System and method for resolving multiple location estimate conflicts in a WLAN-positioning system
First Claim
1. A method of estimating a likelihood of a Wi-Fi enabled device being located within an estimated geographical area determined by a positioning system, the method comprising:
- identifying Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi enabled device based on signals received by the Wi-Fi enabled device transmitted by the Wi-Fi access points;
consulting a reference database to determine for each of a plurality of the Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received a last-known estimated position of the Wi-Fi access point;
determining that at least a first set of the Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received have potentially moved from their corresponding last-known estimated positions based on the last-known estimated positions for at least a second set of Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received, each access point of the second set of Wi-Fi access points being different from each access point of the first set of Wi-Fi access points; and
estimating, based on the number of Wi-Fi access points of the first set and the number of Wi-Fi access points of the second set, the likelihood of the Wi-Fi enabled device being located within the estimated geographical area.
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Abstract
Methods of and systems for resolving multiple location estimate conflicts in a WLAN-positioning system are provided. Disclosed are methods to quantify the probability that a particular location estimate of a mobile device made by a Wi-Fi based positioning system is correct to within an arbitrary accuracy. Implementations use observed access point cluster size, age information for access point location determination, and/or cumulative distribution functions that characterize the conditional probability that one or more access points detected by the mobile device have relocated within a specified time interval to make the probability determinations.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method of estimating a likelihood of a Wi-Fi enabled device being located within an estimated geographical area determined by a positioning system, the method comprising:
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identifying Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi enabled device based on signals received by the Wi-Fi enabled device transmitted by the Wi-Fi access points; consulting a reference database to determine for each of a plurality of the Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received a last-known estimated position of the Wi-Fi access point; determining that at least a first set of the Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received have potentially moved from their corresponding last-known estimated positions based on the last-known estimated positions for at least a second set of Wi-Fi access points for which signals were received, each access point of the second set of Wi-Fi access points being different from each access point of the first set of Wi-Fi access points; and estimating, based on the number of Wi-Fi access points of the first set and the number of Wi-Fi access points of the second set, the likelihood of the Wi-Fi enabled device being located within the estimated geographical area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system comprising:
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a Wi-Fi enabled mobile device configured to identify a plurality of Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi enabled mobile device; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed on the Wi-Fi enable device or a server system, are operable to; determine for each of a plurality of identified Wi-Fi access points a last-known estimated position of the Wi-Fi access point, form at least a first cluster of one or more Wi-Fi access points and a second cluster of one or more Wi-Fi access points from the plurality of identified Wi-Fi access points, each access point of the first cluster of Wi-Fi access points being different from each access point of the second cluster of Wi-Fi access points, determine that at least the first cluster of the Wi-Fi access points have potentially moved from their corresponding last-known estimated positions based on the last-known estimated positions for at least the second cluster of Wi-Fi access points, and provide an estimated likelihood that the Wi-Fi enabled mobile device is located within an estimated geographical area determined by a positioning system, based on the number of Wi-Fi access points in the first cluster of Wi-Fi access points and the number of Wi-Fi access points in the second cluster Wi-Fi access points. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of estimating a likelihood of a Wi-Fi enabled device being located within an estimated geographical area determined by a positioning system, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi enabled device based on signals received by the Wi-Fi enabled device transmitted by the Wi-Fi access points; consulting a reference database to determine for each of the plurality of identified Wi-Fi access points a last-known estimated position of the Wi-Fi access point; forming at least a first cluster of one or more Wi-Fi access points and a second cluster of one or more Wi-Fi access points from the plurality of identified Wi-Fi access points, each access point of the first cluster of Wi-Fi access points being different from each access point of the second cluster of Wi-Fi access points; and determining that at least the first cluster of Wi-Fi access points has potentially moved from their corresponding last-known estimated positions based on the last-known estimated positions for at least the second cluster of Wi-Fi access points; and providing an estimated likelihood that the Wi-Fi enabled mobile device is located within the estimated geographical area based on an age of the last-known position of the Wi-Fi access points in the first cluster of Wi-Fi access points. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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Specification