Methods and apparatuses for mobile station centric determination of positioning assistance data

• US 9,622,042 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2015
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Rajarshi, Garin, Lionel Jacques, Khorashadi, Behrooz
• Primary Examiner(s): Arevalo, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US14/596,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20150126229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 4554562, 4554561, 4554563, 455466, 370466, 370419, 370474, 370254, 370343, 370252
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are provided which may be implemented in various devices to generate positioning assistance data and/or the like by mobile station with regard to at least one of a plurality of different indoor regions.

Claims

1. A mobile station, comprising:

a network interface to receive digital electronic signals transmitted over a communication network from a network device external to the mobile station; and

a processor configured to;

obtain, from the digital electronic signals, one or more documents comprising one or more first maps, the one or more first maps comprising one or more descriptions or characterizations of at least a portion of an environment;

extract one or more features from the one or more descriptions or characterizations; and

determine one or more annotations for at least one second map based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted, wherein the one or more annotations comprise positioning assistance data, wherein the positioning assistance data comprises positioning determination assistance data, navigation determination assistance data, or a combination thereof, and the navigation determination assistance data comprises a routing graph, connectivity graph, feasibility graph, or a combination thereof.

2. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more descriptions or characterizations of at least a portion of the environment comprise at least one CAD file or document.

3. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more features extracted comprise walls, doors, entry/exit points, or a combination thereof.

4. The mobile station of claim 1, the processor to further determine one or more regions for which movement or access is feasible or infeasible based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted.

5. The mobile station of claim 4, the processor to further determine a dense connectivity graph based, at least in part, on the determined one or more regions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing one or more navigation operations in at least one indoor region based, at least in part, on the positioning assistance data.

7. A mobile station comprising:

means for obtaining one or more documents comprising one or more first maps, the one or more first maps comprising one or more descriptions or characterizations, from digital electronic signals, of at least a portion of an environment, wherein the digital electronic signals are received from a network device external to the mobile station;

means for extracting one or more features from the one or more descriptions or characterizations; and

means for determining one or more annotations for at least one second map based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted, wherein the one or more annotations comprise positioning assistance data, wherein the positioning assistance data comprises positioning determination assistance data, navigation determination assistance data, or a combination thereof, and the navigation determination assistance data comprises a routing graph, connectivity graph, feasibility graph, or a combination thereof.

8. The mobile station of claim 7, wherein the one or more features extracted comprise walls, doors, entry/exit points, or a combination thereof.

9. The mobile station of claim 7, further comprising means for determining one or more regions for which movement or access is feasible or infeasible based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted.

10. The mobile station of claim 7, wherein the one or more descriptions or characterizations comprise descriptions or characterizations of one or more transmitters located within the at least a portion of the environment.

11. The mobile station of claim 10, further comprising means for computing a radio heatmap covering the at least a portion of the environment based, at least in part, on the descriptions or characterizations of the one or more transmitters.

12. A non-transitory storage medium having machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by a special purpose computing apparatus of a mobile station to:

obtain one or more documents comprising one or more first maps, the one or more first maps comprising one or more descriptions or characterizations, from digital electronic signals, at least a portion of an environment from at least one repository device external to the mobile station;

extract one or more features from the one or more descriptions or characterizations; and

determine one or more annotations for at least one second map based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted, wherein the one or more annotations comprise positioning assistance data, wherein the positioning assistance data comprises positioning determination assistance data, navigation determination assistance data, or a combination thereof, and the navigation determination assistance data comprises a routing graph, connectivity graph, feasibility graph, or a combination thereof.

13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12, wherein the machine-readable instructions are further executable by the special purpose computing apparatus to determine one or more regions for which movement or access is feasible or infeasible based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted.

14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13, wherein the machine-readable instructions are further executable by the special purpose computing apparatus to determine a dense connectivity graph based, at least in part, on the determined one or more regions.

15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the machine-readable instructions are further executable by the special purpose computing apparatus to reduce the dense connectivity graph into a routing graph.

16. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12, wherein the machine-readable instructions are further executable by the special purpose computing apparatus to compute a radio heatmap covering the at least a portion of the environment based, at least in part, on descriptions or characterizations of the one or more transmitters.

17. A method comprising, at a mobile station:

processing, by a processor of the mobile station, digital electronic signals comprising one or more documents comprising one or more first maps, the one or more first maps comprising one or more descriptions or characterizations of at least a portion of an environment, wherein the digital electronic signals are received by the mobile station from a network device external to the mobile station;

extracting, by the processor, one or more features from the one or more descriptions or characterizations; and

determining, by the processor, one or more annotations for at least one second map based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted, wherein the one or more annotations comprise positioning assistance data, wherein the positioning assistance data comprises positioning determination assistance data, navigation determination assistance data, or a combination thereof, and the navigation determination assistance data comprises a routing graph, connectivity graph, feasibility graph, or a combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more descriptions or characterizations of at least a portion of the environment comprise at least one CAD file or document.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more features extracted comprise one or more of:

walls, doors, or entry/exit points.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining, by the processor, one or more regions for which movement or access is feasible or infeasible based, at least in part, on the one or more features extracted.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising determining, by the processor, a dense connectivity graph based, at least in part, on the determined one or more regions.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising reducing, by the processor, the dense connectivity graph into a routing graph.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining, by the processor, a probability map based, at least in part, on the routing graph.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more descriptions or characterizations comprise descriptions or characterizations of one or more transmitters located within the at least a portion of the environment.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising computing, by the processor, a radio heatmap covering the at least a portion of the environment based, at least in part, on the descriptions or characterizations of the one or more transmitters.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the positioning determination assistance data comprises one or more of a signal heatmap or probability map.