Apparatus and method for transforming and cleaning position data for a database-based positioning system

• US 10,299,077 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Liu, BoChih, Jia, Zhike, Yu, Jing, Zhao, Han, Ren, Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Holliday, Jaime M
• Application Number:
  US15/258,437
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A server including data loading, data analysis, transformation and cleaning (TAC), and position estimation modules. The data loading module loads original position data (OPD) sets. OPD points of the OPD sets refer to positions of a wireless device in communication with a wireless station. The data loading module loads each OPD set based on an identifier of the wireless station in a corresponding one of the OPD sets. The data analysis module: determines an overall bounding area based on the OPD points; divides the overall bounding area into minimum bounding areas; and assigns the OPD points to the minimum bounding areas. The TAC module: transforms and cleans some of the OPD points to provide updated points, such that the updated points have a less number of points than the some of the OPD points. The position estimation module estimates a position of the wireless device based on the updated points.

Claims

1. A server comprising:

a data loading module to load original position data sets stored in a first memory as part of a database, wherein the original position data sets include original position data points, wherein each of the original position data sets further includes an identifier of a wireless station, wherein the original position data points are assigned to the wireless station and refer to positions of a wireless device in communication with the wireless station, and wherein the data loading module is to load each of the original position data sets based on the identifier of the wireless station in a corresponding one of the original position data sets;

a data analysis module to (i) determine an overall bounding area based on the original position data points, (ii) divide the overall bounding area into a plurality of minimum bounding areas, and (iii) assign the original position data points to the plurality of minimum bounding areas;

a transformation and cleaning module to, based on the plurality of minimum bounding areas and one or more mapping rules, perform transformation and cleaning including (i) transforming some of the original position data points to updated position data points, and (ii) cleaning the some of the original position data points, such that the updated position data points includes less position data points than the some of the original position data points,

wherein

the one or more mapping rules includes determining a degree of heterogeneity of the original position data points based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas,

the degree of heterogeneity refers to differences in coordinate values and/or received signal strength indicator values of original position data points within one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas and is based on a number of the original position data points within the one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas, and

the transformation and cleaning module is to perform the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points based on the degree of heterogeneity;

and

a position estimation module to perform database-based position estimation to estimate a position of the wireless device based on the updated position data points.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein:

the data loading module is to load the original position data sets to a second memory separate from the first memory; and

the transformation and cleaning module is to transform and clean the some of the original position data points in the second memory.

3. The server of claim 2, further comprising:

an integration module to integrate the updated position data points with non-updated ones of the original position data points to provide integrated position data points;

a verification module is to perform a verification process to verify accuracy of the integrated position data points; and

a server processor to replace the original position data points in the first memory with the integrated position data points if the verification process is a success, and cause the transformation and cleaning module to transform and clean the updated position data points if the verification process failed.

4. The server of claim 3, wherein the verification module is to determine that the verification process is a success if, for a cumulative distribution function value, a position error for the integrated position data points is less than or within a predetermined range of a position error of the original position data points.

5. The server of claim 1, further comprising a data check module to:

determine whether a condition is satisfied to perform database-based position data cleaning, wherein the condition is satisfied when a ratio of (i) a number of position data sets corresponding to the wireless station to (ii) a size of a coverage area of the wireless station, is greater than a predetermined ratio; and

if the condition is satisfied, permit the transformation and cleaning module to perform the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points.

6. The server of claim 5, wherein, if the condition is not satisfied, prevent the transformation and cleaning module performing the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the analysis module is to:

define the overall bounding area based on maximum coordinate values and minimum coordinate values of the original position data points; and

divide the overall bounding area into the plurality of minimum bounding areas based on a predetermined number of bounding areas.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the transformation and cleaning module is to:

average duplicate position data in the original data sets and non-duplicate position data in the original data sets to provide the updated position data; and

replace the duplicate position data and the non-duplicate position data with the updated position data.

9. The server of claim 8, wherein the transformation and cleaning module is to determine which of the original position data sets include the duplicate position data based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas and the one or more mapping rules.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein the transformation and cleaning module is to implement the one or more mapping rules to change at least one of structure of data in the original position data sets, representation of the data in the original position data sets, or content of original position data sets.

11. The server of claim 1, wherein the transformation and cleaning module is to:

while implementing the one or more mapping rules, determine a dirtiness level of the original position data points based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas;

the dirtiness level refers to a number of duplicate or inaccurate position data points and is based on a number of the original position data points within one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas; and

perform the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points based on the dirtiness level.

12. The server of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver to receive messages from a plurality of wireless devices, wherein:

the messages include position data of the plurality of wireless devices;

the plurality of wireless devices do not include the wireless device in communication with the wireless station;

the data analysis module is to group the position data of the plurality of wireless devices with the original position data points to provide a set of position data;

the transformation and cleaning module is to, based on the plurality of minimum bounding areas and the one or more mapping rules, perform transformation and cleaning including (i) transforming a portion of the position data in the set of position data to updated position data, and (ii) cleaning the portion of the position data, such that the updated position data includes less position data than the portion of the position data; and

the position estimation module is to, based on the updated position data, estimate positions of the plurality of wireless devices and the wireless device in communication with the wireless station.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the plurality of wireless devices are assigned to and communicate with the wireless station.

14. A method comprising:

loading, at a server, original position data sets stored in a first memory as part of a database to a second memory, wherein the original position data sets include original position data points, wherein each of the original position data sets further includes an identifier of a wireless station, wherein the original position data points are assigned to the wireless station and refer to positions of a wireless device in communication with the wireless station, and wherein the data loading module is to load each of the original position data sets based on the identifier of the wireless station in a corresponding one of the original position data sets;

determining an overall bounding area based on the original position data points;

dividing the overall bounding area into a plurality of minimum bounding areas;

assigning the original position data points to the plurality of minimum bounding areas;

based on the plurality of minimum bounding areas and one or more mapping rules, performing transformation and cleaning including (i) transforming some of the original position data points to updated position data points, and (ii) cleaning the some of the original position data points, such that the updated position data points includes less position data points than the some of the original position data points,

wherein

the one or more mapping rules includes determining a degree of heterogeneity of the original position data points based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas,

the degree of heterogeneity refers to differences in coordinate values and/or received signal strength indicator values of original position data points within one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas and is based on a number of the original position data points within the one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas, and

the transformation and cleaning module is to perform the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points based on the degree of heterogeneity; and

performing database-based position estimation at the server to estimate a position of the wireless device based on the updated position data points.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the some of the original position data points are transformed and cleaned in the second memory; and

the second memory is separate from the first memory.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

integrating the updated position data points with non-updated ones of the original position data points to provide integrated position data points;

performing a verification process to verify accuracy of the integrated position data points;

determining that the verification process is a success if, for a cumulative distribution function value, a position error for the integrated position data points is less than or within a predetermined range of a position error of the original position data points;

replacing the original position data points in the first memory with the integrated position data points if the verification process is a success; and

causing transformation and cleaning of the updated position data points if the verification process failed.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether a condition is satisfied to perform database-based position data cleaning, wherein the condition is satisfied when a ratio of (i) a number of position data sets corresponding to the wireless station to (ii) a size of a coverage area of the wireless station, is greater than a predetermined ratio;

if the condition is satisfied, permitting the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points; and

if the condition is not satisfied, preventing the transformation and cleaning of the some of the original position data points.

18. The method of claim 14, comprising:

defining the overall bounding area based on maximum coordinate values and minimum coordinate values of the original position data points; and

dividing the overall bounding area into the plurality of minimum bounding areas based on a predetermined number of bounding areas.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining which of the original position data sets includes duplicate position data based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas and the one or more mapping rules;

averaging the duplicate position data in the original data sets and non-duplicate position data in the original data sets to provide the updated position data; and

replacing the duplicate position data and the non-duplicate position data with the updated position data.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

implementing the one or more mapping rules to change at least one of structure of data in the original position data sets, representation of the data in the original position data sets, or content of original position data sets;

while implementing the one or more mapping rules, determining a dirtiness level of the original position data points based on boundaries of the plurality of minimum bounding areas, wherein the dirtiness level refers to a number of duplicate or inaccurate position data points and is based on a number of the original position data points within one of the plurality of minimum bounding areas; and

performing the transformation and cleaning of the original position data points based on the dirtiness level.