Acoustic Indoor Navigation for Blind Users Without Layout Memorization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Blind or visually impaired individuals face challenges in navigating indoor environments without aid, relying on cumbersome white canes and memorization of household layouts, which is time-consuming and inefficient, and require additional accommodations like braille signs for identification.
Innovation Solution
An orientation, navigation, and information system utilizing a wireless communicator, acoustic system with coded speakers, and a base charging station with local wireless communication, enabling auditory localization and spatial referencing to guide users to designated areas within a private facility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If blind or visually impaired people use a white cane to traverse and sense their surroundings, then they can navigate independently, but the device is clumsy and hard to use in indoor environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical white cane with an acoustic-based navigation system. Speakers positioned at different locations emit coded acoustic signals that can be detected by a wearable device, eliminating the need for physical contact with the environment and providing seamless indoor navigation guidance through sound localization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces acoustic signals as an intermediary between the user and the environment. The coded acoustic signals emitted by speakers serve as a mediator that conveys spatial and navigational information to the user's wearable device, enabling indirect but accurate perception of the surroundings without physical obstacles.
2Reliability
If blind or visually impaired people memorize their surroundings to be familiar with a household layout, then they can navigate without aid, but this takes a considerable amount of time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-positions speakers at various locations within the facility and pre-codes acoustic signals with location and navigation information. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for users to memorize layouts over time, as the system provides immediate, on-demand navigational guidance through the wearable device that interprets acoustic signals in real-time.
3Loss of information
If braille signs are installed to help blind or visually impaired people identify items, objects, or their surroundings, then identification is possible, but the system becomes more complex and requires further accommodations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces visual braille signs with an acoustic information delivery system. The wearable device receives and processes coded acoustic signals from speakers, converting them into audible or haptic feedback that conveys identification information, thereby eliminating the need for physical braille signage and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal acoustic communication system that serves multiple functions: navigation guidance, location identification, and object recognition. The same coded acoustic signals and wearable device interface handle all these tasks, replacing the need for separate braille signs, tactile markers, and other specialized accommodations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates independent navigation and identification of reference points by providing accessible auditory information, reducing reliance on memorization and physical aids, and enhancing safety and efficiency in daily tasks.
Implementation Method 1
an acoustic system based in a plurality of acoustic signals, which the plurality of acoustic signals is coded along the plurality of speakers
Data Source
AI summary
An orientation, navigation, and information system intended for use by blind or visually impaired people, characterized in that it enables the access to a plurality of reference information which is usually made available to users visually within a private facility using a user interface device comprising a wireless communicator, and an acoustic system containing a plurality of speakers, and a base charging station containing a plurality of charging docks, and a local wireless communication, these being implemented in and related to the places of interest in terms of useful information for the user.