Positioning technique
First Claim
1. A method for estimating a target device'"'"'s location in a wireless communication environment, the method comprising:
- maintaining a probabilistic model for a plurality of sample points, each sample point comprising a sample location and an expected distribution of signal values at that sample point;
making a sequence of observations of signal values wherein each observation corresponds to a respective location along the target device'"'"'s path, wherein the sequence of observations and the respective locations constitute a Hidden Markov Model;
forming a graph that models the topology of the wireless communication environment, wherein the graph indicates;
a set of nodes, each node indicating a permissible location in the wireless communication environment;
a set of arcs, each arc indicating a permissible target device transition between two nodes; and
using the graph to estimate the target device'"'"'s location based on the probabilistic model and the sequence of observations.
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Abstract
A target device'"'"'s location in a radio network is estimated by maintaining a probabilistic model for several sample points that indicate expected distributions of signal values at a given location. The target device observes signal values, wherein the sequence of observations and the respective locations constitute a Hidden Markov Model. A graph models the topology of the positioning environment. The graph indicates several nodes which are permissible locations in the environment and several arcs which are permissible transitions between two nodes. The graph is used to estimate the target device'"'"'s location based on the probabilistic model and the sequence of observations.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for estimating a target device'"'"'s location in a wireless communication environment, the method comprising:
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maintaining a probabilistic model for a plurality of sample points, each sample point comprising a sample location and an expected distribution of signal values at that sample point;
making a sequence of observations of signal values wherein each observation corresponds to a respective location along the target device'"'"'s path, wherein the sequence of observations and the respective locations constitute a Hidden Markov Model;
forming a graph that models the topology of the wireless communication environment, wherein the graph indicates;
a set of nodes, each node indicating a permissible location in the wireless communication environment;
a set of arcs, each arc indicating a permissible target device transition between two nodes; and
using the graph to estimate the target device'"'"'s location based on the probabilistic model and the sequence of observations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A location estimation module for estimating a target device'"'"'s location in a wireless communication environment, the location estimation module comprising:
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a probabilistic model for a plurality of sample points, each sample point comprising a sample location and an expected distribution of signal values at that sample point;
means for making a sequence of observations of signal values wherein each observation corresponds to a respective location along the target device'"'"'s path, wherein the sequence of observations and the respective location constitute a Hidden Markov Model;
a graph for modeling the topology of the wireless communication environment, wherein the graph indicates;
several nodes, each node indicating a permissible location in the wireless communication environment;
several arcs, each arc indicating a permissible target device transition between two nodes;
means for estimating the target device'"'"'s location based on the probabilistic model and the sequence of observations and the graph. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification