Metric for evaluating indoor positioning systems

• US 10,555,132 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Inventors: Ivanov, Pavel, Wirola, Lauri Aarne Johannes
• Primary Examiner(s): Lafontant, Gary
• Application Number:
  US15/631,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20180376292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• 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 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A method, apparatus, computer program or system includes obtaining fingerprints including a piece of position information and gathered in a venue; determining a first metric based on the fingerprints indicative of a quality value of the obtained fingerprints that indicates for each piece of position information of the fingerprints whether or not the quality and/or a quantity of the obtained fingerprints with respect to the piece of position information is sufficient; determining a second metric based on the obtained fingerprints indicative of a quality value of an infrastructure of the venue, the fingerprints are gathered from one or more radio nodes of the infrastructure, and the second metric indicates for each of the pieces of position information of each of the respective fingerprints whether or not the quality of the infrastructure is sufficient; determining a third metric indicative of an evaluation of the quality of the infrastructure of the venue based on the second metric; and outputting the first metric, the second metric and/or the third metric.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform:

obtaining a plurality of fingerprints, wherein each fingerprint comprises signal strengths of one or more radio nodes indicative of a piece of position information, and wherein each fingerprint is obtained in a venue;

determining a first metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric is indicative of a quality value of the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric indicates for each piece of position information of the plurality of fingerprints whether or not the quality and/or a quantity of the obtained fingerprints with respect to the piece of position information is sufficient;

determining a second metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the second metric is indicative of a quality value of an infrastructure of the venue for indoor position detection and/or floor detection using the signal strengths of the one or more radio nodes, wherein the plurality of fingerprints are obtained from the one or more radio nodes comprised by the infrastructure, and wherein the second metric indicates for each of the pieces of position information of each of the respective fingerprints whether or not the quality of the infrastructure is sufficient; and

based on one or more of the first or second metrics, outputting a visualization that includes a textual expression indicating a suggested action associated with collection of additional radio data, the additional radio data to be used as basis for the indoor position detection and/or the floor detection within the venue,

wherein the textual expression indicating the suggested action comprises the textual expression indicating one or more of (i) an area within the venue at which the additional radio data should be collected or (ii) an area within the venue at which additional infrastructure should be deployed.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quality value of the obtained plurality of fingerprints and/or the quality value of the infrastructure of the venue represent one of the following states i) to iii):

i) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is low;

ii) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is medium;

iii) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is high.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in case the second metric indicates that the quality of the infrastructure is not sufficient for indoor positioning and/or floor detection, at least a part of the outputted second metric represents that the infrastructure needs to be expanded, and after the expansion, additional one or more fingerprints need to be obtained.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first metric is determined based at least partially on a fingerprint density analysis, wherein the fingerprint density analysis comprises analyzing how many fingerprints of the plurality of fingerprints are associated with an area of the venue.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first metric is determined based at least partially on a similarity of nearby fingerprints analysis, wherein the similarity of nearby fingerprints analysis comprises analyzing whether or not at least two fingerprints associated with an area of the venue comprise at least similar identifiers of one or more radio nodes.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based at least partially on a number of radio nodes associated with the position information comprised by each of the plurality of fingerprints.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined based at least partially on an average or a median value of one or more received signal strengths, wherein the average or the median value is calculated based on each of the one or more received signal strengths of the one or more radio nodes of each respective fingerprint.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second metric is determined at least partially based on a distribution analysis of one or more received signal strengths comprised by each fingerprint, wherein each of the one or more received signal strengths is compared to each other.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second metric is determined at least partially based on a distribution analysis of gradients of one or more received signal strengths, wherein the distribution analysis of gradients comprises checking the one or more received signal strengths of one or more radio nodes associated with one or more fingerprints of adjacent locations represented by the piece of position information of the respective fingerprints for received signal strength variability.

10. A method, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of fingerprints, wherein each fingerprint comprises signal strengths of one or more radio nodes indicative of a piece of position information, and wherein each fingerprint is obtained in the venue;

determining a first metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric is indicative of a quality value of the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric indicates for each piece of position information of the plurality of fingerprints whether or not the quality and/or a quantity of the obtained fingerprints with respect to the piece of position information is sufficient;

determining a second metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the second metric is indicative of a quality value of an infrastructure of the venue, wherein the plurality of fingerprints are obtained from the one or more radio nodes comprised by the infrastructure, and wherein the second metric indicates for each of the pieces of position information of each of the respective fingerprints whether or not the quality of the infrastructure is sufficient; and

based on one or more of the first or second metrics, outputting a visualization that includes a textual expression indicating a suggested action associated with the collection of additional radio data, the additional radio data to be used as basis for indoor position detection and/or the floor detection within the venue,

wherein the textual expression indicating the suggested action comprises the textual expression indicating one or more of (i) an area within the venue at which the additional radio data should be collected or (ii) an area within the venue at which additional infrastructure should be deployed.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the quality value of the obtained plurality of fingerprints and/or the quality value of the infrastructure of the venue represent one of the following states i) to iii):

i) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is low;

ii) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is medium;

iii) infrastructure quality and/or fingerprint quality is high.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein in case the second metric indicates that the quality of the infrastructure is not sufficient, at least a part of the outputted second metric represents that the infrastructure needs to be expanded, and after the expansion, additional one or more fingerprints need to be obtained.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first metric is determined based at least partially on a fingerprint density analysis, wherein the fingerprint density analysis comprises analyzing how many fingerprints of the plurality of fingerprints are associated with an area of the venue.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first metric is determined based at least partially on a similarity of nearby fingerprints analysis, wherein the similarity of nearby fingerprints analysis comprises analyzing whether or not at least two fingerprints associated with an area of the venue comprise at least similar identifiers of plurality of radio nodes.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the second metric is determined based at least partially on a number of radio nodes associated with the position information comprised by each of the plurality of fingerprints.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the second metric is determined based at least partially on an average or a median value of one or more received signal strengths, wherein the average or the median value is calculated based on each of the one or more received signal strengths of the one or more radio nodes of each respective fingerprint.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the second metric is determined at least partially based on a distribution analysis of one or more received signal strengths comprised by each fingerprint, wherein each of the one or more received signal strengths is compared to each other.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the second metric is determined at least partially based on a distribution analysis of gradients of one or more received signal strengths, wherein the distribution analysis of gradients comprises checking the received signal strengths of one or more radio nodes associated with one or more fingerprints of adjacent locations represented by the piece of position information of the respective fingerprints for received signal strength variability.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions to perform a method for indoor position detection for a mobile device comprising:

obtaining a plurality of fingerprints, wherein each fingerprint comprises signal strengths of one or more radio nodes indicative of a piece of position information and wherein each fingerprint is obtained in the venue;

determining a first metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric is indicative of a quality value of the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the first metric indicates for each piece of position information of the plurality of fingerprints whether or not the quality and/or a quantity of the obtained fingerprints with respect to the piece of position information is sufficient;

determining a second metric based at least partially on the obtained plurality of fingerprints, wherein the second metric is indicative of a quality value of an infrastructure of the venue for indoor position detection, wherein the plurality of fingerprints are obtained from the one or more radio nodes comprised by the infrastructure, and wherein the second metric indicates for each of the pieces of position information of each of the respective fingerprints whether or not the quality of the infrastructure is sufficient; and

based on one or more of the first or second metrics, generating a

a visualization that includes a textual expression indicating a suggested action associated with collection of additional radio data, the additional radio data to be used as basis for the indoor position detection and/or the floor detection within the venue,

wherein the textual expression indicating the suggested action comprises the textual expression indicating one or more of (i) an area within the venue at which the additional radio data should be collected or (ii) an area within the venue at which additional infrastructure should be deployed.