Systems and methods for determining indoor location and floor of a mobile device

• US 9,838,850 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2017
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Original Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Inventors: Huberman, Sean, Gulo, Eros, Tan, Edward, Nagpal, Paramvir Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Beamer, Temica M
• Application Number:
  US15/593,373
• Publication Number:
  US 20170251338A1
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554562, 4554565, 4554566
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure related to methods and systems of determining the floor and location of a device in an indoor space having multiple floors. A map importing module takes a floor map of an indoor space and processes it for further use. A calibration module creates a fingerprint map of the indoor space described by the floor map. A floor localization module searches the fingerprint map of each floor to determine the most likely location for each floor. A floor detection module determines the floor and location by comparing the most likely locations for each floor and utilizing device movement history data.

Claims

1. A method of determining a floor and location of a device within an indoor space having multiple floors, the device having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:

gathering, using the processor and the memory, device Wi-Fi data and device Bluetooth data, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data including respective Wi-Fi and Bluetooth received signal strength measured values;

determining at least one candidate location of the device for each floor of the multiple floors of the indoor space based at least on the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data;

determining a most likely location of the device for each floor by combining the at least one candidate location for each floor with step module data and anticipation module data; and

determining the floor and location of the device from the most likely location of the device for each floor and the device movement history.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data using a time-sensitive moving average.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the anticipation module data comprises map constraints.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anticipation module data comprises routing information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the routing information comprises a start location, an end location, and a route from the start location to the end location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step module data comprises a step length and a heading based on the device sensor data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the device movement history comprises a set of previously recorded locations for the device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing a plurality of intervals in the gathering of the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the synchronizing varies for each floor.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the synchronizing is done during floor detection.

11. A system for determining a position of a device in an indoor location, the system comprising:

a memory;

a processor;

a module including instructions stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, determines the position of the device in the indoor location by performing the steps of;

gathering, using the processor and the memory, device Wi-Fi data and device Bluetooth data, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data including respective Wi-Fi and Bluetooth received signal strength measured values;

determining at least one candidate location of the device for each floor of the multiple floors of the indoor location based at least on the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data;

determining a most likely location of the device for each floor by combining the at least one candidate location for each floor with step module data and anticipation module data; and

determining the floor and location of the device from the most likely location of the device for each floor and the device movement history.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising processing the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data using a time-sensitive moving average.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the anticipation module data comprises map constraints.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the anticipation module data comprises routing information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the routing Information comprises a start location, an end location, and a route from the start location to the end location.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein step module data comprises a step length and a heading based on the device sensor data.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the device movement history comprises a set of previously recorded locations for the device.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising synchronizing a plurality of intervals in the gathering of the device Wi-Fi data and the device Bluetooth data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the synchronizing varies for each floor.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the synchronizing is done during floor detection.