Mobile device locating in conjunction with localized environments

• US 9,014,721 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2013
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Das, Saumitra Mohan, Naguib, Ayman Fawzy, Gupta, Rajarshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Georgewill, Opiribo
• Application Number:
  US14/072,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20140066103A1
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/457, 701/434, 701/433
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• 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 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems, methods, apparatuses, articles, etc. for mobile device locating in conjunction with localized environments. For certain example implementations, a method may comprise obtaining at a mobile device one or more signals comprising information indicative of a location thereof. The information may be transmitted to one or more servers. A location context identifier (LCI) may be received responsive to the transmitting, with the LCI corresponding to a localized environment at which the mobile device is located. The LCI may be transmitted to the one or more servers. Location-based data may be received responsive to the transmitting of the LCI, with the location-based data being associated with the LCI and pertaining to the localized environment. The location of the mobile device may be determined with respect to the localized environment based, at least in part, on the location-based data. Other example implementations are described herein.

Claims

1. A method of determining a location of a mobile device comprising:

obtaining at the mobile device one or more signals comprising information indicative of a location of the mobile device;

wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile device, the information indicative of the location of the mobile device to a first server;

wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the first server, in response to said transmitting of the information indicative of the location of the mobile device, location context identifiers corresponding to a localized environment at which the mobile device is located, the received location context identifiers associated with the information indicative of the location of the mobile device wherein the received location context identifiers comprise a first location context identifier and a second location context identifier, the first location context identifier being different from the second location context identifier;

wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile device, the received location context identifiers to a second server;

wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the second server, location-based data, responsive to said transmitting of the received location context identifiers, the location based data corresponding to the localized environment at which the mobile device is located and comprising a map of the localized environment wherein the location based data comprises first location based data associated with the first location context identifier and second location based data associated with the second location context identifier, the first location-based data being different from the second location-based data; and

determining the location of the mobile device, by the mobile device, based at least in part upon the location-based data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising combining, by the mobile device, the first location-based data and the second location-based data into a searchable mashup.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first server and the second server are a same server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first server is a positioning server and wherein the second server is a location-based data server.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the location-based data further comprises layers of information and wherein wirelessly transmitting the received location context identifiers includes wirelessly transmitting a request for a portion of the layers of information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the map of the localized environment further comprises one or more of routability information, signal heat map data, portal information, points of interest, annotation information, position probability data, or access point information.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the routability information comprises one or more of a routing graph, annotation information, general building information, feasibility indications, shortest path information, or traversable path information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the localized environment comprises an indoor environment corresponding to at least a portion of a building structure in which the mobile device is located.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based data comprises at least one reference from a local coordinate system, which corresponds to the localized environment, to a global coordinate system.

10. A mobile device comprising:

at least one memory to store instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute said instructions and render the mobile device to be configured to perform operations comprising;

obtaining at the mobile device one or more signals comprising information indicative of a location of the mobile device;

wirelessly transmitting the information indicative of the location of the mobile device to a first server;

wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the first server, in response to said transmitting of the information indicative of the location of the mobile device, location context identifiers corresponding to a localized environment at which the mobile device is located, the received location context identifiers associated with the information indicative of the location of the mobile device wherein the received location context identifiers comprise a first location context identifier and a second location context identifier, the first location context identifier being different from the second location context identifier;

wirelessly transmitting the received location context identifiers to a second server;

wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the second server, location-based data, responsive to said transmitting of the received location context identifiers, the location based data corresponding to the localized environment at which the mobile device is located and comprising a map of the localized environment wherein the location based data comprises first location based data associated with the first location context identifier and second location based data associated with the second location context identifier, the first location-based data being different from the second location-based data; and

determining the location of the mobile device, by the mobile device, based at least in part upon the location-based data.

11. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute further instructions and further render the mobile device to be configured to perform further operations comprising:

combining, by the mobile device, the first location-based data and the second location-based data into a searchable mashup.

12. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the first server and the second server are a same server.

13. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the first server is a positioning server and wherein the second server is a location-based data server.

14. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the location-based data further comprises layers of information and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute said instructions and render the mobile device the special computing device to wirelessly transmit a request for a portion of the layers of information.

15. The mobile device of claim 10 wherein the map of the localized environment further comprises one or more of routability information, signal heat map data, portal information, points of interest, annotation information, position probability data, or access point information.

16. The mobile device of claim 15 wherein the routability information comprises one or more of a routing graph, annotation information, general building information, feasibility indications, shortest path information, or traversable path information.

17. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the localized environment comprises an indoor environment corresponding to at least a portion of a building structure in which the mobile device is located.

18. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the location-based data comprises at least one reference from a local coordinate system, which corresponds to the localized environment, to a global coordinate system.

19. A mobile device comprising:

means for obtaining at the mobile device one or more signals comprising information indicative of a location of the mobile device;

means for wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile device, the information indicative of the location of the mobile device to a first server;

means for wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the first server, in response to said transmitting of the information indicative of the location of the mobile device, location context identifiers corresponding to a localized environment at which the mobile device is located, the received location context identifiers associated with the information indicative of the location of the mobile device wherein the received location context identifiers comprise a first location context identifier and a second location context identifier, the first location context identifier being different from the second location context identifier;

means for wirelessly transmitting, by the mobile device, the received location context identifiers to a second server;

means for wirelessly receiving, by the mobile device from the second server, location-based data, responsive to said transmitting of the received location context identifiers, the location based data corresponding to the localized environment at which the mobile device is located and comprising a map of the localized environment wherein the location based data comprises first location based data associated with the first location context identifier and second location based data associated with the second location context identifier, the first location-based data being different from the second location-based data; and

means for determining the location of the mobile device, by the mobile device, based at least in part upon the location-based data.

20. The mobile device of claim 19 further comprising means for combining, by the mobile device, the first location-based data and the second location-based data into a searchable mashup.

21. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the first server and the second server are a same server.

22. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the first server is a positioning server and wherein the second server is a location-based data server.

23. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the location-based data further comprises layers of information and wherein the means for wirelessly transmitting the received location context identifiers includes means for wirelessly transmitting a request for a portion of the layers of information.

24. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the map of the localized environment further comprises one or more of routability information, signal heat map data, portal information, points of interest, annotation information, position probability data, or access point information.

25. The mobile device of claim 24 wherein the routability information comprises one or more of a routing graph, annotation information, general building information, feasibility indications, shortest path information, or traversable path information.

26. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the localized environment comprises an indoor environment corresponding to at least a portion of a building structure in which the mobile device is located.

27. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the location-based data comprises at least one reference from a local coordinate system, which corresponds to the localized environment, to a global coordinate system.

28. An article comprising at least one storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by one or more processors to:

obtain at a mobile device one or more signals comprising information indicative of a location of the mobile device;

wirelessly transmit, by the mobile device, the information indicative of the location of the mobile device to a first server;

wirelessly receive, by the mobile device from the first server, in response to said transmitting of the information indicative of the location of the mobile device, location context identifiers corresponding to a localized environment at which the mobile device is located, the received location context identifiers associated with the information indicative of the location of the mobile device wherein the received location context identifiers comprise a first location context identifier and a second location context identifier, the first location context identifier being different from the second location context identifier;

wirelessly transmit, by the mobile device, the received location context identifiers to a second server;

wirelessly receive, by the mobile device from the second server, location-based data, responsive to said transmitting of the received location context identifiers, the location based data corresponding to the localized environment at which the mobile device is located and comprising a map of the localized environment wherein the location based data comprises first location based data associated with the first location context identifier and second location based data associated with the second location context identifier, the first location-based data being different from the second location-based data; and

determine the location of the mobile device, by the mobile device, based at least in part upon the location-based data.

29. The article of claim 28 wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors further comprise instructions to combine, by the mobile device, the first location-based data and the second location-based data into a searchable mashup.

30. The article of claim 28 wherein the first server and the second server are a same server.

31. The article of claim 28 wherein the first server is a positioning server and wherein the second server is a location-based data server.

32. The article of claim 28 wherein the location-based data further comprises layers of information and wherein the instructions executable by the one or more processors to wirelessly transmit the received location context identifiers include instructions to wirelessly transmit a request for a portion of the layers of information.

33. The article of claim 28 wherein the map of the localized environment further comprises one or more of routability information, signal heat map data, portal information, points of interest, annotation information, position probability data, or access point information.

34. The article of claim 33 wherein the routability information comprises one or more of a routing graph, annotation information, general building information, feasibility indications, shortest path information, or traversable path information.

35. The article of claim 28, wherein the localized environment comprises an indoor environment corresponding to at least a portion of a building structure in which the mobile device is located.

36. The article of claim 28, wherein the location-based data comprises at least one reference from a local coordinate system, which corresponds to the localized environment, to a global coordinate system.