WO2010035274A2

WO2010035274A2 - A self - service kiosk providing path information to users

Info

Publication number: WO2010035274A2
Application number: PCT/IN2008/000604
Authority: WO
Inventors: Girish Patil
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-09-23
Filing date: 2008-09-23
Publication date: 2010-04-01
Anticipated expiration: 2011-03-23
Also published as: WO2010035274A3

Abstract

A method and system for way-finding using a kiosk is proposed in the present invention wherein the method comprises the steps of processing maps of a facility in a manner which abstracts the layout of the facility and connects it to the occupants of the facility in order to provide users with directions to various points, irrespective of changes to the orientation and location of users accessing path information and changes in the facility itself. The invention further has the capability to configure various aspects such as the languages in use, terms to be utilized, the various interfaces to communicate with the user and the kiosks or devices, which dispense path information. Path finding is performed in the present invention by accessing the processed and annotated maps, stored alongside a floor plan layer in a proprietary PQM object and displaying the path to the user in an animated fashion.

Description

A SELF - SERVICE KIOSK PROVIDING PATH INFORMATION TO USERS

BACKGROUND

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and system for path finding using one or more kiosks, which are connected over a network to a server.

DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART

DE102004051563 discloses a Content transmission method for data and/or software from data source to mobile appliance with which contents to be transmitted are provided via display of transaction system e.g. kiosk wherein a method for content transmission is used for data and/or software from data sources to mobile appliances such that the contents to be transmitted are listed via display of computer based information or via a kiosk such that the user is allowed to select appropriate content for transmission from data sources to mobile appliances. DE20319761U discloses an Information display kiosk for use in such as stations, airports etc has mobile wireless link to server to access data including a terminal, a radio server serving up information and a display kiosk used at various facilities including wireless, mobile access. A terminal is also provided to act as an interface to render data and user-information as a mixture of picture and text. US2002120500 discloses a Retail outdoors communication kiosk system that is used to provide marketing, advertising and other information for drive-up customers of financial institutions. The kiosk is designed to deliver marketing and advertising communications to customers of financial institutions while they are waiting for their transactions to be processed at drive-up lanes. Further a marketing and advertising system for a retail establishment consisting of a marketing software presentation, a computer, a drive-up lane and a monitor, the monitor, in communication with the computer, would be positioned to be visible in daylight conditions to a customer in the drive-up lane of the retail establishment, and the computer would relay the marketing software presentation to the monitor for displaying to the customer is also provided. CA2277621 discloses a Multimedia interactive computer-based order entry and information kiosk system wherein the kiosk provides a common set of user interactive computer software driven methods utilized in multimedia interactive touch screen entry means. This kiosk utilizes multimedia interactive touch screen entry, point-of information, and point-of sale computer based applications and system along with contextual multi sensory multimedia user interface aids. US6078848 discloses a Browser kiosk system wherein a self-service browser is provided permitting users to access and display documents and electronic information in a user-friendly, tamper-resistant kiosk environment. Further, a microphone, speaker, camera and serial input device can be added to the kiosk to extend its functionality and serial input devices can be provided as a card swipe reader, a bar code reader, a smart card reader, a personal identification verifier and combinations of these. KR20070119196 discloses a System for providing location information guide services by kiosk wherein the location of various services is provided by the kiosk. US2006000903 discloses a System and method for a smart passenger travel kiosk wherein a passenger has access to directions towards terminals, services and other information by means of the kiosk apparatus.

Most systems in the prior art employ methods to provide path-information to users such that (a) the destination space is colored without giving details on the directions or the path itself (b) the destination space is colored and a flag indicating the origin where the user is currently located (with a "you are here" sign, for example) (c) fixed graphical cues are provided to the user with no auxiliary text directions (d) the paths are pre-computed between the kiosk or the device where the user is accessing the paths from, rendering the kiosks or devices immobile for the life of the application as pre-computed paths cannot be changed if the kiosk/device goes out of service or the retailer at certain spaces within a facility goes out of business or any changes occur to the architectural features of the facility itself and (b) the paths are generated and displayed at a scale that renders it difficult to provide meaningful information to a user seeking path-information across a complex facility with several floors or a massive layout, for example. The method and system of the present invention proposes to abstract the layout of the facility for which path information is provided in such a manner that the basics of the path information required to get the users between various points within the facility is independent of any of (a) the location of the kiosk or device from which the user accesses the information, (b) the orientation of the kiosk or device from which the user accesses the information, (c) changes to the services, outlets or physical location of various placeholders in the facility (d) changes in the paths themselves owing to changes in the facility outline (for example, the addition of a new floor, etc.), by delineating the facility layout into path and space abstractions and constructing a network of paths to assist in processing the user's query for a path to their chosen destination. Furthermore, the present invention allows for displaying path information to the user in a modular, context-sensitive manner wherein the actual path is built piece-wise, in an animated fashion, in order to enable the user to visualize which way they have to go. hi the case of complex facilities with multiple levels or a vast geographical spread, the present invention puts the path information into context for the user by providing visual cues such as key maps which summarize the destination and current location for the user in the overall layout of the facility while the central larger portion of the screen zooms down further into the facility map showing greater detail, which automatically scrolls as the animated path is drawn. The users also have the option of getting textual instructions, which enable the users to have extra cues for navigating their way through the facility. The present invention is further able to process maps of any facility in a plurality of known vector formats, process maps in known raster formats by vectorizing them and further provide efficient symbol management, which is essential to allow the final display to render labels and associated information with respect to services and stores within a facility with the appropriate scaling factor. The present invention is modular in that for any given kiosk, the user is shown the path and directions relative to the specific kiosk that is being used and the path is built, starting from his/her location taking orientation into consideration, and the view automatically scrolled as the animated path is draw to the destination, thereby providing robust orientation cues for the user. Since the configuration phase for the present invention allows any kiosk or information serving device to have its configuration and orientation information changed, (in case the kiosk is moved or goes out of service etc.), this adds to the present invention's modularity and gives it the ability to adapt to the possible dynamic nature of the facility or building.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention proposes a method to provide path-information to a plurality of users via any device such as a kiosk, located within a facility wherein the path is constructed in real-time and rendered in a context-sensitive manner to the users, while providing overall orientation and textual cues to the users comprising the steps of (a) Processing the maps of a facility by either accepting facility drawings in one or more accepted formats or creating the facility drawing for use in the invention (b) Configuring the entities in the path-finding system including the kiosks or other devices, which are used to distribute the path information, the user-interface used to interact with the users of the system, the location of various services, stores or other entities that occupy spaces within the facility, configuring the general language and terminology choices made available by the system etc. and (c) Processing user-queries for paths from a certain point within a facility to a store or any service provider or any commercial or other entity occupying spaces within the facility. The step of processing the maps of a facility further comprises the steps of: 1. Accepting architectural drawings or facility drawings in any known vector or raster format and in the absence of such a drawing, creating the drawing;

2. Cleaning the architectural drawings so obtained or created in order to remove structural details that are not relevant to the function of finding paths;

3. Annotating the cleaned drawing with special constructs known as space blocks and path segments which enable abstracting the facility layout in order to enable constructing paths in real-time while allowing for changes to the facility, the paths or the devices through which the user obtains the path information.

4. Creating a network of path segments, which is aware of how the paths are interconnected in order to construct the path correctly, during the user's query and comprised of special data-structures, which start and end in space blocks connected by a specific path segment 5. Converting the information generated in steps 1-4 into a proprietary, encrypted, light-weight data-structure called the PQM Object, which can be decrypted only by authorized entities that is further abstracted into two entities, a path network entity and a floor plan floor plan layer entity; and 6. Storing the PQM Objects into a permanent data-store for retrieval in future time.

The step of configuring the system further comprises the steps of:

1. Configuring the languages, terms, the user-interface and other start-up parameters for the system; 2. Configuring the initial conditions for the kiosk or any other user-device, which will be used to access the path information in the present invention; and 3. Creating a name-space, which associates services and occupants of various spaces within the facility with the physical location of those spaces.

The step of processing the user's query for path-information is further comprised of the steps of:

1. Displaying the user-interface configured during setup;

2. Accepting input from the users by means of various input means;

3. Associating the users input with the actual entity that the user seeks to find; 4. Accepting cues from the user regarding their physical location, in case the user is mobile;

5. Constructing a path starting from the users current position to the final destination by: a. Accessing the network of path segments, which are represented as an adjacency matrix using the origin, destination tuple made available from the user's query; and b. Constructing a path, point to point, by recursively accessing the network in .a. until the destination is reached.

6. Displaying the path in an animated manner, in real time for the user to follow by: a. Connecting the path segments generated in 5b in the floor plan layer of the

PQM object; b. Providing a key map for the user to understand the overall location of then- destination with respect to the entire facility; and c. Providing textual instructions for the users to follow.

The present invention provides a multi-lingual, modular, distributed system that is comprised of (a) means to obtain maps from previously created layout drawings or drawings created by the system (b) means to process maps obtained or created in (a) by annotating the same in a meaningful way and storing the annotated map into a special PQM Object which is light-weight and encrypted (c) means to configure various entities in the system in a specific set-up phase thereby creating a namespace which is handed to a distinct map processing layer and (d) means to process user queries pertaining to path-information to a destination of the users choice.

BRIEF DESCMPTION OF DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a pictorial overview of the present system.

Fig. 2 shows the method of the present invention.

Fig 2a shows the network of path segments, which can be represented as an adjacency matrix. Fig. 3 shows the step of configuration within the method of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows the steps in processing the users query in the method of the present invention.

Fig. 4a shows the system accepting inputs from the user to serve as cues to the users current location in the facility. Fig. 4b shows how the textual directions are arrived at

Fig. 5 shows the system of the present invention.

Fig. 5a shows the initial architectural drawing in any of the accepted or pre-converted or pre-drawn vector formats.

Fig. 5b shows the map after cleaning, wherein the structural details have been removed. Fig. 5c shows the insertion of blocks and space blocks.

Fig. 5d shows the path blocks connected to the space blocks. Fig. 5e shows setting space blocks attributes.

Fig. 5f shows path blocks attributes being set.

Fig. 5g shows an enhanced attribute editor for space and path blocks.

Fig. 6a shows how the data-store is configured to reflect the use of multiple languages with varying font information.

Fig. 6b shows how the data-store is configured to reflect the general terms in use in the present system.

Fig. 6c shows the configuration of categories within the system.

Fig. 6d shows the configuration of sub-categories within the system. Fig. 6e shows the configuration of spaces within the system.

Fig. 6f shows the setup of a kiosk within the present invention

Fig. 7a shows the system of the present invention.

Fig. 7b shows the construction of the path from the users chosen origin.

Fig. 7c shows the display of the final path from the origin to the destination.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 is a pictorial overview of the present system. Several kiosks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are placed at various locations, facing different directions, within a facility such as an airport, shopping mall, exhibition center, etc. Clients could connect to the information made available on these kiosks over both wired and wireless networks. The kiosks are configured 7 to identify the location and orientation of each kiosk. Since the final output to the user always takes into account the relative orientation of the user, the kiosks are configured to provide this level of accuracy for the user's convenience. The administration of the entire system 8 could be either from a stand-alone system or a mobile computer and only authorized administrators can perform these administrative tasks. Several additional parallel servers 9 act in conjunction to help balance the system's load and user-queries.

Fig. 2 shows the method of the present invention. The step of processing the maps of a facility further comprises the steps of accepting 20 architectural drawings or facility drawings in any known Auto CAD formats such as DWG, DXF, popular Windows formats such as EMF, WMF or other vector based image formats or raster formats such as bitmaps and in the absence of such a drawing, creating the drawing. Performing a check to see if the drawing so accepted is in a raster format 21 and if so, vectorizing it 22. Performing a check to see if the drawings have been cleaned 23 and if not, performing the cleaning 24 by eliminating unnecessary details. Creating primitives called blocks 25 which can be a combination of lines and other geometric shapes that are re-usable. Inserting space blocks 26 onto the cleaned drawing, which identifies physical units, which house various commercial or other entities, or services within the facilities, demarcating them into distinct units. Attributes of space blocks include a unique identifier or space ID, the level within the facility at which the space is located and other attributes such as terminal in which space is located etc. to provide fine-grained identification of the space. Inserting path segments 27 onto the cleaned drawing which have several attributes such as path name, which is a unique identifier, the level on which the path lies, the adjacent space numbers that can be reached by traversing the path, the path type, which differentiates qualitatively structures such as corridors, elevators, escalators etc., the transition direction that represents the change in levels at the two ends of a path segment and other fine-grained identifiers such as terminal in which the path is located etc. Creating a network of path segments 28 wherein each entity in the network is a path segment whose end-points or vertices are specified as two space blocks. The network is illustrated in Fig.2a. Converting the cleaned map 29 with the path and space annotations along with the network of path segments (constituting the path network layer) and an additional floor plan layer for the user, containing the pretty picture of the facility floor plan to a lightweight, encrypted structure called the PQM object. Storing 30 the objects onto a permanent data store.

Fig 2a shows the network of path segments, which can be represented as an adjacency matrix 302. Each node in the network contains a path segment that start and end in space blocks. For example, node 4 300 containing path P4 has two vertices V3 and V5 and is adjacent 301 to the node containing segments P5 and P2. The PQM object is accessed in order to populate these two data-structures wherein the path segments are simply stored in the path segment data-structure and the end-vertex data-structure is simply a list of vertices corresponding to those path segments that are numbered with unique identifiers. Once these data-structures have been populated, the creation of the adjacency matrix starts by iterating over the list of path segments. For each path segment, the entire list of end- vertex tuples is processed wherein the tuples are compared one by one to establish adjacent path segments. Once such an adjacency has been identified, it is noted in the adjacency matrix. The weights for this matrix are assigned based on a number of parameters including distance between the path segments, path type, direction and constrictions en-route. The distance metric is self-explanatory. With respect to path types, these could be any of passage, stairs, escalators, elevators, ramps, travelators etc. Weights are assigned based on path type taking into consideration the speed of that particular path type, for example change of levels is faster using elevators rather than escalators and consequently elevators could have a higher weight associated with them. These weight assignments are further context-sensitive in that for example, with a physically disabled person on a wheel chair, certain paths may not be relevant. For example, such disabled people may only be able to use passages, ramps and elevators in which case such path types are assigned a different weight than in the normal context. A second metric, direction, can also be used to assign weights in the adjacency matrix wherein if a path were one-way, it has no weight associated with it, for example. In case anything is blocking a path or a path is constricted in some way, such as delays introduced at security check points etc., the path could be weighted differently.

Fig. 3 shows the step of configuration within the method of the present invention wherein the user-interface 3a to be presented on the kiosks or devices used to access path information such as layout on the screen, placement of various displays of the wall-clock time, calendar, ads placed on the kiosk or device, the navigation bars etc. are accepted from an administrator who decides how the user-interface should look. This step can also accept choices for languages 3b that the system supports and terminology 3c for various place holders in those languages. Spaces 3e are also configured in this step whereby first a name space is created, then each space is associated with a previously created name space, and finally occupants of a space are associated with the space itself. The name space created in this step is an abstraction that is also referred to as categories and sub- categories of information made available on all of the kiosks and mobile devices, which helps to organize and group the different types of stores or facilities within the facility thereby making it very easy for the user to find path-information to places of interest simply by performing a few touches on the screen to select their category, sub-category and the final destination space. Kiosks 3d can be set up wherein the initial location and orientation of the kiosk or devices used to disseminate path information are specified. This configuration information is then stored in a permanent data store 3f.

Fig. 4 shows the steps in processing the users query wherein an initial display is shown to the user 4a comprising of the layout configured for the user interface during setup. This is followed by accepting input from the user 4b on the specific nature of the destination that the user wishes to travel to. Since the user may navigate to their ultimate destination by first browsing through a set of options via categories (such as "retail stores"," restaurants" etc.) and sub-categories (such as "shoe-shops", "Chinese food" and further sub-categories such as "Nike", "wongs kitchen" to the ultimate query "Nike") the query has to be narrowed down 4c. Highlighting the users destination on the map is also carried out. If the user is accessing path information using a device 4d that renders the user mobile (but using a device that is not equipped with a GPS), implying that the location and orientation of the user are not known at the time when the user is making the query, cues are accepted from the user 4e (as shown in Fig. 4a). This enables the retrieval of the user's co-ordinates 4f or origin and the destination has already been obtained in 4c. Using this origin, destination pair, the path-building starts comprising the steps of:

1. Accessing the path network layer 4g in the PQM object to obtain the closest path segment to the users current co-ordinates;

2. Adding that segment 4hl, 4h2to the path being built for the user;

3. Updating the co-ordinates for computation 4i to reflect the new segment and thereby a new end-point or current position for the user;

4. Checking to see if any of the end-point of the currently added path segment in the path will take the user to their destination 4j; a. If not, iterating through steps 2-3; or b. If so, displaying the path to the user.

Displaying the path to the user 4k wherein the floor plan layer of the PQM object is accessed in order to render the path, on the pretty floor plan, piecewise to the users to show them how to get to their destination. Additionally, a key map 41 is displayed putting the path of the user in context with the entire facility along with textual instructions for the user 4m.

Fig. 4a shows the system accepting inputs from the user to serve as cues to the user's current location in the facility, in the case where the user is using a mobile device that is not equipped with a GPS (this step does not occur if the user is using a pre-setup kiosk or a mobile device equipped with a GPS). In this example, the user provides cues on the store they are facing (coffee day 22), the facility to their right (food world 23), the facility to their left (Westside 25) and whatever they have their back to 24.

Fig. 4b shows how the textual directions are arrived at, specially the process of informing the user which way to turn, given that the invention works for any kiosk irrespective of initial position or orientation. Directions are displayed textually to guide the user to the destination of their choice. In order to arrive at the textual directions, which are computed dynamically, the calculations begin with respect to the kiosk orientation at the time when the query is executed. In the figure shown, the kiosk is oriented Northeast 4bl. The current view map top is now considered as the north direction 4b2. This initial orientation of the kiosk is converted internally to a slope parameter, using which an imaginary point or a pseudo point 4b3 is generated on the graph. Using a total of three points, a previous point, which maps to the pseudo point, a present point which maps to the kiosk position and a next point which maps to the next step, a deviation value is calculated in the 3D plot. By calculating the deviation, the growth of the line across quadrants is computed and directions are provided in text such as Back, Straight, Right, Left, Up or Down depending on the changes in the slope and co-ordinates along the three dimensions.

Fig. 5 shows the system of the present invention comprising distinct means to prepare maps 5a, a system configuration module 5b, a map programming layer that builds the adjacency matrix and is responsible for path building 5c, the PQM object 5d which contains the data structures created in the map preparation phase and a graphics layer that is responsible for rendering the ultimate path and floor plan on the screen 5e. The PQM object 5d has two distinct entities, a path network entity, which holds the network of paths wherein each element in the network, is a path segment starting and ending in a space and a floor plan entity which is a space layout of the facility.

The means to prepare maps includes assimilating and processing architectural data as shown in Fig. 5a-h. Fig. 5a shows the initial architectural drawing in any of the accepted or pre-converted or pre-drawn vector formats. Fig. 5b shows the map after cleaning, wherein the structural details have been removed. Fig. 5c shows the insertion of blocks and space blocks 5cl. Fig. 5d shows the path blocks 5dl connected to the space blocks 5d2. Fig. 5e shows setting space blocks attributes. Fig. 5f shows path blocks attributes being set. Fig. 5g shows an enhanced attribute editor for space and path blocks wherein an administrator can set attributes for spaces and paths by means of an interactive interface 5gl with values for various attributes available for the administrator to choose from.

The means to configure the system is shown in Fig. 6a-f. Fig. 6a shows how the data- store is configured to reflect the use of multiple languages 6a2 with varying font information 6al. The present invention presents a novel way in using special font files to represent symbols. The usual methods to show symbols on a map are to create raster images of the symbol and then draw them on the screen. This presents several drawbacks including taking up a lot more resources to render the image, restricting the color of the symbol to what was used in the original image and reducing the quality of the output even if complex algorithms are employed. One other known method is to create vector images and draw them on the screen, which presents the limitations of having to create vector images with no real standards with an expensive drawing tool, the color of the symbol is again restricted and although the quality is maintained when enlarging the symbol, the time taken to render is increased as the solutions are algorithmic and overhead-intensive. In the present invention, a true type font is created (or a type 1 font), which contains all the symbols. A standard set of system text drawing commands are then used to output them to the screen. This has the advantage of handing the complexity of computation to the operating system, rather than leaving it in the algorithm thereby simplifying program logic, with no restrictions on the color. Furthermore, the fonts can be created using simple font editors that are not proprietary while changes to the symbols can be done by changing the font file, which is external to the program thereby providing a backwards-compatible solution, which requires no re-compilation. Fig. 6b shows how the data-store is configured to reflect the general terms in use in the present system. The normal term 6bl and the administrator's choice of general terms 6b2 are recorded in this aspect of the system. Fig. 6c shows the configuration of categories within the system, wherein the data-store is able to accept various attributes 6cl related to the categories of services or stores, located at certain areas within the facility, as input from an administrator. Similarly fig. 6d and 6e show the configuration of sub-categories 6dl and spaces within the system as it is entered into the permanent data-store. Each category typically has one or more sub-categories. For example, the category transport 6dl may have several sub-categories such as bus and airport shuttle 6d2, taxis, autos, non- polluting two-wheelers, etc. Spaces refer to the association of a physical location in the facility to the name of the store 6el or the service available at that location 6e2. For example, the actual physical location of a health and service store is shown in Fig. 6e and typically associated with one of the blocks or spaces in the map of the facility. Fig. 6f shows the setup of a kiosk within the present invention including setting such attributes as viewing area 6fl, initial orientation 6f2, setting up the initial position 6O, initial level the kiosk is on 6f4 etc.

Fig. 7a-c shows the means to process queries for finding paths (accept input, display map in segments, display final map with key and words). Fig. 7a shows the system of the present invention accepting input from the user corresponding to various places to which the user may seek path information 7al..7a8. Fig. 7b shows the construction of the path 7b3 from the users chosen origin (indicated by the phrase "you are on" 7bl) to their chosen destination (Raymond's store 7b2). Fig. 7c shows the display of the final path 7cl from the origin to the destination, including several by stops (such as swift, stanza etc. 92) across two levels accessed by stairs 91 along with extra information about a stop 93, a key map 94, etc.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method to provide path-information to a plurality of users via any device such as a kiosk, located within a facility wherein the path is constructed in real-time and rendered in a context-sensitive manner to the users, while providing overall orientation and textual cues to the users comprising the steps of: a. Processing the maps of a facility by either accepting facility drawings in one or more accepted formats or creating the facility drawing for use in the invention further comprising the steps of: 1. Accepting architectural drawings or facility drawings in any known vector or raster format and in the absence of such a drawing, creating the drawing;

3. Annotating the cleaned drawing with special constructs known as space blocks and path segments which enable abstracting the facility layout in order to enable constructing paths in real-time while allowing for changes to the facility, the paths or the devices through which the user obtains the path information, such that the path is optimized to be both the shortest and the fastest path available to the user;

4. Creating a network of path segments, which is aware of how the paths are interconnected in order to construct the path correctly, during the user's query and comprised of special data-structures, which start and end in space blocks connected by a specific path segment,

5. Converting the information generated in steps 1-4 into a proprietary, encrypted, light-weight data-structure called the PQM Object, which can be decrypted only by authorized entities that is further abstracted into two entities, a network entity and a floor plan layer entity; and

6. Storing the PQM Objects into a permanent data-store for retrieval in future time. b. Configuring the entities in the path-finding system including the kiosks or other devices, which are used to distribute the path information, the user- interface used to interact with the users of the system, creating a name-space which associates services and occupants of various spaces within the facility with the physical location of those spaces, configuring the general language and terminology choices made available by the system etc.; and c. Processing user-queries for paths from a certain point within a facility to a store or any service provider or any commercial or other entity occupying spaces within the facility such that the step of processing the maps of a facility further comprising the steps of:

1. Displaying the user-interface configured during setup;

2. Accepting input from the users by means of various input means; 3. Associating the users input with the actual entity that the user seeks to find;

4. Accepting cues from the user regarding their physical location, in case the user is mobile;

6. Displaying the path in an animated manner, in real time for the user to follow by: a. Connecting the path segments generated in 5b in the floor plan layer of the PQM object; b. Providing a key map for the user to understand the overall location of their destination with respect to the entire facility; and c. Providing textual instructions for the users to follow.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of processing maps can accept facility drawings in any format such as DWG, DXF, and popular Windows formats such as EMF and WMF.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein standard or proprietary drawing programs are user to create and work with assimilated drawings.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the space blocks and path segments could be constructed using any combination of primitives such as polygons and lines.

5. A method of claim 1 wherein the creation of a network of path segments involves the construction of an adjacency matrix with weights denoting how the path segments are connected wherein the weights could be set based on attributes such as: a. Distance; b. Path Type indicating passages, escalators, elevators, ramps, travelators etc.; c. Directionality of the path; and d. Constrictions on the path.

6. A method of claim 1 wherein the entities in the network of path segments have start and end points, which are space blocks and a path segment that connects those space blocks.

7. A method of claim 1 wherein the PQM object is comprised of: a. A Path network layer which has the space and path annotations and the network of path segments; and b. A Floor plan layer with specific layout, symbol and font information.

8. A method of claim 1 wherein the PQM object may only be decrypted by authenticated entities.

9. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring the system includes the association of spaces with the occupants of the space, linking this back to a set of categories and sub-categories wherein a virtual namespace associating the two is created.

10. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring the kiosk involves setting up such parameters as location, viewing area and initial orientation of the kiosk.

11. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring the user-interface includes setting up the viewing panel and customizing the placement and display of multiple objects such as a clock, calendar, advertisements, navigation bar, etc.

12. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of configuring languages and terms includes setting up terms in one or more languages, if such a choice is available to the user, wherein the terms associate common names for various items on the display with the term to be used in a particular language.

13. A method of claim 1 wherein a true type font is created, which contains all the symbols such that a standard set of system text drawing commands are then used to output them to the screen, such that the complexity of computation is handled by the operating system with no restrictions on color, wherein the fonts can be created using simple font editors that are not proprietary while changes to the symbols can be done by changing the font file, which is external to the program thereby providing a backwards-compatible solution, which requires no re-compilation.

14. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of accepting input from the user when the * query is processed can accept input by means of a touch screen and any other input interface.

15. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of associating the users input with the actual entity that the user seeks to find accesses the name space created in 10.

16. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of constructing the path for the user can span multiple levels within the facility.

17. A method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing textual information to the users further comprises the steps of: a. Calculating users or the kiosk's orientation at the time when the query is executed; b. Setting the current view map top based on .a.; c. Converting the initial orientation of the kiosk internally to a slope parameter, using which an imaginary point or a pseudo point is generated on the graph; d. Using a total of three points, a previous point which maps to the pseudo point, a. present point which maps to the kiosk position and a next point which maps to the next step to calculate a deviation value in the 3D plot; and e. Calculating the growth of the line across quadrants thereby providing directions in text such as Back, Straight, Right, Lefi, Up or Down depending on the changes in the slope and co-ordinates along the three dimensions.

18. The present invention provides a multi-lingual, modular, distributed system that is comprised of (a) means to obtain maps from previously created layout drawings or drawings created by the system (b) means to process maps obtained or created in (a) by annotating the same in a meaningful way and storing the annotated map into a special PQM Object which is light-weight and encrypted (c) means to configure various entities in the system in a specific set-up phase thereby creating a namespace which is handed to a distinct map processing layer and (d) means to process user queries pertaining to path-information to a destination of the users choice.

19. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to obtain or create maps uses standard or proprietary drawing programs and can accept maps in such formats as DWG, DXF, popular Windows formats such as EMF and WMF.

20. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to process maps further comprises: a. Means to annotate the cleaned drawing with special constructs known as space blocks said path segments which enable abstracting the facility layout in order to enable constructing paths in real-time while allowing for changes to the facility, the paths or the devices through which the user obtains the path information; b. Means to create a network of path segments, which is aware of how the paths are interconnected in order to construct the path correctly, during the user's query and comprised of special data-structures which start and end in space blocks connected by a specific path segment, such that the path is optimized to be both the shortest and the fastest path available to the user; c. Means to convert the information generated in steps 1-4 into a proprietary, encrypted, light-weight data-structure called the PQM Object, which can be decrypted only by authorized entities that is further abstracted into two entities, a network entity and a floor plan layer entity; and d. Means to store the PQM Objects into a permanent data-store for retrieval in future time.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the space blocks and path segments could be constructed using any combination of primitives such as polygons and lines.

22. A system of claim 18 wherein the creation of a network of path segments involves the construction of an adjacency matrix with weights denoting how the path segments are connected wherein the adjacency matrix weights could be based on a variety of metrics including: a. Distance; b. Path Type indicating passages, escalators, elevators, ramps, travelators, etc. c. Directionality of the path; and d. Constrictions on the path.

23. A system of claim 22 wherein the entities in the network of path segments have start and end points, which are space blocks and a path segment that connects those space blocks.

24. A system of claim 18 wherein the PQM object is comprised of: a. A Path network layer which has the space and path annotations and the network of path segments; and b. A Floor plan layer with specific layout, symbol and font information.

25. A system of claim 18 wherein the PQM object may only be decrypted by authenticated entities.

26. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to configure various system entities further comprises configuring the entities in the path-finding system including the kiosks or other devices, which are used to distribute the path information, the user-interface used to interact with the users of the system, creating a name-space which associates services and occupants of various spaces within the facility with the physical location of those spaces, configuring the general language and terminology choices made available by the system etc.

27. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to configure the system includes the association of spaces with the occupants of the space, linking this back to a set of categories and sub-categories wherein a virtual namespace associating the two is created.

28. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to configure the kiosk involves setting up such parameters as location, viewing area and initial orientation of the kiosk.

29. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to configure the user-interface includes setting up the viewing panel and customizing the placement and display of multiple objects such as a clock, calendar, advertisements, navigation bar, etc.

30. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to configure languages and terms includes setting up terms in one or more languages, if such a choice is available to the user, wherein the terms associate common names for various items on the display with the term to be used in a particular language.

31. A system of claim 18 wherein a true type font is created, which contains all the symbols such that a standard set of system text drawing commands are then used to output them to the screen, such that the complexity of computation is handled by the operating system with no restrictions on color, wherein the fonts can be created using simple font editors that are not proprietary while changes to the symbols can be done by changing the font file, which is external to the program thereby providing a backwards-compatible solution, which requires no re-compilation.

32. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to process user queries pertaining to path- information to a destination of the users choice further comprises:

1. Means to display the user-interface configured during setup; 2. Means to accept input from the users;

3. Means to associate the users input with the actual entity that the user seeks to find;

4. Means to accept cues from the user regarding their physical location, in case the user is mobile; 5. Means to construct a path starting from the users current position to the final destination by:

1. Accessing the network of path segments, which are represented as an adjacency matrix using the origin, destination tuple made available from the user's query, and

2. Constructing a path, point to point, by recursively accessing the network in .a. until the destination is reached.

6. Means to display the path in an animated manner, in real time for the user to follow by: 1. Connecting the path segments generated in 5b in the floor plan layer of the PQM object; 2. Providing a key map for the user to understand the overall location of their destination with respect to the entire facility; and

3. Providing textual instructions for the users to follow.

33. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to accept input from the user when the query is processed can accept input by means of a touch screen and any other input interface.

34. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to associate the users input with the actual entity that the user seeks to find accesses the name space created in 10.

35. A system of claim 18 wherein the means to construct the path for the user can span multiple levels within the facility.

36. A system of claim 18 which comprised of distinct entities including: a. A Map Preparation module wherein maps in various formats are accepted and processed; b. A PQM object which stores the output of the map cleaning and processing from .a. and is represented in a light-weight, encrypted format comprising a path network layer and a floor plan layer wherein:

1. The path network layer has the annotations on the map alongside a network of paths represented as an adjacency matrix; and

2. The floor plan layer has font information along with the layout of the facility, which is ultimately shown to the user and scaled appropriately by the graphics layer when required. c. A Configuration module, which is used to set a number of parameters for various system characteristics; d. A Map Programming Layer, which computes the path for the users, upon receiving their query by accessing the path network layer of the PQM object; and e. A graphics module, which is responsible for rendering the final path to the user. f. A data-store used to house the various entities such as the PQM, the annotated maps, the details of the system and various data-structures associated with the system.