Indoor Navigation Path Calculation Using Beacon Link Hops
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing indoor navigation services in areas like shopping malls and department stores are costly to construct and often confuse users with numerous beacon services, making it difficult to find desired stores and navigate optimally.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that extract target beacons, intermediate beacons, and establish links to calculate optimal travel paths with the minimum number of link hops, considering marketing information and geographical data to provide users with efficient navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If indoor navigation service is constructed using traditional methods, then navigation functionality is provided, but construction cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reuses existing beacon devices originally deployed for marketing purposes and repurposes them for navigation functions. The beacon devices continue to serve their original marketing role while simultaneously providing navigation services, eliminating the need for separate navigation infrastructure and significantly reducing construction costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes the beacon devices' existing transmission capabilities and the mobile device's existing receiving and processing capabilities to provide navigation services. The beacons self-serve by continuing their original function while inadvertently providing navigation data, and mobile devices use their own resources to process beacon signals for location determination.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple beacon services are offered in an area, then service coverage increases, but user confusion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex indoor environment into discrete beacon-based location zones. Each beacon represents a specific location or area, and the system processes beacon signals individually to determine user position. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple services by breaking them down into manageable location-based units, reducing user confusion through clear spatial organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a path management server as an intermediary that receives beacon signals from multiple sources and processes them into unified navigation information. This intermediary consolidates data from various beacon services, determines optimal paths, and presents simplified navigation guidance to users, thereby reducing confusion while maintaining comprehensive service coverage.
3Measurement precision
If users want to reach a desired store, then navigation to specific location is needed, but difficulty in knowing location of available store increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by continuously monitoring beacon signals received by mobile devices and using this information to determine user location and provide real-time navigation guidance. The system feedback loop includes receiving beacon signals, processing location data, calculating optimal paths, and providing guidance back to users, which helps users understand their current location and the location of desired stores.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating and storing information about stores and their locations based on beacon data. The path management server prepares navigation routes in advance by processing beacon signal patterns and store location data, so that when users request navigation, the information is already organized and ready for immediate presentation, reducing the loss of location information.
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
This solution reduces construction costs and enhances user experience by offering clear, efficient navigation paths that promote reasonable consumption and marketing effectiveness within shopping areas.
Implementation Method 1
The beacon device emits a periodic signal by using an electromagnetic wave or sound and thereby triggers a specific application of a neighboring mobile communication device
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus provide an indoor travel path based on a beacon. In an embodiment, the apparatus extracts, as a target beacon, at least one beacon device corresponding to at least one destination and also extracts, as an intermediate beacon, one or more beacon devices intervening between the target beacon and a user's terminal device. Then the apparatus establishes a link connecting the target beacon and the intermediate beacon and, based on the established link, calculates one or more paths configured to start from a current location of the terminal device, to pass through the intermediate beacon, and to arrive at the target beacon. Further, the apparatus selects a travel path having the minimum number of link hops from among the calculated paths and offers it to the terminal device.