Waypoint-assisted navigation of an enterprise facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9958277-B1
Application number	US-201514974364-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Dec 18, 2015
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A method includes obtaining instructions at a mobile device comprising directions from a current location of the mobile device to a target location in a facility over a path identified by two or more waypoint devices distributed in the facility, receiving signaling over at least one wireless network from a selected one of the waypoint devices in the path, utilizing a radio frequency signal strength of the received signaling to estimate proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device, presenting an indication of proximity to the first waypoint device via the mobile device based at least in part on the estimated proximity, determining whether the estimated proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device is below a proximity threshold, and selecting another one of the waypoint devices in the path responsive to determining that the estimated proximity is below the proximity threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining instructions at a mobile device from a control server, the instructions comprising directions from a current location of the mobile device to a target location in an enterprise facility over a path identified by two or more waypoint devices distributed in the enterprise facility;
receiving signaling over at least one wireless network from a selected one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path;
utilizing a radio frequency signal strength of the received signaling to estimate proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device;
presenting an indication of proximity to the first waypoint device via the mobile device, the indication of proximity being based at least in part on the estimated proximity;
determining whether the estimated proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device is below a proximity threshold;
selecting another one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path responsive to determining that the estimated proximity is below the proximity threshold; and
repeating the receiving, utilizing, presenting and determining for the other selected one of the waypoint devices in the path;
wherein signaling by two or more different ones of the waypoint devices at different locations in the enterprise facility is selectively activated in a sequence, the sequence being based at least in part on the path.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one wireless network comprises a low energy radio frequency network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the low energy radio frequency network comprises a Bluetooth low energy network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the target location comprises a target cabinet in a datacenter.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the received signaling from each of the waypoint devices comprises an encoded address scheme, the encoded address scheme comprising:
a universally unique identifier (UUID) identifying the datacenter;
a major field identifying a given one of a plurality of rows of the datacenter; and
a minor field identifying a given cabinet in the given row.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying that the estimated proximity between the mobile device and the first waypoint device is below the proximity threshold comprises receiving a confirmation message, the confirmation message comprising instructions and a direction pointer to the second waypoint device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the indication of proximity to the given waypoint device via the mobile device comprises presenting a visual indication of proximity to the given waypoint device on a display of the mobile device, the visual indication comprising:
directions to the given waypoint device; and
a proximity tracking graphic based on the estimated proximity.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the two or more waypoint devices provide incremental line-of-sight proximity stops on the path between the current location of the mobile device and the target location in the enterprise facility.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signaling of the two or more different waypoint devices is selectively activated by transmitting a notification to a given waypoint device over a first network causing the given waypoint device to activate signaling over a second network different than the first network.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by a mobile device causes the mobile device:
to obtain instructions from a control server, the instructions comprising directions from a current location of the mobile device to a target location in an enterprise facility over a path identified by two or more waypoint devices distributed in the enterprise facility;
to receive signaling over at least one wireless network from a selected one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path;
to utilize a radio frequency signal strength of the received signaling to estimate proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device;
to present an indication of proximity to the first waypoint device via the mobile device, the indication of proximity being based at least in part on the estimated proximity;
to determine whether the estimated proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device is below a proximity threshold;
to select another one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path responsive to determining that the estimated proximity is below the proximity threshold; and
to repeat the receiving, utilizing, presenting and determining for the other selected one of the waypoint devices in the path;
wherein signaling by two or more different ones of the waypoint devices at different locations in the enterprise facility is selectively activated in a sequence, the sequence being based at least in part on the path.

11. A mobile device comprising:
a memory;
a processor coupled to the memory; and
one or more network interfaces;
wherein the processor implements a proximity application configured:
to obtain instructions at a mobile device from a control server, the instructions comprising directions from a current location of the mobile device to a target location in an enterprise facility over a path identified by two or more waypoint devices distributed in the enterprise facility;
to receive signaling over at least one wireless network from a selected one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path;
to utilize a radio frequency signal strength of the received signaling to estimate proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device;
to present an indication of proximity to the first waypoint device via the mobile device, the indication of proximity being based at least in part on the estimated proximity;
to determine whether the estimated proximity between the mobile device and the selected waypoint device is below a proximity threshold;
to select another one of the two or more waypoint devices in the path responsive to determining that the estimated proximity is below the proximity threshold; and
to repeat the receiving, utilizing, presenting and determining for the other selected one of the waypoint devices in the path;

wherein signaling by two or more different ones of the waypoint devices at different locations in the enterprise facility is selectively activated in a sequence, the sequence being based at least in part on the path.

12. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said at least one wireless network comprises a low energy radio frequency network.

13. A method comprising:
transmitting instructions over at least one wireless network from a control server to a mobile device, the instructions comprising directions from a current location of the mobile device to a target location in an enterprise facility over a path identified by two or more waypoint devices distributed in the enterprise facility;
selectively activating signaling by respective ones of the two or more waypoint devices based on estimated location information of the mobile device;
wherein the signaling by a given one of the two or more waypoint devices permits estimation of proximity between the mobile device and the given waypoint device using a signal strength of the signaling received at the mobile device from the given waypoint device; and
wherein selectively activating signaling by respective ones of the two or more waypoint devices comprises activating signaling by two or more different ones of the waypoint devices at different locations

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Espy James
• Weiler Patrick
• Izhar Amnon
• Sardella Steven

Classifications

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/33

  for indoor environments, e.g. buildings · CPC title

• G01C21/206 Primary

  specially adapted for indoor navigation · CPC title

• H04W4/024

  Guidance services · CPC title

• H04W4/04

  Electricity · mapped topic