LOCAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Abstract

The invention regards to a local navigation system comprising:

a plurality of beacons located in a local environment and being configured to send signals specified to different routes in said local environment;

a plurality of mobile devices, each of them comprising: a client control means,

a wireless communication link configured to receive the signals sent by the beacons;

an output means configured to display/emit navigation guide data;

in which local navigation system the client control means is configured to process the signals received via the wireless communication link and to process this data into navigation guide data outputted on output means of the mobile device,

whereby each route comprised in the local environment is assigned a unitary ID

and whereby each beacon is located in one specific location of the local environment along at least one of said routes, whereby each beacon is configured to send the IDs of all the routes passing along its specific location,

whereby the client control means obtains the route ID to a chosen destination from a destination input device of the local navigation system and/or of the mobile device, and which client control means is configured provide said navigation guide data in interaction with the beacons sending said route IDs of the chosen location. This system allows anonymous navigation in the local environment, possibly in a decentralized system without centralized or wired system components.

Claims

1. A local navigation system comprising: a plurality of beacons located in a local environment and being configured to send signals specified to different routes in said local environment; a plurality of mobile devices, each of them comprising: a client control means, a wireless communication link configured to receive the signals sent by the beacons; an output means configured to display/emit navigation guide data; in which local navigation system the client control means is configured to process the signals received via the wireless communication link and to process this data into navigation guide data outputted on output means of the mobile device, whereby each route comprised in the local environment is assigned a unitary ID and whereby each beacon is located in one specific location of the local environment along at least one of said routes, whereby each beacon is configured to send the IDs of all the routes passing along its specific location, whereby the client control means obtains the route ID to a chosen destination from a destination input device of the local navigation system and/or of the mobile device, and which client control means is configured provide said navigation guide data in interaction with the beacons sending said route IDs of the chosen location.

2. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein each beacon is configured as stand-alone unit comprising its own power supply.

3. The local navigation system according to claim 2, wherein the power supply is an accumulator.

4. The local navigation system according to claim 2, wherein each beacon is configured to send a status signal of its power supply.

5. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein each beacon is configured to send a beacon ID additionally to the route ID, which beacon ID is processed to indicate the user's certain position on the route to the chosen destination in the displayed navigation guide data.

6. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the beacons are configured to send guide data correlated to each route ID, which guide data is processed in the mobile device to navigation guide data displayed on the mobile device's output means, preferably display.

7. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the client control means or a destination control system of the local environment comprises a list of the destinations available in the local environment and a list of corresponding routes to said destinations, and which client control means of the mobile device is configured to display as navigation guide data at least a part of said route leading to a chosen destination in interaction with the signals obtained from the beacons, whereby the signal of the beacons for said route is processed by the client control means to indicate the current location of the user on said route.

8. The local navigation system according to claim 1, comprising a navigation system control means located in the local environment being connected with a destination control system which handles destination points to be chosen by users of the local environment and corresponding routes in said local environment.

9. The local navigation system according to claim 8, whereby a control communication link is provided between the navigation system control means and the beacons and wherein the navigation system control means is configured to activate only those beacons to send a route ID which are located on a route to a chosen destination point (x).

10. The local navigation system according to claim 9, wherein at least a part of said beacons, particularly the beacons at the destination points of the local environment are bidirectional transmitters and are configured to sense the arrival of a mobile device at the chosen destination point and to transmit a signal regarding the arrival to the navigation system control means.

11. The local navigation system according to claim 9, wherein the activated beacons are configured to stop sending the corresponding route ID's after a preset time if no arrival of the mobile device at the chosen destination point is detected.

12. The local navigation system according to claim 1, comprising a data exchange link between the local navigation system and the client control means of the mobile device.

13. The local navigation system according to claim 12, wherein the data exchange link is a local area network.

14. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein each beacon has a memory for the IDs of the routes passing said specific location of the beacon.

15. The local navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication link is based on infrared or bluetooth®.

16. The Local navigation system according to claim 3, wherein each beacon is configured to send a status signal of its power supply.

17. The local navigation system according to claim 2, wherein each beacon is configured to send a beacon ID additionally to the route ID, which beacon ID is processed to indicate the user's certain position on the route to the chosen destination in the displayed navigation guide data.

18. The local navigation system according to claim 3, wherein each beacon is configured to send a beacon ID additionally to the route ID, which beacon ID is processed to indicate the user's certain position on the route to the chosen destination in the displayed navigation guide data.

19. The local navigation system according to claim 4, wherein each beacon is configured to send a beacon ID additionally to the route ID, which beacon ID is processed to indicate the user's certain position on the route to the chosen destination in the displayed navigation guide data.

20. The local navigation system according to claim 2, wherein the beacons are configured to send guide data correlated to each route ID, which guide data is processed in the mobile device to navigation guide data displayed on the mobile device's output means, preferably display.

Description

[0027] The invention is now described by means of an embodiment in the schematic drawings. In these drawings:

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a f a local environment with beacons located in the corridors of said local environment,

[0029] FIG. 2 a schematic diagram showing the data transmission of destination and route data to a client control means of a mobile device via internet, and

[0030] FIG. 3 a centralized local navigation system where the beacons are connected to a navigation system control means located in the local environment.

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a local environment, i.e. a shopping mall 10 comprising a number of locations, particularly stores 12 and corridors 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 in between these stores. The local environment 10 also has an entrance 28 on the right side in the drawing. Spread all over the local environment 10, e.g. a shopping mall, are beacons 30a -30y. Each of said beacons 30a -30y transmits the route IDs of all routes passing the specific location where the respective beacon is located in the local environment 10. Let assume a user wants to get from the entrance 28 to the location x in the vicinity of the beacon 30a, then the route ID of said destination x may be also x. Now all beacons located on the route to the destination x are sending the route ID “x”, which beacons are beginning from the entrance 28 to the destination x the beacon 30q, 30p, 30h, 30e, 30b, 30a. These six beacons send the route ID x so that a user which is entering the local environment 10 at the entrance 28 can be guided via his mobile device from the entrance 28 to the destination x. Hereby, the client control means which has obtained the destination and/or the route ID in the local environment 10 either from an input in the mobile device or from a destination operating panel of a navigation system or transport system in the local environment is able to discriminate the received signals from the beacons to only consider those beacons which send the route ID “x”. Via the arrangement of the corresponding beacons 30q, 30p, 30h, 30e, 30b, 30a along the route to the destination x, the mobile device is easily able to track the route to the destination which facilitates for the user any kind of indoor navigation.

[0032] Of course, the beacons in the main corridor 24 send the most route IDs as each beacon has to send the IDs of all routes passing the specific location of the beacon in the local environment. Accordingly, the more centralized located beacons send a lot more IDs than the beacons which are more remote from central locations and which are more probably nearer to the destination. This can be easily shown in the drawing, which shows four further destinations v, w, y, z. In this case the beacon 30q sends the IDs “v”,“w”,“x” and “y”. The beacons 30p, 30h and 30e send the IDs “x” and “y”, the beacon 30s send the IDs “v” and “w”, the beacons 30v and 30y send the ID “v”, the beacon 30t sends the ID “w”, the beacons 30b and 30a send the ID “x” and the beacon 30d sends the ID “y”. Of course, the route ID of a destination may differ from the name of the destination. The ID may have any signal format which is readable by the data processing means.

[0033] In an alternative embodiment, all the beacons 30a -30y can also be connected to a centralized navigation system control means located in the local environment. When the user chooses a destination, for example in a destination operation panel of a passenger transport system, the navigation system control means can for example activate only those beacons which are leading to the chosen destination, i.e. in the embodiment of FIG. 1 for the destination x the beacons 30q, 30p, 30h, 30e, 30b and 30a. The disadvantage of this system is that a wire connection between the beacons and the central navigation system control means is necessary. But on the other hand, the overall transmission of the beacons is essentially reduced with respect to the system, where the beacons work as stand-alone units and send all the route IDs of the routes passing the specific location of the beacons.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a very simple way of providing the client control means of the mobile device with destination or route data which enables the mobile device, particularly an application (App) launched at the mobile device, to perform the navigation in the local environment 10 with the aid of the beacons 30a -30y. The local environment 10 comprises a server 40 of the local navigation system which comprises a destination control system 42. This server 40 is connected to the internet 44 such that a mobile device 46 of the user is able to download an App for the navigation in the local environment as well as the available destinations provided in the local environment along with the correlated routes. Via this means, all the necessary application data and processing data necessary for the mobile device to perform navigation by the help of the beacons 30a -30y is obtained via the server 40 connected with the internet 44 so that this kind of technical solution of a local navigation system does not need any centralized components in the local environment.

[0035] A more sophisticated centralized solution is shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows a navigation system control means 50 which is also a control means of a local passenger transport system connected with a destination control system 52, connected with a destination operating panel (DOP) 53, which destination control system 52 optionally comprises further a wireless data exchange means 54, for example a broadcasting system, which interacts with a wireless data exchange means 56 of the mobile device 46. Furthermore, the destination control system 52 of the local navigation system can be optionally connected to the internet 44 to which the mobile device 46 can be connected. The navigation system control means 50 is further connected to an input/output interface 58 which is via a serial bus 60 connected to the beacons 30a -30y as shown in FIG. 1. The local navigation system is here correlated with a passenger transport system with passenger transport devices as escalators 49 and elevators 51 so that the passenger is guided through the local environment via the escalators and elevators, whereby beacons can be placed in connection with these passenger transport devices, e.g. in the elevator car.

[0036] The mobile device 46 comprises a touchscreen 62 via which the user is able to input a destination in the local environment 10 which has been displayed by an App launched on the mobile device 46 or which is obtained via the data exchange link 54 and 56 between the destination control system 52 and the mobile device 46. Via this wireless data exchange link 54, 56, the navigation system control means 50 activates via the input/output interface 58 the beacons 30q, 30p, 30h, 30e, 30b, 30a which are leading to a chosen destination x so that only these beacons are transmitting the route ID as navigation signal considered by the client control means of the mobile device 46.

[0037] This centralized navigation system enables an easy and unambiguous navigation of a user even in a very wide distributed local environment whereby the emitted transmission of all beacons is minimized which could be important in hospitals and rehab centers or in other healthcare locations. The invention is not delimited to the above-mentioned embodiments but can be varied within the scope of the appended patent claims.