Location of cooperative tags with personal electronic device

• US 9,392,413 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Santa Mionica Semiconductor
• Original Assignee: Santa Mionica Semiconductor
• Inventors: Karr, Lawrence J., Mankovitz, Roy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DANH C
• Application Number:
  US14/549,478
• Publication Number:
  US 20150201308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.5, 455/456.1, 455/456.6, 340/539.13
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/023 Power management, e.g. system sleep and wake up provisions
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0263 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the direction in which child or item is located
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0266 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact distance between parent and child or surveyor and item
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to location and communication systems that can be utilized for locating people, pets and other objects with a software defined radio set. A personal electronic device (PED) such as a cellular telephone, personal data assistant (PDA) or other device that include a software defined radio set can be configured for operation as a locator device. The PED transmits a signal A transponder or micro-transponder (MT) that is tagged to an object is arranged to reply to a transmission received from the PED. The PED based locator is arranged to calculate a distance between the PED and the MT using the time-of-flight (TOF) between the transmission and the receipt of a reply. The absolute geographic position of the PED can be determined using satellite navigation information, while the position of the MT relative to the PED can be determined from the TOF information.

Claims

1. A method for determining a relative position of a transponder with a radio transceiver in personal electronic devices that also each include a satellite navigation system, the method comprising:

identifying a target ID associated with the transponder;

sending a transponder location request to each of the personal electronic devices;

receiving a location and distance measurement from each of the personal electronic devices after sending the transponder location request; and

calculating a location associated with the transponder from at least a portion of the received locations and distance measurements by;

determining a circle for each received distance measurement at a geographic position associated with the corresponding received location;

identifying one or more common point areas that are created by overlapping circles; and

identifying a calculated location and a calculated distance to the transponder based on the identified one or more common point areas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the location associated with the transponder from at least the portion of the received locations and distance measurements further comprises setting a radius of each circle according to a corresponding one of the received distance measurements.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to a requesting personal electronic device with the identified calculated location and calculated distance to the transponder, wherein a user initiated the transponder position determination with the requesting personal electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to a personal computer device with the identified calculated location and calculated distance to the transponder, wherein a user initiated the transponder position determination with the personal computer device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each identified personal electronic device is arranged for:

receiving the transponder location request;

executing a radio set configuration logic such that the radio transceiver is reconfigured from a cellular telephone mode to a locator mode to form a software configured radio transceiver, wherein the software configured radio transceiver is arranged for;

selecting the target ID associated with the transponder from the transponder location request;

coding a sequence for the selected target ID;

initiating a transmission of a structured multi-frame transmission to the transponder over a first time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

identifying a geographic location for a personal electronic device with the satellite navigation system when the transmission is initiated;

capturing samples of a signal spectrum over a second time interval that is subsequent to the first time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

correlating the captured samples over a third time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

detecting a valid reply from the transponder when the captured samples correlate to a structured reply transmission from the transponder with a reply cadence and frequency that substantially matches an expected reply cadence and frequency based on an internal clock of the personal electronic device; and

determining a round-trip time-of-flight between the transmission of the structured multi-frame transmission and the detected valid reply;

calculating a distance measurement from the determined round-trip time-of-flight;

and sending a message including the calculated distance measurement and the identified geographic location.

6. A system for determining a relative position of a transponder with personal electronic devices, the system comprising:

the transponder;

a satellite navigation system;

personal electronic devices (PEDs) that each comprise a radio transceiver;

a computing device that is configured to identify a target ID associated with the transponder and send a transponder location request to the PEDs;

wherein each of the PEDs is configured to perform operations, comprising;

receive the transponder location request;

determine a location and distance measurement of the transponder;

send the location and distance measurement to the computing device;

the computing device performing actions, comprising;

receiving locations and distance measurements from at least a portion of the PEDs;

calculating a location associated with the transponder from at least a portion of the received locations and distance measurements by;

determining a circle for each received distance measurement at a geographic position associated with the corresponding received location;

identifying one or more common point areas that are created by overlapping circles; and

identifying a calculated location and a calculated distance to the transponder based on the identified one or more common point areas.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein calculating the location associated with the transponder from at least the portion of the received locations and distance measurements further comprises setting a radius of each circle according to a corresponding one of the received distance measurements.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing device is a PED.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing device is a server.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein each of the PEDs is arranged for:

executing a radio set configuration logic such that the radio transceiver is reconfigured from a cellular telephone mode to a locator mode to form a software configured radio transceiver, wherein the software configured radio transceiver is arranged for;

selecting the target ID associated with the transponder from the transponder location request;

coding a sequence for the selected target ID;

initiating a transmission of a structured multi-frame transmission to the transponder over a first time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

identifying a geographic location for a personal electronic device with the satellite navigation system when the transmission is initiated;

capturing samples of a signal spectrum over a second time interval that is subsequent to the first time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

correlating the captured samples over a third time interval with the software configured radio transceiver;

detecting a valid reply from the transponder when the captured samples correlate to a structured reply transmission from the transponder with a reply cadence and frequency that substantially matches an expected reply cadence and frequency based on an internal clock of the personal electronic device; and

determining a round-trip time-of-flight between the transmission of the structured multi-frame transmission and the detected valid reply;

calculating a distance measurement from the determined round-trip time-of-flight; and

sending a message including the calculated distance measurement and the identified geographic location.