Method and apparatus for location determination using mini-beacons

• US 20050136845A1
• Filed: 08/31/2004
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Masuoka, Ryusuke, Agre, Jonathan, Thakkar, Sohil, Avancha, Sasikanth
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,829 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.140
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/042 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/68 Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter

Abstract

A system and method uses wireless communication devices as beacons to determine the relative location of another target wireless communication device. The beacons transmit identifying information that the target device can use to determine the identity of the beacon. The target device can measure the received intensity of the beacon transmissions and determine an associated beacon that best satisfies a specified criteria (e.g., largest signal strength) using a procedure of the present invention that discriminates between multiple beacons.

Claims

1. A system for using wireless communication devices as beacons to determine the relative location of a target wireless communication device, wherein the beacons transmit identifying information that the target device can use to determine the identity of the beacon and the target device measures the received intensity of the beacon transmissions and determines an associated beacon that best satisfies a specified criteria, including largest signal strength, using a procedure that discriminates between multiple beacons.

2. A system for using wireless communication devices, comprising:

mini-beacons transmitting signals including identifying information of the mini-beacons and shaped to cover a volumetric 3-dimensional space; and

a target device receiving the transmitted signals, discriminating between the received signals, and determining which of the received signals best satisfies a specified criteria.

3. The system as in claim 2, wherein each of the mini-beacons includes an antenna enclosed by an enclosure, and each of the mini-beacons transmits its respective signal shaped using one or more of a radiation pattern provided by the antenna, the shape of the enclosure, and the transmission power or intensity of the signal.

4. The system as in claim 3, wherein one or more of the mini-beacons are deployed to provide coverage for areas of interest.

5. The system as in claim 4, wherein the specified criteria include power setting of each of the mini-beacons and overlap in the areas of interest.

6. The system as in claim 5, wherein the target device selects the one of the mini-beacons with the lowest power setting in the area of interest that is in communication with the target device.

7. The system as in claim 6, wherein the target device determines the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the target device.

8. The system as in claim 7, wherein the target device includes a mobile computing device with local wireless capabilities such as a PDA, cell phone or a laptop computer.

9. The system as in claim 8, wherein the transmission power of the mini-beacons are set based on the geometry of the location coverage areas.

10. The system as in claim 9, wherein the transmission power is set based upon either the edge of the location coverage area defined by a received power level is equal to a first threshold value, the difference in power between one of the mini-beacons and other mini-beacons is greater than a second threshold value, or levels of attenuation between power levels of the mini-beacons.

34. The system as in claim 6, wherein the target device determines the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup where the table is stored on a remote device and the information is communicated to the target device from the remote device.

35. The system as in claim 6, wherein the target device communicates to a remote server the measured mini-beacon signal intensities and the remote server selects a mini-beacon and determines the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the remote server and communicates the location to the target device.

11. A device of a system including beacons transmitting signals including identifying information of the mini-beacons and shaped to cover a volumetric 3-dimensional space, the device comprising:

a table storing deployment information of the beacons;

a unit measuring signal strengths of the signals transmitted by the beacons and received by the device;

history information storing the signal strengths; and

a determination unit discriminating between the received signal strengths, and determining which of the beacons to select as the target device location, based upon the current received signals, the history, the target device motion status. and the specified criteria

12. The device as in claim 11, wherein the specified criteria includes either the largest signal strength received from mini-beacons, the largest signal strength difference received from among the mini-beacons, or the smallest location coverage area corresponding to the signal received from the mini-beacons.

13. The device as in claim 12, wherein one of the mini-beacons is selected as the target device location if the one of the mini-beacons meets the specified criteria during at least a predetermined number of consecutive received signal sample times.

14. The device as in claim 13, wherein the one of the mini-beacons is selected as the target device location based upon a generalized motion status estimation procedure, without predicting velocity of the device, applied to the received signal strengths of the signals received from the mini-beacons.

15. A method for using wireless communication devices as beacons to determine the relative location of a target wireless communication device, comprising:

transmitting by the beacons identifying information;

determining by the target device the identity of the beacon;

measuring by the target device the received intensity of the beacon transmissions; and

determining by the target device an associated beacon that best satisfies a specified criteria (such as largest signal strength) using a procedure that discriminates between multiple beacons.

16. A method of using wireless communication devices, comprising:

transmitting, by mini-beacons, signals including identifying information of the mini-beacons and shaped to cover a volumetric 3-dimensional space; and

receiving, by a target device, the transmitted signals, discriminating between the received signals, and determining which of the received signals best satisfies a specified criteria.

17. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting, by each of the mini-beacons, its respective signal shaped using one of more of a radiation pattern provided by an antenna, the shape of an enclosure surrounding the antenna, and the transmission power or intensity of the signal.

18. The method as in claim 17, further comprising deploying one or more of the mini-beacons to provide coverage for areas of interest.

19. The method as in claim 18, wherein the specified criteria include power setting of each of the mini-beacons and overlap in the areas of interest.

20. The method as in claim 19, further comprising selecting, by the target device, the one of the mini-beacons with the lowest power setting in the area of interest that is in communication with the target device.

21. The method as in claim 20, further comprising determining, by the target device, the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the target device.

22. The method as in claim 21, wherein the target device includes a mobile computing device with local wireless capabilities such as a PDA, cell phone or a laptop computer.

23. The method as in claim 22, further comprising setting the transmission power of the mini-beacons based on the geometry of the location coverage areas.

24. The method as in claim 23, further comprising setting the transmission power based upon either the edge of the location coverage area being defined by a received power level is equal to a first threshold value, the difference in power between one of the mini-beacons and other mini-beacons is greater than a second threshold value, or levels of attenuation between power levels of the mini-beacons.

36. The method as in claim 21, further comprising determining, by the target device, the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup where the table is stored on a remote device and the information is communicated to the target device from the remote device.

37. The method as in claim 21, further comprising communicating, by the target device, to a remote server the measured mini-beacon signal intensities and the remote server selects a mini-beacon and determines the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the remote server and communicates the location to the target device.

25. A computer-readable medium storing a program causing a computer system executing the program to execute the operations comprising:

transmitting, by mini-beacons, signals including identifying information of the mini-beacons and shaped to cover a volumetric 3-dimensional space; and

receiving, by a target device, the transmitted signals, discriminating between the received signals, and determining which of the received signals best satisfies a specified criteria.

26. The medium as in claim 25, further comprising:

transmitting, by each of the mini-beacons, its respective signal shaped using one of more of a radiation pattern provided by an antenna, the shape of an enclosure surrounding the antenna, and the transmission power or intensity of the signal.

27. The medium as in claim 26, further comprising deploying one or more of the mini-beacons to provide coverage for areas of interest.

28. The medium as in claim 27, wherein the specified criteria include power setting of each of the mini-beacons and overlap in the areas of interest.

29. The medium as in claim 28, further comprising selecting, by the target device, the one of the mini-beacons with the lowest power setting in the area of interest that is in communication with target device.

30. The medium as in claim 29, further comprising determining, by the target device, the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the target device.

31. The medium as in claim 30, wherein the target device includes a mobile computing device with local wireless capabilities such as a PDA, cell phone or a laptop compute.

32. The medium as in claim 31, further comprising setting the transmission power of the mini-beacons based on the geometry of the location coverage areas.

33. The medium as in claim 32, further comprising setting the transmission power based upon either the edge of the location coverage area being defined by a received power level is equal to a first threshold value, the difference in power between one of the mini-beacons and other mini-beacons is greater than a second threshold value, or levels of attenuation between power levels of the mini-beacons.

38. The medium as in claim 30, further comprising determining, by the target device, the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup where the table is stored on a remote device and the information is communicated to the target device from the remote device.

39. The medium as in claim 30, further comprising communicating, by the target device, to a remote server the measured mini-beacon signal intensities and the remote server selects a mini-beacon and determines the location of the selected mini-beacon through a table lookup by the remote server and communicates the location to the target device.