Scalable indoor navigation and positioning systems and methods

• US 10,165,422 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2018
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Original Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Inventors: Huberman, Sean, Hamidifar, Saeedeh, Nagpal, Paramvir Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Arevalo, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US15/864,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20180295484A1
• Time in Patent Office: 351 Days
• Field of Search: 4554563, 4554561
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure related to methods and systems of determining the position of a device. The method comprises gathering at least one of device signal data and device sensor data, the device signal data including at least one wireless communication signal data, the device sensor data including at least one of magnetometer data, accelerometer data and gyroscope data, estimating a plurality of potential trajectories describing a movement of the device as a sequence of positions based on the at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data, a calibrated fingerprint map, and by determining, from the device sensor data, a device direction of travel angle subject to at least one of a device sensor drift and a device sensor bias correction factors, wherein the fingerprint map comprises a plurality of fingerprint locations having at least one of associated device signal data values and device sensor data values synchronized for differing data gathering intervals, and determining the position of the device based on a data fusion of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories, the data fusion producing at least a best estimate current trajectory from the estimated plurality of potential trajectories.

Claims

1. A method of determining a position of a device, comprising:

gathering at least one of device signal data and device sensor data, the device signal data including at least one wireless communication signal data, the device sensor data including at least one of magnetometer data, accelerometer data and gyroscope data;

estimating a plurality of potential trajectories describing a movement of the device as a sequence of positions based on the at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data, a calibrated fingerprint map, and by determining, from the device sensor data, a device direction of travel angle corrected for at least one of a device sensor drift and a device sensor bias factors using a misalignment matrix, wherein the fingerprint map comprises a plurality of fingerprint locations having at least one of associated device signal data values and device sensor data values synchronized for differing data, wherein the plurality of potential trajectories includes a first trajectory determined based on occurrence of a predefined event and a second trajectory determined based at least on past information and present information corresponding at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data pertaining to the device; and

wherein the data fusion produces the best estimate current trajectory based on a weighted average of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories; and

determining the position of the device based on the data fusion of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories, the data fusion producing at least a best estimate current trajectory from the estimated plurality of potential trajectories.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data fusion produces the best estimate current trajectory by selecting one of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories having a highest probability of being the current trajectory.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the device signal data comprises a signal strength measurement value.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the fingerprint location data comprises at least a mean and a variance values of the signal strength measurement value associated with respective locations in accordance with the calibrated fingerprint map.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising estimating a step length based on the device sensor data in conjunction with a walking pattern history of a user in possession of the device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising estimating the device direction of travel angle based on monitoring the device direction of travel relative to a North reference, and orienting the device to a global coordinate reference frame using a rotation matrix.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the calibrated fingerprint map based on the position of the device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the position of the device further comprises using floor transition information in estimating the plurality of potential trajectories.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the estimating the plurality of potential trajectories is initiated upon occurrence of an event, the event including at least one of detecting a step, detecting a floor transition, detecting a location landmark and detecting a condition that relates to the at least one of the device sensor drift and a device sensor bias correction factors.

10. A system for determining a position of a device, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable in the processor to;

gather at least one of device signal data and device sensor data, the device signal data including at least one wireless communication signal data, the device sensor data including at least one of magnetometer data, accelerometer data and gyroscope data;

estimate a plurality of potential trajectories describing a movement of the device as a sequence of positions based on the at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data, a calibrated fingerprint map, and by determining, from the device sensor data, a device direction of travel angle corrected for at least one of a device sensor drift and a device sensor bias factors using a misalignment matrix, wherein the fingerprint map comprises a plurality of fingerprint locations having at least one of associated device signal data values and device sensor data values synchronized for differing data gathering intervals, wherein the plurality of potential trajectories includes a first trajectory determined based on occurrence of a predefined event and a second trajectory determined based at least on past information and present information corresponding at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data pertaining to the device; and

wherein the data fusion produces the best estimate current trajectory based on a weighted average of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories; and

determine the position of the device based on the data fusion of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories, the data fusion producing at least a best estimate current trajectory from the estimated plurality of potential trajectories.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the data fusion produces the best estimate current trajectory by selecting one of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories having a highest probability of being the current trajectory.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the device signal data comprises a signal strength measurement value.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the fingerprint location data comprises at least a mean and a variance values of the signal strength measurement value associated with respective locations in accordance with the calibrated fingerprint map.

14. The system of claim 10 further comprising estimating a step length based on the device sensor data in conjunction with a walking pattern history of a user in possession of the device.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the estimating the plurality of potential trajectories is initiated upon occurrence of an event, the event including at least one of detecting a step, detecting a floor transition, detecting a location landmark and detecting a condition that relates to the at least one of the device sensor drift and a device sensor bias correction factors.

16. The system of claim 10 further comprising updating the calibrated fingerprint map based on the position of the device.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein determining the position of the device further comprises using floor transition information in estimating the plurality of potential trajectories.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions being executable in a processor of a device to:

gather at least one of device signal data and device sensor data, the device signal data including at least one wireless communication signal data, the device sensor data including at least one of magnetometer data, accelerometer data and gyroscope data;

estimate a plurality of potential trajectories describing a movement of the device as a sequence of positions based on the at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data, a calibrated fingerprint map, and by determining, from the device sensor data, a device direction of travel angle corrected for at least one of a device sensor drift and a device sensor bias factors using a misalignment matrix, wherein the fingerprint map comprises a plurality of fingerprint locations having at least one of associated device signal data values and device sensor data values synchronized for differing data gathering intervals, wherein the plurality of potential trajectories includes a first trajectory determined based on occurrence of a predefined event and a second trajectory determined based at least on past information and present information corresponding at least one of the device signal data and the device sensor data pertaining to the device; and

wherein the data fusion produces the best estimate current trajectory based on a weighted average of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories; and

determine the position of the device based on the data fusion of the estimated plurality of potential trajectories, the data fusion producing at least a best estimate current trajectory from the estimated plurality of potential trajectories.