Method and system for establishing microlocation zones

• US 10,356,550 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2017
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Eric John, Stitt, Raymond Michael, Guthrie, Warren, Petersen, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Khawar
• Application Number:
  US15/842,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20180213355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 579 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/765 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/72 Diversity systems specially adapted for direction-finding
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/3241 particular used in keyless entry systems
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/3291 mounted in or on other locations inside the vehicle or vehicle body
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/205 providing an omnidirectional coverage turnstile aerials H01Q21/26
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/005 providing two patterns of opposite direction; back to back antennas H01Q25/004 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• 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 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method and system of creating microlocation zones by defining virtual boundaries using a system of one or more transmitters and receivers with one or more spatially-correlated antennas.

Claims

1. A system for establishing location information with respect to a portable device and an object, the system comprising:

a master device disposed in a fixed position relative to the object, said master device capable of communicating with at least one of the portable device and one or more sensor devices;

a plurality of antennas, each of said plurality of antennas configured to receive wireless communications and provide an antenna output corresponding to the wireless communications, wherein a characteristic signal is determined for at least one antenna output based on a plurality of time-spaced measurements of the at least one antenna output, said at least one antenna output corresponding to at least one of a plurality of different wireless communication frequencies at each time of said plurality of time-spaced measurements;

wherein an output signal is determined based on a function of said characteristic signal, wherein a location of the portable device is determined relative to the object based on said output signal, whereby said function mitigates environmental effects in said at least one antenna output;

wherein at least one sensor device of said one or more sensor devices is operably coupled to said plurality of antennas, wherein said at least one sensor device is configured to determine said output signal, and wherein said at least one sensor device communicates a signal characteristic of said output signal to said master device; and

wherein said function includes at least one of determining an average, a maximum, a minimum, a clustering, a median, or any other function with respect to at least two time-spaced values of said characteristic signal, wherein said average is determined as an exponential moving average, wherein a weighting of said exponential moving average is based on a number of previous N valid measurements.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said characteristic signal is determined for each said antenna output of said plurality of antennas, and wherein said output signal is determined for each said characteristic signal based on the function.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said characteristic signal for a first antenna output is determined with respect to a characteristic that is different from a characteristic that forms a basis for said characteristic signal for a second antenna output, and wherein said function applied to said characteristic signal for said first antenna output is different from a function applied to said characteristic signal for said second antenna output.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein said output signal corresponds to an exponential moving average of said time-spaced measurements of said characteristic signal, and wherein said time-spaced measurements for each said antenna output for a given time are frequency correlated.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein said characteristic signal is a combined signal such that said output signal is determined based on said function of said combined signal, wherein said combined signal is determined based on a combining function of at least two of said characteristic signals, wherein said combined signal is based on temporally and frequency correlated values of said at least two characteristic signals.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said combining function is a difference function, wherein said at least two characteristic signals includes a first characteristic signal and a second characteristic signal, wherein each value of said combined signal corresponds to a difference between a first value of said first characteristic signal and a second value of said second characteristic signal, and wherein said first and second values correlate to the same time and the same frequency of the wireless communications.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein said at least two characteristic signals includes a first characteristic signal and a second characteristic signal, wherein said combined signal is based on 1) at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal and 2) at least two time-spaced values of said second characteristic signal.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal and said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal correspond respectively to two or more phase measurements.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal and said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal correspond respectively to two or more angle measurements.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal and said at least two time-spaced values of said first characteristic signal correspond respectively to two or more time of flight measurements.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said first characteristic signal corresponds to a first output signal that is representative of a first estimated angle of a first antenna, and wherein said second characteristic signal corresponds to a second output signal that is representative of a second estimated angle of a second antenna.

12. The system of claim 2 wherein a combined signal is determined based on an output analysis function of at least two output signals, wherein said output analysis function is applied to temporally correlated values of said at least two output signals.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said master device is configured to determine said output signal and said location of the portable device based on said output signal.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor device communicates said at least one antenna output to said master device via a communication channel separate from a communication channel used for reception of said wireless communications, wherein said master device determines said characteristic signal and said output signal based on said characteristic signal.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein said characteristic signal is determined with respect to time-spaced measurements of said at least one antenna output, wherein two or more of said time-spaced measurements are obtained with respect to wireless communications that occur on different communication frequencies.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said two or more of said time-spaced measurements correspond to two or more RSSI measurements with respect to wireless communications that occur on said different communication frequencies.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said two or more of said time-spaced measurements correspond to two or more phase measurements and/or two or more angle measurements with respect to wireless communications that occur on said different communication frequencies.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said two or more of said time-spaced measurements correspond to two or more time of flight measurements with respect to wireless communications that occur on said different communication frequencies.