# US 2013/0158856 A1 · Navigational soundscaping > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0158856 A1 - Document ID: US20130158856A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/327,544 - Filed: 2011-12-15 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-15 - Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Inventors: Pei Xiang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130158856A1 ## CPC - G01C 21/26: specially adapted for navigation in a road network - G01C 21/3629: {Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech (text to speech systems per se G10L13/00)} - G01C 21/3679: {Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities (G01C21/3611 takes precedence)} - H04S 7/302: {Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation (H04S7/301 takes precedence)} - H04R 5/023: {in a chair, pillow} - H04R 2499/13: Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles - H04S 2400/11: Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field (H04S2420/13 takes precedence) - H04S 2420/01: Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD] - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - H04S: STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS - H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K) ## Abstract A navigational system generates audio cues that are perceived in a three-dimensional space, allowing users to aurally perceive the locations of mapped objects such as landmarks. The audio cues can be produced alone, or in some applications, produced in conjunction with a visual navigational map display to improve the overall efficacy of the system. The audio navigation system includes a positioning system to determine the location of a user, a memory to store hierarchically-organized information about one or more objects, and a processor to render an audio signal based on the hierarchically-organized information. The audio signal is rendered into an audio space corresponding to the user, so as to allow user perception of the location of at least one of the objects relative to the location of the user. The objects may be landmarks in the vicinity of the user. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus, comprising: a positioning system configured to determine the location of a user; a memory configured to store hierarchically-organized information about one or more landmarks; and a processor configured to render an audio signal based on the hierarchically-organized information into a predetermined audio space corresponding to the user so as to allow user perception of the location of at least one of the landmarks relative to the location of the user. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes an audio icon for each landmark. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes a plurality of categories, each category defining a different type of landmark, and associates an audio icon with each category that distinguishes the category from other categories. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the hierarchically-organized information further includes a plurality of sub-categories defined for at least one of the categories, each sub-category defining a different sub-type of landmark, and the hierarchically-organized information associates an audio icon with each sub-category that distinguishes the sub-category from the other sub-categories. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory stores an audio source library of audio icons. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a lookup table configured to map the landmarks to the audio icons. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: one or more transducers configured to produce an auditory sound in response to the audio signal, the auditory sound being perceivable in the audio space so as to allow user perception of the location of the landmark relative to the user location. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor renders the audio signal so as to allow user perception of the distance and direction of at least one of the landmarks relative to the location of the user. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor renders the audio signal so that the auditory sounds corresponding to more distant landmarks are perceived by the user as sounding more distant than auditory sounds corresponding to landmarks that are closer to the user. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to permit the user to modify the audio signal. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user interface is configured to permit the user to configure the processor to modify the audio signal based on environmental conditions. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user interface allows the user to modify the audio signal by adding sound effects. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the user interface allows the user to configure the hierarchically-organized information for a user-selected landmark. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to synthesize audio content of the audio signal. ### Claim 15 A method of presenting audio information to a user, comprising: determining a user location using a positioning system; retrieving from a memory hierarchically-organized information about a landmark based on the user location; and producing an auditory sound based on the hierarchically-organized information through one or more transducers, the auditory sound being produced so as to allow user perception of the location of the landmark relative to the user location. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes an audio icon for each landmark. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes a plurality of categories, each category defining a different type of landmark, and associates an audio icon with each category that distinguishes the category from other categories. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the hierarchically-organized information further includes a plurality of sub-categories defined for at least one of the categories, each sub-category defining a different sub-type of landmark, and the hierarchically-organized information associates an audio icon with each sub-category that distinguishes the sub-category from the other sub-categories. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising providing an audio source library of audio icons. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, further comprising mapping a plurality of landmarks to the audio icons with a lookup table. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, further comprising rendering the auditory sound so as to allow user perception of the distance and direction of at least one of the landmarks relative to the location of the user. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, further comprising rendering the auditory sound so that an audio icon corresponding to a more distant landmark is perceived by the user as sounding more distant than an auditory sound corresponding to a landmark that is closer to the user. ### Claim 23 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving user input for modifying the auditory sound. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein the user input modifies the auditory sound based on environmental conditions. ### Claim 25 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, wherein the user input modifies the auditory sound by adding sound effects. ### Claim 26 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23, further comprising receiving user input for configuring the hierarchically-organized information for a user-selected landmark. ### Claim 27 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: synthesizing the hierarchically-organized information based on the user location, instead of retrieving the information from the memory. ### Claim 28 An apparatus, comprising: means for determining a user location using a positioning system; means for retrieving hierarchically-organized information about a landmark based on the user location; and means for producing an auditory sound based on the hierarchically-organized information, the auditory sound being produced so as to allow user perception of the location of the landmark relative to the user location. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes an audio icon for each of a plurality of landmarks. ### Claim 30 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes a plurality of categories, each category defining a different type of landmark, and associates an audio icon with each category that distinguishes the category from other categories. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the hierarchically-organized information further includes a plurality of sub-categories defined for at least one of the categories, each sub-category defining a different sub-type of landmark, and the hierarchically-organized information associates an audio icon with each sub-category that distinguishes the sub-category from the other sub-categories. ### Claim 32 (depends on 29) The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the memory stores an audio source library of audio icons. ### Claim 33 (depends on 32) The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising a lookup table configured to map the landmarks to the audio icons. ### Claim 34 (depends on 29) The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising means for rendering the audio signal so as to allow user perception of the distance and direction of at least one of the landmarks relative to the location of the user. ### Claim 35 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising means for rendering the audio signal so that auditory sounds corresponding to more distant landmarks are perceived by the user as sounding more distant than auditory sounds corresponding to landmarks that are closer to the user. ### Claim 36 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising means for permitting the user to modify the auditory sound. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for permitting the user to modify the auditory sound based on environmental conditions. ### Claim 38 (depends on 36) The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for permitting the user to modify the auditory sound by adding sound effects. ### Claim 39 (depends on 36) The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for permitting the user to configure the hierarchically-organized information for a user-selected landmark. ### Claim 40 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising: means for synthesizing the hierarchically-organized information based on the user location. ### Claim 41 A computer-readable medium embodying a set of instructions executable by one or more processors, comprising: programming code for determining a user location using a positioning system; programming code for retrieving hierarchically-organized information about a landmark based on the user location; and programming code for producing an auditory sound based on the hierarchically-organized information, the auditory sound being produced so as to allow user perception of the location of the landmark relative to the user location. ### Claim 42 (depends on 41) The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes an audio icon for each of a plurality of landmarks. ### Claim 43 (depends on 41) The computer-readable medium of claim 41, wherein the hierarchically-organized information includes a plurality of categories, each category defining a different type of landmark, and associates an audio icon with each category that distinguishes the category from other categories. ### Claim 44 (depends on 43) The computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein the hierarchically-organized information further includes a plurality of sub-categories defined for at least one of the categories, each sub-category defining a different sub-type of landmark, and the hierarchically-organized information associates an audio icon with each sub-category that distinguishes the sub-category from the other sub-categories. ### Claim 45 (depends on 41) The computer-readable medium of claim 41, further comprising: programming code for synthesizing the hierarchically-organized information based on the user location.