Patent ID: 9696165
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: G01C

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method for navigating a pedestrian using a mobile phone, comprising: capturing, by a magnetometer in a mobile phone, data for a magnetic field over time along a path being taken by the pedestrian; determining, by the processor, a number of steps taken by the pedestrian along the path; comparing, by a processor in the mobile phone, the captured magnetic field data with reference data for the magnetic field captured along the path at an earlier time and restricting a search space for the comparison using the determined number of steps taken by the pedestrian, where the reference data includes a number of steps taken along the path for each measure of the magnetic field captured along the path; estimating, by the processor, a relative position of the pedestrian on the path as the pedestrian traverses the path, where the estimation of the relative position is based on the comparison and the number of steps taken by the pedestrian; and issuing, by the processor, a navigation instruction to the pedestrian when the relative position correlates to a particular position along the path at which to issue the navigation instruction.