Indoor position location using docked mobile devices

• US 9,398,412 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2013
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Prechner, Gaby, Banin, Leor, Amizur, Yuval
• Primary Examiner(s): Nealon, William
• Application Number:
  US14/038,718
• Publication Number:
  US 20150087330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 455/513, 342/387, 370/338
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

Examples are disclosed for a mobile device to determine its location by trilateration with docked mobile devices and, optionally, wireless access points. Locations are determined to within an accuracy of within three feet. The docked mobile devices are at fixed locations such as docked to a docking station. In some examples, a mobile device may perform ranging to the docked mobile devices and fixed wireless stations. Ranging may use a time-of-flight (ToF) process, and may compensate for multipath interference. Trilateration may consider relative accuracies of ranging components. Other examples are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus to locate an indoor position, comprising:

a processor circuit for a mobile device;

a gather component to be executed by the processor circuit to gather identification information and locations from one or more devices capable of wireles sly communicating with the mobile device, and at least one of the locations comprising a fixed location of a docking station, the fixed location received from a device of the one or more devices, and the device communicatively coupled with the docking station;

a range component to be executed by the processor circuit to determine ranges between the mobile device and the one or more devices based on a ranging process utilizing wireless signals, wherein at least one of the one or more devices comprises a docked mobile device coupled to the docking station; and

a trilateration component to be executed by the processor circuit to locate a position of the mobile device in an indoor environment based on the determined ranges to the one or more devices, the locations of the one or more devices, and the fixed location of the docking station received from the device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ranging process comprises a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging process.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ranging process comprises a channel estimation process to resolve multipath interferences.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ranging process recursively determines a location of a second wireless station based upon a location of a first wireless station determined by the ranging process.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trilateration component comprises a Bayesian estimation of position calculated from the determined ranges.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a calculated location of the mobile device has an accuracy of within three feet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein information gathered by the gather component comprises a docking status of at least some of the one or more devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trilateration component is configured to report ranges to a network processor for trilateration calculations.

9. A method to locate an indoor position, comprising:

gathering, by a processor circuit for a mobile device, identification information and locations from one or more devices capable of wireles sly communicating with the mobile device, and at least one of the locations comprising a fixed location of a docking station, the fixed location received from a device of the one or more devices, and the device communicatively coupled with the docking station;

ranging, by the processor circuit, to determine ranges between the mobile device and the one or more devices based on a ranging process utilizing wireless signals, wherein at least one of the devices comprises a docked mobile device coupled to the docking station; and

calculating, by the processor circuit, a location of the mobile device in an indoor environment from the determined ranges, the locations of the one or more devices, and the fixed location of the docking station received from the device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein ranging comprises calculating by use of a time-of-flight (ToF) process.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein ranging comprises resolving multipath interferences by use of a channel estimation process.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein ranging comprises recursively determining a location of a second docked mobile device based upon a location of a first docked mobile device determined by ranging.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein calculating comprises a trilateration component using a Bayesian estimation of position calculated from the determined ranges.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein a calculated location of the mobile device has an accuracy of within three feet.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein information gathered by the gather component comprises a docking status of at least some of the one or more devices.

16. One or more non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to being executed, cause a processor circuit to:

gather identification information and locations from one or more devices capable of wirelessly communicating with a mobile device, and at least one of the locations comprising a fixed location of a docking station, the fixed location received from a device of the one or more devices, and the device communicatively coupled with the docking station;

determine ranges between the mobile device and the one or more devices based on a ranging process utilizing wireless signals, wherein at least one of the devices comprises a docked mobile device coupled to the docking station; and

calculate a location of the mobile device based on the determined ranges to the one or more devices, the locations of the one or more devices, and the fixed location of the docking station received from the device.

17. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the ranging process comprises a time-of-flight (ToF) ranging process.

18. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the ranging process comprises a channel estimation process to resolve multipath interferences.

19. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the ranging process recursively determines a location of a second wireless station based upon a location of a first wireless station determined by the ranging process.

20. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein calculating includes a trilateration component comprising a Bayesian estimation of position calculated from the determined ranges.

21. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the location of the mobile device calculated by a trilateration component has an accuracy of within three feet.

22. The one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media of claim 16, wherein identification information gathered by a gather component comprises a docking status of at least some of the one or more devices.