DETERMINING POSITIONS OF DEVICES

• US 20190037360A1
• Filed: 02/27/2018
• Published: 01/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Fuleshwar Prasad, Mahendra, Dill, Scott Leonard, Bennett, Jesse William, Jantzi, Jason Wayne, Ogle, Alexander John
• Granted Patent: US 10,880,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/38 Determining a navigation solution using signals transmitted by a satellite radio beacon positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/019 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In some examples, a plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata are acquired by a position sensor. A position of a device comprising the position sensor is determined based on combining the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to;

receive a plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata acquired by a position sensor; and

determine a position of a device comprising the position sensor based on combining the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the position data and the associated accuracy metadata are acquired by the position sensor in a lower power state.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the position sensor in the lower power state is to acquire the plurality of instances of position data and the associated accuracy metadata at a plurality of time points, and the position sensor is deactivated between successive time points of the plurality of time points.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein a time interval between the successive time points of the plurality of time points exceeds an hour.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the position data and the associated accuracy metadata are acquired by the position sensor located in an area where signals to the position sensor are blocked or degraded.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to use a Kalman filter to combine the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to use a weighted averaging technique to combine the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the accuracy metadata comprises at least one metric selected from among horizontal accuracy, three-dimensional (3D) accuracy, horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP), vertical dilution of precision (VDOP), position dilution of precision (PDOP), time dilution of precision (TDOP), and geometric dilution of precision (GDOP).

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a moveable platform, and wherein the plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata were acquired by the position sensor while the moveable platform is stationary.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a moveable platform, and wherein the plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata were acquired by the position sensor while the moveable platform is moving.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to:

receive, from an application executing in a user device, configuration information relating to a configuration for determining a location of the device using the position sensor.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to:

send, to the application executing in the user device, the determined position of the device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is separate from the device.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata acquired by a position sensor; and

determining, by a system comprising a processor, a position of a device comprising the position sensor based on combining the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the position data and the associated accuracy metadata are acquired by the position sensor in a lower power state, wherein the position sensor in the lower power state acquires the plurality of instances of position data and the associated accuracy metadata at a plurality of time points, and the position sensor is deactivated between successive time points of the plurality of time points.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a system to:

receive a plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata acquired by a position sensor; and

determine a position of a device comprising the position sensor based on combining the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions upon execution cause the system to use a Kalman filter to combine the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions are executable on the processor to use a weighted averaging technique to combine the plurality of instances of the position data and the associated accuracy metadata.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the accuracy metadata comprises at least one metric selected from among horizontal accuracy, three-dimensional (3D) accuracy, horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP), vertical dilution of precision (VDOP), position dilution of precision (PDOP), time dilution of precision (TDOP), and geometric dilution of precision (GDOP).

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the device comprises a moveable platform, and wherein the plurality of instances of position data and associated accuracy metadata were acquired by the position sensor while the moveable platform is stationary or moving.