385 results about "Navigation aid" patented technology

A method for navigation includes storing map data on a server, the map data including vector information delineating roads in a map. A portion of the vector information corresponding to an area in which a user of a mobile client device is traveling is downloaded from the server to the client device. Approximate position coordinates of the user are found using a location providing device associated with the client device and are corrected in the client device, using the downloaded vector information, so as to determine a location of the user on one of the roads in the map. A navigation aid is provided to the user of the client device based on the determined location.

A method for navigation includes storing map data on a server, the map data including vector information delineating roads in a map. A portion of the vector information corresponding to an area in which a user of a mobile client device is traveling is downloaded from the server to the client device. Approximate position coordinates of the user are found using a location providing device associated with the client device and are corrected in the client device, using the downloaded vector information, so as to determine a location of the user on one of the roads in the map. A navigation aid is provided to the user of the client device based on the determined location.

A navigation system for navigating in low visibility environments includes a portable detection unit which uses position and orientation sensors and / or wireless location to track the position of the portable detection unit relative to some reference location, such as a fire truck. The relative position of the portable detection unit, and thus its user, is then output to a visual display for viewing by the user so that the user may see his / her position in a dark or smoky environment. The system may also include portable beacons which may be left at landmarks so that the relative positions of the landmarks may be seen on the visual display.

A method for determining a translation of a three-dimensional pre-operative image data set to obtain a registration of the three-dimensional image data with a patient positioned in a projection imaging system. In one embodiment the user identifies an initial three-dimensional organ center from projections and extreme contour landmark points of the object on a set of projections. A set of contour points for the image object in each of a plurality of three-dimensional cross-section planes; is obtained and the points projecting nearest to the user-identified landmark points are selected. A three-dimensional grid having a predetermined number of intervals at a predetermined interval spacing centered at the user-identified organ center is defined. The three-dimensional image data contour points as centered onto each grid point are projected for evaluation and selection of the grid point leading to contour points projecting nearest to the user-identified landmark points. This selection leads to the iterative definition of a series of improved estimated three-dimensional organ centers, and associated translation vectors. Registration of a three dimensional image data to the patient positioned in a projection imaging system will allow, among other things, overlay of a visual representation of a pre-operative image object onto a projection image plane that can serve as a visual tool and a surgical navigation aid. In particular, the position and orientation of a medical device can be shown with respect to the three-dimensional image data and thus enable quicker, safer, and less invasive navigation of the medical device to and within an organ of interest.

In order to conduct navigation-assisted knee operations in a simple and optimum manner, a patella reference device is proposed for the determination of the spatial position of a patella of a human knee joint during a navigation-assisted surgical procedure, comprising a base unit that can be secured on the patella, a reference element that can be detected by a detection device and a connecting device for the detachable connection of the base unit and the reference element in a first reference position and in at least one further second reference position differing from the first reference position.

An underwater vehicle including an axi-symmetric framing system rotatable about a centerline to define a shell of revolution having a uniformly-convex outer boundary. A narrow-beam sonar array is mounted on the axi-symmetric framing system, and includes a multitude of simultaneously-fireable and / or asynchronously-fireable transducers distributed substantially evenly over a 4π-steradian viewing angle. The present invention provides the necessary configuration for a vehicle wherein an internal algorithm can compare a “new” geometry to an “old” geometry collected earlier to construct a best fit of the new world map with the old world map and locate the vehicle within the context of the new world map. This then provides a completely independent mechanism for correction of the gradual drift in x and y that is not dependent on any form of external navigation aid.

A comprehensive system and method for telematics including the following features individually or in sub-combinations: vehicle user interfaces, telecommunications, speech recognition, digital commerce and vehicle parking, digital signal processing, wireless transmission of digitized voice input, navigational assistance for motorists, data communication to vehicles, mobile client-server communication, extending coverage and bandwidth of wireless communication services, and noise reduction.

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus to assist a user navigate from a current location to a second location within an environment by determining a distance traveled by the user or from the user to one or more objects. The current location is then identified using the distance and an environment data. Thereafter, a route to the second location is determined based on the current location and the environment data, and a directional cue is provided to the user based on the route. Note that the present invention can be implemented as a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium wherein the steps are performed by one or more code segments.

A method and apparatus for calculating exact positioning using a digital camera and a GPS, comprising calibrating the camera; initiating GPS navigation; capturing and storing images and GPS coordinates; calculating ego-motion of the camera using a pre-defined number of stored images; and calculating current position of the camera using the last stored GPS coordinates and the calculated camera ego-motion.

A method for determining a transformation of a three-dimensional pre-operative image data set to obtain a registration of the three-dimensional image data with an X-ray imaging system. In one aspect of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of the user identifying a center point and extreme contour points of the object from an X-ray image, obtaining a set of contour points for the image object in each of a plurality of section-planes, and selecting from a sampling of section-planes the points projecting nearest to the user-identified extreme points. The method then defines a grid having a predetermined number of intervals at a predetermined interval spacing with the grid center at the user-identified center of the pre-operative image, and performs a projection of the center point of the three-dimensional image data set onto each grid point for evaluation and selection of the grid point projecting nearest to the user-identified center. Registration of a three dimensional image data will allow, among other things, overlay of a visual representation of a pre-operative image object onto an X-ray image plane that can serve as a visual tool and a surgical navigation aid.

An aircraft surveillance system that includes an uninterruptible aircraft information broadcasting system (such as an ADS-B system) for transmitting flight information from an aircraft, and one or more ground stations for receiving the broadcast flight information. The flight information preferably includes the aircraft's aircraft ID, current three-dimensional position, and intended path. Optional components according to the invention include a system and method for validating messages received from the aircraft, and an alternative system and method for determining the aircraft's position if a primary navigation aid, such as GPS, is not available. In one embodiment of the invention, the system includes a transmitter and an uninterruptible power supply that are disposed within a secure housing within the aircraft. This serves to prevent passengers and crew members from disabling the system.

Methods and computer products for establishing at least one of attitude, direction and position of a moving platform. At least one skymark of known ephemeris is imaged at each of a first set of discrete instants by means of an optical sensor coupled to the platform. A measurement is also obtained of the attitude of the platform at each of a second set of discrete instants by means of an inertial navigation system. A recursive of estimation filter is then applied to successive skymark position vectors to update an estimate of platform navigation state, with the measurement of attitude of the platform tightly coupled to the estimate of platform navigation state as updated by the recursive estimation filter. Various techniques of frame stacking and multi-hypothesis tracking may be applied to improve the robustness of navigation solutions.

A method for determining a translation of a three-dimensional pre-operative image data set to obtain a registration of the three-dimensional image data with a patient positioned in a projection imaging system. In one embodiment the user identifies an initial three-dimensional organ center from projections and extreme contour landmark points of the object on a set of projections. A set of contour points for the image object in each of a plurality of three-dimensional cross-section planes; is obtained and the points projecting nearest to the user-identified landmark points are selected. A three-dimensional grid having a predetermined number of intervals at a predetermined interval spacing centered at the user-identified organ center is defined. The three-dimensional image data contour points as centered onto each grid point are projected for evaluation and selection of the grid point leading to contour points projecting nearest to the user-identified landmark points. This selection leads to the iterative definition of a series of improved estimated three-dimensional organ centers, and associated translation vectors. Registration of a three dimensional image data to the patient positioned in a projection imaging system will allow, among other things, overlay of a visual representation of a pre-operative image object onto a projection image plane that can serve as a visual tool and a surgical navigation aid. In particular, the position and orientation of a medical device can be shown with respect to the three-dimensional image data and thus enable quicker, safer, and less invasive navigation of the medical device to and within an organ of interest.

A virtual rent-a-car system and method with an in-car device and related systems and methods are disclosed for providing customer service interactions, tools, and entertainment to a vehicle rental customer. The functions of the in-car device include, for example, navigational assistance, local recommendations, driving condition alerts, itinerary management, vehicle comfort controls, and entertainment media play controls.

The invention relates to an active anti-collision early-warning method and system for a ship in a bridge zone. The method comprises that S1) bridge-zone navigation areas are divided on the basis of anelectronic sea chart; S2) each virtual navigation-mark navigation area is provided with a retrograde motion determining virtual navigation mark close to the boundary of an adjacent navigation bridgeopening; S3) AIS information of the navigation ship in the bridge zone is collected in real time; S4) on the basis of the navigation area of the bridge zone, a collision risk level for evaluating thedriving state of the ship is obtained according to real-time coordinates and bow direction of the ship; and S5) broadcast information corresponding to the collision risk level obtained in the step S4)is emitted to the ship. Compared with the prior art, the risk in colliding with the bridge of the ship can be evaluated on the basis of the AIS information, and navigation-aided services and early-warning information are broadcast for the ship according to the different risk levels.

A method for displaying otherwise unseen objects and other data using augmented reality (the mixing of real view with computer generated imagery). The method uses a motorized camera mount that can report the position of a camera on that mount back to a computer. With knowledge of where the camera is looking, and its field of view, the computer can precisely overlay computer-generated imagery onto the video image produced by the camera. The method may be used to present to a user such items as existing weather conditions, hazards, or other data, and presents this information to the user by combining the computer generated images with the user's real environment. These images are presented in such a way as to display relevant location and properties of the object to the system user. The primary intended applications are as navigation aids for air traffic controllers and pilots in training and operations, and use with emergency first responder training and operations to view and avoid / alleviate hazardous material situations. However, the system can be used to display any imagery that needs to correspond to locations in the real world.

A device for aiding the flight management of an aircraft includes a navigation display, a personalized database capable of storing navigation-aid data, each datum comprising a classification type representative of a family or of one or more categories of navigation-aid data, one or more periods of validity of the said datum, information relating to at least one geographic zone of the said datum, one graphic and / or textual representation of the said datum, selection means allowing an operator to choose one (or more) type(s) of classification, called selected type(s), extraction means capable of extracting from the personalized database the navigation-aid datum or data called extracted data of which the type is equal to at least one selected type, of which at least one geographic zone is situated at a distance, from the flight plan or from the aircraft, that is less than a predetermined maximum distance and of which at least one period of validity verifies a predefined display time criterion, the said extraction means transmitting the said extracted datum or data to the said navigation display capable of displaying the representations of the said extracted data.

The invention relates to a personal indoor positioning system based on inertial navigation aiding geomagnetism. The personal indoor positioning system without needing to rely on an external device can be realized by the otherness of the earth magnetic field on different spots, a smart phone based on an Android platform and the selective appropriate geomagnetic matching algorithm; an inertial navigation technology is utilized for obtaining the relative position of a mobile individual, and then local search is performed and an optimum magnetic field spot is matched by an MSD (mean square displacement) geomagnetic localization algorithm, the relatively accurate parameter of the position of the mobile individual can be obtained, so that the mobile phone indoor positioning function can be realized. According to the combined locate mode based on the inertial navigation aiding geomagnetism, the geomagnetic information matching efficiency is effectively improved, the higher indoor positioning accuracy is obtained, the personal indoor positioning can be realized by only needing a built-in sensor device of the mobile phone and no need to rely on an additional device erected outside, the usage is convenient, the cost is low and the personal indoor positioning system is easy to be popularized.

The invention comprises systems and methods of creating and maintaining a communications network. It includes a wearable system, a deployable system, an array of physiological sensors, an array of environmental sensors, and the integration of these into a multi-nodal voice and data communication system. The primary communications network is composed of body-worn communications nodes comprising sensors, wearable audio / video communications gear, and wireless digital transceivers. The deployable system supports and extends the body-worn network by providing wider communications coverage, situational environmental monitoring, and navigational aid. The deployable system is composed of small, self-contained, robust network nodes. Each such node combines environmental sensors, a digital wireless “repeater,” and a navigational beacon capability integrated in a hardened, robust package. Nodes are carried by team members and deployed when needed to extend the range of the communications or sensor network.

A navigation assistance system for a vehicle enables possible routes from the starting point to a destination to be ascertained with the aid of route network data, a preferred route being specified, and at least one driving recommendation that guides at least one user along the specified route being output, such that no driving recommendations are output that are superfluous for and therefore irritating and / or disturbing to the operator of the vehicle. The number of times or the frequency with which the vehicle has already previously passed at least one location point or junction point of the preferred route is ascertained, and the at least one driving recommendation for this point of the preferred route is suppressed if the ascertained number of times or frequency reaches at least one threshold value.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for centralized management of tasks to be carried out by a crew in the course of an aircraft flight. The method uses onboard navigation aid systems, such as a flight management system, a system for managing in-flight alerts for the implementation of the following steps: creation of a task by the flight management system; scheduling of the tasks by a system for managing alerts; and task execution by the system for managing alerts.

Systems and methods are provided for autonomously navigating a vehicle along a road segment. In one implementation, a system includes at least one processor programmed to receive from a camera at least one image representative of an environment of the vehicle. The at least one image may be analyzed to identify at least one recognized landmark based upon one or more landmark group characteristics associated with a group of recognized landmarks. The current location of the vehicle relative to a predetermined road model trajectory associated with the road segment may be determined based, at least in part, on a predetermined location of the recognized landmark. An autonomous steering action for the vehicle may be determined based on a direction of the predetermined road model trajectory at the determined current location of the vehicle relative to the predetermined road model trajectory.

The invention relates to a navigation device wherein navigation instruction are adapted to the driver preferences. The driving behaviour of the driver is recorded (like speed, time to prepare for an exit etc.), and the way he responds to navigation instructions (promptly, or always too late for example). Traffic, weather and time information may be combined with information on the driving behaviour of the driver. This information is examined and used to build up a driver profile. This driver profile is used to adapt future navigation instructions. Alternatively, traffic and weather informat ion may be used to build up route and / or environmental profiles. These profiles can also be used separate form the driver profile to adjust the navigation instruction. The combination of these two techniques, building up a profile (or adapt a pre-defined profile) and adapt the navigation instructions, makes the navigation device a more personal-fit navigation aid. Also, giving the right instructions to a specific driver may contribute to a safer behaviour.

The invention relates to an LED flow equalizing control circuit, an LED driver module and a navigation aiding light. The LED driver module comprises a plurality of LED branches connected in parallel, each LED branch comprises an LED flow equalizing control circuit, the LED flow equalizing control circuit is used for sampling the current of each LED branch and rectifying the current of each LED branch to be uniform according to the sampled current of each LED branch. The implementation of the LED flow equalizing control circuit, the LED driver module and the navigation aiding light can dynamically regulate the currents of multiple LED branches, so that the current of each LED branch can be maintained uniform.

A system for aiding the navigation of an aircraft able to be piloted remotely by an operator includes means for transmitting data allowing the operator to dialogue with an air traffic controller according to at least one mode of dialogue and means for monitoring the flight parameters, notably aircraft state parameters and navigation parameters. The system also includes a means for detecting flight events, a means for formulating a message corresponding to a flight event, a means for scheduling the message in a list of messages, and a means for synthesizing the message in a mode of dialogue.

The invention relates to a calculation method for an aircraft navigation aid system making it possible to maintain a vertical safety margin with an obstruction profile, the aircraft comprising a navigation system, an automatic piloting system, a database system and a display device, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: calculation of an obstruction altitude profile, calculation of a vertical safety margin with respect to the obstruction profile, of a plurality of vertical safety trajectories and of the respective flight setpoints for the aircraft to execute the trajectories, selection of the flight setpoints making it possible to maintain the aircraft as close as possible to the obstruction profile while maintaining between the aircraft and the obstruction profile at least the vertical safety margin, filtering of the flight set point values so that the variation of the values of the setpoints does not exceed a variation difference in a duration predefined in the system.