Directional beacon

• US 10,234,537 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2016
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Otter Products LLC
• Original Assignee: Otter Products LLC
• Inventors: Langlois, Christopher R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao L
• Application Number:
  US15/095,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20160341811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 342387
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/10 using amplitude comparison of signals transmitted sequentially from antennas or antenna systems having differently-oriented overlapping directivity characteristics, e.g. equi-signal A-N type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/20 using a comparison of transit time of synchronised signals transmitted from non-directional antennas or antenna systems spaced apart, i.e. path-difference systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning

Abstract

A beacon includes a housing, multiple directional radio frequency antennas, a multiplexer, and a signal source that produces a signal output. The directional radio frequency antennas are attached to the housing such that each directional radio frequency antenna points out radially from an axis of the housing in a direction different than the other directional radio frequency antennas. The multiplexer is electrically connected to each of the directional radio frequency antennas and to the signal source. The multiplexer is configured to sequentially conduct the radio signal output from the signal source to each of the directional radio frequency antennas to produce a wireless signal, wherein the signal output is only conducted to one of the directional radio frequency antennas at any given time and includes a unique identifier identifying the antenna it is currently being transmitted from. The beacon may also include electrical hardware for performing time of flight measurements.

Claims

1. A beacon for generating location determination signals, the beacon comprising:

a housing;

a plurality of directional radio frequency antennas attached to the housing such that each directional radio frequency antenna points out radially from an axis of the housing, wherein each directional radio frequency antenna points in a different direction than the other directional radio frequency antennas, and wherein each of the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas is associated with a respective unique identifier;

a signal source producing a signal output;

a multiplexer electrically connected to each of the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas and to the signal source, the multiplexer configured to sequentially conduct the signal output from the signal source to each one of the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas to sequentially transmit a first wireless signal from the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas, wherein the first wireless signal includes the unique identifier associated with the directional radio frequency antenna from which it was transmitted for determining an angle relative to the beacon; and

a transmitter for transmitting a second wireless signal for determining a range from the beacon based on a time of flight of the second wireless signal.

2. The beacon of claim 1 further including an additional directional radio frequency antennas that point along the axis of the housing.

3. The beacon of claim 1 wherein the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas includes four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten directional radio frequency antennas.

4. The beacon of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier associated with each of the directional radio frequency antennas includes an identifier of the beacon and an indication of a physical direction associated with the respective directional radio frequency antenna.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the wireless signal is a Bluetooth Low Energy or Bluetooth Smart signal.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the location based on the signal strengths includes transmitting the signal strengths and associated unique identifiers to another device for determining the location.

12. The beacon of claim 1 wherein the signal source comprises a Bluetooth Low energy transmitter or a Bluetooth Smart transmitter.

13. The beacon of claim 1 further comprising a power source for powering one or more of the signal source, the multiplexer, the transmitter, and the plurality of directional radio frequency antennas.

5. A method of determining a position of a portable electronic device with respect to a beacon sequentially transmitting a wireless signal from four or more directional antennas wherein the wireless signal is varied to include a unique identifier identifying the one of the four or more directional antennas from which it is transmitted at the time, the method comprising:

receiving, at the portable electronic device, the wireless signal;

measuring, at the portable electronic device, a signal strength of the received wireless signal;

demodulating, at the portable electronic device, the wireless signal to recover the unique identifier and associating the unique identifier with the measured signal strength;

repeating the receiving, measuring, demodulating, and associating to determine a signal strength for each of the four or more directional antennas; and

determining a location of the portable electronic device relative to the beacon based on the signal strengths for each of the four or more directional antennas.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining the location of the portable electronic device relative to the beacon includes determining a range of the portable electronic device from the beacon and determining an angle relative to a known orientation of the beacon, wherein the angle is determined based on interpolation.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the range of the portable electronic device from the beacon includes performing a time of flight measurement between the beacon and the portable electronic device.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the range of the portable electronic device from the beacon includes comparing the signal strengths to each other.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the unique identifier includes information indicating a relative position of the associated directional antenna relative to the other directional antennas.

14. An apparatus for generating signals used to determine a location of an object relative to the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

four or more directional antennas each having a pointing direction, the four or more antennas attached to a structure and spaced equidistantly about an axis of the structure such that the pointing directions of the directional antennas point out from the structure substantially in a plane and such that an angular spacing between the pointing directions of any adjacent two of the directional antennas is about the same as an angular spacing between the pointing directions of any other adjacent two of the directional antennas; and

a first signal source configured to sequentially transmit a radio signal from the four or more directional antennas, wherein the radio signal is transmitted from only one of the four or more directional antennas at a time and wherein each of the four or more directional antennas has a unique identifier, the radio signal being modulated to include the unique identifier associated with the antenna from which it is being transmitted at the time for determining an angle of the object relative to the apparatus; and

a second signal source configured to transmit a time of flight signal from the apparatus, the time of flight signal for determining a distance of the object from the apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the unique identifier includes information indicating a direction of the associated directional antenna relative to the other directional antennas.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the radio signal is one or more of:

a Bluetooth signal, a Bluetooth Smart Signal, a Bluetooth Low Energy signal, and a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising one or more additional directional antennas each having a pointing direction substantially outside of the plane for determining an azimuth of the object relative to the apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the one or more additional directional antennas is two additional directional antennas and the two additional directional antennas are attached to the structure such that they point in opposite directions substantially along the axis of the structure for determining an azimuth of the object.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the one or more signal sources is a single signal source that is multiplexed between the four or more directional antennas.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the one or more signal sources is a number of signal sources equaling a number of the directional antennas and each of the directional antennas is associated with a dedicated one of the signal sources.