METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LOCATIONING AN OBJECT IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method for locationing an object in a communication network, the method comprising:
- transmitting by a wireless transceiver fixed to the object of unknown location, a radio frequency (RF) packet, to a plurality of locationing receivers in the communication network;
determining by each of the plurality of locationing receivers, the local time of arrival of the RF packet; and
placing, by each of the plurality of locationing receivers, a time stamp on the received RF packet based on a local clock of each of the plurality of locationing receivers, wherein the local clocks of the plurality of locationing receivers are synchronized based on a plurality of RF beacon packets transmitted by at least one reference transmitter at a known location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for locationing an object in a communication network. The method includes transmitting by a wireless transceiver fixed to the object of unknown location a plurality of radio frequency (RF) packets to a plurality of locationing receivers (LRs) in the communication network. The method further includes determining by each locationing receiver the local time of arrival of the RF packet and places a time stamp on the received RF packet based on a corresponding local clock, wherein the local clocks of the locationing receivers are synchronized based on a plurality of RF beacon packets transmitted by at least one reference transmitter at a known location.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for locationing an object in a communication network, the method comprising:
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transmitting by a wireless transceiver fixed to the object of unknown location, a radio frequency (RF) packet, to a plurality of locationing receivers in the communication network; determining by each of the plurality of locationing receivers, the local time of arrival of the RF packet; and placing, by each of the plurality of locationing receivers, a time stamp on the received RF packet based on a local clock of each of the plurality of locationing receivers, wherein the local clocks of the plurality of locationing receivers are synchronized based on a plurality of RF beacon packets transmitted by at least one reference transmitter at a known location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for locationing an object with an infrastructure device having communication links with a plurality of locationing receivers, the method comprising:
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receiving from the plurality of locationing receivers a list of time stamped RF packets, wherein a time stamped RF packet received from a given locationing receiver includes the time of arrival of an RF packet at the given locationing receiver, from a wireless transceiver fixed on the object of unknown location; and correlating the timing information of each RF packet across all locationing receivers; and determining the spatial location of the object based on a differential time-of-arrival triangulation method. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A device operable for locationing an object in a communication network, the device comprising:
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an antenna; a receiver, coupled to the antenna, configured to receive from a wireless transceiver fixed to the object, periodically, a plurality of RF packets; receive from a reference transmitter fixed to a reference object, periodically, a plurality of beacon signals; and calibrate timing information present in the plurality of beacon signals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification