BEACON GROUP INFORMATION ASSISTED WIRELESS LOCATION DETERMINATION

• US 20150105099A1
• Filed: 10/16/2013
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: LUO, Xun, CHEN, An M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,119,169 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, devices, methods, media, products, and other implementations, including a method that includes receiving, at a server, beacon data indicative of a location of an asset tag device, the beacon data determined based on one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device from one or more transmitters that is each associated with a respective one of group values identifying a corresponding one of a plurality of assigned transmitter groups comprising the respective each of the one or more transmitters. The method also includes determining, at the server, the location of the asset tag device based on the beacon data received at the server from the asset tag device and on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters from which the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device were transmitted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, beacon data indicative of a location of an asset tag device, the beacon data determined based on one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device from one or more transmitters that is each associated with a respective one of group values identifying a corresponding one of a plurality of assigned transmitter groups comprising the respective each of the one or more transmitters;

determining, at the server, the location of the asset tag device based on the beacon data received at the server from the asset tag device and on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters from which the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device were transmitted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of assigned transmitter groups comprises at least one transmitter, the transmitter groups generated based on at least one proximity criterion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of asset tag device based on the beacon data received at the server from the asset tag device and on the group values comprises:

identifying from the beacon data the one or more transmitters from which the beacon signals were transmitted; and

determining from a plurality of data records stored at the server the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters comprises:

matching information included in the received beacon data, identifying the one or more transmitters from which the beacon signals were transmitted, to respective one or more data records from the plurality of data records comprising identifiers identifying the one or more transmitters.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the location of the asset tag device based on the beacon data comprises:

excluding at least some of the beacon data received at the server based on the determined group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters; and

deriving the location of the device using only non-excluded beacon data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein excluding at least some of the beacon data comprises:

identifying from the determined group values a minority group value, associated with a fewest number of transmitters from the one or more transmitters identified; and

excluding a portion of the beacon data associated with the identified minority group value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon data received at the server includes data records associated with at least one of the one or more transmitters, the beacon data received at the server excluding data corresponding to at least one other of the one or more transmitters, the excluded data being removed at the asset tag device based on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters, wherein each of the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device includes a corresponding group value associated with a corresponding transmitter from which the respective each of the one or more beacons signals was transmitted.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the excluded data is associated with an identified minority group value, the minority group value identified from the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters, wherein the minority group value corresponds to one of the group values associated with fewest number of transmitters from the one or more transmitters.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically generating, at the server, a plurality of group values associated with a plurality of transmitters, the plurality of transmitter including the one or more transmitters; and

communicating to the plurality of transmitters the dynamically generated plurality of group values.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon data comprises data representative of measurements performed on at least one of the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the data representative of the measurements performed on the at least one of the one or more beacon signals comprises measurements of signal strength of the at least one of the one or more beacon signals, the signal strength used to determine a received signal strength indication (RSSI) for the at least one of the one or more beacon signals.

12. A server comprising:

one or more processors; and

storage media comprising computer instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause operations comprising;

receiving beacon data indicative of a location of an asset tag device, the beacon data determined based on one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device from one or more transmitters that is each associated with a respective one of group values identifying a corresponding one of a plurality of assigned transmitter groups comprising the respective each of the one or more transmitters;

determining the location of asset tag device based on the beacon data received at the server from the asset tag device and on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters from which the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device were transmitted.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein determining the location of asset tag device based on the beacon data received at the server from the asset tag device and on the group values comprises:

identifying from the beacon data the one or more transmitters from which the beacon signals were transmitted; and

determining from a plurality of data records stored at the server the group values respectively associated with the identified one or more transmitters.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein determining the location of the asset tag device based on the beacon data comprises:

excluding at least some of the beacon data received at the server based on the determined group values respectively associated with the identified one or more transmitters; and

deriving the location of the device using only non-excluded beacon data.

15. The server of claim 12, wherein the beacon data received at the server includes data records associated with at least one of the one or more transmitters, the beacon data received at the server excluding data corresponding to other of the one or more transmitters, the excluded data being removed at the asset tag device based on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters, wherein each of the one or more beacon signals received at the asset tag device includes a corresponding group value associated with a corresponding transmitter from which the respective each of the one or more beacons signals was transmitted.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the excluded data is associated with an identified minority group value, the minority group value identified from the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters, wherein the minority group value corresponds to one of the group values associated with fewest number of transmitters from the one or more transmitters.

17. The server claim 12, wherein the storage media includes further instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause further operations comprising:

dynamically generating a plurality of group values associated with a plurality of transmitters, the plurality of transmitter including the one or more transmitters; and

communicating to the plurality of transmitters the dynamically generated plurality of group values.

18. An asset tag device comprising:

one or more processors; and

storage media comprising computer instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause operations comprising;

receiving beacon signals from one or more transmitters that are each associated with a respective one of group values identifying a corresponding one of a plurality of assigned transmitter groups comprising the respective each of the one or more transmitters; and

transmitting to a server beacon data indicative of a location of the asset tag device, the beacon data determined based on one or more of the beacon signals;

wherein the location of asset tag device is determined at the server based on the beacon data transmitted from the asset tag device and on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters from which the one or more beacon signals were received at the asset tag device.

19. The asset tag device of claim 18, wherein transmitting to the server the beacon data comprises:

excluding data corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmitters based on the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters; and

transmitting to the server data corresponding to at least one other transmitter of the one or more transmitters.

20. The asset tag device of claim 19, wherein excluding the data corresponding to the at least one of the one or more transmitters comprises:

identifying from the group values respectively associated with the one or more transmitters a minority group value associated with a fewest number of transmitters from the one or more transmitters; and

excluding the data corresponding to the at least one of the one or more transmitters associated with the identified minority group value.