Determining indoor location of devices using reference points and sensors

• US 9,456,311 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ozkan, Mehmet
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Michael T
• Application Number:
  US14/246,355
• Publication Number:
  US 20150289111A1
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/04 using association of physical positions and logical data in a dedicated environment, e.g. buildings or vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for determining the indoor location of devices such as smartphones and tablet computers using reference points and sensors. According to one aspect disclosed herein, an environment analytics system can retrieve a layout of an environment and determines an absolute reference point for the layout. The environment analytics system also can determine a coordinate pair for a point associated with an area of the layout. The coordinate pair can be determined relative to the absolute reference point. The environment analytics system also can determine a coordinate pair for a beacon deployed within the area. The coordinate pair can be associated with a unique address of the beacon. The environment analytics system can update beacon data in an environment database to include the coordinate pair for the beacon and the unique address of the beacon.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving, by an environment analytics system comprising a processor, a layout of an environment, wherein retrieving the layout of the environment comprises retrieving the layout from an environment database;

determining, by the environment analytics system, an absolute reference point for the layout of the environment;

determining, by the environment analytics system, a coordinate pair for a point associated with an area of the layout, the coordinate pair being determined relative to the absolute reference point;

receiving, by the environment analytics system, a query from a user device, the query comprising an identifier of the point and a request for data associated with the environment in which the point associated with the identifier is located;

in response to the query, providing, by the environment analytics system, the layout of the environment to the user device;

querying, by the environment analytics system, a user coordinates table stored in the environment database for user coordinates associated with users located within the environment during a given time interval;

defining, by the environment analytics system, a section of the layout of the environment to be analyzed;

determining, by the environment analytics system, user location updates that occur within the section;

determining, by the environment analytics system, a time of entry into the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates;

determining, by the environment analytics system, a time of exit from the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates;

determining, by the environment analytics system, based upon the time of entry and the time of exit for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates, a time spent in the section for each user; and

calculating, by the environment analytics system, an average time spent by averaging the time spent in the section for each user during the given time interval.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the environment database is associated with the environment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the environment database is associated with a further environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating environment data stored in the environment database to include the absolute reference point and the coordinate pair for the point associated with the area of the layout.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the point corresponds with a beacon and the identifier of the point corresponds to a unique address of the beacon, and wherein the method further comprises:

associating the coordinate pair for the point with the unique address of the beacon; and

updating beacon data stored in the environment database to include the coordinate pair and the unique address of the beacon.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving calibration data from the user device, the calibration data comprising a distance value, a signal strength value, and the unique address of the beacon, the distance value indicating a distance of the user device from the beacon; and

updating the beacon data stored in the environment database to include the calibration data in association with the beacon and a specification of the user device, wherein the beacon data is useable by a further user device that also has the specification of the user device to calculate a location of the further user device within the environment.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a coordinate system to the layout of the environment, the coordinate system comprising the absolute reference point;

determining a minimum coordinate pair and a maximum coordinate pair;

determining a granularity;

determining a time interval;

setting a first coordinate equal to a first minimum coordinate of the minimum coordinate pair;

setting a second coordinate equal to a second minimum coordinate of the minimum coordinate pair;

setting a third coordinate equal to a sum of the first minimum coordinate and the granularity;

setting a fourth coordinate equal to a sum of the second minimum coordinate and the granularity;

querying the environment database for a number of unique user location records with a first location coordinate between the first coordinate and the third coordinate, a second location coordinate between the second coordinate and the fourth coordinate, and a timestamp within the time interval;

determining heat map color codes for a plurality of different numbers of unique user location records; and

generating a heat map comprising a plurality of areas representing at least a portion of the heat map color codes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a time interval;

determining borders of a promotional area within the layout, the promotional area being associated with a plurality of beacons that define the borders of the promotional area;

querying the environment database for a number of unique user location records within the borders of the promotional area;

querying the environment database for a number of sales of an item located within the promotional area;

calculating a ratio of sales to the number of unique user location records; and

determining, based upon the ratio, a success rate of a promotion associated with the item.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

retrieving a layout of an environment, wherein retrieving the layout of the environment comprises retrieving the layout from an environment database,

determining an absolute reference point for the layout of the environment,

determining a coordinate pair for a point associated with an area of the layout, the coordinate pair being determined relative to the absolute reference point,

receiving a query from a user device, the query comprising an identifier of the point and a request for data associated with the environment in which the point associated with the identifier is located,

in response to the query, providing the layout of the environment to the user device,

querying a user coordinates table stored in the environment database for user coordinates associated with users located within the environment during a given time interval,

defining a section of the layout of the environment to be analyzed,

determining user location updates that occur within the section,

determining a time of entry into the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates,

determining a time of exit from the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates,

determining, based upon the time of entry and the time of exit for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates, a time spent in the section for each user, and

calculating an average time spent by averaging the time spent in the section for each user during the given time interval.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise updating environment data stored in the environment database to include the absolute reference point and the coordinate pair for the point associated with the area of the layout.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the point corresponds with a beacon and the identifier of the point corresponds to a unique address of the beacon, and wherein the operations further comprise:

associating the coordinate pair for the point with the unique address of the beacon; and

updating beacon data stored in the environment database to include the coordinate pair and the unique address of the beacon.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving calibration data from the user device, the calibration data comprising a distance value, a signal strength value, and the unique address of the beacon, the distance value indicating a distance of the user device from the beacon; and

updating the beacon data stored in the environment database to include the calibration data in association with the beacon and a specification of the user device, wherein the beacon data is useable by a further user device that also has the specification of the user device to calculate a location of the further user device within the environment.

13. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a system, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

retrieving a layout of an environment, wherein retrieving the layout of the environment comprises retrieving the layout from an environment database;

determining an absolute reference point for the layout of the environment;

determining a coordinate pair for a point associated with an area of the layout, the coordinate pair being determined relative to the absolute reference point;

receiving a query from a user device, the query comprising an identifier of the point and a request for data associated with the environment in which the point associated with the identifier is located;

in response to the query, providing the layout of the environment to the user device;

querying a user coordinates table stored in the environment database for user coordinates associated with users located within the environment during a given time interval;

defining a section of the layout of the environment to be analyzed;

determining user location updates that occur within the section;

determining a time of entry into the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates;

determining a time of exit from the section for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates;

determining, based upon the time of entry and the time of exit for each user associated with at least one of the user location updates, a time spent in the section for each user; and

calculating an average time spent by averaging the time spent in the section for each user during the given time interval.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise updating environment data stored in the environment database to include the absolute reference point and the coordinate pair for the point associated with the area of the layout.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the point corresponds with a beacon and the identifier of the point corresponds to a unique address of the beacon, and wherein the operations further comprise:

associating the coordinate pair for the point with the unique address of the beacon; and

updating beacon data stored in the environment database to include the coordinate pair and the unique address of the beacon.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving calibration data from the user device, the calibration data comprising a distance value, a signal strength value, and the unique address of the beacon, the distance value indicating a distance of the user device from the beacon; and

updating the beacon data stored in the environment database to include the calibration data in association with the beacon and a specification of the user device, wherein the beacon data is useable by a further user device that also has the specification of the user device to calculate a location of the further user device within the environment.