METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AND PROVISIONING LOCATION INFORMATION OF WIRELESS DEVICES

• US 20160212579A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Redpoint Positioning Corporation
• Original Assignee: Redpoint Positioning Corporation
• Inventors: Gross, Matt, Korhonen, Antti, Ye, Zhenzhen, Duan, Chunjie, Horne, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,788,151 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7163 using impulse radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system and method for locating a mobile device is disclosed. In a first embodiment, a system of provisioning multiple-tired location services is disclosed. The system includes a plurality of ultra-wideband devices forming a first level of a wireless infrastructure network and a plurality of location capable beacon devices forming a second level of the wireless infrastructure network. In a second embodiment, a method of providing location based services using location capable beacon devices is disclosed. In other embodiments a system for generating real-time safety alerts is further disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of provisioning multiple-tired location services by a network of wireless devices, the method comprises:

forming multiple location service layers with a plurality of wireless devices including a top layer, at least one midlevel layer, and a bottom layer;

forming a first tier service provider with the top layer and one of the at least one midlevel layer;

forming a second tier service provider with one of the at least one midlevel layer and the bottom layer;

sending location services by location-capable devices in the first tier; and

providing location services in the second tier,

wherein the top layer includes at least one location service providing device,

wherein the at least one midlevel layer includes at least one location service providing device and at least one location service receiving device, and

wherein the bottom layer includes at least one location service receiving device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location service receiving device includes a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy beacon.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location service providing device is an Ultra-Wideband device.

4. A location-capable system comprising:

a locationing device;

a collocating beacon device; and

a transmitter configured to deliver the real-time location information from the locationing device to the collocating beacon device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the locationing device is an Ultra-Wideband device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the collocating beacon device is a Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low-Energy device.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the real-time location of a location capable beacon device is broadcast in a beacon message.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the real-time location of a location capable beacon device is delivered to the system by a by a WiFi network or a UWB network.

9. A method of providing location-based services using location-capable beacon devices, the method comprising,

obtaining a current location of a location-capable beacon device;

obtaining an updated location of the location-capable beacon device;

delivering updated location of the location-capable beacon device; and

receiving, by a receiving device, a location-based services using up-to-date location of the beacon device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the updated location is embedded in a broadcast beacon message.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the updated location of the beacon device is used to retrieve the location-based services.

12. A method of recording the last known location of a beacon transmitter using a location-capable beacon receiver, the method comprising:

receiving, by a location capable beacon device, a beacon message from a beacon transmitter;

estimating a distance from the location capable beacon device to the beacon transmitter based on a signal signature of the beacon message;

recording the location of the location capable beacon device when the estimated distance is within a predetermined threshold; and

reporting the recorded location of the beacon transmitter by the location capable beacon device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reporting of recorded location of the beacon transmitter is triggered when the estimated distance is greater than the predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the reporting of recorded location of the beacon transmitter is triggered by a user.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the signature is the signal strength.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the signature is the time-of-flight.

17. A method of estimating the location of a beacon transmitter using beacon messages received by a single location-capable beacon receiver, the method comprising:

recording, with the location-capable beacon receiver, a signal signature of received beacon messages from a beacon transmitter;

recording the location of the location-capable beacon receiver when the beacon messages are received; and

estimating the location of the beacon transmitter using the recorded signal signatures and corresponding locations.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the signature is the signal strength.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the signature is the time-of-flight.

20. A method of estimating the location of a beacon transmitter using beacon messages received by multiple location-capable beacon receivers, the method comprising:

receiving a signal signature of a received beacon message from a beacon transmitter by a plurality of location-capable beacon receivers;

recording the locations of the plurality of location-capable beacon receivers when the beacon message is received; and

estimating the location of the beacon transmitter using the recorded signal signatures and corresponding locations.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the signature is the signal strength.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the signature is the time-of-flight.

23. A method of producing the fingerprints of a beacon transmitter using location-capable beacon receivers, the method comprising,

recording the signature of received beacon messages from a beacon transmitter by a location capable beacon device;

recording the locations of the location capable beacon device when the beacon messages are received; and

saving signatures and corresponding receiver locations in a fingerprint database.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the signature is the signal strength.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the fingerprint database is updated once.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the fingerprint database is updated continuously.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein signature and locations from multiple beacon-enabled receiving devices are used.

28. A method of generating a real-time safety alert using location-capable beacon devices, the method comprising:

attaching a first beacon device to a first object;

attaching a second beacon device to a second object;

the first beacon device broadcasting its own location embedded in beacon messages;

estimating, by the second beacon device, the distance between two beacon devices; and

producing an alert when a safety breach is detected based on the estimated distance.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein one or both beacon devices are location-capable beacon devices.

30. The method of claim 28, the method further comprises,

producing a local alert by the second beacon device.

31. The method of claim 28, the method further comprises,

reporting the alert to the system by the second beacon device.

32. The method of claim 28, the method further comprises,

transmitting the alert back to the first beacon device by the second beacon device.

33. A system of provisioned multiple-tired location services, comprising:

a plurality of ultra-wideband devices forming a top layer of a wireless infrastructure network; and

a plurality of location capable beacon devices forming a bottom layer of the wireless infrastructure network.

34. The system of claim 33, further comprising:

at least one midlevel layer that includes a plurality of wireless devices that includes both locationing devices and beacon devices;

the top layer and the at least one midlevel layer form a first tier service provider, and a the at least one midlevel layer and the bottom layer form a second tier service provider;

the top layer includes at least one location service providing device; and

the bottom layer includes at least one location service receiving device.

35. A system of claim 34, wherein the at least one midlevel layer further includes:

an infrastructure network formed by the plurality of Ultra-Wideband devices; and

the plurality of ultra-wideband tags estimate their own locations.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the location service receiving device is a Bluetooth, or Bluetooth low energy real-time location beacon.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the second tier is an RFID system.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the RFID system further includes a location capable RFID reader and RFID tags.

39. A system for generating real-time safety alerts, comprising;

a first beacon device attached to a first object;

a second beacon device attached to a second object;

the first beacon device is configured to broadcast its own location in beacon messages;

the second beacon device is configured to estimate the distance between two beacon devices; and

the second beacon devices is configured to produce alerts when the safety breach is detected based on estimated distance.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the first beacon device includes an ultra-wideband tag that is configured to generate its own location.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the first beacon device includes a BT, BLE, or BT long range device, capable of either receiving or transmitting BT/BLE beacon messages.

42. The system of claim 39, wherein the second beacon device is a BT, BLE or BT long range device.