Apparatus, method, and software systems for smartphone-based fine-grained indoor localization
First Claim
1. A method of determining location of a portable electronic device within a region, the method comprising:
- emitting acoustic signals with a frequency bandwidth of about 17 to 20 KHZ from each of a plurality of source devices, the plurality of source devices being controlled to emit acoustic signals with an identifier of the respective source device at synchronized times, wherein each identifier of the respective source device is orthogonal to each of the other identifiers of the plurality of source devices;
receiving at a microphone on the portable electronic device acoustic signals from at least a portion of the plurality of source devices, wherein at least two acoustic signals of the acoustic signals comprise the same identifier and have different times of receipt at the microphone;
selecting from the at least two acoustic signals the acoustic signal with an earlier time of receipt;
performing code matching to identify a plurality of identifiers from the acoustic signals;
computing from the received acoustic signals a position of the portable electronic device with a resolution of less than 10 cm based at least in part on known location information of the source devices associated with the plurality of identifiers; and
automatically rendering information to a user of the portable electronic device selected based on the computed position.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for accurate, low-complexity, scalable indoor localization. Low-complexity anchor nodes generate acoustic beacon signals, which are passively detectable by a mobile device, which may be unmodified smartphones operating in an acoustic frequency range. The acoustic beacon signals are modulated via codes in a boundary band of audio and ultrasound frequencies, imperceptible to humans yet detectable via a voice microphone of an unmodified smartphone. An application on the mobile device passively captures the acoustic beacon signals and determines relative distances to the anchor nodes. Localization and distance update techniques, implemented on the mobile device and/or a remote server, determines and updates in real-time the location of the mobile device. The system may be scalable to support any number of mobile devices. Based on the tracked location, the indoor localization system may provide indoor location-based-services (LBS) to the mobile devices, and transmit to the mobile device information relevant to its location.
15 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of determining location of a portable electronic device within a region, the method comprising:
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emitting acoustic signals with a frequency bandwidth of about 17 to 20 KHZ from each of a plurality of source devices, the plurality of source devices being controlled to emit acoustic signals with an identifier of the respective source device at synchronized times, wherein each identifier of the respective source device is orthogonal to each of the other identifiers of the plurality of source devices; receiving at a microphone on the portable electronic device acoustic signals from at least a portion of the plurality of source devices, wherein at least two acoustic signals of the acoustic signals comprise the same identifier and have different times of receipt at the microphone; selecting from the at least two acoustic signals the acoustic signal with an earlier time of receipt; performing code matching to identify a plurality of identifiers from the acoustic signals; computing from the received acoustic signals a position of the portable electronic device with a resolution of less than 10 cm based at least in part on known location information of the source devices associated with the plurality of identifiers; and automatically rendering information to a user of the portable electronic device selected based on the computed position. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A portable electronic device comprising:
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a user output component; a voice microphone configured to receive voice input; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to process acoustic signals received through the voice microphone to select acoustic signals with amplitude exceeding a threshold, wherein each acoustic signal of the selected acoustic signals comprises a symbol associated with a source device, compute relative times of arrival of selected acoustic signals by synchronizing a pattern of transmission times of the selected acoustic signals with a list of symbols to obtain times of arrival of the selected acoustic signals with symbols associated with respective source devices, determine, based at least in part on the computed relative times of arrival of acoustic signals, a location of the portable electronic device with a resolution of less than 30 cm and render information through the user output component selected based on the determined location. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a device having a user output component and a voice microphone configured to receive voice input, perform of a method of:
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receiving a plurality of acoustic signals through the voice microphone at each of a plurality of times, wherein each acoustic signal of the plurality of acoustic signals comprises a unique symbol associated with a source device and wherein at least two acoustic signals of the plurality of acoustic signals comprise the same symbol and have different times of receipt at the voice microphone; selecting from the at least two acoustic signals of the plurality of acoustic signals the acoustic signal with an earlier time of receipt; synchronizing a pattern of transmission times of the plurality of acoustic signals with a list of symbols to obtain times of receipt of the selected acoustic signals with symbols associated with respective source devices; based on the times of receipt of the selected acoustic signals, determining a relative position between the device and respective sources of the plurality of acoustic signals with a resolution of less than 30 cm; based on locations of the sources of the acoustic signals, determining a position of the device; selecting information based on the determined position; and rendering the selected information on the user output component. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification