METHOD PROVIDING POSITIONING AND NAVIGATION INSIDE LARGE BUILDINGS

• US 20100008337A1
• Filed: 07/11/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Bajko, Gabor
• Granted Patent: US 8,259,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Positioning and/or navigation of an electronic device within a building when GPS signals are unavailable is provided. The electronic device scans for available Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Points (APs) upon, e.g., entering a building. The electronic device detects a signal (e.g., beacon) from at least one available WLAN AP, whereupon the electronic device retrieves the indoor location of the available WLAN AP. The location information can be directly downloaded from the WLAN AP while in state-1 via, e.g., a Native Query Protocol which includes an extension to currently defined Native Query info elements that returns location information. Alternatively, the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the WLAN AP can be read from the beacon signal, which is then used to retrieve the location of the WLAN AP from an associated database. Additionally, various embodiments may be implemented with or via a mapping application or service, where the mapping application is able to display any floor'"'"'s floor plan of a building and determine/obtain the position of the electronic device inside the building relative to the floor plan.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

scanning for available wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs) within a structure;

if at least one available WLAN APs exists, detecting a signal from the at least one available WLAN AP among the available WLAN APs; and

retrieving a location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving comprises downloading the location directly from the at least one available WLAN AP.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the downloading of the location comprises querying the at least one available WLAN AP for locally configured data while in state-1, via a query protocol.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the locally configured data comprises an 802.11u AP location information definition extension indicative of the location.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the downloading of the location comprises retrieving one of a Presence Information Data Format Location Object GEOPRIV civic address type and a Location Configuration Information extension element indicative of the location.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, performing the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving automatically via an electronic device when a user of the electronic device at least one of enters and is within substantially close proximity to the structure.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, performing the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving via a mapping application resident on the electronic device.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, presenting to the user at least one of a floor plan of the structure and the location relative to the floor plan of the structure via an automatic indoor view option of the mapping application, wherein the floor plan of the structure comprises one of a representative picture and an extensible language-based map.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, presenting an option to switch a display of the at least one of the floor plan of the structure to one of a plurality of floors associated with the at least one of the floor plan of the structure.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, presenting the automatic indoor view option upon the user coming to sufficient proximity to the structure, wherein the electronic device has global positioning capabilities outside of the structure.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving is performed by an electronic device without associating with the at least one available WLAN AP.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving comprises reading a Media Access Control address of the at least one available WLAN AP and accessing a database, wherein the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP is stored, and wherein the Media Access Control address is associated with the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the database is accessible to a mapping application resident on an electronic device configured to perform the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing at least one of triangulation and simple geometric shaping to calculate the location inside the structure when a plurality of available WLAN APs exist.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing navigation capability to a user of an electronic device configured to perform the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving by relating the location inside the structure to a desired destination.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the location inside the structure refers to a reference point within the structure, and wherein the reference point is tagged and linked to a directory of the structure to provide navigation capability.

17. A computer program product, comprising computer code configured to perform the processes of claim 1.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

an electronic device configured to;

scan for available wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs) within a structure;

if at least one available WLAN APs exists, detect a signal from the at least one available WLAN AP among the available WLAN APs; and

retrieve a location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device configured to retrieve the location is further configured to download the location directly from the at least one available WLAN AP.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the electronic device configured to download the location is further configured to query the at least one available WLAN AP for locally configured data while in state-1 via a query protocol.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the locally configured data comprises an 802.11u AP location information definition extension indicative of the location.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the electronic device configured to download the location is further configured to retrieve one of a Presence Information Data Format Location Object GEOPRIV civic address type and a and a Location Configuration Information extension element indicative of the location.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device is configured to perform the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving automatically when a user of the electronic device at least one of enters and is within substantially close proximity to the structure.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein a mapping application resident on the electronic device at least one of performs the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving and downloads the location.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein an automatic indoor view option of the mapping application is configured to present to the user at least one of a floor plan of the structure and the location relative to the floor plan of the structure, wherein the floor plan of the structure comprises one of a representative picture and an extensible language-based map.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the mapping application is further configured to present an option to switch a display of the at least one of the floor plan of the structure to one of a plurality of floors associated with the at least one of the floor plan of the structure.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the mapping application is further configured to present the automatic indoor view option upon the user coming to sufficient proximity to the structure, wherein the electronic device has global positioning capabilities outside of the structure.

28. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device does not associate with the at least one available WLAN AP.

29. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device configured to retrieve is further configured to read a Media Access Control address of the at least one available WLAN AP and access a database, wherein the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP is stored, and wherein the Media Access Control address is associated with the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the database is accessible to a mapping application resident on an electronic device configured to perform the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving.

31. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device is further configured to at least one of triangulate and perform simple geometric shaping to calculate the location inside the structure when a plurality of available WLAN APs exist.

32. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electronic device is further configured to provide navigation capability to a user of the electronic device by relating the location inside the structure to a desired destination.

33. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the location inside the structure refers to a reference point within the structure, and wherein the reference point is tagged and linked to a directory of the structure to provide navigation capability.

34. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving processes are implemented by computer code embodied on a computer-readable medium.

35. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving processes are implemented by a chipset of the electronic device.

36. An apparatus, comprising:

means for scanning for available wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs) within a structure;

means for, if at least one available WLAN APs exists, detecting a signal from the at least one available WLAN AP among the available WLAN APs; and

means for retrieving a location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for downloading the location directly from the at least one available WLAN AP.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the scanning, the detecting, and the retrieving is performed without associating with the WLAN AP.

39. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for reading a Media Access Control address of the at least one available WLAN AP and accessing a database, wherein the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP is stored, and wherein the Media Access Control address is associated with the location inside the structure of the at least one available WLAN AP.