Radio model updating

• US 8,744,749 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2012
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Rajarshi, Naguib, Ayman Fawzy, Aggarwal, Alok, Das, Saumitra Mohan, Sridhara, Vinay
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan K
• Application Number:
  US13/615,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20130017842A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: 701/431, 701/408, 701/50, 342/452, 342/451, 342/464, 455/456.1, 455/67.11
• US Class Current: 701/408
• 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 4/024 Guidance 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

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems, methods, apparatuses, devices, articles, and means for updating radio models. For certain example implementations, a method for one or more server devices may comprise receiving at one or more communication interfaces at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment. At least one radio model that is stored in one or more memories may be updated based, at least in part, on the at least one measurement to produce at least one updated radio model. The at least one radio model and the at least one updated radio model may correspond to the indoor environment. The at least one updated radio model may be transmitted to enable a second mobile device to use the at least one updated radio model for positioning within the indoor environment. Other example implementations are described herein.

Claims

1. A method for providing indoor navigation information to mobile devices from a server, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment at the server;

identifying, at the server, a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and map information associated with the indoor environment wherein the identifying includes comparing the position of the first mobile device with the map information to identify the conflict;

updating, at the server, the map information associated with the indoor environment to produce updated map information associated with the indoor environment, the updating being responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmitting the updated map information associated with the indoor environment from the server to a second mobile device to enable the second mobile device to use the updated map information for positioning within the indoor environment inferring the existence of a passageway connecting two areas of the indoor environment the existence of which was not indicated on the map information associated with the indoor environment based on the information received from the plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the conflict between the position of the first mobile device and the map information comprises the position of the first mobile device being associated with an area identified as inaccessible in the map information associated with the indoor environment.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising updating the map information associated with the indoor environment to indicate that the area identified as inaccessible is accessible.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the updating the map information is performed only if a threshold number of positions of mobile devices associated with the area identified as inaccessible are received.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the conflict comprises determining, based on the map information, that the first mobile device has moved through an obstacle identified in the map information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the map information associated with the indoor environment includes updating annotations associated with the map information.

7. A server for providing indoor navigation information to mobile devices, the server comprising:

means for receiving an indication of a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

means for identifying a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and map information associated with the indoor environment wherein the means for identifying the conflict includes means for comparing the position of the first mobile device with the map information to identify the conflict;

means for updating the map information associated with the indoor environment to produce updated map information associated with the indoor environment, the means for updating being configured to update the map information responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

means for transmitting the updated map information associated with the indoor environment to a second mobile device to enable the second mobile device to use the updated map information for positioning within the indoor environment inferring the existence of a passageway connecting two areas of the indoor environment the existence of which was not indicated on the map information associated with the indoor environment based on the information received from the plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment.

8. The server of claim 7 wherein the conflict between the position of the first mobile device and the map information comprises the position of the first mobile device being associated with an area identified as inaccessible in the map information associated with the indoor environment.

9. The server of claim 8 further wherein the means for updating the map information includes means for updating the map information associated with the indoor environment to indicate that the area identified as inaccessible is accessible.

10. The server of claim 9 wherein the means for updating the map information includes means for performing the updating the map information only if a threshold number of positions of mobile devices associated with the area identified as inaccessible are received.

11. The server of claim 7 wherein the means for identifying the conflict comprises means for determining, based on the map information, that the first mobile device has moved through an obstacle identified in the map information.

12. The server of claim 7 wherein the means for updating the map information associated with the indoor environment includes means for updating annotations associated with the map information.

13. An article comprising:

at least one storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by one or more processors of a server for providing indoor navigation information to mobile devices, the instructions being configured to cause the one or more processors to;

receive via one or more communication interfaces an indication of a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

identify a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and map information associated with the indoor environment including comparing the position of the first mobile device with the map information to identify the conflict;

update the map information associated with the indoor environment responsive to the conflict being identified to produce updated map information associated with the indoor environment, the update being responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmit the updated map information associated with the indoor environment to a second mobile device to enable the second mobile device to use the updated map information for positioning within the indoor environment inferring the existence of a passageway connecting two areas of the indoor environment the existence of which was not indicated on the map information associated with the indoor environment based on the information received from the plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment.

14. The article of claim 13 wherein the conflict between the position of the mobile device and the map information comprises the position of the mobile device being associated with an area identified as inaccessible in the map information associated with the indoor environment.

15. The article of claim 14 further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to update the map information associated with the indoor environment to indicate that the area identified as inaccessible is accessible.

16. The article of claim 15 further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to update the map information only if a threshold number of positions of mobile devices associated with the area identified as inaccessible are received.

17. The article of claim 13 wherein the instructions to cause the one or more processors to identify the conflict comprise instructions to cause the one or more processors to determine, based on the map information, that the first mobile device has moved through an obstacle identified in the map information.

18. The article of claim 13 wherein the instructions to cause the one or more processors to update the map information associated with the indoor environment includes instructions to cause the one or more processors to update annotations associated with the map information.

19. A server comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive via one or more communication interfaces at least one measurement that corresponds to a position of a first mobile device within an indoor environment;

compare the position of the first mobile device within the indoor environment with a map information associated with the indoor environment to identify a conflict between the position of the first mobile device and the map information associated with the indoor environment;

update the map information associated with the indoor environment to produce updated map information associated with the indoor environment, the one or more processors being configured to update the map information responsive to the conflict being identified a threshold number of times based on information received from a plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment; and

transmit the updated map information associated with the indoor environment to second mobile device to enable the second mobile device to use the updated map information for positioning within the indoor environment inferring the existence of a passageway connecting two areas of the indoor environment the existence of which was not indicated on the map information associated with the indoor environment based on the information received from the plurality of mobiles devices providing indications of the positions of the mobile devices within the indoor environment.

20. The server of claim 19 wherein the conflict between the position of the mobile device and the map information comprises the position of the mobile device being associated with an area identified as inaccessible in the map information associated with the indoor environment.

21. The server of claim 20 wherein the processor is further configured to the map information associated with the indoor environment to indicate that the area identified as inaccessible is accessible.

22. The server of claim 21 wherein the processor is further configured to update the map information to indicate that the area identified as inaccessible is accessible only if a threshold number of positions of mobile devices associated with the area identified as inaccessible are received.

23. The server of claim 19 wherein the processor being configured to identify the conflict is further configured to determine, based on the map information, that the first mobile device has moved through an obstacle identified in the map information.

24. The server of claim 19 wherein the one or more processors being configured to update the map information associated with the indoor environment is further configured to update annotations associated with the map information.