Indoor positioning systems and wireless fingerprints

• US 10,419,874 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Tsai, I-Ming, Jampani, Krishnam Raju, Beckett, Jason Christopher, Martin, Daryl Joseph, Mailloux, Jerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lam, Dung L
• Application Number:
  US15/061,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20170026804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02525 Gathering the radio frequency fingerprints
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02526 using non-dedicated equipment, e.g. user equipment or crowd-sourcing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0278 involving statistical or probabilistic considerations G01S5/0252, G01S5/0294 take precedence
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An indoor positioning system and method that correlates map locations to respective wireless access point (AP) fingerprints, and wherein each wireless AP fingerprint is a plurality of wireless AP signal measurements associated with the correlated map location. The method includes receiving position-inference data associated with a user; determining a probable location inside the building based on the position-inference data; receiving wireless AP signal measurements detected by a wireless device associated with the user; associating the probable location with the wireless device based on the association between the position-inference data and the user of the wireless device; and updating the wireless AP fingerprint correlated to the probable location using the received wireless AP signal measurements. The method and system use crowd-sourcing to build and refine the wireless AP fingerprints.

Claims

1. An indoor positioning system for a facility, the facility having a plurality of wireless access points distributed throughout the facility and connected to the indoor positioning system via a network, the system comprising:

a memory storing facility data and wireless access point fingerprints, wherein each fingerprint is correlated with a facility location and is a plurality of wireless access point signal measurements associated with that correlated facility location; and

a processor to;

receive, from a computing subsystem associated with a first electronic device, position-inference data indicating detection of a physical access of the first electronic device at a known check-in location by a user at a first time;

receive wireless AP signal measurements for wireless AP signals detected, at the first time, by a second electronic device associated with the user, and

update a wireless AP fingerprint correlated to the check-in location using the received wireless AP signal measurements.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless AP signal measurements are for wireless AP signals detected by the second electronic device at the first time.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is to determine that the check-in location determination meets a confidence threshold as a pre-condition to updating the wireless AP fingerprint.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein determining that the first location determination meets a confidence threshold is based, at least in part, on whether the wireless AP measurements differ from the wireless AP fingerprint by more than a predetermined amount.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is to receive the wireless access point signal measurements by receiving a series of wireless access point signal measurements detected by the second electronic device from the first time to a second time, and wherein the processor is to determine a probable path of travel for the second electronic device from the first location.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is to update the fingerprint by updating fingerprints correlated to locations along the probable path based upon the series of wireless access point signal measurements.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the position-inference data indicates one or more of:

a check-in by a user at a pre-determined location within the facility;

or

access, by the user, of an electronic device at a pre-determined location within the facility.

8. A method of refining an indoor positioning system for a facility, wherein the system correlates locations in the facility to respective wireless access point (AP) fingerprints, and wherein each wireless AP fingerprint is a plurality of wireless AP signal measurements associated with the correlated facility location, the method comprising:

receiving, from a computing subsystem associated with a first electronic device, position-inference data indicating detection of a physical access of the first electronic device at a known check-in location by a user at a first time;

receiving wireless AP signal measurements for wireless AP signals detected, at the first time, by a second electronic device associated with the user; and

updating a wireless AP fingerprint correlated to the check-in location using the received wireless AP signal measurements.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the wireless AP signal measurements are for wireless AP signals detected by the second electronic device at the first time.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining that the check-in location determination meets a confidence threshold as a pre-condition to updating the wireless AP fingerprint.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the first location determination meets a confidence threshold is based, at least in part, on whether the wireless AP measurements differ from the wireless AP fingerprint by more than a predetermined amount.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the wireless access point signal measurements includes receiving a series of wireless access point signal measurements detected by the second electronic device from the first time to a second time, and wherein the method further includes determining a probable path of travel for the second electronic device from the first location.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the fingerprint includes updating fingerprints correlated to locations along the probable path based upon the series of wireless access point signal measurements.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the method claimed in claim 8.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the position-inference data indicates one or more of:

a check-in by a user at a pre-determined location within the facility;

or

access, by the user, of an electronic device at a pre-determined location within the facility.