LOCATING POSITION WITHIN ENCLOSURE

• US 20140163864A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ferrell, John Ian, Un, Edward, Wang, Kai, Beermann, Mattias, Zhao, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/409
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/013 Identifying areas in a building

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for locating a position within an enclosure. In one example, known global coordinates (e.g., GPS coordinates of latitude/longitude) associated with the position within the enclosure may be transformed into local coordinates (e.g., x/y coordinates) for the position. The local coordinates may be used for tracking a location of the position within the enclosure. In another example, known local coordinates of the position within the enclosure may be transformed into global coordinates for the position, which may be used for tracking a location of the position within the enclosure. In another example, a blueprint image of the enclosure may be used to track a location of the position within the enclosure. In this way, location tracking may be provided for objects within indoor spaces (e.g., a mapping application may track a current position of a mobile device within a building).

Claims

1. A method for locating a position within an enclosure, comprising:

establishing an origin point for a local coordinate system associated with the enclosure based upon origin point global coordinates of a global coordinate system for the origin point;

establishing a reference point in the local coordinate system based upon reference point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for the reference point;

determining an azimuth gamma from a directional reference line to a first axis of the local coordinate system based upon at least one of the origin point or the reference point;

determining an azimuth alpha from the directional reference line to a given point line connecting the origin point to a given point within the enclosure; and

determining given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for the given point as a position within the enclosure based upon at least one of the azimuth alpha, a given point line length of the given point line, or the origin point global coordinates.

2. The method of claim 1, the enclosure comprising a building and the position corresponding to a location within the building.

3. The method of claim 1, the determining an azimuth alpha comprising:

determining an angle theta between the first axis and the given point line based upon given point local coordinates of the local coordinate system for the given point; and

determining the azimuth alpha based upon the angle theta and the azimuth gamma.

4. The method of claim 1, the determining an azimuth gamma comprising:

determining an azimuth beta from the directional reference line to a reference point line connecting the origin point to the reference point within the enclosure based upon at least one of the origin point, the reference point, or a reference point line length of the reference point line;

determining an angle delta from the first axis to the reference point line; and

determining the azimuth gamma based upon the azimuth beta and the angle delta.

5. The method of claim 4, the determining an azimuth beta comprising:

utilizing an inverse geodetic problem solution to determine the azimuth beta.

6. The method of claim 1, the determining given point global coordinates comprising:

utilizing a direct geodetic problem solution to determine the given point global coordinates.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

displaying, through a user interface, an object at the position within a digital representation of the enclosure.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

displaying the user interface through a mobile device.

9. A method for locating a position within an enclosure, comprising:

obtaining origin point global coordinates of a global coordinate system and origin point local coordinates of a local coordinate system for an origin point associated with an enclosure;

obtaining reference point global coordinates of the global coordinate system and reference point local coordinates of the local coordinate system for a reference point associated with the enclosure;

determining an azimuth gamma from a directional reference line to a first axis of the local coordinate system based upon at least one of the origin point or the reference point;

obtaining given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system;

determining an azimuth alpha from the directional reference line to a given point line connecting the origin point to a given point within the enclosure;

determining an angle theta from the first axis to the given point line based upon the azimuth gamma and the azimuth alpha; and

determining given point local coordinates of the local coordinate system for the given point as a position within the enclosure based upon the angle theta and a given point line length.

10. The method of claim 9, the determining an azimuth alpha comprising:

utilizing an inverse geodetic problem solution to determine the azimuth alpha.

11. The method of claim 10, the inverse geodetic problem solution comprising an inverse chord equation.

12. The method of claim 9, comprising at least one of:

tracking the position during movement of the position from an outdoor space into the enclosure;

tracking the position during movement of the position from the enclosure to the outdoor space;

or

tracking the position during movement of the position from a first floor of the enclosure to a second floor of the enclosure.

13. The method of claim 9, enclosure comprising a building, the origin point corresponding to a first portion of the building, and the reference point corresponding to a second portion of the building.

14. The method of claim 9, the given point corresponding to a wireless communication access point.

15. A system for locating a position within an enclosure, comprising:

a coordinate transfer component configured to;

obtain a blueprint image of a level of an enclosure;

determine a set of scale parameters for the blueprint image, the set of scale parameters comprising mappings of pixels of the blueprint image to physical coordinate measurements of the enclosure;

determine a first perpendicular distance from a position within the enclosure to a first structure and a second perpendicular distance from the position to a second structure;

generate a first circle based upon the first perpendicular distance using the set of scale parameters;

generate a second circle based upon the second perpendicular distance using the set of scaled parameters;

define a first location for the first circle, such that the first circle is tangential to the first structure;

define a second location for the second circle, such that the second circle is tangential to the second structure; and

determine coordinate points of the position within the enclosure based upon coordinates of the first circle and coordinates of the second circle.

16. The system of claim 15, the coordinate transfer component configured to:

receive the first perpendicular distance and the second perpendicular distance through a mapping user interface.

17. The system of claim 16, the coordinate transfer component configured to:

display the coordinate points through the mapping user interface.

18. The system of claim 15, the generating a first circle and the generating a second circle comprising:

defining a first radius for the first circle based upon the first perpendicular distance; and

defining a second radius for the second circle based upon the second perpendicular distance.

19. The system of claim 15, the enclosure comprising a building, and the level comprising a floor of the building.

20. The system of claim 15, at least one of the first structure and the second structure comprising a wall.