WO2017005959A1

WO2017005959A1 - A navigation apparatus and associated methods

Info

Publication number: WO2017005959A1
Application number: PCT/FI2015/050493
Authority: WO
Inventors: Olli Rantapuska; Sami Virtanen
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2015-07-08
Filing date: 2015-07-08
Publication date: 2017-01-12

Abstract

An apparatus comprising a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, enable the apparatus at least to, based on: an accepted registration of a third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and a third-party two-way portable communications device; and a monitored location of the third-party user within a first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device; provide navigation instructions to the third-party user to a destination within the first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of the third-party two-way portable communications device.

Description

A navigation apparatus and associated methods. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of navigation systems, associated methods and apparatus, including the provision of navigation directions to a user.

Certain disclosed aspects/examples relate to portable electronic devices, in particular, so- called hand-portable electronic devices which may be hand-held in use (although they may be placed in a cradle in use). Such hand-portable electronic devices include mobile telephones, so-called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), smartphones and other smart devices, and tablet PCs.

Portable electronic devices/apparatus according to one or more disclosed examples may provide one or more audio/text/video communication functions (e.g. tele-communication, video-communication, and/or text transmission (Short Message Service (SMS)/Multimedia Message Service (MMS)/e-mailing) functions), interactive/non-interactive viewing functions (e.g. web-browsing, navigation, TV/program viewing functions), music recording/playing functions (e.g. MP3 or other format and/or (FM/AM) radio broadcast recording/playing), downloading/sending of data functions, image capture functions (e.g. using a (e.g. in-built) digital camera), and gaming functions.

Background

Using navigation technologies, a user may be provided with instructions detailing how to navigate to a particular destination.

The listing or discussion of a prior-published document or any background in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document or background is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge. One or more aspects/examples of the present disclosure may or may not address one or more of the background issues. Summary

According to a first aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, enable the apparatus at least to,

based on:

an accepted registration of a third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and a third-party two-way portable communications device; and

a monitored location of the third-party user within a first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device;

provide navigation instructions to the third-party user to a destination within the first- party defined geographical area by using a user interface of the third-party two-way portable communications device. The navigation instructions to the destination may be configured to be provided incrementally in partial portions. Each partial portion may be associated with a respective manoeuvre to the destination and may be configured to be transmitted to the third-party two-way portable communications device at a time associated with an upcoming respective manoeuvre.

The navigation instructions to the destination may be configured to be provided using one or more of: a communication protocol already available to the third-party two-way portable communication device, and an application already available to the third-party two-way portable communication device. Such communication protocols/applications may be available as part of the original operating system of the two-way portable communications device (which may have been subsequently updated).

A communication protocol may relate to Bluetooth® (e.g. specification V4.0+, earlier or later specifications), Bluetooth® Smart, Bluetooth® Low Energy, or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), for example. An application may relate to a Bluetooth® application configured to allow a portable device to support positioning messages in a received Bluetooth® signal. The navigation instructions to the destination may be configured to be provided using a Short-Message-Service (SMS) communication protocol. In other examples the navigation instructions to the destination may be configured to be provided using a Multimedia- Messaging-Service (MMS) communication protocol, an audio message, or a web link.

The navigation instructions may comprise one or more of: text detailing the navigation instructions themselves, and a selectable communication link to the navigation instructions hosted at a first-party server. The apparatus may be configured to provide the navigation instruction in accordance with one or more received display properties of a display of the third-party two-way portable communication device, wherein the one or more display properties comprise: display size; display aspect ratio; display resolution; colour displaying property of the display; and a user preference display setting. These display properties may be received, for example, during or as part of the registration process

The destination within the first-party defined geographical area may be a dynamic destination configured to be moveable within the first-party defined geographical area. The dynamic destination may be monitored by the location monitoring sensors monitoring the location of one or more of: a registered destination-party portable location monitoring tag in the first-party defined geographical area which is associated with the dynamic destination for the third-party user; and a registered destination-party two-way portable communications device in the first-party defined geographical area which is associated with the dynamic destination for the third-party user.

The first-party defined geographical area may be at least one of: an indoor facility, a hospital, an office, a campus, a shopping complex, and a combination of indoor and outdoor facilities. The apparatus may be configured to prevent the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user to the destination within the first-party defined geographical area if one or more of:

the first-party portable location monitoring tag is determined to be stationary for a predetermined period of time;

the third-party two-way portable communications device is determined to be outside the first-party defined geographical area; the current time is outside a predetermined authorised time period for the first-party; and

a predetermined period of time has passed since the start of the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user.

The apparatus may be configured to provide the navigation instructions to the third-party user with respect to one or more of the current position of the third-party user and the current heading of the third-party user. The apparatus may be configured to perform the registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device.

The apparatus may be configured to monitor the location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area by using the location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area.

The apparatus may be one or more of: a portable electronic device, a mobile telephone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a watch, smart eyewear, a non-portable electronic device, a desktop computer, a server, the first-party server, the destination-party two-way portable communications device, or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same. Such apparatus would be associated with the first-party. According to a further aspect, there is provided a system comprising:

a registration apparatus configured to perform registration of a third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and a third-party two-way portable communications device;

a location monitoring apparatus configured to monitor the location of the third-party user within a first-party defined geographical area by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device; and

a navigation apparatus configured to provide navigation instructions to the third- party user to a destination within the first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of the third-party two-way portable communications device, based on the accepted registration of the third-party user and the monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area.

According to a further aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising:

means for providing navigation instructions to a third-party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third-party two- way portable communications device, based on:

an accepted registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device; and

a monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device.

According to a further aspect, there is provided a method comprising providing navigation instructions to a third-party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third-party two-way portable communications device, based on:

a monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated or understood by the skilled person.

According to a further aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising computer code configured to perform a method comprising providing navigation instructions to a third- party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third-party two-way portable communications device, based on: an accepted registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device; and

a monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device. Corresponding computer programs for implementing one or more steps of the methods disclosed herein are also within the present disclosure and are encompassed by one or more of the described examples. One or more of the computer programs may be software implementations, and the computer may be considered as any appropriate hardware, including a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, and an implementation in read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) or electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), as non-limiting examples. The software may be an assembly program.

One or more of the computer programs or data structures may be provided on a computer readable medium, which may be a physical computer readable medium such as a disc or a memory device, or may be embodied as a transient signal. Such a transient signal may be a network download, including an internet download.

Throughout the present specification, descriptors relating to relative orientation and position, such as "top", "bottom", "left", "right", "above" and "below", as well as any adjective and adverb derivatives thereof, are used in the sense of the orientation of the apparatus as presented in the drawings. However, such descriptors are not intended to be in any way limiting to an intended use of the described examples. The present disclosure includes one or more corresponding aspects, examples or features in isolation or in various combinations whether or not specifically stated (including claimed) in that combination or in isolation. Corresponding means and corresponding functional units (e.g., navigation instruction provider, a third party two-way portable communications device registrar/registrant, a first party portable location monitoring tag registrar/registrant, a location monitor) for performing one or more of the discussed functions are also within the present disclosure. The above summary is intended to be merely exemplary and non-limiting.

Brief Description of the Figures A description is now given, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example apparatus configured to perform one or more methods described herein;

Figure 2 illustrates schematically a visitor visiting someone in a defined geographical location according to examples described herein;

Figures 3a-3d illustrate navigation instructions provided to a third-party portable communications device according to examples described herein;

Figures 4a-4d illustrate incremental navigation instructions provided to a third-party portable communications device according to examples described herein;

Figure 5 illustrates an example of apparatus in use in a hospital scenario according to examples described herein;

Figure 6 illustrates a method according to examples described herein; and

Figure 7 shows a computer-readable medium comprising a computer program configured to perform, control or enable one or more methods described herein.

Description of Examples

The present disclosure relates to providing navigation systems, and the provision of navigation instructions to a user. A visitor to an unfamiliar location may benefit from receiving navigation instructions to help them find a particular destination within that location. The examples described herein focus on a visitor visiting a patient in hospital, but it will be appreciated that apparatus and methods described herein may be used in relation to many different types of location and situations. For example, a new member of staff may wish to find their colleague's office in an office block, a visitor to a shopping complex may wish to navigate to a particular shop, a family may wish to find their way around a theme park or holiday park, or a student may wish to navigate to a lecturer's office in a particular faculty building on a university campus. In hospitals or elderly care facilities, a positioning system may be useful to keep track of patients/residents and make sure they don't accidentally leave a safe environment. If a visitor wishes to visit a patient/relative, he may benefit from receiving navigation instructions informing him how to get to the patient's/relative's room. However, even if the visitor does navigate to the patient's/relative's room, the patient/relative may actually not be there, but instead may be in a restaurant, or recreation room, for example. Examples described herein may provide assistance to a person wishing to navigate to a person or place within a particular area.

Figure 1 shows an example apparatus 101 configured to perform one or more methods described herein. The apparatus 101 may be one or more of: a portable electronic device, a mobile telephone, a Smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a watch, smart eyewear, a non-portable electronic device, a desktop computer, a server, a first-party server, a destination-party two-way portable communications device, or a module/circuitry for one or more of the same. In certain examples, the apparatus may comprise just a memory 103 and processor 102. The apparatus could be associated with a first-party, i.e. the party of the area being visited. It will be appreciated that the apparatus shown in Figure 1 could also represent a two-way portable communication device (e.g. that of the third-party).

The apparatus 101 may be part of an indoor positioning system. In other examples, the apparatus 101 may be separate to, and compatible for use with, an existing indoor positioning system. The apparatus 101 may be a device compatible for use with a positioning system, such as a mobile communications device configured to receive navigation messages from an indoor positioning system, or a mobile communications device configured to allow an indoor positioning system to track its location. In other examples, the apparatus 101 may be part of an outdoor positioning system and/or an indoor/outdoor positioning system.

The apparatus 101 is configured to provide navigation instructions to a third-party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third- party two-way portable communications device, based on an accepted registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device; and a monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device. In this example, the apparatus 101 comprises a processor 102, a memory 103, a transceiver 104, a power supply 105, an electronic display 106 and a loudspeaker 107, which are electrically connected to one another by a data bus 108. The processor 102 is configured for general operation of the apparatus 101 by providing signalling to, and receiving signalling from, the other components to manage their operation. The memory 103 is configured to store computer program code configured to perform, control or enable operation of the apparatus 101 . The memory 103 may also be configured to store settings for the other components. The processor 102 may access the memory 103 to retrieve the component settings in order to manage the operation of the other components. The processor 102 may be a microprocessor, including an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The memory 103 may be a temporary storage medium such as a volatile random access memory. On the other hand, the memory 103 may be a permanent storage medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, or a non-volatile random access memory.

The transceiver 104 is configured to transmit data to, and/or receive data from, other apparatus/devices, whilst the power supply 105 is configured to provide the other components with electrical power to enable their functionality. The electronic display 106 may be an LED, e-ink, or LCD display, and is configured to display visual content, such as text or maps configured to provide navigation instructions which may be received by (e.g. via the transceiver) the apparatus 101 . Similarly, the loudspeaker 107 is configured to output audio content which is stored on or received by the apparatus 101 . Such output may be an audio navigation instruction. The visual and audio content may comprise related components of a combined audio visual content. In other examples, the display 106, loudspeaker 107 and any user interface components may be remote to, but in communication with, the apparatus 101 rather than forming part of the apparatus 101. Further, in other examples, the power supply 105 may be housed separately from the apparatus 101 , and may be mains power. In some examples the apparatus 101 may be configured to perform the registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of the first-party portable location monitoring (PLM) tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device (PCD). For example, the apparatus may register an ID tag provided to the third-party user. As another example, the third-party user may provide a PCD ID, such as a mobile telephone number, which is registered by the apparatus. In some examples the apparatus 101 may be configured to monitor the location of a third- party user within a first-party defined geographical area by using location monitoring sensors (LMS) distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the LMS configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party PLM tag and the registered third-party two-way PCD. For example, the apparatus may comprise a server in communication with the LMS and is configured to receive registered third-party user location information from the LMS within the first-party defined geographical location.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically an example scenario involving an example apparatus 212. A first-party defined geographical area 202 is shown, within which the first-party server 212 is located. The area 202 is equipped with location monitoring sensors (LMS) 210 distributed within the area 202. A third-party user 204 is inside the location 202, and in this example he has a first-party portable location monitoring (PLM) tag 206 and a third-party two-way portable communications device (PCD) 208, given that the location of his PCD 208 is not capable of being monitored by the LMS 210. In other examples the third-party user 204 may have at least a registered third-party two-way PCD 208 which is being monitored to receive navigation instructions. The first-party PLM tag may be an identification/location tracking tag issued by the first-party area management (e.g. a reception desk) to the third-party user 204 upon his arrival in the first-party area 202. The third-party two-way PCD 208 may be a portable device belonging to the third-party user 204, such as a mobile telephone, Smartphone, tablet computer, Smartwatch, Smart eyewear, or personal digital assistant.

The third-party user 204 is registered with the first-party defined geographical area 202 by registration of one or more of his first-party PLM tag 206 and his third-party two-way PCD 208. Such registration may be made, for example, by creation of a first-party area visitor profile for the third-party user 204. A visitor profile may be created and stored, for example so that a third-party user 204 who visits a location 202 more than once need only create a user/visitor profile on the first visit, and the stored user/visitor profile is available for subsequent visits. The registered third-party user 204 may have a user/visitor profile stored which may list an identifier of his third-party two-way PCD 208 (such as a mobile phone number) and/or an identifier of the first-party PLM tag 206 (such as a tag reference/ID). Thus, an accepted registration is made of the third-party user 204 by registration of one or more of the first-party PLM tag 206 and the third-party two-way PCD 208. This registration process may involve receiving display properties of the (display of the) PCD 208 to allow the provision of subsequent navigation instructions to the PCD 208 to be appropriately adapted. The LMS 210 are configured to monitor the location of one or more of the first-party PLM tag 206 and the third-party two-way PCD 208 in order to monitor the location of the third- party user 204 within the first-party defined geographical area 202. In this way the location of the third-party user 204 in the first-party area 202 can be determined. It will be appreciated that the LMS 210 are specific to the first-party defined geographical area 202 and are not meant to be useable and/or controlled by other parties without first-party authority. For example. Nokia's High Accuracy Indoor Positioning (HAIP) System solution, which is described in detail at http://www.in-iocation-alliance.com, could be used. Other similar/broadly equivalent systems may also be used.

For example, the first-party PLM tag 206 may be a Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Smart or Bluetooth® Low Energy tag configured to be detected by Bluetooth® LMS 210. Bluetooth® LMS and tags may provide an advantage that the location of the third-party user 204 may be determined with a relatively high accuracy (for example, within a meter). Further, if using Bluetooth®, the current heading of the third-party user 204 (that is, the direction in which the user is facing) may also be determined using multiple Bluetooth® antennae signal strengths. Use of optional position packets for HAIP, available in Bluetooth® specification V4.0+, may be used for Angle of Arrival and/or Angle of Departure messaging so that more than signal strength can be used. As another example, the current location of a third-party two-way PCD 208 may be determined using WLAN detection via a series of WLAN LMS 210 located in the area 202.

Advantageously, the third-party user 204 need not manually "check in" at location checkpoints 210 to register his current location, because the LMS 210 may be configured to detect the third-party user's first-party PLM tag 206 and/or third-party two-way PCD 208 "at a distance" (so, for example, a user may simply walk down a corridor and LMS 210 along the corridor may be able to detect and register the presence, current heading and/or current direction of movement of the user 204 by detecting a first-party PLM tag 206 and/or third- party two-way PCD 208 carried by the third-party user 204).

Navigation instructions may be provided to the third-party user 204 to a destination within the first-party defined geographical area 202 by using a user interface 218 of the third-party two-way PCD 208. The location of the third-party user 204 may be determined by the LMS 210 as discussed above. The third-party user 204 may specify a required destination, for example when he reported to reception upon entering the first-party area 202. By using the third-party user's 204 current determined location, and his required destination, navigation instructions may be determined and provided to the third-party user 204 using a user interface 218 of the third-party PCD 208, so that the user 204 can use the navigation instructions and find his required destination.

The user 204 may wish to visit a patient 214. If, for example, the patient 214 is allocated to a particular ward 220 while being treated at the hospital 202, the ward 220 may be the required destination for the visitor 204 wishing to visit the patient 214. Such a destination may be considered a static destination as the location of this destination would not change with time. As another example of a destination, the patient 214 may wear an identification tag 216 (such as a wristband) which details the patient's name and date of birth, for example, and which also contains a tag (such as a Bluetooth® tag or other trackable tag) by which the patient's location may be determined. The tag 216 on the patient 214 may be considered a destination for a user 204 wishing to visit the patient 214. In this example, the destination within the first-party defined geographical area 202 may be considered to be a dynamic destination which is configured to be moveable within the first-party defined geographical area 202. That is, if the patient 214 changes location (to, for example, visit the restaurant, cafe, toilet, or another ward) then his current location may be determined by tracking the location of his ID tag 216. The example of a dynamic destination of a patient may be considered to be a dynamic destination which can change location during a visit from a third-party user 204. Another example of a dynamic destination may be that of a ward which changes physical location between visits from a third-party user (for example, the ante-natal clinic of a hospital may usually be based on the ground floor, but may temporarily move to a different location on the first floor during maintenance work, for example).

In some examples, the location of a dynamic destination (e.g., the patient 214) may be monitored by the LMS 210 monitoring the location of a registered destination-party portable location monitoring tag, such as the patient's identification tag 216. The location monitoring tag 216 is in the first-party defined geographical area 202 and is associated with the dynamic destination 214 for the third-party user 204. In some examples, the location of a dynamic destination (e.g., the patient 214) may be monitored by the LMS 210 monitoring the location of a registered destination-party two-way portable communications device PCD (not shown in figure 2) in the first-party defined geographical area 202 which is associated with the dynamic destination 214 for the third-party user 204. Such a registered destination- party two-way PCD may be, for example a portable device belonging (at least temporarily) to the dynamic destination/patient 214, such as a mobile telephone, Smartphone, tablet computer, Smartwatch, or personal digital assistant. The navigation instructions provided to the third party user by the apparatus 212 may be provided using a communication protocol already available to the third-party two-way PCD. For example, a third-party two-way PCD may be configured to communicate via Bluetooth® and be configured to support positioning messages (position advertisement packets) in the Bluetooth® signal. In this example the third-party two-way PCD can act as a "tag" and be tracked by a Bluetooth® LMS arrangement, as well as receive navigation instructions over the Bluetooth® network. In other examples the user's position may be monitored using Bluetooth® communication between his PCD and LMS, but navigation instructions may be provided using a different method, such as by SMS. As another example, a third-party two- way PCD may be able to communicate over a WLAN, and act as a WLAN "tag" which can be tracked by an arrangement of LMS over a WLAN. Navigation instructions may be provided over the WLAN to the third-party two-way PCD. In some examples the navigation instructions provided to the third party user may be provided using an application already available to the third-party two-way PCD. For example, the presence of the third-party two-way PCD may be detected by a proximal LMS. Detection of the PCD (and determination of an ID for the PCD) may be transmitted by the detecting LMS to the server 212. The server 212 may then provide a navigation instruction to the PCD via, for example, an SMS message (the SMS messaging application is already available to the PCD). Use of SMS may be particularly useful given it is often standard in many two-way PCDs and is readily useable by most people, including those not very familiar with advanced technology. Further ways of transmitting navigation instructions to a PCD are discussed below.

Figures 3a to 3d illustrate different ways by which navigation instructions may be provided to a third-party user. A combination of textual, pictorial, visual, audio and/or haptic navigation instructions may be provided. In Figure 3a, navigation instructions 302 are provided using an SMS communication protocol. A simple clear textual instruction 302 is provided to the user ("Take the first left"). This method may benefit users who have a basic model mobile phone or other basic personal electronic device with a black and white text-only display screen, which can, for example, call and send/receive SMS text messages but does not have internet or pictorial image display capabilities. In Figure 3b navigation instructions 304 are provided using an MMS communication protocol, in this example in the form of a textual instruction "Take next left" 304 as well as a map indicating where to make the upcoming manoeuvre. This method may benefit users who have a more sophisticated PCD such as a smartphone, which can display pictorial images as well as text to aid navigation.

In Figure 3c navigation instructions are provided using audio communication 306. This may be, for example, a PCD which has internet access, for which and a personalised webspace is configured to provide navigation instructions in the form of spoken audio guidance (for example, generated using text-to-speech technology). The navigation instructions 306 provided using the linked-to webspace may be hosted at a first-party server 212. This method may benefit users who have poor eyesight and prefer audio rather than visual guidance. Basic buttons 308, 310 may be displayed in bright colours in a large format on the display screen to aid visually impaired users (for example, the "NEXT" button to move onto the next navigation instruction may be green and the "CANCEL" button to end navigation guidance may be red).

In Figure 3d navigation instructions are provided as a personal weblink 314 sent using an SMS communications protocol. The name of the user 312 and the name of the destination 314 may be included in the SMS message to help reassure the user that the instructions are telling them how to get to the place they wish to go. This may help elderly or nervous users.

In the above examples of Figures 3a-3c (and also of Figure 3d depending on the webpage linked to), the navigation instructions to the destination are configured to be provided incrementally in partial portions. Each partial portion is associated with a respective manoeuvre (e.g., "take the first left") to the destination (e.g., "Bay 36") and configured to be transmitted to the third-party two-way PCD at a time associated with an upcoming respective manoeuvre. Thus, when the user reaches the manoeuvre point and turns left, their location will be detected by the LMS within the first-party defined geographic area and the next navigation instruction can be provided. In this way the user can feel that they are being prompted at appropriate points in time to make a manoeuvre to reach the required destination. This approach may also help avoid providing too much information to a user in one go, as doing so may confuse, for example, an elderly user or a non-native speaker. Partial portion navigation instructions are discussed further in relation to Figures 4a-4d. Figures 4a to 4d illustrate different ways by which navigation instructions may be incrementally provided in partial portions to a third-party user. As before, a combination of text, pictorial, visual, audio and/or haptic navigation instructions may be provided. Figures 4a and 4b show navigation instructions sent to a third-party user via SMS messages to his third-party two-way PCD 400. In Figure 4a, as shown on the map 450, the user is travelling along a corridor and needs to turn left to continue on the correct route to his destination 460. The visitor's location 452 and heading 454 are detected (for example, by LMS on the corridor) and the SMS message "Take next left" 402 is provided so that he knows what his next manoeuvre should be. If the user was in the same position 452 but facing in the opposite direction, his current heading would be detected as being in the opposite direction and an SMS may be sent instructing him, for example, to "turn around, go forwards and take the next left". In Figure 4b the user has followed the SMS instruction and taken the left turn. He is now located on a different corridor. Again, the visitor's current location 456 and current heading 458 are detected (for example, by LMS on this corridor) and the SMS message "Go to the end of the corridor and turn right" 404 is provided so that he knows what his next manoeuvre should be.

Figures 4c and 4d illustrate the user continuing on his journey. The navigation instructions in these examples are provided as simple arrows, indicating when to travel straight ahead and when to change direction. In Figure 4c the user should continue straight ahead so he is presented with a forwards arrow 406 as navigation guidance. Upon reaching the end of the corridor he is instructed to turn right in Figure 4d by receiving a navigation instruction showing a right-turn arrow 408. This image-based style of navigation instruction may be provided, for example, through a real-time web interface which the user can access using a weblink sent to his PCD, or by received MMS or other picture-based messages. Simple pictorial guidance such as arrows may be beneficial for users who cannot read (easily) such as foreign language speakers or visually impaired users.

These examples show that the navigation instructions 402, 404 to the destination 460 may be configured to be provided incrementally in partial portions, each partial portion associated with a respective manoeuvre to the destination and configured to be transmitted to the third-party two-way portable communications device 400 at a time associated with an upcoming respective manoeuvre. This feature may be advantageous for third-party users who would benefit for step-by-step instructions in a simple clear format, such as an elderly or nervous person.

Further, in these examples, the navigation instructions are provided to the third-party user with respect to the position and the heading of the third-party user. This may be advantageous because instructions may be provided which are relevant to the user's current position and the direction in which he is facing. By accounting for the user's heading, the navigation instructions are more unambiguous and need not necessarily rely on referencing landmarks to ensure the directions provided are clear. For example, if a visitor stops at a cross roads and looks around, the navigation instructions provided may be worded relative to his heading, such as "turn left" or "take the right turn". If no heading was used, navigation instructions may be provided which reference fixed landmarks (such as a corridor or room) along the route to minimise confusion based on which way the user is looking (for example, a navigation instruction may be "turn left down corridor 32" or "turn right to follow the sign for Office 5A"). Of course in some examples the heading may be used to provide an instruction of "take the next right..." but landmark information may also be provided to reduce ambiguity (e.g., the navigation instruction may finish with "...down the blue corridor"). In some examples, the user may receive a navigation instruction in the form of a haptic indicator. For example, if the user takes a wrong turn, a navigation message may be provided to tell the user to, for example, turn around. This message may be accompanied by a haptic cue to alert the user that something is wrong (and that they should check the instructions to ensure they move in the required direction again).

Navigation instructions may be provided in accordance with one or more received display properties of a display of the third-party two-way PCD. For example, if a user registers his third-party two-way PCD upon entering the first-party location, then he may also provide details of the type and model of PCD. This information may be used to provide navigation instructions in an appropriate format. For example, upon registering a text-only PCD, navigation instructions may be provided as in Figure 3a (text only), but not as in Figure 3b (text plus map).

Providing navigation instructions in accordance with a particular display size may be performed. For example, a larger portion of a map may be displayed on a larger screen but only the area immediately surrounding an upcoming manoeuvre may be displayed on a smaller screen. Another example of providing navigation instructions in accordance with a received display property of a display of a PCD is of displaying text in a larger font size on a larger display screen. Providing navigation instructions in accordance with a particular display aspect ratio may include, for example, providing a map portion in accordance with the display aspect ratio so that a section of map is selected for display in a 1 :1 aspect ratio and to fill the majority of the display screen of the PCD, for example. Navigation instructions may be provided in accordance with a particular display resolution by, for example, providing an image of an appropriate resolution map portion. Navigation instructions may be provided in accordance with a particular colour displaying property of the display by, for example, providing buttons as in Figure 3c in colour for a colour screen, but as black and white line buttons for a monochrome screen. Navigation instructions may be provided in accordance with a particular user preference display setting (for example, a user may specify that he wishes to receive text only even is his device has pictorial image display capability, or may specify that haptic feedback is provided when a new navigation instruction is received). It will be appreciated that this display property information is provided to the apparatus 101 , 212 and the apparatus appropriately adapts the navigation instructions for display according to the display property information (rather than the adapting being done at the two-way PCD by itself).

In some examples, the apparatus may be configured to prevent the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user to the destination within the first-party defined geographical area in certain circumstances. Examples include: if the first-party PLM tag is determined to be stationary for a predetermined period of time; if the third-party two-way PCD is determined to be outside the first-party defined geographical area; if the current time is outside a predetermined authorised time period of the first-party (e.g., outside visiting hours), or if a predetermined period of time has passed since the start of the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user.

For example, in the example of a visitor to a patient in a hospital, the visitor may be issued with a first-party PLM tag upon arrival. When the visitor leaves the hospital, he returns the first-party PLM tag to the reception desk who then deactivate the tag. This deactivation may also disable any web links to navigation guidance pages that the visitor may have received at his two-way PCD. In this way the visitor can only receive navigation guidance while in the hospital premises. Other controls may be put in place so that the visitor cannot receive navigation guidance while he is not visiting the patient (and thus, for example, track where the patient is from the user's home). As another example, the LMS within the hospital may be configured to detect when the visitor leaves the hospital (for example, by being able to detect the location of the visitor through an exit by detecting a first-party PLM tag held by the visitor and/or detecting the visitor's PCD. Another example may be that a WLAN connection to the visitor's PCD may be lost, indicating he has left the premises). When the visitor is determined to have left, any weblinks sent to him with navigation guidance may be deactivated. As another control, any weblinks sent to the user may be automatically deactivated after a predetermined period of time (for example, half an hour), and/or may be deactivated outside a predetermined time period (such as outside scheduled visiting hours).

Another concern may be that the visitor leaves a first-party PLM tag hidden inside the hospital to try and keep track of the patient after the visitor has left the premises. To reduce the possibility of this happening, the first-party PLM tag may be deactivated, and/or any weblinks to navigation instructions to the patient may be deactivated if the first-party PLM tag is determined to be stationary for a predetermined period of time (for example, 15 minutes). The tag may be determined to be stationary if, for example, it has not been subsequently detected by two (or more) different first-party LMS within a predetermined period of time. Figure 5 illustrates an example flow diagram of a real-world situation. A visitor 504 (a third- party user) with a visitor phone 502 (a third-party two-way PCD) arrives at the reception 506 of a hospital (a first-party defined geographical location). He wishes to visit a patient (so the patient is his destination). He provides his personal details to the reception 510 to create a user profile which is stored 514 on the hospital cloud 508 (e.g., which is linked to the server 212). Such details may include the user's name, mobile telephone number, e-mail address, and the name of the patient he wishes to visit, for example. The visitor 504 is allocated a visitor ID tag (a first-party PLM tag) 512. The visitor 504 receives an SMS message 516 to his phone 502 containing a link and a password to a website by which he can receive navigation instructions. He can access the link 518 in his browser to receive the instructions. The hospital cloud 508 can verify that the user is allowed to receive instructions and that his visitor ID tag is active 520. The user may then be given his allocated visitor ID tag 524 by reception 506. His location can begin being tracked by LMS within the hospital and navigation instructions to his destination (the patient) may be provided 522. After his visit the visitor 504 returns the tag 526 to reception 506. The tag may then be removed from the visitor's user profile 528 so that he cannot continue tracking the patient's location while he is not visiting. Figure 6 illustrates schematically the main step of a method 600 described herein. The method comprises providing navigation instructions to a third-party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third-party two- way portable communications device 600, based on an accepted registration of the third- party user by registration of one or more of a first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device 602, and a monitored location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area, monitored by using location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area, the location monitoring sensors configured to monitor the location of one or more of the registered first-party portable location monitoring tag and the registered third-party two-way portable communications device 604.

Figure 7 illustrates a computer/processor readable medium 700 providing a computer program according to one example. The computer program may comprise computer code configured to perform, control or enable a method described herein. In this example, the computer/processor readable medium 700 is a disc such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) or a compact disc (CD). In other examples, the computer/processor readable medium 700 may be any medium that has been programmed in such a way as to carry out an inventive function. The computer/processor readable medium 700 may be a removable memory device such as a memory stick or memory card (SD, mini SD, micro SD or nano SD). In some examples, the computer program may be embodied over a distributed system (for example, the computer program may be located at least at a first-party server, or partially at a first-party server and partially on a third-party two-way PCD). Any mentioned apparatus/device and/or other features of particular mentioned apparatus/device may be provided by apparatus arranged such that they become configured to carry out the desired operations only when enabled, e.g. switched on, or the like. In such cases, they may not necessarily have the appropriate software loaded into the active memory in the non-enabled (e.g. switched off state) and only load the appropriate software in the enabled (e.g. on state). The apparatus may comprise hardware circuitry and/or firmware. The apparatus may comprise software loaded onto memory. Such software/computer programs may be recorded on the same memory/processor/functional units and/or on one or more memories/processors/ functional units. In some examples, a particular mentioned apparatus/device may be pre-programmed with the appropriate software to carry out desired operations, and wherein the appropriate software can be enabled for use by a user downloading a "key", for example, to unlock/enable the software and its associated functionality. Advantages associated with such examples can include a reduced requirement to download data when further functionality is required for a device, and this can be useful in examples where a device is perceived to have sufficient capacity to store such pre-programmed software for functionality that may not be enabled by a user.

Any mentioned apparatus/circuitry may have other functions in addition to the mentioned functions, and that these functions may be performed by the same apparatus/circuitry. One or more disclosed aspects may encompass the electronic distribution of associated computer programs and computer programs (which may be source/transport encoded) recorded on an appropriate carrier (e.g. memory, signal).

Any "computer" described herein can comprise a collection of one or more individual processors/processing elements that may or may not be located on the same circuit board, or the same region/position of a circuit board or even the same device. In some examples one or more of any mentioned processors may be distributed over a plurality of devices. The same or different processor/processing elements may perform one or more functions described herein. The term "signalling" may refer to one or more signals transmitted as a series of transmitted and/or received electrical/optical signals. The series of signals may comprise one, two, three, four or even more individual signal components or distinct signals to make up said signalling. Some or all of these individual signals may be transmitted/received by wireless or wired communication simultaneously, in sequence, and/or such that they temporally overlap one another.

With reference to any discussion of any mentioned computer and/or processor and memory (e.g. including ROM, CD-ROM etc.), these may comprise a computer processor, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or other hardware components that have been programmed in such a way to carry out the inventive function.

The applicant hereby discloses in isolation each individual feature described herein and any combination of two or more such features, to the extent that such features or combinations are capable of being carried out based on the present specification as a whole, in the light of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art, irrespective of whether such features or combinations of features solve any problems disclosed herein, and without limitation to the scope of the claims. The applicant indicates that the disclosed aspects/examples may consist of any such individual feature or combination of features. In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the disclosure.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features as applied to examples thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices and methods described may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosure. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, it should be recognised that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or examples may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or example as a general matter of design choice. Furthermore, in the claims means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures.

Claims

1 . An apparatus comprising a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, enable the apparatus at least to,

based on:

provide navigation instructions to the third-party user to a destination within the first- party defined geographical area by using a user interface of the third-party two-way portable communications device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the navigation instructions to the destination are configured to be provided incrementally in partial portions, each partial portion associated with a respective manoeuvre to the destination and configured to be transmitted to the third- party two-way portable communications device at a time associated with an upcoming respective manoeuvre.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the navigation instructions to the destination are configured to be provided using one or more of:

a communication protocol already available to the third-party two-way portable communication device, and

an application already available to the third-party two-way portable communication device.

4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the navigation instructions to the destination are configured to be provided using a Short-Message-Service communication protocol.

5. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the navigation instructions comprise one or more of: text detailing the navigation instructions themselves, and a selectable communication link to the navigation instructions hosted at a first-party server.

6. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the navigation instruction in accordance with one or more received display properties of a display of the third-party two-way portable communication device, wherein the one or more display properties comprise:

display size; display aspect ratio; display resolution; colour displaying property of the display; and a user preference display setting.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the destination within the first-party defined geographical area is a dynamic destination configured to be moveable within the first-party defined geographical area.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the dynamic destination is monitored by the location monitoring sensors monitoring the location of one or more of:

a registered destination-party portable location monitoring tag in the first-party defined geographical area which is associated with the dynamic destination for the third- party user; and

a registered destination-party two-way portable communications device in the first- party defined geographical area which is associated with the dynamic destination for the third-party user.

9. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the first-party defined geographical area is at least one of: an indoorfacility, a hospital, an office, a campus, a shopping complex, and a combination of indoor and outdoor facilities.

10. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is configured to prevent the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user to the destination within the first-party defined geographical area if one or more of:

the third-party two-way portable communications device is determined to be outside the first-party defined geographical area;

the current time is outside a predetermined authorised time period of the first-party; and a predetermined period of time has passed since the start of the provision of navigation instructions to the third-party user.

1 1 . The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the navigation instructions to the third-party user with respect to one or more of the current position of the third-party user and the current heading of the third-party user.

12. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is configured to perform the registration of the third-party user by registration of one or more of the first-party portable location monitoring tag and the third-party two-way portable communications device.

13. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is configured to monitor the location of the third-party user within the first-party defined geographical area by using the location monitoring sensors distributed within the first-party defined geographical area,

14. A method comprising providing navigation instructions to a third-party user to a destination within a first-party defined geographical area by using a user interface of a third- party two-way portable communications device, based on:

15. A computer program comprising computer code configured to perform the method of claim 14.