Distributed method and system for determining the position of a mobile device using long-range signals and calibrating the position using short-range signals

• US 8,838,135 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2012
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Golba LLC
• Original Assignee: Golba LLC
• Inventors: Moshfeghi, Mehran
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US13/556,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20130029685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/456.1, 455/456.5, 455/552.1, 455/69, 455/276.1, 455/445, 455/458, 370/328, 370/466, 370/252, 370/338, 709/230, 709/224, 342/450, 342/451
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02585 at least one of the measurements being a non-radio measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0712 the arrangement being capable of triggering distinct operating modes or functions dependent on the strength of an energy or interrogation field in the proximity of the record carrier active means for hindering electromagnetic reading or writing G06K19/07336
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/409 Device specific authentication in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/73 for taking measurements, e.g. using sensing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system is described where a plurality of position reference devices use short-range wireless communication protocols to transmit positioning assistance data to nearby mobile devices, and the mobile devices use the assistance data to model errors and re-calibrate their positioning systems. The short-range communication methods include NFC, RFID, Bluetooth®, short-range 802.11, Wi-Fi Direct, and high frequency focused beams such as 60 GHz. The position reference devices are passive or active NFC tags, passive or active RFID tags, other devices that include such tags as their components, Bluetooth®-enabled devices, 60 GHz-enabled devices, and 802.11 access points that can lower their transmit power. The reference devices are located at various indoor and outdoor locations such as smart posters, kiosks, ATM machines, malls, store checkout counters, store security gates, wireless access points, cellular base-stations, tollbooths, traffic lights, and street lamp posts.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for determining a location of a mobile device comprising a plurality of radios, each radio in the plurality of radios using a different communication protocol, the program executable by at least one processing unit of the mobile device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a plurality of signals through each radio, signals received at each radio of the mobile device corresponding to a different communication protocol than the signals received at other radios of the plurality of the mobile device radios;

determining a location of the mobile device from the plurality of signals received through each radio using a positioning method corresponding to each radio, the positioning method corresponding to each radio different than the positioning methods corresponding to other radios in the plurality of radios;

setting the location of the mobile device to a computed weighted sum of the determined locations;

receiving positioning assistance data from a short-range position reference device, wherein a set of radios in the plurality of radios of the mobile device utilize long-range communication protocols, wherein the mobile device and the short-range position reference device communicate using a short-range communication protocol that has a shorter range than the ranges of said long-range communication protocols, the positioning assistance data comprising a location of the short-range position reference device; and

calibrating each positioning method such that the location determined by the method is a same as the location received from the short-range position reference device.

2. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for setting the location of the mobile device to the computed weighted sum of the determined locations comprises a set of instructions for weighting each determined location based on a confidence measure for the corresponding positioning method.

3. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the positioning assistance data is received through one of the radios in the plurality of radios.

4. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising a set of instructions for displaying the location of the mobile device on a display of the mobile device.

5. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for determining a location of a mobile device comprising a plurality of radios, the program executable by at least one processing unit of the mobile device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a plurality of signals through each radio, each radio in the plurality of radios using a different communication protocol;

determining a location of the mobile device from the plurality of signals received through each radio using a positioning method corresponding to each radio;

setting the location of the mobile device to a computed weighted sum of the determined locations;

receiving positioning assistance data from a short-range position reference device, the positioning assistance data comprising a location of the position reference device;

calibrating each positioning method such that the location determined by the method is a same as the location received from the position reference device; and

iteratively waiting for a predetermined amount of time and performing said receiving of a plurality of signals, said determining, and said setting until further positioning assistance data from a position reference device is received.

6. A method of determining a position of a mobile device using long-range signals and calibrating a positioning model of the mobile device using short-range signals, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of signals from a plurality of transmitting devices;

setting the position of the mobile device to a position calculated based on the received signals and a positioning model;

receiving positioning assistance data from a position reference device, the positioning assistance data comprising a position of the position reference device, wherein the position reference device utilizes a first transmission power level for transmitting positioning assistance data and a second transmission power level for transmitting data other than positioning assistance data, wherein the first transmission power level is less than the second transmission power level;

setting the position of the mobile device from said calculated position to the position of the position reference device received in the positioning assistance data; and

calibrating the positioning model such that the calculated position of the mobile device coincides with the received position of the position reference device.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising indirectly receiving positioning assistance data from the position reference device through an electronic device.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising indirectly receiving positioning assistance data from the position reference device through a plurality of electronic devices.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising receiving advertisements at the mobile device from the position reference device.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the position reference device encrypts the positioning assistance data.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the transmitting devices are wireless local area network (WLAN) access points communicating with the mobile device using 802.11 protocol.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving positioning assistance data comprises receiving positioning assistance data using one of near field communication (NFC) signals, radio frequency identification (RFID) signals, Bluetooth signals, short-range Wi-Fi signals, Wi-Fi Direct signals, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), and high frequency narrow beam comprising 60 GHz signals, wherein receiving a plurality of signals from a plurality of transmitting devices comprises receiving a plurality of long-range signals comprising at least one of global positioning system (GPS) signals, cellular signals, Wi-Fi signals, HD Radio signals, and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) signals.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein positioning assistance data comprises a transmission power level of the position reference device, wherein calibrating the positioning model comprises:

determining a distance of the position reference device and the mobile device based on a difference between the transmission power level of the position reference device and a power level of signals received from the position reference device; and

using the positioning assistance data to calibrate the positioning model only when the distance is less than a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein a transmission range of the position reference device for transmitting positioning reference data is less than two meters.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving positioning assistance data comprises:

sending a request for positioning assistance data from the mobile device to the position reference device, the request comprising a transmission power level of the mobile device;

determining a distance between the mobile device and the position reference device based on a power level of signals received from the mobile device at the position reference device and the transmission power level of the mobile device;

sending the positioning assistance data from the position reference device to the mobile device only when the mobile device is closer to the position reference device than a pre-determined threshold.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the positioning assistance data comprises:

sending a request for positioning assistance data from the mobile device to the position reference device, the request comprising a transmission power level of the mobile device;

determining a distance between the mobile device and the position reference device based on a power level of signals received from the mobile device at the position reference device and the transmission power level of the mobile device;

when (i) the mobile device is within a pre-determined distance threshold of the position reference device and (ii) a transmission power level of the position reference device is not high enough for signals to reach the mobile device from the position reference device, increasing a transmission power level of the position reference device to a level for the signals to reach from the position reference device to the mobile device; and

receiving the positioning assistance data at the mobile device after the transmission power level of the position reference device is increased.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the positioning assistance data comprises:

sending a request for positioning assistance data from the mobile device to the position reference device, the request comprising a transmission power level of the mobile device;

determining a distance between the mobile device and the position reference device based on a power level of signals received from the mobile device at the position reference device and the transmission power level of the mobile device;

when (i) the mobile device is within a pre-determined distance threshold of the position reference device and (ii) a transmission power level of the position reference device is more than a particular level required for signals to reach the mobile device from the position reference device, decreasing a transmission power level of the position reference device to the particular level; and

receiving the positioning assistance data at the mobile device after the transmission power level of the position reference device is decreased.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising, at the position reference device, transmitting data other than positioning assistance data using a transmission power level higher than the particular level.