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

• US 9,961,508 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2017
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Original Assignee: Mapsted Corp.
• Inventors: Nagpal, Paramvir Singh, Huberman, Sean, Tan, Edward, Gulo, Eros
• Primary Examiner(s): Beamer, Temica M
• Application Number:
  US15/784,265
• Time in Patent Office: 197 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 based on the most likely locations for each floor and any of map constraints data and device movement 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, at least one wireless signal data, the at least one wireless signal data including a respective received signal strength measured value;

determining at least one candidate location of the device for each floor of the multiple floors of the indoor space based on the at least one wireless signal data; and

determining the floor and location of the device based on the at least one candidate location of the device for each floor and at least one of a map constraint feature and a heading determined in accordance with device sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one wireless signal data is one of a Bluetooth, a WiFi, a cellular and a GPS wireless signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the map constraint feature is at least one of a wall, a hallway, a door, a stairway, an elevator and an element having a known location.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the floor and location further based on historical routing information of the device.

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

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the historical routing information includes a set of previously recorded locations for the device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the device sensor data includes at least one of a device accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer and magnetometer data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising synchronizing a plurality of intervals in the gathering of the at least one wireless signal data with the device sensor 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 the determining the floor.

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, at least one wireless signal data, the at least one wireless signal data including a respective received signal strength measured value;

determining at least one candidate location of the device for each floor of the multiple floors of the indoor space based on the at least one wireless signal data; and

determining the floor and location of the device based on the at least one candidate location of the device for each floor and at least one of a map constraint feature and a heading determined in accordance with device sensor data.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one wireless signal data is one of a Bluetooth, a WiFi, a cellular and a GPS wireless signal.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the map constraint feature is at least one of a wall, a hallway, a door, a stairway, an elevator and an element having a known location.

14. The system of claim 11 further comprising determining the floor and location further based on historical routing information of the device.

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

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the historical routing information includes a set of previously recorded locations for the device.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the device sensor data includes at least one of a device accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer and magnetometer data.

18. The system of claim 11 further comprising synchronizing a plurality of intervals in the gathering of the at least one wireless signal data with the device sensor 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 the determining the floor.