A path guidance method and apparatus

Abstract

This application discloses a path guidance method and apparatus. The method includes: responding to a trigger operation on a physical carrier in the environment of a terminal device, the physical carrier carrying information of a target geographic entity; acquiring information of a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information of a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity; acquiring a navigation path starting from the first location and ending at the second location; and outputting navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct an object to move from the first location to the second location. This application can improve path guidance efficiency and user experience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of intelligent navigation, and in particular to a path guidance method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of positioning and navigation technology, it has been widely applied to various smart terminals. Currently, when using smart terminals for route guidance, a series of user decision-making and confirmation steps are usually required, such as requiring users to open navigation software, manually enter the destination, select a route, and choose a navigation mode, which seriously affects the efficiency of route guidance and user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, this application provides a path guidance method and apparatus to improve path guidance efficiency and user experience.

[0004] This application provides the following solution: Firstly, a path guidance method is provided for use in a terminal device, the method comprising: In response to a triggering operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carries information about a target geographic entity, and information about a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information about a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity are obtained. Obtain a navigation path that starts at the first location and ends at the second location; Output navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct the object to move from the first position to the second position.

[0005] Optionally, the triggering operation on the physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located includes at least one of the following operations: When the physical carrier is a QR code, the QR code is scanned. When the physical carrier is a near-field communication tag, a reading operation is performed on the near-field communication tag; When the physical carrier is an RFID tag, a reading operation is performed on the RFID tag; When the physical carrier is an indicator facility containing information about the target geographic entity, a first image of the indicator facility is acquired, and target recognition is performed on the first image.

[0006] Optionally, outputting the navigation guide corresponding to the navigation path includes: When the terminal device is a non-autonomous mobile device, a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path is displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device to guide the user from the first position to the second position; or... When the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, a movement control command corresponding to the navigation path is generated to control the autonomous mobile device to move from the first position to the second position based on the movement control command.

[0007] Optionally, obtaining the information of the first location corresponding to the terminal device includes: Acquire a second image of the environment in which the terminal device is located; The second image is sent to a first server, which matches the second image in a pre-built offline map to obtain the location of the target map keyframe corresponding to the second image. The offline map contains multiple map keyframes and their corresponding locations. The location of the target map keyframe is received, and the location of the target map keyframe is determined to be the first location corresponding to the terminal device.

[0008] Optionally, when the physical carrier is an indication facility containing information about the target geographic entity, obtaining information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity includes: Obtain the result of target recognition in the first image; Based on the target recognition results, the physical carrier region and non-physical carrier region in the first image are determined; Determine the target area within the physical carrier region, perform optical character recognition or image recognition on the target area, and obtain information for identifying the target geographic entity based on the recognition results; The information used to identify the target geographic entity is sent to the second server, and the second location information corresponding to the target geographic entity is obtained from the second server.

[0009] Optionally, after obtaining the information of the first location corresponding to the terminal device and the information of the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity, the method further includes: Determine the distance between the first position and the second position; If the distance between the first position and the second position is less than a preset distance threshold, a third image of the environment in which the terminal device is located is acquired; The graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path is displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device, including: Obtain visual enhancement elements, and render the target geographic entities in the third image based on the visual enhancement elements; The graphical user interface of the terminal device displays a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path, and the graphical navigation page contains a rendered third image.

[0010] Secondly, a path guidance device is provided for use in a terminal device, the device comprising: The physical carrier triggering unit is configured to respond to a triggering operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carrying information of a target geographic entity, and to obtain information of a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information of a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity. The navigation path acquisition unit is configured to acquire a navigation path that starts at the first location and ends at the second location; The navigation guidance output unit is configured to output navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct the object to move from the first position to the second position.

[0011] Thirdly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0012] Fourthly, an electronic device is provided, comprising: One or more processors; and A memory associated with the one or more processors, the memory being used to store program instructions that, when read and executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0013] Fifthly, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects.

[0014] According to the specific embodiments provided in this application, the following technical effects are disclosed: 1) The terminal device of this application automatically obtains the first location corresponding to the terminal device and the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity by responding to the trigger operation of the physical carrier, and then automatically obtains the navigation path with the first location as the starting point and the second location as the ending point. Finally, it automatically outputs the navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, realizing a simplified navigation process of triggering navigation, eliminating the cumbersome user interaction process, thereby improving the efficiency of path guidance and user experience.

[0015] 2) This application adopts a multimodal compatible design, including QR codes, NFC tags, RFID tags, and indicator facilities in the environment, which can ensure that the terminal device can consistently start the subsequent automatic path guidance process regardless of the sensing method used to interact with the physical carrier.

[0016] 3) When the terminal device is a non-autonomous mobile device, this application displays a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path in the graphical user interface of the terminal device to guide the user from the first position to the second position through the graphical navigation page; or, when the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, it generates a movement control command corresponding to the navigation path to control the autonomous mobile device to move from the first position to the second position based on the movement control command, so that the navigation guidance information output is adapted to the terminal device type, effectively improving the effectiveness of the navigation guidance information output and the user experience.

[0017] 4) This application achieves visual matching positioning by matching the second image with a pre-built offline map to obtain the position of the target map key frame corresponding to the second image, and determines the position of the target map key frame as the information of the first position corresponding to the terminal device. It can obtain accuracy and stability far exceeding traditional Wi-Fi or Bluetooth positioning in complex indoor environments, laying a solid foundation for subsequent accurate path planning.

[0018] 5) This application uses technologies such as target recognition, region determination, character or icon recognition, and cloud matching to enable terminal devices to accurately locate and interpret information representing target geographic entities from an image that may contain background interference, and then accurately match the location of the target geographic entity on the server side, effectively improving the robustness and accuracy of visual trigger path guidance in real noisy environments.

[0019] 6) By adopting a distance-triggered AR-enhanced navigation scheme, this application can provide an ultimate WYSIWYG guidance experience during the navigation approach to the target geographic entity stage, transforming abstract path lines into direct indications of real objects, which helps to solve the problem of unintuitive final location guidance.

[0020] Of course, any product implementing this application does not necessarily need to achieve all of the advantages described above at the same time. Attached Figure Description

[0021] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a system architecture diagram applicable to the embodiments of this application.

[0023] Figure 2 A flowchart of the path guidance method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0024] Figure 3 A schematic block diagram of a path guidance device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0025] Figure 4 A schematic block diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0026] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0027] The terminology used in the embodiments of this invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” as used in the embodiments of this invention and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0028] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, and B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this article generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0029] Depending on the context, the word "if" as used here can be interpreted as "when," "when," "in response to determination," or "in response to detection." Similarly, depending on the context, the phrase "if determination" or "if detection (of the stated condition or event)" can be interpreted as "when determination," "in response to determination," "when detection (of the stated condition or event)," or "in response to detection (of the stated condition or event)."

[0030] Currently, when using smart terminals for route guidance, a series of user decision-making and confirmation steps are usually required, such as requiring users to open navigation software, manually enter the destination, select a route, and select a navigation mode, which seriously affects the efficiency of route guidance and user experience.

[0031] In view of this, this application provides a new approach. To facilitate understanding of this application, the system architecture on which this application is based will first be described. Figure 1 An exemplary system architecture that can be applied to embodiments of this application is shown, such as Figure 1 As shown, the system architecture may include: user terminal, terminal device and server terminal.

[0032] The server side and the client side are the two main components of an application service. The server side uses a server as its primary hardware infrastructure and may include one or more software service modules. The server side and the client side form a collaborative front-end and back-end.

[0033] The client can be set on the terminal device. In the embodiments of this application, the client can be a local application, a mini-program, or a web application running through a browser on the terminal device.

[0034] Terminal devices can include, but are not limited to, smart mobile terminals, wearable devices, PCs (Personal Computers), robots, aircraft, and ships. Smart mobile devices can include devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and connected car terminals. Wearable devices can include devices such as smartwatches, smart glasses, smart bracelets, VR (Virtual Reality) devices, AR (Augmented Reality) devices, and mixed reality devices (devices that support both virtual and augmented reality), etc.

[0035] The user client can interact with the server through the network. For example, the user client can send data such as the current location and environmental images collected by the terminal device to the server; or the user client can request and obtain data such as the destination location from the server.

[0036] The server can be a single server, a server cluster consisting of multiple servers, or a cloud server. A cloud server, also known as a cloud computing server or cloud host, is a host product in the cloud computing service system, designed to address the shortcomings of traditional physical hosts and Virtual Private Servers (VPS) services, such as high management difficulty and weak service scalability.

[0037] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of client terminals, terminal devices, and servers shown is merely illustrative. Depending on implementation needs, there can be any number of client terminals, terminal devices, and servers.

[0038] Figure 2 This is a flowchart of a path guidance method provided in an embodiment of this application. This method can be... Figure 1 The user-side execution in the system shown is as follows. Figure 2 As shown, the method may include the following steps: Step 201: In response to a trigger operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carries information about the target geographic entity, and obtains information about the first location corresponding to the terminal device and information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity.

[0039] Step 203: Obtain the navigation path starting from the first location and ending at the second location.

[0040] Step 205: Output the navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path. The navigation guidance information is used to indicate the movement of the object from the first position to the second position.

[0041] As can be seen from the above process, the terminal device of this application automatically obtains the first location corresponding to the terminal device and the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity by responding to the trigger operation of the physical carrier. Then, it automatically obtains the navigation path with the first location as the starting point and the second location as the ending point. Finally, it automatically outputs the navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, realizing a simplified navigation process of triggering navigation, eliminating the cumbersome user interaction process, thereby improving the efficiency of path guidance and user experience.

[0042] The following describes in detail each step of the above process and the effects that can be further produced, with reference to the embodiments. It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., used in this disclosure do not have limitations in terms of size, order, or quantity, but are only used to distinguish them in name. For example, "first position" and "second position" are used to distinguish positions in name.

[0043] First, in conjunction with the embodiments, the above step 201, namely "in response to the triggering operation of the physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carries the information of the target geographic entity, and the information of the first location corresponding to the terminal device and the information of the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity are obtained", will be described in detail.

[0044] In this embodiment, a physical carrier refers to any physical object capable of carrying target geographic entity information, including but not limited to QR codes, Near Field Communication (NFC) tags, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, or indicating facilities containing target geographic entity information, such as wayfinding signs or signboards. The physical carrier and the terminal device are in the same environment; that is, the terminal device can sense the physical carrier in the environment, thereby triggering the terminal device to execute path guidance. The triggering operation refers to any device action that can respond to the physical carrier and initiate the path guidance process, including but not limited to: scanning QR codes, reading NFC tags, reading RFID tags, and image acquisition and recognition operations on indicating facilities containing target geographic entity information.

[0045] A target geographic entity refers to an object at the destination that a user or terminal device intends to reach; it can be a building, a shop sign, or a vending machine, etc. The information of the target geographic entity refers to information related to the destination, such as the destination name and destination number. The primary location information refers to the current coordinates of the terminal device itself, which can serve as the starting point for navigation. The secondary location information refers to the coordinates of the target geographic entity, which can serve as the destination for navigation.

[0046] To further optimize the compatibility and universality of the triggering operation in the above embodiments and to solve the triggering response obstacle problem that may be caused by the diverse forms of physical carriers, this application also provides the following preferred solutions.

[0047] As one possible implementation method, the triggering operation includes at least one of the following operations: scanning the QR code when the physical carrier is a QR code; reading the near-field communication tag when the physical carrier is a near-field communication tag; reading the radio frequency identification tag when the physical carrier is a radio frequency identification tag; and acquiring a first image of the indicator facility containing information about the target geographic entity and identifying the target in the first image when the physical carrier is an indicator facility containing information about the target geographic entity.

[0048] Understandably, the above design enables terminal devices to respond to triggers from different physical carriers through a unified processing logic, greatly expanding the applicability of the path guidance method. Whether it's a QR code, NFC tag, RFID tag, or environmental signage, all can trigger the terminal device to perform path guidance. Specifically, when the terminal device's camera is pointed at a QR code, the trigger operation is scanning the QR code. Similarly, when the terminal device is near an NFC tag, the trigger operation is reading the NFC tag. Likewise, when the terminal device is near an RFID tag, the trigger operation is reading the RFID tag. And when the terminal device uses its camera to identify a sign in the environment, the trigger operation is image acquisition and target recognition. It should be noted that this application employs a multimodal compatible design, including QR codes, NFC tags, RFID tags, and environmental signage, ensuring that the terminal device can consistently initiate the subsequent automatic path guidance process regardless of the sensing method used to interact with the physical carrier.

[0049] Furthermore, after the terminal device responds to the trigger operation of the physical carrier, the first location information can be obtained through various positioning technologies. For example, in outdoor scenarios, the terminal device's global navigation satellite system module can be directly invoked to obtain the first location. In indoor scenarios, the first location can be determined based on Wi-Fi fingerprinting, Bluetooth beacons, ultra-wideband, or visual positioning methods. Alternatively, a fusion positioning scheme can be used to determine the first location, simultaneously utilizing data from multiple sensors (such as inertial measurement units, cameras, and satellite signals) and fusing them through algorithms such as Kalman filtering to obtain the first location. In addition, the second location information can be determined based on the information of the target geographic entity. For example, information such as the store name or store number can be decoded from a QR code; information such as a home address can be read from an NFC or RFID tag; and information such as text or image content in a sign can be identified from an environmental image. The terminal device can then send the target geographic entity information to a server for querying to obtain the corresponding geographic coordinates, i.e., the second location. The server includes pre-built information on multiple target geographic entities and their corresponding geographic coordinates.

[0050] It should be noted that the two processes of obtaining the first position information and obtaining the second position information can be executed in parallel. Parallel execution can improve the speed of obtaining the starting position information, laying the foundation for realizing a simplified path guidance scheme of trigger-based navigation.

[0051] The following describes step 203, namely "obtaining a navigation path with a first location as the starting point and a second location as the ending point", in detail with reference to the embodiments.

[0052] In this embodiment of the application, the navigation path refers to the movement route from the first location to the second location. It can be a movement route in an indoor or outdoor scene, or a continuous movement route across indoor and outdoor scenes, such as a route from location A outside the mall to merchant B inside the mall.

[0053] One feasible approach is to generate navigation paths locally on the terminal device. For example, the terminal device can load pre-downloaded offline map data and, based on a first and a second location, use path planning algorithms such as Rapid Random Tree (RRT) or Dijkstra's algorithm to calculate a navigation path from the first location to the second location. Path planning can also include constraints such as shortest distance or shortest time to ensure the unique selection of the navigation path.

[0054] As another feasible approach, navigation routes can be obtained by requesting a remote route planning service. For example, the terminal device can send its first and second locations to a route planning server. This server stores real-time updated map data and can quickly calculate a navigation route based on the first and second locations before sending the route to the terminal device.

[0055] It should be noted that after obtaining the information of the first location and the second location, the terminal device or server will automatically plan the route with the first location as the starting point and the second location as the ending point, without requiring the user to specify or confirm it, which effectively improves the efficiency of navigation route generation.

[0056] The following describes in detail step 205, namely "outputting navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to indicate the object's movement from the first position to the second position," with reference to the embodiments.

[0057] In this embodiment of the application, the navigation guidance information is a navigation guide generated based on the navigation path, which can instruct an object to move from a first position to a second position. The object can be a user using a terminal device or a terminal device with mobility capabilities. That is, the navigation guidance information can serve as a reference for user movement or control the movement of the terminal device.

[0058] It should be noted that after obtaining the navigation path, the terminal device can automatically output the navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path to guide the object from the first position to the second position, without jumping to any intermediate page to require user interaction, thus realizing a very simple path guidance that can be triggered and navigated immediately.

[0059] To further optimize the effectiveness and user experience of the navigation guidance information output in the above embodiments, this application also optimizes the step of "outputting navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path". Specifically, the corresponding navigation guidance information can be output according to the type of terminal device. For example, if the terminal device is a non-autonomous mobile device, the navigation guidance information can be a graphical navigation page; if the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, the navigation guidance information can be a mobile control command.

[0060] As one possible approach, when the terminal device is not a self-operated mobile device, a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path can be displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device to guide the user from the first position to the second position.

[0061] Non-autonomous mobile devices refer to devices that lack mobility capabilities, including but not limited to mobile phones, tablets, or augmented reality (AR) devices. A graphical navigation page refers to a page containing graphical navigation paths, which can be in two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or augmented reality formats, without specific limitations. For example, after generating a navigation path, the corresponding graphical navigation page can directly pop up in the graphical user interface of a mobile phone or AR device. Users can use the routes, arrows, and other graphical elements on the navigation page as navigation guides to move from a first location to a second location.

[0062] As another possible approach, when the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, a motion control command corresponding to the navigation path is generated, and the autonomous mobile device is controlled to move from the first position to the second position based on the motion control command.

[0063] Autonomous mobile devices refer to devices with mobility capabilities, including but not limited to robots, autonomous vehicles, aircraft, or ships. Motion control commands are instructions that control the terminal device to move according to a navigation path. For example, when the terminal device is a robot or an autonomous vehicle, motion control commands such as speed and steering can be used to control the robot or autonomous vehicle to move from a first position to a second position, without any human control or intervention.

[0064] Understandably, for terminal devices such as mobile phones and tablets, the output target is human senses, therefore the navigation path needs to be rendered into an easy-to-understand graphical interface. For terminal devices such as robots and autonomous vehicles, the output target is their own control system, therefore the navigation path needs to be converted into a precise sequence of motion commands. Specifically, terminal devices can be equipped with a device type identifier at the factory or during initialization. In the step of outputting navigation guidance information, the terminal device will query the device type identifier. If the device type identifier is a non-autonomous mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet, the graphics rendering engine is invoked to draw the received navigation path on the map base, supplemented with arrows, voice prompts, etc., and a graphical navigation page is displayed in the graphical user interface. If the device type identifier is an autonomous mobile device such as a robot or autonomous vehicle, the corresponding sequence of motion commands is generated according to the navigation path and sent to the motion controller for execution.

[0065] As another possible approach, the terminal device can either display a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path in a graphical user interface, or generate motion control commands corresponding to the navigation path. For example, an autonomous vehicle can drive to its destination based on motion control commands and display a graphical navigation page on the in-vehicle screen.

[0066] To further optimize the accuracy and reliability of the first location information acquisition in the above embodiments, especially in indoor environments where satellite signals are blocked, this application also provides a vision-based positioning scheme as a preferred option.

[0067] One possible approach to obtaining information about the first location corresponding to the terminal device includes: acquiring a second image of the environment in which the terminal device is located; sending the second image to a first server, which matches the second image in a pre-built offline map to obtain the location of a target map keyframe corresponding to the second image; receiving the location of the target map keyframe and determining that the location of the target map keyframe is information about the first location corresponding to the terminal device.

[0068] The second image is an environmental image captured when or after the terminal device responds to a trigger operation; that is, an image or panoramic image taken from a certain angle at the current location of the terminal device. The first server is used to calculate the real-time location of the terminal device. It stores a pre-built offline map, which contains multiple map keyframes and their corresponding locations. Each map keyframe represents an environmental image taken from a specific viewpoint and location. The offline map can be pre-built by scanning the real environment using ORB-SLAM3 or other SLAM systems.

[0069] Specifically, when the terminal device responds to the trigger operation, the terminal device acquires an image or panoramic image taken at a certain angle at the current location. The terminal device sends the image to the first server via the network, selects the map keyframe with the highest similarity to the image in the offline map as the target map keyframe, and obtains the spatial location coordinates (e.g., XYZ coordinates in the building coordinate system) corresponding to the target map keyframe. The terminal device then sends the spatial location coordinates corresponding to the target map keyframe to the terminal device, and uses the spatial location coordinates of the target map keyframe as the information of the first location corresponding to the terminal device.

[0070] It should be noted that this application achieves visual matching positioning by matching the second image with a pre-built offline map to obtain the position of the target map key frame corresponding to the second image, and determining the position of the target map key frame as the information of the first position corresponding to the terminal device. This achieves accuracy and stability far exceeding traditional Wi-Fi or Bluetooth positioning in complex indoor environments, laying a solid foundation for subsequent accurate path planning.

[0071] To further optimize the acquisition accuracy of the second location information when the physical carrier is an indicator facility in the above embodiments, this application also provides an optimized scheme for acquiring the second location information.

[0072] As one possible approach, when the physical carrier is an indication facility containing information about a target geographic entity, obtaining information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity includes: obtaining the result of target recognition on a first image; determining a physical carrier region and a non-physical carrier region in the first image based on the target recognition result; determining a target region within the physical carrier region, performing optical character recognition or image recognition on the target region, and obtaining information for identifying the target geographic entity based on the recognition result; sending the information for identifying the target geographic entity to a second server, and obtaining the information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity returned by the second server.

[0073] The results of target recognition can include target category, target location, and confidence level. The target location in the target recognition results can be used to determine the physical carrier region and the non-physical carrier region. The physical carrier region refers to the area containing physical carriers, such as signs or billboards in an image. Similarly, the non-physical carrier region refers to the area in the image other than physical carriers, such as areas that are not signs or billboards. The target region can be the area containing characters or patterns within the physical carrier region; for example, it could be the text "Shop A is 50 meters ahead" on a sign or the brand symbol area of ​​Shop A.

[0074] For example, when the terminal device triggers an operation, it captures a first image containing a store billboard. The terminal device then performs target detection on the first image, identifies the store billboard, and sets a bounding box around it. The area enclosed by the bounding box is the physical carrier area, and the rest of the first image is the non-physical carrier area. Within the physical carrier area, characters or patterns may be present. The terminal device can further determine the location of the characters or patterns within the physical carrier area. The target area can be all or part of the physical carrier area. The terminal device can perform optical character recognition (OCR) on the target area, converting the text in the target area into a computer-readable text string (such as a brand name). Alternatively, if the target area is a specific icon (such as a brand symbol or logo), image recognition is performed to determine its corresponding brand name or organization number. The identified brand name or organization number is used as a query keyword and sent to a second server. The second server matches the brand name or organization number in its database to obtain the corresponding geographical coordinates, i.e., the second location, and returns these geographical coordinates to the terminal device. For example, if a billboard for hot pot restaurant A is posted on the exterior wall of a shopping mall, the terminal device can identify hot pot restaurant A through image processing, and the server can then query and return the specific floor and shop coordinates of hot pot restaurant A within the shopping mall.

[0075] It should be noted that this application uses technologies such as target recognition, region determination, character or icon recognition, and cloud matching to enable terminal devices to accurately locate and interpret information representing target geographic entities from an image that may contain background interference, and then accurately match the location of the target geographic entity on the server side, effectively improving the robustness and accuracy of visual trigger path guidance in real noisy environments.

[0076] To further optimize the user experience during close-range navigation in the above embodiments and provide more intuitive augmented reality guidance, this application also provides an AR navigation solution that combines real-scene images as a preferred option.

[0077] As one possible implementation, after acquiring information about the first location corresponding to the terminal device and information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity, the method further includes: determining the distance between the first location and the second location; and if the distance between the first location and the second location is less than a preset distance threshold, acquiring a third image of the environment in which the terminal device is located. Correspondingly, displaying a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path in the graphical user interface of the terminal device includes: acquiring visual enhancement elements; rendering the target geographic entity in the third image based on the visual enhancement elements; and displaying the graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path in the graphical user interface of the terminal device, the graphical navigation page containing the rendered third image.

[0078] In this scenario, if the distance between the first and second locations is less than a preset distance threshold, it indicates that the terminal device is close to the destination, and the user needs to be guided to quickly locate the destination. Visual enhancement elements can include arrows, virtual characters, or lines. For example, an arrow or a virtual character's hand can be pointed at the target geographic entity, or the edges of the target geographic entity can be thickened or flashing lines can be added to the edges to enable the user to quickly locate the target geographic entity from the image.

[0079] Specifically, after acquiring the first and second locations, the terminal device can calculate the spatial straight-line distance or path distance between them. When the calculated distance is less than a preset distance threshold, it is determined to be in near-field navigation mode, and the camera is automatically activated to continuously capture real-time video streams as the third image. Simultaneously, the terminal device generates or invokes a set of visual enhancement elements, such as a 3D arrow model pointing to the entrance of the target geographic entity or a highlighting effect on the edge of the target geographic entity's doorway. Furthermore, the terminal device uses spatial computing technology to accurately overlay the visual enhancement elements onto the corresponding location of the target geographic entity in the third image. Finally, the rendered third image is displayed on the graphical navigation page, and the user can easily reach the target geographic entity by simply following the arrow or highlighted prompts superimposed on the real-world location in the third image.

[0080] It should be noted that this application, by adopting a distance-triggered AR-enhanced navigation scheme, can provide an ultimate WYSIWYG guidance experience during the navigation approach to the target geographic entity stage, transforming abstract path lines into direct indications of real objects, which helps to solve the problem of unintuitive final location guidance.

[0081] Furthermore, before rendering the target geographic entity in the third image based on visual enhancement elements, the actual position of the target geographic entity in the third image can be obtained. If the difference between the actual position and the second position of the target geographic entity in the third image is less than a preset deviation distance, it indicates that the target geographic entity is correctly located, and rendering of the target geographic entity in the third image can continue. If the difference between the actual position and the second position of the target geographic entity in the third image is greater than the preset deviation distance, it indicates that there is a deviation in the location of the target geographic entity, that is, the target geographic entity does not exist in the current third image. It is necessary to continue acquiring the third image until the difference between the actual position and the second position of the target geographic entity in the third image is less than the preset deviation distance, and then the target geographic entity in the third image is rendered. It should be noted that this application can avoid the occurrence of target geographic entity rendering errors through the above-mentioned distance deviation determination, thereby saving the computing resources of the terminal device.

[0082] To facilitate understanding of the above methods, processes, and technical effects, several application examples are provided below: Example 1: When a user arrives at the entrance of a shopping mall, there is a promotional poster for merchant A posted there. The poster contains a QR code. After the user scans the QR code with their mobile phone, a navigation page for merchant A will pop up on the user's phone screen, allowing the user to navigate to merchant A.

[0083] Example 2: When a user arrives at the mall, there is an NFC tag for Cinema B installed in the mall. After the user touches the NFC tag with their mobile phone, a navigation page to Cinema B will pop up on the mobile phone screen so that the user can move to Cinema B according to the navigation page.

[0084] Example 3: If an elderly person or child gets lost, someone can touch the RFID tag carried by the elderly person or child with their mobile phone, and a navigation page will pop up on the mobile phone screen to move to the elderly person or child's residence, so that others can help the elderly person or child move to their residence according to the navigation page.

[0085] Example 4: The autonomous vehicle drives to the sign for store C, which contains the name of store C. The autonomous vehicle uses a camera to identify the sign for store C in the environment and extracts the name of store C from the sign. It then matches the name of store C in the database to obtain the location coordinates of store C. Based on the current location of the autonomous vehicle and the location coordinates of store C, a navigation path is generated. Subsequently, the corresponding motion control command is automatically generated to control the autonomous vehicle to move to store C.

[0086] The foregoing has described specific embodiments of this specification. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in a different order than that shown in the embodiments and may still achieve the desired result. Furthermore, the processes depicted in the drawings do not necessarily require the specific or sequential order shown to achieve the desired result. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing are possible or may be advantageous.

[0087] According to another embodiment, a path guidance device is provided. Figure 3 A schematic block diagram of a path guidance device according to one embodiment is shown, the device being disposed in Figure 1 The user end in the illustrated architecture. For example... Figure 3 As shown, the device 300 includes: a physical carrier triggering unit 301, a navigation path acquisition unit 302, and a navigation guidance output unit 303, and may further include a distance judgment unit 304. The main functions of each component are as follows: The physical carrier triggering unit 301 is configured to respond to a triggering operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, wherein the physical carrier carries information of a target geographic entity, and to obtain information of a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information of a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity.

[0088] The navigation path acquisition unit 302 is configured to acquire a navigation path that starts at the first position and ends at the second position.

[0089] The navigation guidance output unit 303 is configured to output navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct the object to move from the first position to the second position.

[0090] As one possible implementation, the triggering operation on the physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located includes at least one of the following operations: When the physical carrier is a QR code, the QR code is scanned.

[0091] When the physical carrier is a near-field communication tag, a reading operation is performed on the near-field communication tag.

[0092] When the physical carrier is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a reading operation is performed on the RFID tag.

[0093] When the physical carrier is an indicator facility containing information about the target geographic entity, a first image of the indicator facility is acquired, and target recognition is performed on the first image.

[0094] As one possible implementation, the navigation guidance output unit 303 can be further configured as follows: When the terminal device is a non-autonomous mobile device, a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path is displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device to guide the user from the first position to the second position; or, when the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, a movement control command corresponding to the navigation path is generated to control the autonomous mobile device to move from the first position to the second position based on the movement control command.

[0095] As one possible implementation method, the physical carrier triggering unit 301 can be specifically configured to: acquire a second image of the environment where the terminal device is located; send the second image to a first server, the first server being used to match the second image in a pre-built offline map to obtain the position of a target map keyframe corresponding to the second image, the offline map containing multiple map keyframes and their respective corresponding positions; receive the position of the target map keyframe and determine that the position of the target map keyframe is information of a first position corresponding to the terminal device.

[0096] As one possible implementation, when the physical carrier is an indication facility containing information about the target geographic entity, the physical carrier triggering unit 301 can be further configured to: acquire the result of target recognition of the first image; determine the physical carrier region and non-physical carrier region in the first image based on the result of target recognition; determine the target region in the physical carrier region, perform optical character recognition or image recognition on the target region, and obtain information for identifying the target geographic entity based on the recognition result; send the information for identifying the target geographic entity to a second server, and obtain the second location information corresponding to the target geographic entity returned by the second server.

[0097] As one possible implementation, the distance determination unit is configured to: determine the distance between the first position and the second position; and if the distance between the first position and the second position is less than a preset distance threshold, acquire a third image of the environment in which the terminal device is located. Furthermore, the navigation guidance output unit 303 can be further configured to: acquire visual enhancement elements, render the target geographic entities in the third image based on the visual enhancement elements; and display a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path in the graphical user interface of the terminal device, wherein the graphical navigation page contains the rendered third image.

[0098] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to mutually. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for system or device embodiments, since they are basically similar to method embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and relevant parts can be referred to the description of the method embodiments. The system and device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without creative effort.

[0099] It should be noted that the user information (including but not limited to user device information, user personal information, etc.) and data (including but not limited to data used for analysis, data stored, data displayed, etc.) involved in this application are all information and data authorized by the user or fully authorized by all parties. Furthermore, the collection, use and processing of the relevant data must comply with the relevant laws, regulations and standards of the relevant countries and regions, and corresponding operation entry points are provided for users to choose to authorize or refuse.

[0100] In addition, embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0101] And an electronic device, comprising: One or more processors; and A memory associated with the one or more processors, the memory being used to store program instructions that, when read and executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method described in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0102] This application also provides a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0103] in, Figure 4An exemplary architecture of an electronic device is shown, which may include a processor 410, a video display adapter 411, a disk drive 412, an input / output interface 413, a network interface 414, and a memory 420. The processor 410, video display adapter 411, disk drive 412, input / output interface 413, network interface 414, and memory 420 can communicate with each other via a communication bus 430.

[0104] The processor 410 can be implemented using a general-purpose CPU, microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits to execute relevant programs and implement the technical solution provided in this application.

[0105] The memory 420 can be implemented in the form of ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), static storage device, dynamic storage device, etc. The memory 420 can store the operating system 421 for controlling the operation of the electronic device 400, and the basic input / output system (BIOS) 422 for controlling the low-level operations of the electronic device 400. Additionally, it can store a web browser 423, a data storage management system 424, and a path guiding device 300, etc. The aforementioned path guiding device 300 can be the application program that specifically implements the aforementioned steps in this embodiment. In summary, when the technical solution provided in this application is implemented through software or firmware, the relevant program code is stored in the memory 420 and is called and executed by the processor 410.

[0106] Input / output interface 413 is used to connect input / output modules to realize information input and output. Input / output modules can be configured as components in the device (not shown in the figure) or externally connected to the device to provide corresponding functions. Input devices may include keyboards, mice, touch screens, microphones, various sensors, etc., and output devices may include displays, speakers, vibrators, indicator lights, etc.

[0107] Network interface 414 is used to connect a communication module (not shown in the figure) to enable communication and interaction between this device and other devices. The communication module can communicate via wired means (such as USB, Ethernet cable, etc.) or wireless means (such as mobile network, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.).

[0108] Bus 430 includes a pathway for transmitting information between various components of the device, such as processor 410, video display adapter 411, disk drive 412, input / output interface 413, network interface 414, and memory 420.

[0109] It should be noted that although the above-described device only shows the processor 410, video display adapter 411, disk drive 412, input / output interface 413, network interface 414, memory 420, bus 430, etc., in specific implementations, the device may also include other components necessary for normal operation. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described device may only include the components necessary for implementing the solution of this application, and does not necessarily include all the components shown in the figures.

[0110] As can be seen from the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that this application can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a computer program product. This computer program product can be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments of this application.

[0111] The technical solutions provided in this application have been described in detail above. Specific examples have been used to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this application. The descriptions of the above embodiments are only for the purpose of helping to understand the methods and core ideas of this application. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that, based on the ideas of this application, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. Therefore, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation of this application.

Claims

1. A route guidance method characterized by, Applied to a terminal device, the method includes: In response to a triggering operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carries information about a target geographic entity, and information about a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information about a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity are obtained. Obtain a navigation path that starts at the first location and ends at the second location; Output navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct the object to move from the first position to the second position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The triggering operation on the physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located includes at least one of the following operations: When the physical carrier is a QR code, the QR code is scanned. When the physical carrier is a near-field communication tag, a reading operation is performed on the near-field communication tag; When the physical carrier is an RFID tag, a reading operation is performed on the RFID tag; When the physical carrier is an indicator facility containing information about the target geographic entity, a first image of the indicator facility is acquired, and target recognition is performed on the first image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The step of outputting the navigation guide corresponding to the navigation path includes: When the terminal device is a non-autonomous mobile device, a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path is displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device to guide the user from the first position to the second position; or... When the terminal device is an autonomous mobile device, a movement control command corresponding to the navigation path is generated to control the autonomous mobile device to move from the first position to the second position based on the movement control command.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of obtaining the first location information corresponding to the terminal device includes: Acquire a second image of the environment in which the terminal device is located; The second image is sent to a first server, which matches the second image in a pre-built offline map to obtain the location of the target map keyframe corresponding to the second image. The offline map contains multiple map keyframes and their corresponding locations. The location of the target map keyframe is received, and the location of the target map keyframe is determined to be the first location corresponding to the terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, When the physical carrier is an indication facility containing information about the target geographic entity, obtaining information about the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity includes: Obtain the result of target recognition in the first image; Based on the target recognition results, the physical carrier region and non-physical carrier region in the first image are determined; Determine the target area within the physical carrier region, perform optical character recognition or image recognition on the target area, and obtain information for identifying the target geographic entity based on the recognition results; The information used to identify the target geographic entity is sent to the second server, and the second location information corresponding to the target geographic entity is obtained from the second server.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, After obtaining the information of the first location corresponding to the terminal device and the information of the second location corresponding to the target geographic entity, the method further includes: Determine the distance between the first position and the second position; If the distance between the first position and the second position is less than a preset distance threshold, a third image of the environment in which the terminal device is located is acquired; The graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path is displayed in the graphical user interface of the terminal device, including: Obtain visual enhancement elements, and render the target geographic entities in the third image based on the visual enhancement elements; The graphical user interface of the terminal device displays a graphical navigation page corresponding to the navigation path, and the graphical navigation page contains a rendered third image.

7. A path guidance device, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal device, the device includes: The physical carrier triggering unit is configured to respond to a triggering operation on a physical carrier in the environment where the terminal device is located, the physical carrier carrying information of a target geographic entity, and to obtain information of a first location corresponding to the terminal device and information of a second location corresponding to the target geographic entity. The navigation path acquisition unit is configured to acquire a navigation path that starts at the first location and ends at the second location; The navigation guidance output unit is configured to output navigation guidance information corresponding to the navigation path, the navigation guidance information being used to instruct the object to move from the first position to the second position.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that, include: One or more processors; as well as A memory associated with the one or more processors, the memory being used to store program instructions that, when read and executed by the one or more processors, perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

10. A computer program product, comprising a computer program, characterized in that, When executed by a processor, the computer program implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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