An electronic autorouting navigation system for visually impaired persons

摘要

The present invention is an autorouting navigation system for directing one or more visually impaired persons to a physical location. The present invention includes a portable autorouting navigation unit that includes an input device for selecting a target location corresponding to a physical location of a plurality of location beacons, a receiver configured to receive signals from the location beacons, a memory storing information correlating the locations of the location beacons, and an output device for communicating with the user. A microcontroller or microprocessor under program control processes the signals received from the location beacons, analyzes those signals and correlation data, and determines a routing path from the user's present position to the target location. The microcontroller may also provide an indication, such as an audible sound, to the user of whether or not the user is following the routing path to the target location. Significantly, the present invention relies upon beacons that send out location and direction information without being polled by the portable unit determines a routing path that allows for autorouting. Beacons may also be organized in groups of beacons that can correlate to geographical landmarks such as hallways in a building to reduce the size of the correlating data stored in the memory of the portable unit and thereby reduce processing time.