Proximity determination based on distance ratios
First Claim
1. A method, performed by an apparatus, for determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location, the method comprising:
- identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location;
determining a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal;
computing a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and
determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined in relation to the target location based on a comparison of the ratio with a ratio constant which is a ratio of a first distance between each point of a set of points of the proximity region surrounding the target location and the first receiver, and a second distance between the each point of the set of points and the second receiver.
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Abstract
Systems and methods of determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location are described herein. A method as described herein includes identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location; determining a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal; computing a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined in relation to the target location based on the ratio.
23 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method, performed by an apparatus, for determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location, the method comprising:
- identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location;
determining a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal;computing a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and
determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined in relation to the target location based on a comparison of the ratio with a ratio constant which is a ratio of a first distance between each point of a set of points of the proximity region surrounding the target location and the first receiver, and a second distance between the each point of the set of points and the second receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location;
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15. An apparatus for determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location, the apparatus comprising:
- a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location and a proximity region defined in relation to the target location, and wherein each of the set of receivers are configured to receive a signal from the mobile device;
a signal analysis module communicatively coupled to the set of receivers and configured to determine a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal; and
a proximity detection module communicatively coupled to the signal analysis module and configured to compute a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric and to determine whether the mobile device is within the proximity region based on a comparison of the ratio with a ratio constant which is a ratio of a first distance between each point of a set of points of the proximity region surrounding the target location and the first receiver, and a second distance between the each point of the set of points and the second receiver. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
- a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location and a proximity region defined in relation to the target location, and wherein each of the set of receivers are configured to receive a signal from the mobile device;
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26. An apparatus for determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location, the apparatus comprising:
- means for identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location;
means for determining a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal;
means for computing a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and
means for determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined with respect to the target location based on a comparison of the ratio with a ratio constant which is a ratio of a first distance between each point of a set of points of the proximity region surrounding the target location and the first receiver, and a second distance between the each point of the set of points and the second receiver. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
- means for identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location;
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36. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory processor-executable computer storage medium, the computer program product comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
- identify a signal sent by a mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to a target location;
determine a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal;
compute a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and
determine whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined with respect to the target location based on a comparison of the ratio with a ratio constant which is a ratio of a first distance between each point of a set of points of the proximity region surrounding the target location and the first receiver, and a second distance between the each point of the set of points and the second receiver. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
- identify a signal sent by a mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and the second receiver are positioned collinearly to a target location;
Specification