Location identification

• US 20060114145A1
• Filed: 11/21/2005
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chu, Heng, Zhang, Ling, Zhu, Ting Yong
• Granted Patent: US 7,522,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/118
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals

Abstract

The location of a mobile terminal may be determined in response to signals received from a plurality of RFIDs. Information from a plurality of RFIDs for determining a location of a mobile terminal is received by the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal may maintain an in-range list that comprises all the RFIDs in which the mobile terminal is currently within their coverage range. The location of the mobile terminal is calculated in response to the received information for determining a location by calculating the common coverage area of the RFIDs in the in-range list.

Claims

1. A method for location identification, comprising:

receiving information from a plurality of RFIDs for determining a location of a mobile terminal;

maintaining an in-range list that comprises all the RFIDs in which said mobile terminal is currently within their coverage range; and

calculating the location of the mobile terminal in response to said received information for determining a location by calculating the common coverage area of said RFIDs in said in-range list.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information for determining a location from said RFID comprises the location information of said RFID and the coverage range information of said RFID.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining an out-range list that comprises a list of the RFIDs that said mobile terminal is currently out of their coverage range;

wherein calculating said mobile terminal'"'"'s location range comprises subtracting the coverage range of each RFID in said out-range list from the common coverage area of said RFIDs in said in-range list.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the information for determining a location from said RFID further comprises the location information of said RFID'"'"'s neighboring RFIDs and their respective coverage range information.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

adding a new RFID to said in-range list when said mobile terminal receives a signal from said RFID; and

adding those RFIDs that are neighboring to said RFID and that are not present in the in-range list to said out-range list according to the information that comes from said RFID and that represents the location of said RFID'"'"'s neighboring RFIDs and their respective coverage range.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location-based service information from at least one of said plurality of RFIDs; and

providing corresponding location-based service information to a user after determining said mobile terminal'"'"'s location.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

pre-storing location-based service information in said mobile terminal; and

providing corresponding location-based service information to a user after determining said mobile terminal'"'"'s location.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of RFIDs comprises:

a plurality of sub-RFIDs, each sub-RFID is used to store and transmit one information segment; and

a main RFID for storing and transmitting the information representing the sequence of the information segments stored in said plurality of sub-RFIDs.

9. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a RFID reader for receiving information for determining a location from a plurality of RFIDs;

a location determination module for determining said mobile terminal'"'"'s location according to the information for determining a location from said plurality of RFIDs;

said location determination module comprising;

an in-range list maintaining unit for maintaining an in-range list that comprises all the RFIDs that said mobile terminal is currently within their coverage range; and

an intersection range calculating unit for calculating the common coverage range of said RFIDs in said in-range list.

10. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein said location determination module further comprises:

an out-range list maintaining unit for maintaining an out-range list that comprises all of the RFIDs that said mobile terminal is currently out of their coverage range; and

an exclusion range calculating unit for subtracting the coverage range of each RFID in said out-range list from the common coverage range calculated by said intersection range calculating unit.

11. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein said RFID reader further receives location-based service information from said RFIDs;

said mobile terminal further comprises;

a service information storing means for storing said location-based service information.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein said plurality of RFIDs comprise:

a plurality of sub-RFIDs, each sub-RFID is used to store and transmit one information segment; and

a main RFID for storing and transmitting the information representing the sequence of the information segments stored in said plurality of sub-RFIDs.

13. A RFID structure, comprising:

a plurality of sub-RFIDs, each sub-RFID is used to store and transmit one information segment; and

a main RFID for storing and transmitting the information representing the sequence of the information segments stored in said plurality of sub-RFIDs.

14. The RFID structure according to claim 13, wherein said each sub-RFID is used to store and transmit one segment of the location-based service information and said main RFID further stores and transmits the information for determining a location.

15. A computer program product for location determination, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer useable program code embodied therein, the computer useable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to receive information from a plurality of RFIDs for determining a location of a mobile terminal;

computer usable program code configured to maintain an in-range list that comprises all the RFIDs in which said mobile terminal is currently within their coverage range;

computer usable program code configured to calculate the location of the mobile terminal in response to said received information for determining a location by calculating the common coverage area of said RFIDs in said in-range list.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the information for determining a location from said RFID comprises the location information of said RFID and the coverage range information of said RFID.

17. The computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to maintain an out-range list that comprises a list of the RFIDs that said mobile terminal is currently out of their coverage range;

computer usable program code configured to subtract the coverage range of each RFID in said out-range list from the common coverage area of said RFIDs in said in-range list.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the information for determining a location from said RFID further comprises the location information of said RFID'"'"'s neighboring RFIDs and their respective coverage range information.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to add a new RFID to said in-range list when said mobile terminal receives a signal from said RFID; and

computer usable program code configured to add those RFIDs that are neighboring to said RFID and that are not present in the in-range list to said out-range list according to the information that comes from said RFID and that represents the location of said RFID'"'"'s neighboring RFIDs and their respective coverage range.

20. The computer program product according to claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to receive location-based service information from at least one of said plurality of RFIDs; and

computer usable program code configured to provide corresponding location-based service information to a user after determining said mobile terminal'"'"'s location.