Device locating using angle of arrival measurements

• US 10,306,419 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Inventors: Abou-Rizk, Mitri J., George, Sajin
• Primary Examiner(s): Phuong, Dai
• Application Number:
  US15/719,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20190104384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 455442-446, 4554561-4563, 455457, 370328-333
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/0426 Collocated with electrical equipment other than beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/7034 Mounting or deployment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0242 Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning G01S5/0289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/04 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/08 Position of single direction-finder fixed by determining direction of a plurality of spaced sources of known location
• 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 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/199 Commissioning of light sources

Abstract

The disclosure provides examples of systems and methods for determining locations of a number of radio frequency-enabled devices such as mobile devices and radio frequency-equipped beacons/luminaires within an indoor location. The radio frequency-enabled devices may be part of an indoor positioning system and/or content delivery system. The examples describe obtaining an angle of arrival (AoA) of the signals received by the respective radio frequency-enabled devices. The AOA data is used to identify the relative positions of the radio frequency-enabled devices as the mobile device moves about the indoor location. Upon comparing AOA measurements of the collected data related to a map of the location, the system may generate a data structure that may be presented graphically as a map of positions of the devices at the location. The described examples may enable a rapid commissioning process with respect to the radio frequency-enabled devices in a network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by three radio frequency-enabled devices located within an indoor location of which at least one of the three radio frequency-enabled devices is configured as a luminaire, a radio frequency signal transmitted by a mobile device within the indoor location, the radio frequency signal including a mobile device identifier, wherein;

each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices receiving the radio frequency signal at an array of antennas;

obtaining, by a processor of each respective one of the three radio frequency-enabled devices, an angle of arrival indication determined based on the radio frequency signal received via the array of antennas of the respective one of the three radio frequency-enabled devices;

forwarding, by the processors of the three radio frequency-enabled devices, the obtained angles of arrival indications to a server;

obtaining, by the server, mobile device location information related to a location of the mobile device in the indoor location;

determining, by the server, a distance from the mobile device to each respective one of the three radio frequency-enabled devices based on the mobile device location information, a respective known height above a floor of the indoor location of each respective one of the three radio frequency-enabled devices, and the obtained angle of arrival indications; and

using the angle of obtained arrival indications and determined distances, generating a data structure including locations of the three radio frequency-enabled devices relative to one another and relative to the location of the mobile device within the indoor location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

commissioning the three radio frequency-enabled devices in a lighting control network based on the generated data structure including the locations of the three radio frequency-enabled devices relative to one another and relative to the location of the mobile device within the indoor location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein commissioning comprises:

generating coordinates for each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices within the indoor location based on the generated data structure and the mobile device location information;

associating the generated coordinates of each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices with a respective radio frequency-enabled device identifier assigned to each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices; and

storing the associated coordinates and radio frequency-enabled device identifiers as commissioning data in a memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device location information is based on the physical dimensions of the indoor location.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the physical dimensions are inside dimensions of the indoor location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device location information forwarded by the mobile device indicates the location of the mobile device when the mobile device was transmitting the radio frequency signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

producing an enhanced floor plan by aligning a graphical representation of the generated data structure with a floor plan of the indoor location to indicate the location of each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a light map of the indoor location, the light map indicating locations of the three radio frequency-enabled devices within the indoor location;

comparing the generated data structure locations to the obtained light map locations; and

based on the results of the comparison, updating the location indicated in the light map for any of the three radio frequency-enabled devices that is not positioned according to the generated data structure.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving the mobile device to another location within the indoor location;

receiving at the three radio frequency-enabled device, a subsequent radio frequency signal transmitted by the mobile device from the another location within the indoor location;

obtaining, by the processor of each of the three radio frequency-enabled device, a respective subsequent angle of arrival indication determined based on the subsequent radio frequency signal received by the respective antenna array of each of the three radio frequency-enabled device;

forwarding, by each respective processor of the three radio frequency-enabled device, the obtained subsequent angle of arrival indication to the server;

forwarding, by the mobile device, updated location information of the mobile device to the server, the updated location information indicating the mobile device'"'"'s move to the another location in the indoor location;

determining, by the server, an updated distance from the another location of the mobile device to each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices, based on the updated mobile device location information, the known height of each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices and the subsequent angle of arrival indication of each of the three radio frequency-enabled devices; and

updating the data structure based on the updated mobile device location and the updated distance from the another location of the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency signals transmitted by the mobile device are compliant with the Bluetooth low energy specification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining by the server mobile device location information related to a location of the mobile device in the indoor location, comprises:

forwarding, by the mobile device, the mobile device location information to the server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency-enabled device is coupled to a lighting device, and the method further comprises:

providing control signals to a light source by the processor.