Ground-based location systems and methods

• US 10,075,807 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Canoy, Michael-David Nakayoshi, Sprigg, Stephen Alton, Chau, Kiet Tuan, DeVico, Michael Orlando, Liu, Yinyin, Cisewksi, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Manoharan, Muthuswamy
• Application Number:
  US14/844,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20170006417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing

Abstract

Methods and devices of various embodiments provide enhanced location services by leveraging a system of beacon devices each broadcasting data that is useful in calculating locations and report of the trustworthiness of neighbor beacon devices. Various embodiments include a method performed by a beacon device that may include obtaining location data using a first functionality, evaluating sensor data to identify a breach of trust condition at the beacon device, generating authentication data that indicates any identified breach of trust condition, receiving one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages using a second functionality, determining whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data, and broadcasting an outgoing broadcast message that includes the obtained location data, timing data, the generated authentication data, and data indicating whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data.

Claims

1. A method for a beacon device within a system of beacon devices to provide location data for use by nearby receiver devices, comprising:

obtaining, via a processor of the beacon device, location data using a first functionality;

evaluating, via the processor, sensor data from one or more environmental sensors of the beacon device to identify breach of trust conditions at the beacon device;

determining, via the processor, whether any of the identified breach of trust conditions may be corrected by the beacon device;

correcting, via the processor, the determined correctable breach of trust conditions;

generating, via the processor, authentication data indicating any uncorrected identified breach of trust conditions;

receiving, via the processor, one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages using a second functionality;

calculating, via the processor, a level of trust for one or more neighbor beacon devices based on at least two factors encoded within authentication data of the neighbor beacon broadcast message from each neighbor beacon device;

determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data based on the calculated level of trust; and

broadcasting an outgoing message that includes the obtained location data, timing data, the generated authentication data, and data indicating whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include the trustworthy location data based on the calculated level of trust for the one or more neighbor beacon devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining, via the processor of the beacon device, location data using the first functionality comprises:

receiving the location data from one or more of user inputs, a global positioning system (OPS) receiver based on received GPS signals, and incoming messages from neighbor beacon devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein evaluating, via the processor, sensor data to identify the breach of trust conditions at the beacon device comprises:

evaluating, via the processor, the sensor data to detect a movement of the beacon device, wherein the sensor data is obtained from one or more of a camera sensor, an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, and a tamper sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is obtained by the beacon device from at least one sensor coupled to the beacon device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated authentication data comprises one or more of tamper state information, a hash, and encrypted data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the location data using the first functionality comprises obtaining the location data using at least one of a GPS receiver, a cellular network connection, and a user input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data comprises:

determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include data indicating whether corresponding neighbor beacon devices experienced a breach of trust condition.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the breach of trust condition comprises the corresponding neighbor beacon devices being moved, damaged, or hacked.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, via the processor, an incoming message log based on the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages,

wherein determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data comprises;

determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data based at least on information within the incoming message log.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, via the processor, whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data comprises:

determining, via the processor, whether the calculated level of trust for each neighbor beacon device that broadcasted the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages exceeds a threshold.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

appending, via the processor, to the outgoing message a neighbor beacon device identifier and a data segment indicating trustworthiness for each neighbor beacon device that broadcasted the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting, via the processor, the obtained location data based any of the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages that are determined to include trustworthy location data.

13. A beacon device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured with processor-executable instructions to;

obtain location data using a first functionality;

evaluate sensor data from one or more environmental sensors of the beacon device to identify breach of trust conditions at the beacon device;

determining whether any of the identified breach of trust conditions may be corrected by the beacon device;

correcting the determined correctable breach of trust conditions;

generate authentication data indicating any uncorrected identified breach of trust conditions;

receive one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages using a second functionality;

calculate a level of trust for one or more neighbor beacon devices based on at least two factors encoded within authentication data of the neighbor beacon broadcast message from each neighbor beacon device;

determine whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data based on the calculated level of trust; and

broadcast an outgoing message that includes the obtained location data, timing data, the generated authentication data, and data indicating whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include the trustworthy location data based on the calculated level of trust for the one or more neighbor beacon devices.

14. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to obtain the location data using the first functionality by receiving the location data from one or more of user inputs, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver based on received GPS signals, and incoming messages from neighbor beacon devices.

15. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to evaluate the sensor data to identify the breach of trust conditions at the beacon device by evaluating the sensor data to detect a movement of the beacon device, wherein the sensor data is obtained from one or more of a camera sensor, an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, and a tamper sensor.

16. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the generated authentication data comprises one or more of tamper state information, a hash, and encrypted data.

17. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to determine whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data by determining whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include data indicating whether corresponding neighbor beacon devices experienced a breach of trust condition.

18. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

update an incoming message log based on the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages; and

determine whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data by determining whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data based at least on information within the incoming message log.

19. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to determine whether the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages include trustworthy location data by:

determining whether the calculated level of trust for each neighbor beacon device that broadcasted the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages exceeds a threshold.

20. The beacon device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to append to the outgoing message a neighbor beacon device identifier and a data segment indicating trustworthiness for each neighbor beacon device that broadcasted the one or more neighbor beacon broadcast messages.

21. A method for a receiver device to use data from a system of beacon devices, comprising:

initiating an attempt to obtain location data using a first functionality of the receiver device;

receiving a plurality of broadcast messages from beacon devices;

determining, via a processor of the receiver device, whether each of the received plurality of broadcast messages include trustworthy location data by;

calculating a level of trust for each of the received plurality of broadcast messages based on at least two factors encoded within authentication data of the neighbor beacon broadcast message from each neighbor beacon device; and

determining whether the calculated level of trust for each of the received plurality of broadcast messages exceeds a threshold;

determining, via the processor, a location of the receiver device based on timing data, the trustworthy location data, and received signal strength indication (RSSI) information associated with the received plurality of broadcast messages that are determined to include the trustworthy location data;

comparing, via the processor, at least two broadcast messages from the received plurality of broadcast messages that are from a first beacon device and were received via a second functionality, and

adjusting, via the processor, the determined location based on the comparison of the at least two broadcast messages from the received plurality of broadcast messages that are from the first beacon device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the receiver device is an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV).

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

obtaining, via the processor, the location data using a positioning system different from the beacon devices; and

adjusting, via the processor, the location data based on the determined location.

24. A receiver device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured with processor-executable instructions to;

initiate an attempt to obtain location data using a first functionality of the receiver device;

receive a plurality of broadcast messages from beacon devices a plurality of broadcast messages from beacon devices;

determine whether each of the received plurality of broadcast messages include trustworthy location data from additional processor-executable instructions to;

calculate a level of trust for each of the received plurality of broadcast messages based on at least two factors encoded within authentication data of the neighbor beacon broadcast message from each neighbor beacon device; and

determine whether the calculated level of trust for each of the received plurality of broadcast messages exceeds a threshold;

determine a location based on timing data, the trustworthy location data, and received signal strength indication (RSSI) information associated with the received plurality of broadcast messages that are determined to include the trustworthy location data;

compare, via the processor, at least two broadcast messages from the received plurality of broadcast messages that are from a first beacon device and were received via a second functionality,

adjust, via the processor, the determined location based on the comparison of the at least two broadcast messages from the received plurality of broadcast messages that are from the first beacon device.

25. The receiver device of claim 24, wherein the receiver device is an unmanned autonomous vehicle (UAV).

26. The receiver device of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured with processor-executable instructions to:

obtain the location data using a positioning system different from the beacon devices; and

adjust the obtained location data based on the determined location.