Method and navigation system for assisting a visually impaired user to safely walk around obstructions and impediments

A computer-implemented method of guiding a visually impaired user of a navigation system to avoid obstructions and impediments while walking, the user wearing a plurality of subassemblies of the system, the method comprising:

• determining field of view dimensions, depth of field distance and laser firing angle limits for a distance measuring unit in each of the subassemblies, wherein each of the distance measuring units transmits and receives laser signals at different vertical and horizontal firing angles to perform measurements;
• and
• providing navigation instructions and alarms to the user based on whether an obstruction or an impediment is detected that is closer than a predetermined distance to the user while the user is walking based on the measurements.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions for assisting a visually impaired user to navigate around obstacles and impediments while walking, a least one of the instructions for calculating, based at least in part on tilt and rotation of a user's head, vertical and horizontal start firing angles used by a plurality of distance measuring units to transmit and receive laser signals to perform measurements, and at least another one of the instructions for providing navigation instructions and alarms to the user based on whether an obstruction or an impediment is detected that is closer than a predetermined distance to the user while the user is walking based on the measurements.