WLAN-based positioning system

• US 9,125,165 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2011
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonikberg, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): LOUIS, VINNCELAS
• Application Number:
  US13/194,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20130028246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: 370328-338, 370/252, 455/41.2, 455/67.11, 455/517, 455/556.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.5, 340/988
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/47 the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A technique to provide a WLAN-based positioning system to determine a location of a mobile wireless receiving device. A single access point is used to generate a plurality of beacons, in which each beacon of the plurality of beacons has a unique identifier. Each beacon is then transmitted in a different direction from other beacons. When the receiving device receives at least one of the transmitted beacons, signal strength or some other signal parameter is obtained from the at least one received beacon. The received signal parameter is used to determine the location of the mobile receiving device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a plurality of directional beacons from a single access point device, in which respective beacons of the plurality of directional beacons have unique Service Set identifiers or Media Access Control addresses to differentiate one directional beacon from other directional beacons;

transmitting the plurality of directional beacons from the single access point device in respective different directions over a mapping boundary;

receiving the plurality of directional beacons at a mobile device;

determining respective received signal parameters for the plurality of directional beacons received by the mobile device based on receive signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), and angle of arrival (AOA) of the plurality of directional beacons;

accessing, from a database of the mobile device, a mapping of previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons for the mapping boundary; and

using the respective received signal parameters by the mobile device to locate its position on the mapping of the previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted using a wireless local access network protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted using 802.11 protocol.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted at a frequency in a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz or 60 GHz band.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein when generating the plurality of beacons, the respective unique Service Set identifiers or Media Access Control addresses differentiate the directional beacons to operate as separate virtual networks.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the mapping based upon input from at least one mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the mapping to the mobile device.

8. A method comprising:

generating a plurality of directional beacons from a single access point device, in which respective beacons of the plurality of directional beacons have unique Service Set identifiers or Media Access Control addresses to differentiate one directional beacon from other directional beacons; and

transmitting the plurality of directional beacons from the single access point device in respective different directions over a mapping boundary to support a mobile device in;

receiving the plurality of directional beacons;

determining respective received signal parameters for the plurality of directional beacons based on receive signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA) of the directional beacon, time difference of arrival (TDOA), and angle of arrival (AOA) of the plurality of directional beacons;

accessing, from a memory of the mobile device, a mapping of previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons for the mapping boundary; and

using the respective received signal parameters to locate its position on the mapping of the previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted using a wireless local access network protocol.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted using 802.11 protocol.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein when transmitting the plurality of directional beacons, the directional beacons are transmitted at a frequency in a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz or 60 GHz band.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein when generating the plurality of beacons, respective unique Service Set identifiers or Media Access Control addresses differentiate the directional beacons to operate as separate virtual networks.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising generating a second plurality of directional beacons from a second access point device, in which respective directional beacons of the second plurality of directional beacons also have unique identifiers to differentiate one directional beacon from other directional beacons;

and

transmitting the second plurality of directional beacons of the second access point device in a different direction from other directional beacons of the second access point device, such that when the mobile device receives at least one transmitted directional beacon of the second access point device, the mobile device uses directional beacons from both the first and second access points to locate the position of the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting the mapping to the mobile device.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a baseband module of an access point device configured to generate unique identifiers including Service Set identifiers or Media Access Control addresses for respective directional beacons of a plurality of directional beacons to differentiate one directional beacon from other directional beacons;

a transmitter of the access point device coupled to the baseband module configured to generate the directional beacons at a radio frequency; and

a directional antenna of the access point device coupled to the transmitter to transmit the directional beacons in respective different directions over a mapping boundary to support a mobile device in;

receiving the plurality of directional beacons;

determining respective received signal parameters for the plurality of directional beacons based on receive signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA) of the directional beacon, time difference of arrival (TDOA), and angle of arrival (AOA) of the plurality of directional beacons;

accessing, from a memory of the mobile device, a mapping of previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons for the mapping boundary; and

using the respective received signal parameters to locate its position on the mapping of the previously measured signal parameters of the plurality of directional beacons.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transmitter transmits the directional beacons using a wireless local access network protocol.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the transmitter transmits the directional beacons using 802.11 protocol.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the plurality of directional beacons provide for a propagation pattern that covers the mapping boundary.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein at least some of the baseband module, the transmitter, and the directional antenna are configured to determine the mapping.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein at least some of the baseband module, the transmitter, and the directional antenna are configured to transmit the mapping to the mobile device.