REVERSE-BEACON INDOOR POSITIONING SYSTEM USING EXISTING DETECTION FIELDS

• US 20180139577A1
• Filed: 12/21/2017
• Published: 05/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ivani, LLC
• Original Assignee: Ivani, LLC
• Inventors: Wootton, Matthew, Lye, Liani, Zhang, Kevin, Dieseldorff, Boris, Wootton, John
• Granted Patent: US 10,321,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/12 operating with electromagnetic waves operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0018 based on latency requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Indoor positioning systems and methods including a reverse-beacon for location determination and presence sensing technology. The reverse-beacon is any device comprising a transceiver and a computer operating with system nodes and will generally be in the form of a smartphone or other mobile computer. The systems and methods utilize wireless signals of any device that adheres to a general-purpose communication protocol, such as Bluetooth™ and Wi-Fi, to provide location-based services such as location determination and acting as a ground-truth field for presence sensing systems. The systems and methods operate by passively licensing to wireless communications that take place during the ordinarily course of operation of a wireless network irrespective of the presence of the reverse-beacon.

Claims

1. A method for locating a reverse-beacon in a detection field comprising:

providing a reverse-beacon comprising a transceiver;

a computer;

providing a plurality of system nodes deployed to form a detection field;

moving said reverse-beacon into said detection field;

receiving first system node signals from a first system node In said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

receiving second system node signals from a second system node in said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

receiving third system node signals from a third system node in said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

converting at said computer said first system node signals, said second system node signals, and said third system node signals to a historical dataset comprising;

a first system node identifier and a first system node distance metric associated with said first system node; and

a second system node identifier and a second system node distance metric associated with said second system node;

a third system node identifier and a third system node distance metric associated with said third system node;

repeating said receiving first system node signals step, said receiving second system node signals step, said receiving third system node signals steps, and said converting steps a plurality of times to form a plurality of said historical datasets;

determining at said computer a location of said reverse-beacon relative to said first system, node, said second, system node, and said third system node, based upon, comparing each of said historical datasets in said plurality of historical datasets to calculate a location of said reverse-beacon in said detection field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said reverse-beacon comprises a mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said reverse-beacon comprises a smart phone or tablet computer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said reverse-beacon comprises a wearable computer device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first system node is selected from the group consisting of:

a computer;

a network device; and

a smart appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at said computer a location determination status of said reverse-beacon with respect to said detection field.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said location determination status is selected from the group consisting of:

approaching;

departing;

in room;

static; and

mobile.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer comprises a local network computer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said reverse-beacon includes said local network computer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer comprises a wireless computer server communicably coupled to said transceiver over a telecommunications network.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a third party system;

operating said third party system based at least in part on said location of said reverse-beacon determined in said determining step.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said third party system is selected from the group consisting oft an electrical system;

a lighting system;

a heating, venting, and cooling (HVAC) system;

a security system;

a home automation system;

an industrial automation system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said detection field is formed by wireless communications using a protocol selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth™

, Bluetooth™

Low Energy, ANT, ANT+, WiFi, Zigbee, Thread, and E-Wave.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one said system node in said plurality of system nodes is configured to communicate using a different communication protocol than at least one other system node in said plurality of system nodes.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said detection field is disposed within an indoor space and said determining step further comprises determining at said computer a location of said reverse-beacon relative to said first system node, said second system, node, and said third system node, based upon comparing each of said historical datasets in said plurality of historical datasets to triangulate a location of said reverse-beacon in said detection field.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by said reverse-beacon only passively receiving wireless communication signals from said plurality of system nodes.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by said reverse-beacon actively receiving wireless communication signals from said plurality of system nodes.

18. A system for locating a reverse-beacon in a detection field comprising:

a computer;

p1 a plurality of system nodes deployed to form a detection field;

a reverse-beacon comprising a transceiver, a computer, and a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium having program instructions thereon which, when executed by said computer, cause said reverse-beacon to perform the steps of;

receiving first system node signals from a first system node in said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

receiving second system node signals from a second system node in said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

receiving third system node signals from a third system node in said plurality of system nodes at said transceiver;

converting at said first system node signals, said second system node signals, and said third system node signals to a historical dataset comprising;

a first system node identifier and a first system node distance metric associated with said first system node; and

a second system node identifier and a second system node distance metric associated with said second system node;

a third system node identifier and a third system node distance metric associated with said third system node;

repeating said receiving first system node signals step, said receiving second system node signals step, said receiving third system node signals steps, and said converting steps a plurality of times to form a plurality of said historical datasets;

determining a location of said reverse-beacon relative to said first system node, said second system node, and said third system node, based upon comparing each of said historical datasets in said plurality of historical datasets to calculate a location of said reverse-beacon in said detection field.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a third-party system;

a computer server;

wherein said program instructions thereon which, when executed by said computer, further cause said reverse-beacon to perform the steps of;

transmitting said determined location of said reverse-beacon to said computer server;

wherein said computer server comprises a non-volatile computer-readable medium having program instructions thereon which, when executed by said computer server, cause said computer server to operate said third party system based at least in part on said determined location of said re verse-beacon.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said third party system is selected from the group consisting of:

an electrical system;

a lighting system;

a heating, venting, and cooling (HVAC) system;

a security system;

a home automation system;

an industrial automation system.