Position information providing system indoor transmitter and method for providing position information

• US 8,174,439 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2008
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GNSS Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: GNSS Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Kogure, Satoshi, Torimoto, Hideyuki, Okano, Kazuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): McGue, Frank J.
• Application Number:
  US12/681,543
• Publication Number:
  US 20100290504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.8
• US Class Current: 342/357.48
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/466 by Trilateration, i.e. two antennas or two sensors determine separately the distance to a target, whereby with the knowledge of the baseline length, i.e. the distance between the antennas or sensors, the position data of the target is determined
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/012 Identifying whether indoors or outdoors
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• 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 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

An indoor transmitter is capable of programmably changing a format of a transmitter signal. A process to be performed by a position information providing apparatus comprises the step of acquiring a received positioning signal, and the step of identifying an emission source of the positioning signal, wherein, if the emission source of the positioning signal is an outdoor source, the process further comprises the step of acquiring a navigation message included in the positioning signal, and the step of performing a processing for calculating a position based on the signal, or, if the emission source of the positioning sign is an indoor source, the process further comprises the step of acquiring message data from the positioning signal, the step of acquiring coordinate values from the data, and the step of displaying position information based on the coordinate values.

Claims

1. A position information providing system capable of providing position information by use of a first positioning signal which is a spread spectrum signal from each of a plurality of satellites, comprising an indoor transmitter, and a position information providing apparatus, wherein:

the indoor transmitter includes a first storage unit which stores therein position data for identifying an installation location of the indoor transmitter, a generation unit for generating, as a spread spectrum signal, an second positioning signal which is a modulated signal having the position data, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the generated spread spectrum signal; and

the position information providing apparatus includes a receiving unit for receiving a spread spectrum signal, a second storage unit which stores therein a plurality of code patterns related to the first and second positioning signals, an identifying unit for identifying one of the code patterns which corresponds to the spread spectrum signal received by the receiving unit, a determining unit for, based on a signal obtained by demodulating the received spread spectrum signal using the code pattern identified by the identifying unit, determining which of the first and second positioning signals is received, a position information-deriving unit for deriving position information of the position information providing apparatus, while switching between processing modes depending on a result of the determination, and an output unit for outputting the position information derived by the position information-deriving unit,

and wherein;

the position data includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter; and

the generation unit is operable to generate, as the second positioning signal, a first phase signal having the first data after being subjected to modulation, and a second phase signal having the second data after being subjected to modulation;

wherein

a clock of the indoor transmitter is independent from a clock of each of the satellites, and

the position information-deriving unit is operable, (a) when the second positioning signal transmitted by the indoor transmitter which is one of a plurality of indoor transmitters, is received, to acquire the position data from the signal obtained by the demodulation, and, (b) when a plurality of the first positioning signals are received, to calculate the position information based on respective spread spectrum signals of the plurality of received first positioning signals,

wherein the operations (a) and (b) above are switched independently by determining PRN-IDs of the first and second positioning signals.

2. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the position information providing apparatus is adapted to be capable of communicating with a communication apparatus for providing position information associated with the first data; and

the position information-deriving unit is operable, when the receiving unit receives the second positioning signal, to communicate with the communication apparatus based on the first data included in the first phase signal to acquire position information associated with the first data.

3. The position information providing system as defined in claim 2, wherein:

the second positioning signal shares a common format with the first positioning signal, and includes the position data in place of a navigation message included in the first positioning signal; and

the position information-deriving unit of the position information providing apparatus includes a calculation unit which is operable, when a plurality of the first positioning signals are received, to calculate a position of the position information providing apparatus based on the navigation messages of the first positioning signals.

4. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the indoor transmitter further includes a plurality of digital filters, and a selection unit for selecting one of the plurality of digital filters, and wherein the generation unit is operable to generate, as a spread spectrum signal, the second positioning signal having the position data, depending on a band defined by the digital filter selected by the selection unit.

5. The position information providing system as defined in claim 4, wherein the second positioning signal includes a first phase signal and a second phase signal, and wherein the first phase signal includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and the second phase signal includes second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter, and wherein the generation unit is operable to perform modulation of the first phase signal and modulation of the second phase signal independently.

6. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the position information-deriving unit is operable, when the receiving unit receives the second positioning signal, to extract the second data from the second phase signal; and

the output unit is operable to display the installation location based on the extracted second data.

7. The position information providing system as defined in claim 6, wherein the second positioning signal includes a first phase signal and a second phase signal, and wherein the first phase signal includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and the second phase signal includes second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter, and wherein the generation unit is operable to perform modulation of the first phase signal and modulation of the second phase signal independently.

8. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the second positioning signal includes a first phase signal and a second phase signal, and wherein the first phase signal includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and the second phase signal includes second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter, and wherein the generation unit is operable to perform modulation of the first phase signal and modulation of the second phase signal independently.

9. The position information providing system as defined in claim 8, wherein:

the first storage unit is adapted to store therein spread code data for spectral spreading; and

the indoor transmitter further includes a data input unit adapted to accept an input of the spread code data, and write the accepted spread code data in the first storage unit,

and wherein the generation unit is operable to generate the second positioning signal as a spread spectrum signal, based on the spread code data input from an outside of the indoor transmitter.

10. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the first storage unit is adapted to store therein spread code data for spectral spreading; and

the indoor transmitter further includes a data input unit adapted to accept an input of the spread code data, and write the accepted spread code data in the first storage unit,

and wherein the generation unit is operable to generate the second positioning signal as a spread spectrum signal, based on the spread code data input from an outside of the indoor transmitter.

11. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein the generation unit is a logic circuit which is programmable according to firmware supplied from the outside.

12. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the second positioning signal shares a common format with the first positioning signal, and includes the position data in place of a navigation message included in the first positioning signal; and

the position information-deriving unit of the position information providing apparatus includes a calculation unit which is operable, when a plurality of the first positioning signals are received, to calculate a position of the position information providing apparatus based on the navigation messages of the first positioning signals.

13. The position information providing system as defined in claim 12, wherein:

the position data is configured to identify a position of the indoor transmitter only by itself; and

the output unit is operable to output the position information derived from the position data in the form of an image indicative of a determined position.

14. The position information providing system as defined in claim 1, wherein:

the position data is configured to identify a position of the indoor transmitter only by itself; and

the output unit is operable to output the position information derived from the position data in the form of an image indicative of a determined position.

15. An indoor transmitter capable of providing position information using a first positioning signal which is a spread spectrum signal from each of a plurality of satellites, comprising:

a first storage unit which stores therein position data for identifying an installation location of the indoor transmitter;

a generation unit for generating, as a spread spectrum signal, an second positioning signal which is a modulated signal having the position data; and

a transmitting unit for transmitting the generated spread spectrum signal,

wherein;

the position data includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter; and

the generation unit is operable to generate, as the second positioning signal, a first phase signal having the first data after being subjected to modulation, and a second phase signal having the second data after being subjected to modulation;

wherein a clock of the indoor transmitter is independent from a clock of each of the satellites.

16. The indoor transmitter as defined in claim 15, which further comprises a plurality of digital filters and a selection unit for selecting one of the plurality of digital filters, and wherein the generation unit is operable to generate, as a spread spectrum signal, the second positioning signal having the position data, depending on a band defined by the digital filter selected by the selection unit.

17. The indoor transmitter as defined in claim 15 wherein:

the first storage unit is adapted to store therein spread code data for spectral spreading; and

the indoor transmitter further includes a data input unit adapted to accept an input of the spread code data, and write the accepted spread code data in the first storage unit,

and wherein the generation unit is operable to generate the second positioning signal as a spread spectrum signal, based on the spread code data input from an outside of the indoor transmitter.

18. The indoor transmitter as defined in claim 15 wherein the generation unit is a logic circuit which is programmable according to firmware supplied from the outside.

19. A method of providing position information by use of a first positioning signal which is a spread spectrum signal from each of a plurality of satellites, comprising:

the step of generating an second positioning signal which is modulated, as a spread spectrum signal, based on position data for identifying an installation location of an indoor transmitter;

the step of transmitting the generated spread spectrum signal;

the step of receiving a spread spectrum signal;

the step of identifying, based on a plurality of code patterns related to the first and second positioning signals, one of the code patterns which corresponds to the received spread spectrum signal;

the step of determining, based on a signal obtained by demodulating the received spread spectrum signal using the identified code pattern, which of the first and second positioning signals is received;

the step of deriving position information, while switching between processing modes depending on a result of the determination; and

the step of outputting the derived position information,

wherein;

the position data includes first data capable of identifying the indoor transmitter, and second data indicative of the installation location of the indoor transmitter;

the step of generating includes the sub-step of generating, as the second positioning signal, a first phase signal having the first data after being subjected to modulation, and a second phase signal having the second data after being subjected to modulation; and

a clock of the indoor transmitter is independent from a clock of each of the satellites.