Systems, methods, and apparatus to determine physical location and routing within a field of low power beacons

• US 8,712,690 B1
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Allen, Hansen, Michael, van der Putten, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US13/739,947
• Time in Patent Office: 473 Days
• Field of Search: 701/526, 701/445, 455/456.2, 370/349, 342/357.1, 342/386, 342/464, 342/451
• US Class Current: 701/526
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02523 Details of interaction of receiver with radio-map

Abstract

A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system for accurate determination of a user'"'"'s location in an enclosed, indoor, or covered environment can include a number of beacons mounted in an arrangement within the environment. Each of the beacons is mounted in a known location and transmits a broadcast signal containing a unique identifier that identifies the originating beacon. A handheld electronic device including a receiver and a communicably coupled processor can receive broadcast signals from at least some of the number of beacons, iteratively determine a vector quantity corresponding to each of the received signals, and sum the resultant vector quantities to determine an updated position. The iterative process can be repeated until consecutive iterations yield an updated position that falls within a defined threshold.

Claims

1. A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system, comprising:

a receiver to receive a plurality of broadcast signals, each of the plurality of received signals characterized by a respective signal strength and by data that uniquely identifies an originating one of a plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons positioned in a respective known location within an indoor environment;

at least one input/output device;

a processor communicably coupled to the receiver and the at least one input/output device; and

processor-executable instructions that cause the processor to;

determine an initial receiver location relative to the known locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons;

for each of the received broadcast signals, iteratively determine an updated receiver location relative to the known locations of the at least some of the plurality of beacons by causing the processor to;

determine a vector quantity including a magnitude and a direction associated with each of the plurality of received broadcast signals to provide a respective plurality of vector quantities; and

sum the resultant plurality of vector quantities to determine the updated receiver location until a number of consecutive iterations provide updated receiver locations falling within a defined limit; and

generate at least one human-perceptible output indicative of the updated receiver location via the at least one output device.

2. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1, further comprising:

a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the processor, the nontransitory storage media to store a number of defined locations indexed by one or more non-location based identifiers;

wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to;

receive data representative a number of non-location based identifiers;

determine a number of defined locations, each of the number of defined locations associated with a respective one of the number of received non-location based identifiers;

determine a preferred routing to each of the number of defined locations within the environment; and

generate at least one human-perceptible output indicative of progressive directional information along the preferred routing.

3. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1 wherein the receiver and the at least one output device are at least partially disposed in a portable housing, the processor is disposed remote from the portable housing and the communicable coupling between the receiver, the at least one output device and the processor includes a wireless communicable coupling.

4. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1 wherein the receiver and the at least one output device and the processor are collocated and at least partially disposed in a portable housing.

5. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1 wherein the at least one output device comprises at least one of:

an audio speaker, an audio output interface, a display device, a display output interface, or a touchscreen.

6. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1 wherein to determine an initial receiver location, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor to:

generate and store data representative of an initial beacon list in a nontransitory storage medium communicably coupled to the processor, the initial beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the received signal and data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon; and

set the initial receiver location equal to the location of the beacon providing the greatest signal strength at the receiver.

7. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 6 wherein to determine the vector quantity including a magnitude and direction associated with each of the plurality of received signals, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor to:

replace all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list, the data representative of the updated beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the respective signal and the data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon.

8. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 7 wherein the processor-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

remove the signal strength and unique identification data representative of a beacon from the updated beacon list to purge stale data when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon fulfills at least one defined removal criterion.

9. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of broadcast signals consists of data that uniquely identifies one of the plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons originating the respective signal.

10. A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method, comprising:

receiving by a receiver communicably coupled to a processor a plurality of broadcast signals, each of the plurality of received signals characterized by a respective signal strength and by data that uniquely identifies an originating one of a plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons positioned in respective known locations in an indoor environment;

determining by the processor an initial receiver location relative to the known locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons;

iteratively determining an updated receiver location relative to the known locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons by;

determining a plurality of vector quantities by the processor, each vector quantity in the plurality of vector quantities including a magnitude and a direction associated with the signal received from each of a plurality of originating beacons; and

summing the plurality of vector quantities by the processor to determine the updated receiver location until a number of consecutive iterations provide updated receiver locations falling within a defined limit; and

generating at least one human-perceptible output indicative of the updated receiver location via at least one output device communicably coupled to the processor.

11. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations in the indoor environment; and

generating at least one human-perceptible output indicative of progressive directional information along the preferred routing.

12. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 11 wherein determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations in the indoor environment comprises:

receiving data representative a number of non-location based identifiers; and

determining the number of defined locations in the indoor environment corresponding to a respective one of the number of non-location based identifiers, each of the number of defined locations retrieved from a data store indexed using non-location based identifiers and stored at least partially in a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the processor.

13. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 11, wherein determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations in the indoor environment comprises:

determining a routing to each of a number of defined locations based on at least one of;

the shortest distance between at least a portion of the number of defined locations, the least travel time between at least a portion of the number of defined locations, or the lowest traffic between at least a portion of the number of defined locations.

14. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 10 wherein the known location of each of the plurality of beacons is provided as data representative of the geolocation of the respective beacon, the geolocation data stored in a persistent processor-readable nontransitory storage.

15. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 14, further comprising determining by the processor a geolocation corresponding to the updated receiver location using the data representative of the geolocation of each of the originating beacons.

16. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 10 wherein determining an initial receiver location comprises:

generating and storing data representative of an initial beacon list in a nontransitory storage medium communicably coupled to the processor, the initial beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the received signal and data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon; and

setting the initial receiver location as the location of the originating beacon providing the greatest signal strength at the receiver.

17. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 16 wherein determining a plurality of vector quantities by the processor includes:

replacing all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list, the data representative of the updated beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals data indicative of the signal strength of the respective signal and the data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon.

18. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 17, further comprising purging stale data from the updated beacon list by:

removing from the updated beacon list by the processor the signal strength and unique identification data associated with a beacon when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon fulfills at least one defined removal criterion.

19. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 17 wherein replacing all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list comprises:

temporally ordering the data included in the updated beacon based at least in part on the order the data was received by the receiver.

20. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 19 wherein the processor purges stale data from the updated beacon list by:

removing from the updated beacon list the signal strength and unique identification data associated with a beacon when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon has not been updated within a defined period of time.

21. A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system, comprising:

a receiver to receive a plurality of broadcast signals, each of the plurality of received signals characterized by a respective signal strength and by data that uniquely identifies an originating one of a plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons positioned in a respective known location within an indoor environment;

at least one output device;

a processor communicably coupled to the receiver and the at least one output device;

processor-executable instructions that cause the processor to;

determine an initial receiver location relative to the known locations of at least a portion of the plurality of beacons;

for each of a plurality of received broadcast signals, iteratively determine an updated receiver location relative to the known locations of at least a portion of the plurality of beacons by causing the processor to;

determine a signal strength of the received signal and detecting the data that uniquely identifies the respective originating beacon;

determine a vector quantity associated with each of the plurality of received signals to provide a plurality of vector quantities, the vector quantity for each of the plurality of received signals including at least;

a direction coincident with a shortest line between the processor and the known location of the respective originating beacon; and

a magnitude based at least in part on the non-temporal based signal strength of the broadcast signal and a distance separating the processor from the respective originating beacon; and

sum the plurality of vector quantities by the processor to determine the updated receiver location until a number of consecutive iterations provide updated receiver locations falling within a defined limit; and

generate at least one human-perceptible output indicative of the updated receiver location via the at least one output device.

22. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21, further comprising a processor-readable nontransitory memory communicably coupled to the processor, the processor-readable nontransitory memory including data indicative of the known location of each of the plurality of beacons.

23. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 22 wherein the data indicative of the known location of each of the plurality of beacons includes data indicative of the geolocation of each of the plurality of beacons;

and

wherein instructions executable by the processor further cause the processor to determine a geolocation corresponding to the updated receiver location.

24. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21, further comprising a processor-readable nontransitory memory communicably coupled to the processor, the processor-readable nontransitory memory including data including a number of defined locations each indexed using at least one respective non-location based identifier;

and

wherein the processor-executable instructions further cause the processor to;

receive data indicative of a number of non-location based identifiers;

determine the number of defined locations in the environment, each of the defined locations corresponding to a respective one of the non-location based identifiers;

determine a preferred routing to each of the number of defined locations; and

generate at least one human-perceptible output indicative of progressive directional information along the preferred routing.

25. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21 wherein the receiver and the at least one output device are at least partially disposed in a portable housing, the processor is disposed remote from the portable housing and the communicable coupling between the receiver, and the at least one output device and the processor includes a wireless communicable coupling.

26. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21 wherein the receiver and the at least one output device and the processor are collocated and at least partially disposed in a portable housing.

27. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21 wherein the at least one output device comprises at least one of:

an audio speaker, an audio output interface, a display device, a display output interface, or a touchscreen.

28. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21 wherein to determine an initial receiver location relative to the known locations of at least a portion of the plurality of beacons and for each of a plurality of received broadcast signals, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor to:

generate and store data representative of an initial beacon list in a nontransitory storage medium communicably coupled to the processor, the initial beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the received signal and data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon; and

set the initial receiver location equal to the location of the beacon providing the greatest signal strength at the receiver.

29. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 28 wherein to determine the vector quantity including a non-temporal based magnitude and a non-temporal based direction associated with each of the plurality of received signals to provide a plurality of vector quantities, the processor-executable instructions cause the processor to:

replace all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list, the data representative of the updated beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the respective signal and data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon.

30. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 29 wherein the processor-executable instructions further cause the processor to:

remove the signal strength and unique identification data representative of a beacon from the updated beacon list to purge stale data from the updated beacon list when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon fulfills at least one defined removal criterion.

31. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location system of claim 21 wherein each of the plurality of broadcast signals consists of data that uniquely identifies one of the plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons originating the respective signal.

32. A non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method, comprising:

receiving by a receiver communicably coupled to a processor a plurality of broadcast signals, each of the plurality of received signals characterized by a respective signal strength and by data that uniquely identifies an originating one of a plurality of terrestrial radio frequency beacons positioned in respective known locations in an indoor environment;

determining an initial receiver location relative to the known locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons by the processor;

iteratively determining an updated receiver location relative to the known locations of at least some of the plurality of beacons by;

determining a signal strength of the received signal and detecting the data indicative of the unique identifier of the originating beacon for each of the plurality of received signals;

determining a vector quantity associated with each of the plurality of received signals to provide a plurality of vector quantities, the vector quantity for each of the respective plurality of received signals including at least;

a direction coincident with a shortest line connecting the processor to the known location of the respective originating beacon; and

a magnitude based at least in part on the signal strength of the received signal and a distance separating the processor from the respective originating beacon; and

summing the resultant plurality of vector quantities to determine the updated receiver location until consecutive iterations provide updated receiver locations falling within a defined limit; and

generating at least one human-perceptible output indicative of the updated receiver location via at least one output device communicably coupled to the controller.

33. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 32, further comprising:

determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations; and

generating at least one human-perceptible output indicative of progressive directional information along the preferred routing.

34. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 32 wherein determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations comprises:

receiving data representative of a number of non-location based identifiers; and

determining the number of defined locations within the environment corresponding to a respective one of the number of received non-location based identifiers, each of the number of defined locations retrieved from a data store indexed using one or more non-location based identifiers and stored at least partially in a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the processor.

35. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 32, wherein determining a preferred routing to each of a number of defined locations comprises:

determining a routing to each of a number of defined locations based on at least one of;

the shortest distance between at least a portion of the number of defined locations, the least travel time between at least a portion of the number of defined locations, or the lowest traffic between at least a portion of the number of defined locations.

36. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 32, further comprising determining a geolocation corresponding to the updated receiver location using geolocation data for each of the plurality of beacons, the geolocation data stored in a processor-readable nontransitory memory that is communicably coupled to the processor.

37. The non-time of flight or time of arrival ht position location method of claim 32 wherein determining an initial receiver location comprises:

setting the initial receiver location as the location of the originating beacon providing the greatest signal strength at the receiver.

38. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 32 wherein determining an initial receiver location comprises:

generating and storing data representative of an initial beacon list in a nontransitory storage medium communicably coupled to the processor, the initial beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals;

data indicative of the signal strength of the received signal and data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon; and

setting the initial receiver location as the location of the originating beacon providing the greatest signal strength at the receiver.

39. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 38 wherein determining a plurality of vector quantities by the processor includes:

replacing all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list, the data representative of the updated beacon list including for each of the plurality of received signals data indicative of the signal strength of the respective signal and the data indicative of the unique identifier associated with the respective originating beacon.

40. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 39, further comprising purging stale data from the updated beacon list by:

removing from the updated beacon list by the processor the signal strength and unique identification data associated with a beacon when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon fulfills at least one defined removal criterion.

41. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 39 wherein replacing all or a portion of the data representative of the initial beacon list with data representative of an updated beacon list comprises:

temporally ordering the data included in the updated beacon based at least in part on the order the data was received by the receiver.

42. The non-time of flight or time of arrival position location method of claim 41, further comprising purging stale data from the updated beacon list by:

removing from the updated beacon list the signal strength and unique identification data associated with a beacon when the signal strength of the signal provided by the respective beacon has not been updated within a defined period of time.