Wireless communication terminals and methods that display relative direction and distance therebetween responsive to acceleration data

• US 8,000,721 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hanner, Christian Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lai; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/039,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20090221298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 340/825.49
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/08 involving use of the magnetic field of the earth
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/12 executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/16 by integrating acceleration or speed, i.e. inertial navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/78 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning

Abstract

Wireless communication terminals are disclosed that display the direction and distance between them so that users can, for example, travel away from each other and then later find one another. The terminals are configured to track their movement using acceleration data. Some of the terminals may operate as slave terminals in which they transmit their movement data to a master terminal which determines therefrom the relative direction and distance between the terminals. The master terminal may then transmit the relative direction and distance data to the slave terminals where it can be displayed to their users.

Claims

1. A first wireless communication terminal comprising:

a display device;

a wireless transceiver that is configured to communicate through an air interface with a second wireless communication terminal;

at least one accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration data responsive to movement of the first terminal; and

a controller that is configured to generate movement data from the acceleration data that tracks movement of the first terminal, to communicate the movement data to the second terminal, to receive relative direction and distance data from the second terminal, and to respond thereto by causing an indication of direction and/or distance between the first and second terminals to be displayed on the display device,

wherein the wireless transceiver comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver and a cellular transceiver, and the controller is further configured to repetitively communicate the movement data to the second terminal through the WLAN transceiver while a WLAN communication link to the second terminal is available, and to respond to loss of the WLAN communication link by repetitively generating discrete text messages containing the movement data and communicating the text messages through the cellular transceiver to the second terminal,

the controller is further configured to repetitively communicate the movement data to the second terminal at a first repetition rate through the WLAN transceiver while the WLAN communication link is available, and to respond to loss of the WLAN communication link by repetitively generating and communicating the text messages containing the movement data through the cellular transceiver at a second repetition rate that is less than the first repetition rate, and

the controller is further configured to determine speed of the movement of the first terminal, and to regulate the second repetition rate at which the text messages containing the movement data are generated and communicated in response to the determined speed.

2. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to communicate the message through the cellular transceiver to the second terminal each time the first terminal is determined to have moved at least a threshold distance from a location of the previous communicated message containing the movement data.

3. A first wireless communication terminal comprising:

a display device;

a wireless transceiver that is configured to communicate through an air interface with a second wireless communication terminal;

at least one accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration data responsive to movement of the first terminal;

a controller that is configured to generate movement data from the acceleration data that tracks movement of the first terminal, to receive movement data from the second terminal that tracks movement of the second terminal, to combine the movement data for the first and second terminals to generate relative direction and distance data between the first and second terminals, and to cause an indication of direction and/or distance between the first and second terminals to be displayed on the display device; and

an image sensor,

wherein the controller is configured to detect orientation of a defined pattern on the second terminal within image data from the image sensor, to determine an initial relative orientation between the first and second terminals responsive to the detected orientation of the defined pattern on the second terminal, and to track its rotational movement relative to the initial relative orientation to generate the relative direction between the first and second terminals after the first and second terminals have been moved apart outside the viewable space of the image sensor.

4. A first wireless communication terminal comprising:

a display device;

a wireless transceiver that is configured to communicate through an air interface with a second wireless communication terminal;

at least one accelerometer that is configured to generate acceleration data responsive to movement of the first terminal; and

a controller that is configured to generate movement data from the acceleration data that tracks movement of the first terminal, to receive movement data from the second terminal that tracks movement of the second terminal, to combine the movement data for the first and second terminals to generate relative direction and distance data between the first and second terminals, and to cause an indication of direction and/or distance between the first and second terminals to be displayed on the display device,

wherein the wireless transceiver comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver and a cellular transceiver, and the controller is further configured to repetitively communicate the relative direction and distance data to the second terminal through the WLAN transceiver while a WLAN communication link to the second terminal is available, and to respond to loss of the WLAN communication link by repetitively generating discrete text messages containing the relative direction and distance data and communicating the text messages through the cellular transceiver to the second terminal,

wherein the controller is further configured to repetitively communicate the relative direction and distance data to the second terminal at a first repetition rate through the WLAN transceiver, and, in response to loss of the WLAN communication link, to repetitively generate and communicate the text messages containing the relative direction and distance data through the cellular transceiver at a second repetition rate that is less than the first repetition rate,

wherein the controller is further configured to determine speed of the movement of the first terminal, and to regulate the second repetition rate at which the text messages containing the relative direction and distance data communicated in response to the determined speed.

5. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 4, further comprising an image sensor, wherein the controller is configured to detect orientation of a defined pattern on the second terminal within image data from the image sensor, and to determine relative orientation between the first and second terminals responsive to the detected orientation of the defined pattern on the second terminal.

6. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to detect orientation of a light pattern emitted by the second terminal within image data from the image sensor, and to determine relative orientation between the first and second terminals responsive to the detected orientation of the light pattern.

7. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to detect orientation of a pattern displayed on a display device of the second terminal within image data from the image sensor, and to determine relative orientation between the first and second terminals responsive to the detected orientation of the displayed pattern on the second terminal.

8. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 4, wherein the controller is further configured to transmit the relative direction and distance data to the second terminal.

9. The first wireless communication terminal of claim 4, wherein the controller is further configured to determine signal strength for a received signal carrying the movement data from the second terminal, to estimate distance between the first and second terminals in response to a defined relationship between a known strength of the signal transmitted by the second terminal and the received signal strength, and to use the estimated distance to increase accuracy of the relative direction and distance data that is generated using the movement data for the first and second terminals.

10. A method comprising:

at a first wireless communication terminal, generating movement data from acceleration data that tracks movement of the first terminal;

at the first terminal, receiving movement data from a second wireless communication terminal that tracks movement of the second terminal;

at the first terminal, combining the movement data for the first and second terminals to generate relative direction and distance data between the first and second terminals;

displaying at the first terminal an indication of direction and/or distance between the first and second terminals;

detecting orientation of a defined pattern on the second terminal within image data from an image sensor in the first terminal;

determining relative orientation between the first and second terminals responsive to the detected orientation of the defined pattern on the second terminal;

repetitively communicating the relative direction and distance data to the second terminal at a first repetition rate through a WLAN transceiver in the first terminal while a WLAN communication link to the second terminal is available, and responding to loss of the WLAN communication link by repetitively generating discrete text messages containing the relative direction and distance data and communicating the text messages through a cellular transceiver in the first terminal to the second terminal at a second repetition rate that is less than the first repetition rate; and

regulating the second repetition rate at which the text messages containing the relative direction and distance data are communicated in response to speed of the movement of the first terminal and/or in response to determining that the first terminal has moved at least a threshold distance from a location of the previous communicated message containing the movement data.