MOVING DIRECTION DETERMINATION WITH NOISY SIGNALS FROM INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEMS ON MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20130158941A1
• Filed: 08/04/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Qingxuan, Chang, Edward Y.
• Application Number:
  US13/819,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20130158941A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/141
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/10 by using measurements of speed or acceleration G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/12 executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/16 by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to indoor localization, for example, where GPS or other localization signals are unavailable. More specifically, aspects relate to using inertial navigation systems (132) such as accelerometers (136) and gyroscopes (134) to aid in the determination of the location of a user. Certain devices such as MEMS gyroscopes found in handheld client devices (104) should be calibrated to ensure accurate location information is obtained. In one aspect, a Vibration Energy Model process (FIG. 4B) is performed on shaking energy generated as a user walks with a mobile device to detect the direction the user is walking in. This information may be used as part of a signal fusion system to perform accurate indoor localization of the user, such as to provide enhanced maps and location services to the user.

Claims

1. A method of determining a direction of movement of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of acceleration readings associated with the mobile device;

performing high pass filtering on the received acceleration readings to obtain a high frequency component;

determining shaking energy from the high frequency component; and

determining a primary direction of movement of the mobile device based on the determined shaking energy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing low pass filtering on the determined shaking energy to obtain smoothed data, wherein determining the primary direction of movement includes evaluating the smoothed data to identify a most likely direction of movement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of acceleration readings are generated using a gyroscope and a multi-axis accelerometer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calibrating the multi-axis accelerometer prior to receiving the plurality of acceleration readings.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein calibrating the multi-axis accelerometer includes:

averaging acceleration readings from the multi-axis accelerometer over a selected time window;

determining biasing and scale factors; and

performing a cost function process using the biasing and the scale factors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the high frequency component is associated with swing energy generated by movement of the mobile device by a user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the shaking energy is determined according to the following equation:

A_energy=A_high×

A_high^T,

where A_energy is a vector representing the shaking energy, and A_high is the high frequency component.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the primary direction of movement includes performing signal fusion to eliminate alternative directions of movement.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the signal fusion includes evaluating wireless signals and map information associated with an indoor location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein if determining the primary direction of movement indicates consistent vertical energy, the method further comprises identifying that the mobile device is changing levels.

11. A device, comprising:

memory configured to store mobile device data; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to;

receive a plurality of acceleration readings associated with a mobile device and to store the acceleration readings in the memory as at least a portion of the mobile device data;

perform high pass filtering on the received acceleration readings to obtain a high frequency component;

determine shaking energy from the high frequency component; and

determine a primary direction of movement of the mobile device based on the determined shaking energy.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to perform low pass filtering on the determined shaking energy to obtain smoothed data, the smoothed data being stored in the memory, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the primary direction of movement by evaluating the smoothed data to identify a most likely direction of movement.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the mobile device includes a multi-axis accelerometer, and the processor is further configured to calibrate the multi-axis accelerometer prior to receiving the plurality of acceleration readings.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to calibrate the multi-axis accelerometer by:

averaging acceleration readings from the multi-axis accelerometer over a selected time window;

determining biasing and scale factors; and

performing a cost function process using the biasing and the scale factors.

15. The device of claim 11, the processor is configured to determine the primary direction of movement by performing signal fusion to eliminate alternative directions of movement.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the primary direction of movement is used to provide at least one of a mapping application or directed advertisements to a user of the mobile device.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to perform the signal fusion by evaluating wireless signals and map information associated with an indoor location.

18. The device of claim 11, 17, wherein the processor and memory are part of the mobile device.

19. The device of claim 11, wherein at least one of the processor and memory are part of a remote server external to the mobile device.

20. A tangible, non-transitory computer program product on which computer readable instructions of a computer program are stored, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of determining a direction of movement of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of acceleration readings associated with the mobile device;

performing high pass filtering on the received acceleration readings to obtain a high frequency component;

determining shaking energy from the high frequency component; and

determining a primary direction of movement of the mobile device based on the determined shaking energy.