System and method for indoor situational awareness and navigational aid for the visually impaired user

A method for providing indoor situational awareness and navigational aid for the visually impaired user, wherein the method comprising:

• receiving, via a processor, input data provided by a motion sensor, an image sensor, a compass, and a depth sensor;
• enhancing, via the processor, the image captured by the camera based upon the angle and the depth information provided by the depth sensor;
• determining, via the processor, “directional saliency”, “saliency at rest” and “saliency in motion” of the enhanced image of the scene to provide situational awareness, wherein situational awareness at least includes the depth or distance information and a directional orientation;
• generating, via the processor, a virtual graph with a grid of nodes equidistant from each other within the enhanced image of the scene;
• probing, via the processor, each node of the grid of nodes in order to check whether or not the point corresponding to said node is on a floor;
• determining, via the processor, the shortest path to a destination in the virtual graph by only considering the points on the floor;
• and
• converting, via the processor, the description of the shortest path and the scene into an audio or Braille text instruction or a combination thereof to the user, wherein the description is enhanced with the distance information and directional orientation and ordered by “directional saliency”, “saliency at rest” or “saliency in motion”.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program for providing indoor situational awareness and navigational aid for the blind and visually impaired user, wherein the program comprising programmed instructions, the programmed instructions comprising instructions for:

• receiving input data provided by a motion sensor, an image sensor, a compass, and a depth sensor;
• enhancing the image captured by the camera based upon the angle and the depth information provided by the depth sensor;
• determining “directional saliency”, “saliency at rest” and “saliency in motion” of the enhanced image of the scene to provide situational awareness, wherein situational awareness at least includes the depth or distance information and a directional orientation;
• generating a virtual graph with a grid of nodes equidistant from each other within the enhanced image of the scene;
• probing each node of the grid of nodes in order to check whether or not the point corresponding to said node is on a floor;
• determining the shortest path to a destination in the virtual graph by only considering the points on the floor;
• and
• converting the description of the shortest path and the scene into an audio or Braille text instruction or a combination thereof to the user, wherein the description is enhanced with the distance information and directional orientation and ordered by “directional saliency”, “saliency at rest” or “saliency in motion”.