Vision Augmented Navigation Using Visual Landmarks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current GPS-based navigation systems provide limited information to users as they only offer audible instructions based on map data, not considering the user's visual field, making them less user-friendly and less natural in their guidance.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a navigation system that utilizes image acquisition devices to derive visual information from the environment, enhancing navigational instructions with context-aware cues, such as specific landmarks or objects, to provide more intuitive guidance similar to a passenger's directions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If GPS-based navigation systems provide audible instructions based on map data, then navigation functionality is achieved, but user-friendliness and naturalness of guidance deteriorate because the system does not consider the user's visual field
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges map data navigation with visual environment data by combining GPS-based navigational instructions with real-time image acquisition and object detection. The system integrates multiple data sources (map data, image data, object detection results) to provide enriched navigational guidance that references both location and visual landmarks, resolving the contradiction between providing navigation functionality and delivering user-friendly, natural guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that includes image acquisition devices, object detection modules, and instruction generation components. This intermediary system bridges the gap between raw visual data and navigational instructions, processing image information to identify objects and translate them into context-aware navigational cues that enhance user-friendliness while maintaining accurate navigation guidance.
2Ease of operation
If visual information is added to navigational instructions, then user-friendliness and naturalness improve, but device complexity increases due to integration of image acquisition devices and processing systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies multi-functionality by enabling the navigation system to perform multiple functions: traditional GPS navigation, real-time image acquisition, object detection, and visual-enhanced instruction generation. The system uses a single integrated platform to handle diverse data types (map data, image data, object information) and provide enriched navigational guidance, thereby managing complexity through functional consolidation rather than separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service through automated image acquisition and object detection processes that operate continuously in the background. The system automatically captures images, identifies objects, and generates context-aware instructions without requiring manual intervention, reducing the operational burden on users while managing system complexity through autonomous processing.
3Measurement precision
If navigation instructions are enhanced with visual cues from real-time images, then accuracy and clarity of instructions improve, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing and continuously updating object detection results based on historical image data and predicted object locations. The system pre-identifies potential landmarks and objects along the navigation route and maintains their visual characteristics in advance, so that when navigational instructions are generated, the visual information is already ready, reducing real-time processing delays while maintaining high instruction accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses partial action by selectively processing and analyzing only the portions of the visual environment that are relevant to the navigation task. Instead of processing the entire image field continuously, the system focuses computational resources on identifying and characterizing specific objects and landmarks that will be useful for navigational instructions, thereby reducing unnecessary processing time while maintaining instruction accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
A navigation system may include at least one processing device configured to determine, based on an output of one or more position sensors associated with the navigation system, a current location of at least one component associated with the navigation system and determine a destination location different from the current location. The navigation system may also acquire, from one or more image acquisition devices, a plurality of images representative of an environment of a user of the navigation system and derive, from the plurality of images, visual information associated with at least one object in the environment. The system may also determine one or more instructions for navigating from the current location to the destination location, wherein the one or more instructions include at least one reference to the visual information derived from the plurality of images. The system may also deliver to the user the one or more instructions.