Radio model updating

• US 8,775,065 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Rajarshi, Naguib, Ayman Fawzy, Aggarwal, Alok, Das, Saumitra Mohan, Sridhara, Vinay
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan k
• Application Number:
  US13/078,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20110246148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 701/25, 701/50, 701/301, 701/408, 701/431, 342/452, 342/451, 342/464, 342/463, 342/387, 455/456.1, 455/67.11, 455/456.5, 455/517, 455/456.2
• US Class Current: 701/408
• 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 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems, methods, apparatuses, devices, articles, and means for updating radio models. For certain example implementations, a method for one or more server devices may comprise receiving at one or more communication interfaces at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment. At least one radio model that is stored in one or more memories may be updated based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model. The at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model may correspond to the indoor environment. The at least one updated radio model may be transmitted to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment. Other example implementations are described herein.

Claims

1. A method for one or more server devices, the method comprising:

receiving via one or more communication interfaces at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

identifying a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and at least one radio model associated with the indoor environment wherein the identifying comprises comparing the at least one measurement with the radio model to identify the conflict;

updating the at least one radio model that is stored in one or more memories based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model, the at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model corresponding to the indoor environment, the updating being responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobile devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmitting the at least one updated radio model to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment;

receive from the first mobile device at least one indication of an incident that apparently conflicts with at least one graph that corresponds to the indoor environment;

update the at least one graph based, at least in part, on the at least one indication of the incident that apparently conflicts with the at least one graph to produce at least one updated graph; and

transmit the at least one updated graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving further comprises:

receiving the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device via at least one wireless transmission sent by the first mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more server devices comprise at least one crowdsourcing server device;

wherein said receiving, said updating, and said transmitting are performed at least partially by the at least one crowdsourcing server device; and

wherein said transmitting further comprises;

transmitting the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more server devices comprise at least one crowdsourcing server device and at least one map server device;

wherein said receiving, said updating, and said transmitting are performed at least partially by the at least one crowdsourcing server device; and

wherein said transmitting further comprises;

transmitting the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server device to the at least one map server device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said transmitting further comprises:

transmitting, by the at least one map server device, the at least one updated radio model from the at least one map server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating further comprises:

updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on a reliability of the first mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating further comprises:

updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model conditioned, at least in part, on one or more situational characteristics.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said receiving further comprises receiving multiple measurements that correspond to multiple mobile devices; and

said updating further comprises;

filtering the multiple measurements to produce at least one filtered measurement; and

updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one filtered measurement.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the first mobile device via the one or more communication interfaces at least one indication of an incident that apparently conflicts with at least one graph that corresponds to the indoor environment;

updating the at least one graph based, at least in part, on the at least one indication of the incident that apparently conflicts with the at least one graph to produce at least one updated graph; and

transmitting the at least one updated graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating further comprises:

updating one or more values, which are indicative of one or more received signal strength indications, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more received signal strength indications represent signals emanating from one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating further comprises:

updating one or more values, which are indicative of one or more round trip times, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more round trip times are associated with one or more communication exchanges between one or more mobile devices and one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating at least one probability map by updating likely positions of mobile devices within the indoor environment based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated probability map; and

transmitting the at least one updated probability map to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated probability map for positioning within the indoor environment.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating at least one connectivity or routing graph based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated connectivity or routing graph; and

transmitting the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

50. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the at least one radio model further comprises:

normalizing the at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment based at least in part on a device type associated with the first mobile device.

14. A special purpose computing apparatus for updating a radio model, the special purpose computing apparatus comprising:

at least one memory to store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute said instructions to;

receive at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

identify a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and at least one radio model associated with the indoor environment wherein the identifying comprises comparing the at least one measurement with the radio model to identify the conflict;

update the at least one radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model, the at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model corresponding to the indoor environment, the update being responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobile devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmit the at least one updated radio model to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment;

receive from the first mobile device at least one indication of an incident that apparently conflicts with at least one graph that corresponds to the indoor environment;

update the at least one graph based, at least in part, on the at least one indication of the incident that apparently conflicts with the at least one graph to produce at least one updated graph; and

transmit the at least one updated graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

15. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein to receive the at least one measurement said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

receive the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device via at least one wireless transmission sent by the first mobile device.

16. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the special purpose computing apparatus comprises at least one crowdsourcing server device;

and wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to;

transmit the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

17. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein the special purpose computing apparatus comprises at least one crowdsourcing server device and at least one map server device;

and wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to;

transmit the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server device to the at least one map server device.

18. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 17, wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

transmit the at least one updated radio model from the at least one map server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

19. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein to update the at least one radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on a reliability of the first mobile device.

20. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein to update the at least one radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model conditioned, at least in part, on one or more situational characteristics.

21. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

to receive the at least one measurement said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to receive multiple measurements that correspond to multiple mobile devices; and

wherein to update the at least one radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to;

filter the multiple measurements to produce at least one filtered measurement; and

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one filtered measurement.

22. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein to update the at least one radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update one or more values, which are indicative of one or more received signal strength indications, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more received signal strength indications represent signals emanating from one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

23. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein to update the at least one radio model said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update one or more values, which are indicative of one or more round trip times, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more round trip times are associated with one or more communication exchanges between one or more mobile devices and one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

24. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update at least one probability map by updating likely positions of mobile devices within the indoor environment based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated probability map; and

transmit the at least one updated probability map to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated probability map for positioning within the indoor environment.

25. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 14, wherein said one or more processors are further to execute said instructions to:

update at least one connectivity or routing graph based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated connectivity or routing graph; and

transmit the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

26. A special purpose computing apparatus for updating a radio model, the special purpose computing apparatus comprising:

means for receiving at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

means for identifying a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and at least one radio model associated with the indoor environment wherein the identifying comprises comparing the at least one measurement with the radio model to identify the conflict;

means for updating the at least one radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model, the at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model corresponding to the indoor environment, the means for updating comprising means for updating the at least one radio model responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobile devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

means for transmitting the at least one updated radio model to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment;

means for receiving from the first mobile device at least one indication of an incident that apparently conflicts with at least one graph that corresponds to the indoor environment;

means for updating the at least one graph based, at least in part, on the at least one indication of the incident that apparently conflicts with the at least one graph to produce at least one updated graph; and

means for transmitting the at least one updated graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

27. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein said means for receiving comprises:

means for receiving the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device via at least one wireless transmission sent by the first mobile device.

28. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein the special purpose computing apparatus comprises at least one crowdsourcing server;

and wherein said means for transmitting comprises;

means for transmitting the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

29. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein the special purpose computing apparatus comprises at least one crowdsourcing server and at least one map server;

and wherein said means for transmitting comprises;

means for transmitting the at least one updated radio model from the at least one crowdsourcing server to the at least one map server.

30. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 29, wherein said means for transmitting comprises:

means for transmitting, by the at least one map server, the at least one updated radio model from the at least one map server to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

31. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein said means for updating comprises:

means for updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on a reliability of the first mobile device.

32. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein said means for updating comprises:

means for updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model conditioned, at least in part, on one or more situational characteristics.

33. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein:

said means for receiving comprises means for receiving multiple measurements that correspond to multiple mobile devices; and

said means for updating comprises;

means for filtering the multiple measurements to produce at least one filtered measurement; and

means for updating the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one filtered measurement.

34. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein said means for updating comprises:

means for updating one or more values, which are indicative of one or more received signal strength indications, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more received signal strength indications represent signals emanating from one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

35. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, wherein said means for updating comprises:

means for updating one or more values, which are indicative of one or more round trip times, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more round trip times are associated with one or more communication exchanges between one or more mobile devices and one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

36. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for updating at least one probability map by updating likely positions of mobile devices within the indoor environment based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated probability map; and

means for transmitting the at least one updated probability map to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated probability map for positioning within the indoor environment.

37. The special purpose computing apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for updating at least one connectivity or routing graph based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated connectivity or routing graph; and

means for transmitting the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

38. An article comprising:

at least one non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by one or more processors to;

receive via one or more communication interfaces at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

identify a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and at least one radio model associated with the indoor environment wherein the identifying comprises comparing the at least one measurement with the radio model to identify the conflict;

update the at least one radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model, the at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model corresponding to the indoor environment, the update being responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobile devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmit the at least one updated radio model to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment;

receive from the first mobile device at least one indication of an incident that apparently conflicts with at least one graph that corresponds to the indoor environment;

update the at least one graph based, at least in part, on the at least one indication of the incident that apparently conflicts with the at least one graph to produce at least one updated graph; and

transmit the at least one updated graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated graph for positioning within the indoor environment.

39. The article of claim 38, wherein to receive the at least one measurement said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

receive the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device via at least one wireless transmission sent by the first mobile device.

40. The article of claim 38, wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

transmit the at least one updated radio model from at least one crowdsourcing server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

41. The article of claim 38, wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

transmit the at least one updated radio model from at least one crowdsourcing server device to at least one map server device.

42. The article of claim 41, wherein to transmit the at least one updated radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

transmit the at least one updated radio model from the at least one map server device to the second mobile device via at least one wireless transmission to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment.

43. The article of claim 38, wherein to update the at least one radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on a reliability of the first mobile device.

44. The article of claim 38, wherein to update the at least one radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model conditioned, at least in part, on one or more situational characteristics.

45. The article of claim 38, wherein:

to receive the at least one measurement said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to receive multiple measurements that correspond to multiple mobile devices; and

wherein to update the at least one radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to;

filter the multiple measurements to produce at least one filtered measurement; and

update the at least one radio model to produce the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one filtered measurement.

46. The article of claim 38, wherein to update the at least one radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update one or more values, which are indicative of one or more received signal strength indications, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more received signal strength indications represent signals emanating from one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

47. The article of claim 38, wherein to update the at least one radio model said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update one or more values, which are indicative of one or more round trip times, that are included in the at least one updated radio model based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement that corresponds to the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment, wherein the one or more round trip times are associated with one or more communication exchanges between one or more mobile devices and one or more wireless transmitter devices of the indoor environment.

48. The article of claim 38, wherein said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update at least one probability map by updating likely positions of mobile devices within the indoor environment based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated probability map; and

transmit the at least one updated probability map to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated probability map for positioning within the indoor environment.

49. The article of claim 38, wherein said instructions stored on said at least one storage medium are further executable by the one or more processors to:

update at least one connectivity or routing graph based, at least in part, on the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment to produce at least one updated connectivity or routing graph; and

transmit the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph to enable the second mobile device to use the at least one updated connectivity or routing graph for positioning within the indoor environment.