APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INDOOR POSITIONING

• US 20130293416A1
• Filed: 05/02/2012
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: WATERS, Deric W., JANARDHANAN, Jayawardan
• Granted Patent: US 9,103,916 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.31
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/03 Cooperating elements; Interaction or communication between different cooperating elements or between cooperating elements and receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

Apparatus and method for positioning a wireless device. In one embodiment, a method for indoor positioning includes determining a reference location of a wireless device, based on satellite positioning, as the device passes between areas of satellite positioning signal reception and satellite positioning signal non-reception. While in the areas of non-reception, signals transmitted by wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs) and parameters of motion of the device are measured. Positions of the device are estimated while in the areas of non-reception based on the reference location and the parameters of motion. A positioning grid for positioning is generated based on the signals measured by the wireless device at the estimated positions.

Claims

1. A method for indoor positioning, comprising:

determining, by a wireless device, a reference location of the wireless device, based on satellite positioning, as the device passes between areas of satellite positioning signal reception and satellite positioning signal non-reception;

measuring, by the wireless device, while in the areas of non-reception, signals transmitted by wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs);

measuring, by the wireless device, while in the areas of non-reception, parameters of motion of the wireless device;

estimating positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on the reference location and the parameters of motion; and

generating a positioning grid for positioning based on the signals measured by the wireless device at the estimated positions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on satellite positioning, a reference location as the wireless device enters or exits the areas of signal non-reception.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating comprises determining a position of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on a reference location established via satellite positioning determined subsequent to the measuring of the parameters of motion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating comprises determining a position of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on both a satellite positioning derived reference location determined prior to the measuring of the parameters of motion and a satellite positioning derived reference location determined subsequent to the measuring of the parameters of motion.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a heading, based on satellite positioning, as the wireless device enters or exits areas of non-reception; and

initializing a motion parameter measurement system of the wireless device based on the determined heading.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating comprises determining a position of the wireless device based on a map of areas of non-reception in conjunction with the parameters of motion and reference location;

and wherein the parameters of motion comprise one or more of direction, velocity, acceleration, and altitude.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring, by the wireless device, while in the areas of non-reception, at least one additional signal selected from;

personal area network signals, broadcast frequency modulated signals, wireless telephony signals, broadcast digital television signals, and magnetic field strength;

wherein the generating comprises generating the positioning grid for positioning based on the additional signals measured by the wireless device at the estimated positions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the positioning grid comprises refining the positioning grid by combining measurements of signals transmitted by the WLAN APs received by a plurality of wireless devices and estimated positions, based on parameters of motion, of the plurality of wireless devices.

9. A wireless device, comprising:

a satellite positioning system configured to determine a location of the device based on received satellite positioning signals;

a wireless local area network transceiver configured to measure while in the areas of non-reception, signals transmitted by wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs);

a motion measurement system configured to measure movement of the wireless device;

a position estimation system configured to;

determine a reference location of the wireless device, based on satellite positioning, as the device passes between areas of satellite positioning signal reception and satellite positioning signal non-reception;

record measurements of movement of the wireless device and measurements of WLAN AP signals within areas of satellite positioning signal non-reception;

provide the reference location and the recorded measurements to a positioning database that generates a positioning grid for positioning based on the WLAN AP signals measured by the wireless device at the positions estimated from the measurements of movement.

10. The wireless device of claim 9, further comprising the positioning database;

wherein the position estimation system is configured to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on the reference location and the measurements of movement, and provide the estimated positions to the database for use in generating the positioning grid.

11. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the database comprises a map of the areas of non-reception and the position estimation system is configured to apply the map to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception.

12. The wireless device of claim 9, further comprising one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and a barometer that measure movement of the wireless device.

13. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the position estimation system is configured to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on both a reference location determined prior to motion measurement and reference location determined subsequent motion measurement;

wherein each reference location is determined based on one of satellite positioning and WLAN positioning.

14. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the position estimation system is configured to determine, based on satellite positioning, the reference location as the wireless device enters or exits the areas of signal non-reception.

15. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the position estimation system is configured to:

determine a heading, based on satellite positioning, as the wireless device enters or exits areas of non-reception; and

initialize the motion measurement system based on the determined heading.

16. The wireless device of claim 9, further comprising at least one receiver selected from:

a magnetometer, a personal area network receiver, a frequency modulation broadcast band receiver, wireless telephone receiver, and a digital television broadcast band receiver configured to measure associated signals while in the areas of non-reception; and

wherein

the position estimation system is configured to;

record measurements of the associated signals within areas of non-reception; and

provide the recorded measurements to the positioning database that generates the positioning grid; and

wherein

the positioning database is configured to generate the positioning grid for positioning based on the measurements of the associated signals.

17. A system for crowd-sourced fingerprinting, comprising:

a positioning database configured to store information relating wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) signal measurements to points of a geographic positioning grid; and

a mobile wireless device comprising;

a satellite positioning system;

a WLAN transceiver;

a motion measurement system; and

position estimation logic configured to;

determine a reference location of a wireless device, based on satellite positioning information provided by the satellite positioning system, as the device passes between areas of satellite positioning signal reception and satellite positioning signal non-reception;

record measurements of movement of the wireless device provided by the motion measurement system and measurements of WLAN AP signals provided by the WLAN transceiver within areas of non-reception;

provide the reference location and the recorded measurements to the positioning database.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a positioning server that comprises the positioning database.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the position estimation logic and the database is configured to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on the reference location and the measurements of movement, and provide the estimated positions to the database for use in generating the positioning grid.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the database comprises a map of the areas of non-reception and at least one of the position estimation logic and the database is configured to apply the map to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the motion measurement system comprises at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and a barometer that measure movement of the wireless device.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the position estimation logic and the database is configured to estimate positions of the wireless device in the areas of non-reception based on both a previously reference location determined prior to measurement of movement and a reference location determined subsequent to measurement of movement;

wherein each reference location is based on one of satellite positioning and WLAN positioning.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the position estimation logic is configured to determine, based on satellite positioning, the reference location as the wireless device enters or exits the areas of signal non-reception.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the position estimation logic is configured to:

determine a heading, based on satellite positioning, as the wireless device enters or exits areas of non-reception; and

initialize the motion measurement system based on the determined heading.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the wireless device comprises at least one receiver selected from:

a personal area network receiver, frequency modulation broadcast band receiver, wireless telephone receiver, and a digital television broadcast band receiver, each receiver configured to measure signals corresponding to the receiver while in the areas of non-reception; and

wherein

the position estimation logic is configured to;

record measurements of the signals within the areas of non-reception; and

provide the recorded measurements to the database; and

wherein the database is configured to generate the positioning grid for positioning based on the measurements of the signals corresponding to the receivers.

26. A positioning server, comprising:

a positioning database configured to;

store information relating wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) signal measurements to points of a geographic positioning grid;

store motion information provided by dead-reckoning systems of a plurality of wireless devices and reference location information provided by at least one of a satellite positioning system and a wireless local area network (WLAN) positioning system of each wireless device;

store WLAN access point (AP) signal measurements acquired by each wireless device in correspondence with the motion information;

non-causally determine positions of the wireless devices based on the motion information and reference locations;

generate a geographic positioning grid that relates the AP signal measurements to points of the positioning grid based on the determined positions.

27. The positioning server of claim 26, wherein the positioning database is configured to determine a position of each wireless device corresponding to given motion information provided by the wireless device for each of a plurality of reference locations provided by the wireless device.

28. The positioning server of claim 26, wherein the positioning database comprises a map of an area corresponding to the positioning grid, and the positioning database is configured to determine positions of the wireless devices based on the map.

29. The positioning server of claim 26, wherein the positioning database is configured to relate the points of the positioning grid to at least one measurement of a signal selected from:

personal area network signals, broadcast frequency modulated signals, wireless telephony signals, broadcast digital television signals, and magnetic field strength.