinator on the one or more pedestrian client devices.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by one or more pedestrian client devices of the plurality of pedestrian client devices.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by a vibrator associated with one or more pedestrian client devices of the plurality of pedestrian client devices.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by an accessory associated with a given pedestrian client device.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the accessory comprises one of a shoe insole with a vibrator, a vibrating bracelet, and an actuator in a garment.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising the one or more sensors to monitor the crowd densities.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more of a camera to capture image data of the geographic area and an audio sensor to detect an amount of noise within the geographic area.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a profile manager to receive pedestrian preferences for a given user and to generate and maintain the user profile,
wherein the crowd manager determines the one or more AR commands based on the pedestrian preferences of the given user that are stored in the user profile.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the social context detected by the context detection module includes physical proximity events determined based on data from a social media system or based on the crowd data from the one or more sensors including one or more of pressure from, presence, and distance of other people.

13. A method to direct foot traffic comprising:
receiving crowd data from one or more crowd data sources, including one or more sensors;
monitoring crowd densities of a geographic area, including detecting a crowd density of a more dense zone within the geographic area and a crowd density of a less dense zone within the geographic area;
detecting social context associated with the crowd densities of the geographic area;
receiving a location of each of a plurality of pedestrian client devices within the geographic area;
supplying one or more augmented reality (AR) commands based at least in part on the social context to one or more pedestrian client devices of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to direct movement of one or more users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices away from the more dense zone and toward the less dense zone.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising determining the one or more AR commands based on the crowd densities, including the crowd density of the more dense zone and the crowd density of the less dense zone.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more AR commands for each given pedestrian client device of the one or more pedestrian client devices are determined based on the location of the given pedestrian client device.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the AR commands direct movement of users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to alter a foot traffic pattern within the geographic area.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by a given pedestrian client device.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by a vibrator within the given pedestrian client device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by an accessory associated with the given pedestrian client device.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more AR commands are determined based on pedestrian destination input that indicates a destination goal of a user of the one or more users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices.

21. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instruction that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
receive crowd data from one or more crowd data sources, including one or more sensors;
monitor crowd densities of a geographic area, including detecting a crowd density of a more dense zone within the geographic area and a crowd density of a less dense zone within the geographic area;
detect social context associated with the crowd densities of the geographic area;
receive a location of each of a plurality of pedestrian client devices within the geographic area;
supply one or more augmented reality (AR) commands based at least in part on the social context to one or more pedestrian client devices of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to direct movement of one or more users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices away from the more dense zone and toward the less dense zone.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , further having stored thereon instruction that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
determine the one or more AR commands based on the crowd densities, including the crowd density of the more dense zone and the crowd density of the less dense zone.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22 , wherein the one or more AR commands for each given pedestrian client device of the one or more pedestrian client devices are determined based on the location of the given pedestrian client device.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the AR commands direct movement of users of the plurality of pedestrian client devices to alter a foot traffic pattern within the geographic area.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the AR commands direct a haptic AR output by a given pedestrian client device.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Anderson Glen J
• Govezensky Yosi
• Turiel Eli
• Gaidar Tamara

Classifications

• G01C21/3492 Primary

  employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G01C21/3652

  Guidance using non-audiovisual output, e.g. tactile, haptic or electric stimuli · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title