WO2012088833A1

WO2012088833A1 - Positioning method and terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2012088833A1
Application number: PCT/CN2011/075158
Authority: WO
Inventors: 谢峰; 祝建建; 陈琳; 黄莹
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2010-12-28
Filing date: 2011-06-02
Publication date: 2012-07-05
Also published as: CN102075936A

Abstract

A positioning method and terminal are provided in the present invention, wherein the method includes the steps of judging whether a terminal is located in an indoor condition (101); when the terminal is located in the indoor condition, performing the indoor height positioning for the terminal by using a first positioning manner and/or performing the indoor horizontal positioning for the terminal by using a second positioning manner (102). The present invention uses a pressure altimeter or barometer to perform the indoor height positioning for the terminal and/or perform the horizontal positioning for the terminal in combination with the result of the height positioning, and therefore the problems that the requirements of the precision and positioning delay time for the height and horizontal positioning are different in the indoor navigation and positioning service are solved by using two positioning manners. So the positioning delay time can be reduced while the positioning precision is improved and the users' experience of the indoor navigation and positioning can be improved, and the requirements for respective applications including the indoor navigation and positioning etc are satisfied.

Description

Positioning method and terminal

The present invention relates to the field of positioning and navigation technologies, and in particular, to a positioning method and a terminal. Background technique

Radiolocation and navigation technology has been widely used in the commercial field, mainly including satellite positioning technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), base station positioning technology, for example, in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project) ) The location service (LCS, Location Service) and the Long Term Evolution Location Protocol (LPP), or the location-based service (LBS) introduced by IEEE 802.16e/m, based on wireless LAN or personal network Wireless positioning technologies, such as wireless broadband (WIFI, Wireless Fidelity), Bluetooth, infrared positioning technology, and radio frequency identification (RFID) positioning technology. These positioning technologies have been widely used in people's daily life. Positioning technology is usually combined with navigation services. Therefore, it is also called navigation and positioning technology. The system that provides corresponding services is called navigation and positioning system.

Generally, a location service has two system structures. One is that a user who needs to locate a service (the device used can be called a user device) locates itself (the target terminal is a user device); the other is that the user device passes the service. The network requests the location of the target terminal. Generally, a terminal without a base station communication capability can only use the former system structure, that is, can only provide a service for positioning itself; and a terminal having a base station communication capability can provide both a positioning for itself and other user terminals. Provide location services.

A wireless positioning system represented by a satellite positioning system and a base station positioning system uses radio waves for positioning, which can give the height of the target object and the position of the horizontal plane (for example, expressed by coordinates, and the typical horizontal coordinates are composed of longitude and latitude). Accuracy of height and horizontal positioning Constrained by the positioning technology, in general, the GPS satellite positioning technology is used to locate outdoor objects with an accuracy of about 10 meters. The positioning accuracy of the outdoor objects by base station positioning technology is about 50 meters.

The radio wave will fading during propagation, and reflection, refraction, etc. will occur when an obstacle is encountered. When radio waves propagate indoors, wireless signals often hit obstacles such as walls, and the transmitted signals will be significantly attenuated and refracted. When reflected by the wall, the path will change significantly. Therefore, when using a wireless signal from a satellite or a base station for positioning, due to the attenuation, reflection, and refraction of the wireless signal, the receiver (such as a mobile phone) cannot receive the signal normally, and the received signal may also arrive at a time ratio of the signal. It is later in the case of barrier-free, that is, the signal is likely to reach the receiver through a longer path such as reflection, refraction, etc., and the signal of the same transmitter may reach the receiver through multiple paths, which will result in the transmitter and receiver. The distance between them is difficult to be accurately estimated, resulting in a large drop in positioning accuracy. Moreover, the accuracy of indoor positioning is much higher than that of outdoor positioning. Generally, outdoor positioning accuracy of about 10 meters can meet the needs of typical applications such as navigation. However, indoor positioning must be located on a specific floor (the accuracy is less than 3 meters), and then locate the specific room to meet the needs of navigation and other applications. In fact, even with some more advanced positioning methods, such as GPS and base station positioning for joint positioning of the assisted GPS (A-GPS, Assisted GPS) method, its indoor positioning accuracy is only in the range of 20-50 meters. , far from meeting the needs of indoor navigation and positioning. Summary of the invention

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A primary object of the present invention is to provide a positioning method and terminal for improving the accuracy of indoor positioning.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a positioning method, including:

Determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

When the terminal is in the indoor environment, the terminal is indoorly positioned by the first positioning mode and/or the indoor positioning is performed by the second positioning mode. Preferably, the first positioning mode comprises using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer for height positioning; the second positioning mode comprises horizontal positioning with or without the result of height positioning.

Preferably, the step of performing indoor height positioning on the terminal by using the first positioning manner further includes:

The pneumatic altimeter or barometer is calibrated.

Preferably, the calibration method of the pneumatic altimeter or barometer comprises at least one of the following: performing calibration according to user input, performing calibration according to radio positioning technology, performing calibration according to data of neighboring base stations, and performing data according to adjacent terminals. Calibration; wherein, the radio positioning technology includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology, and radio frequency identification technology.

Preferably, the first positioning manner comprises: calculating a height of the terminal according to a measured value of a barometric altimeter or a barometer and an auxiliary calibration parameter; the auxiliary calibration parameter comprises at least one of: a height of a neighboring base station, a phase The measured value of the barometric altimeter or barometer at the neighboring base station, the temperature at the target terminal, the humidity at the target terminal, the temperature at the neighboring base station, and the humidity at the adjacent base station.

Preferably, the first positioning manner further comprises performing high positioning using a radio positioning technology. Preferably, after the step of performing indoor height positioning on the terminal by using the first positioning manner and/or performing indoor horizontal positioning on the terminal by using the second positioning manner, the method further includes:

The terminal acquires a map of a local building;

Display the positioning results in conjunction with the local building map.

Preferably, the step of displaying the positioning result in combination with the local building map further comprises: correcting/calibrating the displayed positioning result.

Preferably, the manner in which the terminal acquires a local building map includes: the terminal acquiring a local building map through a nearby base station and/or a core network; the base station and/or the core network adopting a terminal identifier and/or a user identifier The terminal acquires the authority of the local building map for control.

Preferably, the base station is a home base station; and the home base station and/or the core network pass the access control The list controls the authority of the terminal to acquire a local building map.

Preferably, the horizontal positioning of the combined height positioning result comprises:

Selecting and/or filtering and/or weighting the horizontally located data source according to the result of the high positioning; the horizontally positioned data source comprises at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station positioning data, wireless local area network/personal network positioning data , radio frequency identification positioning data.

Initiating the indoor positioning mode; the starting indoor positioning mode includes manually starting the indoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the indoor positioning mode.

Preferably, the step of determining whether the terminal is in the indoor environment further comprises: starting the outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in the outdoor environment; and starting the outdoor positioning mode by manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal The outdoor positioning mode is automatically activated.

Preferably, the method further comprises: performing indoor or outdoor positioning on the terminal according to the first positioning manner and the priority of the second positioning manner.

The invention also provides a positioning terminal, comprising:

a judging module, configured to determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

An indoor positioning module, configured to perform indoor height positioning on the terminal by using a first positioning manner, and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning on the terminal by using a second positioning manner when the terminal is in an indoor environment; The method includes height positioning using a pneumatic altimeter or barometer; the second positioning mode includes horizontal positioning with or without the result of the height positioning.

Preferably, the terminal further includes:

A calibration module for calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer.

Preferably, the terminal further includes:

a map acquisition module, configured to acquire a map of a local building;

A map display module for displaying positioning results in conjunction with a local building map.

Preferably, the terminal further includes: And a startup module, configured to activate an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment; or activate an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment.

The positioning method and the terminal provided by the invention use a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer to perform horizontal positioning of the terminal on the terminal and/or combined with the height positioning result, and solve the indoor navigation and positioning service by using two positioning methods. Different requirements for height and positioning accuracy and positioning delay time are required. When the positioning accuracy is improved, the positioning delay time is reduced, and the user experience of indoor navigation positioning is improved, thereby satisfying various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning. demand. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of a positioning method according to the present invention;

2 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of a positioning method of the present invention;

3 is a schematic structural view of an embodiment of a positioning terminal according to the present invention;

4 is a schematic structural view of another embodiment of a positioning terminal according to the present invention.

In order to make the technical solutions of the present invention clearer and clearer, the following will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. detailed description

The solution of the embodiment of the present invention is mainly: horizontally positioning the terminal by using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer, and/or combining the results of the height positioning to improve the positioning accuracy of the terminal indoor.

With the widespread popularity of navigation and positioning applications, navigation and location services are expected to be used in more situations in life. For example, people often find that they can't find their own car in the underground parking lot. They can't find the brand store they want in the commercial building. They can't find the department office to go to in the office building. Need to use indoor navigation and positioning services. Existing terminals with navigation and positioning functions are generally based on satellite positioning technology or base station positioning technology, due to these two Bit technology uses radio signals for positioning, and the reflection, refraction, and attenuation of radio signals in the event of obstacles can significantly reduce the accuracy of radio positioning. Therefore, the existing terminal with navigation and positioning function can only realize the navigation and positioning service in the outdoor, and when the user enters the room, the positioning accuracy that is too low cannot meet the accuracy requirement of the indoor navigation and positioning.

From the accuracy requirements of indoor navigation and positioning services, the indoor navigation and positioning service is different from the outdoor navigation and positioning service. The main difference is that the indoor navigation and positioning service has higher requirements for altitude positioning than the requirements for horizontal positioning. Usually, a difference of 3 meters in height means that there is a difference of 1 floor, and the floor map displayed by the terminal is completely different, which will result in a decrease in user experience, and in terms of horizontal positioning, even if the difference is 3 meters or even 10 meters. The user can know his or her location through the map of the floor displayed on the terminal, and does not affect the navigation service too much. In addition, in indoor navigation and positioning services, the response speed requirement for altitude positioning is also higher than the response speed requirement for horizontal plane positioning. Based on the above analysis, the embodiment of the present invention proposes a method for performing height positioning and water level positioning by using two positioning methods respectively, so as to solve the problem that the height and the accuracy of the horizontal plane positioning and the positioning delay time are different in the indoor navigation and positioning service. Improve the positioning accuracy while reducing the positioning delay time to improve the user experience of indoor navigation positioning.

As shown in FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the present invention provides a positioning method, including:

Step 101: Determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment.

In the manner of judging whether the terminal is in the indoor environment, the terminal can automatically select, for example, an automatic mode, or the user can manually select, for example, a designated mode.

When the terminal automatically selects, the terminal can determine whether the terminal carried by the user is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set condition, for example: the terminal can determine whether the terminal is indoor or outdoor according to the geographical location given by the GPS positioning and the corresponding map; It is also possible to judge whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors based on the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal is weakened to a predetermined condition, the terminal can be considered to have arrived indoors.

When manually selected by the user, taking the mobile phone as an example, when turning on the mobile phone or turning on the mobile phone When the function is enabled, the mobile phone can be provided to the user to manually select whether to enter the room through the display, and the user can select the environment in which the corresponding terminal is located according to the environment or indoor.

Step 102: When the terminal is in the indoor environment, the terminal is internally positioned by the first positioning mode and/or the indoor positioning is performed by the second positioning mode.

The first positioning method includes a height positioning using a barometric altimeter or a barometer; the second positioning mode includes horizontal positioning with or without the result of the height positioning.

The pneumatic altimeter is a device that uses a pneumatic principle to set the height. In the prior art, the so-called electronic altimeter or digital altimeter is an altimeter using the pneumatic principle. The barometric altimeter uses the law that the atmospheric pressure drops as the altitude rises. According to the relationship between atmospheric pressure and altitude, the altitude or relative height is reversed by measuring the air pressure.

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, the height of the current terminal (user) can be measured by a pneumatic positioning altimeter or a barometer for the first positioning mode of the height positioning. The measuring height can be expressed by altitude or relative height; You can pre-store the map of the building in your terminal or get a map of your building through the nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated. Finally, the terminal displays a flat map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

In addition to highly positioning the terminal, the terminal can also perform indoor positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning method that performs horizontal positioning in combination with the result of the height positioning. In the horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform the horizontal plane positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS. Since the simple horizontal positioning usually takes longer than the height positioning time, the horizontal positioning result is more than the height positioning. Later, therefore, horizontal positioning can be performed in combination with the results of the height positioning. For example, the height of the terminal is first measured by a barometer, and the map of the floor is displayed on the terminal interface (ie, the height is completed), by GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS horizontally locates the terminal, and displays the indication of a specific location (for example, a certain room or a certain corridor) of the floor on which the terminal is located.

In this embodiment, a pneumatic height altimeter or a barometer is used to perform indoor height positioning on the terminal, and 水平Using the results of the high-level positioning to horizontally locate the terminal, the two positioning methods solve the problem of different requirements for height and water level positioning accuracy and positioning delay time in the indoor navigation and positioning service, and improve the user experience of indoor navigation and positioning. In order to meet the needs of various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning.

As shown in FIG. 2, another embodiment of the present invention provides a positioning method, including:

Step 201: Determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment; if yes, proceed to step 202; otherwise, proceed to step 208.

Step 202: Start indoor positioning mode.

In this embodiment, the terminal may set a specific positioning mode, such as an indoor positioning mode and an outdoor positioning mode, and the terminal may also set a mode of selecting an indoor positioning mode or an outdoor positioning mode, such as automatic selection by a terminal or manual selection by a user. When the terminal enters the room from outside or enters the room, the user can manually select to open the indoor positioning mode/function. When the terminal automatically selects, the terminal can detect the terminal by using the radio positioning method, and judge whether the terminal is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set condition, for example: the terminal can determine that the terminal is located according to the geographical location given by the GPS positioning and the corresponding map. The indoor or outdoor environment; the terminal can also judge whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors according to the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal is weakened to a predetermined condition, the terminal can be considered to have arrived indoors.

Before the terminal starts the indoor positioning mode, the parameters of the positioning mode and/or its positioning result can be initialized. When the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal can measure the height of the current terminal (user) through a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer, or can also perform horizontal positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS or the like. The method is combined with highly positioned results for horizontal positioning.

Step 203, calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer.

Pneumatic altimeters have the advantage of being unaffected by complex environments, especially those that are not affected by complex indoor environments. However, the function of air pressure and altitude is also affected by weather factors such as temperature and humidity, which can cause errors in barometric altimeters. In addition, the pneumatic altimeter is also prone to accumulate Error. All of these will bring errors to the fixed height of the barometric altimeter, thus reducing its accuracy. Therefore, a pneumatic altimeter or barometer needs to be calibrated before using a pneumatic altimeter or barometer to position the terminal.

The calibration method for the barometer or barometer includes at least one of the following: calibration according to user input, calibration according to radio positioning technology, calibration according to data of neighboring base stations, calibration according to data of adjacent terminals; wherein, radio Positioning technologies include satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology, and radio frequency identification technology.

Calibrated barometers can have a height error of no more than 2.5 meters, while uncalibrated barometers can have tens or even hundreds of meters of error.

Step 204: Perform indoor height positioning on the terminal by using the first positioning mode, and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by using the second positioning mode.

A calibrated pneumatic altimeter meets the requirements for height positioning in indoor positioning. When the height of the terminal is calculated (including the height indicated by the floor), the terminal can display a map of the floor on the display screen to facilitate the user to quickly find the map information of the floor.

When the terminal is highly positioned, the first positioning method that is highly positioned by a barometer or barometer can be selected to measure the height of the current terminal (user), which can be expressed in altitude or relative height.

In addition to highly positioning the terminal, the terminal can also perform indoor positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning method that performs horizontal positioning in combination with the result of the height positioning. In the horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform the horizontal plane positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS. Since the simple horizontal positioning usually takes longer than the height positioning time, the horizontal positioning result is more than the height positioning. Later, therefore, horizontal positioning can be performed in combination with the results of the height positioning. For example, the height of the terminal is first measured by a barometer, and the map of the floor is displayed on the terminal interface (ie, the height is completed), by GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS horizontally locates the terminal, and displays the indication of a specific location (for example, a certain room or a certain corridor) of the floor on which the terminal is located. Wherein: the horizontal positioning combined with the result of the height positioning comprises: screening and/or filtering and/or weighting the horizontally positioned data source according to the result of the high positioning; the horizontally positioned data source comprises at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station Positioning data, WLAN/Personal Network positioning data, and radio frequency identification positioning data.

Step 205: The terminal acquires a local building map.

Step 206: Display the positioning result in combination with the local building map.

The user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain a map of the building through the nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated. Finally, the terminal displays a flat map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

Specifically, the manner in which the terminal acquires the local building map includes: the terminal acquiring the local building map through the nearby base station and/or the core network; the base station and/or the core network acquiring the local building by using the terminal identifier and/or the user identifier The permissions of the object map are controlled.

Further, the foregoing base station may be a home base station; the home base station and/or the core network controls the terminal to obtain the permission of the local building map through the access control list.

Step 207, correct/calibrate the displayed positioning result. End this process.

The user can further correct the height positioning or the water level positioning result, for example, the current position can be indicated by the touch screen. When the data of the satellite positioning and the base station positioning is mixed, the possible positioning manner is to filter and filter the data of multiple data sources. And/or weighted processing (eg using the Kalman Filter), the processed algorithm (parameters) can be corrected and calibrated according to the correct position of the user input.

Step 208, starting the outdoor positioning mode.

In this embodiment, starting the outdoor positioning mode includes manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, or the terminal automatically starting the outdoor positioning mode.

Further, the first positioning manner further includes: calculating a height of the terminal according to the measured value of the barometric altimeter or the barometer and the auxiliary calibration parameter; wherein, the auxiliary calibration parameter comprises: a height of the adjacent base station, and a pressure at the adjacent base station Measurement of the altimeter or barometer, the end of the target Temperature at the end, humidity at the target terminal, temperature at neighboring base stations, and humidity at neighboring base stations.

Further, the first positioning manner further includes: performing high positioning using radio positioning technology. Further, in this embodiment, the terminal may be positioned indoors or outdoors according to the first positioning mode and the priority of the second positioning mode. At the same time, altitude positioning and horizontal positioning can be alternated to achieve indoor or outdoor positioning of the terminal.

The indoor positioning method according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to specific examples.

Example 1. When performing indoor positioning, the terminal uses a pneumatic altimeter to perform height positioning (or set height, that is, calculate the height of the terminal). Since the barometric altimeter calculates the height from the barometric pressure according to the function between the barometric pressure and the height, The air pressure is also affected by the atmospheric environment (such as temperature and humidity) in which the terminal is located. To correct/calibrate the error of the barometric altimeter, the following methods can be used:

1) Use the manual correction/calibration method, that is, the user himself/herself calibrates the barometric altimeter according to the known height of a certain reference point before using the barometric altimeter to set the height. For example, if the user has just turned on the location function in a building or building, the user can manually enter the current floor (such as the first floor). Since the fixed positioning result of the indoor positioning is finally reflected in the floor where the user is located, the calibration according to the current floor can meet the user's needs (and it is not necessary to use the altitude to calibrate). When necessary, the altitude of the user can be indirectly estimated based on the current floor in conjunction with the building map.

2) Use automatic or semi-automatic correction/calibration methods, such as calibrating the barometric altimeter based on the height given by the GPS positioning system before using the barometric altimeter for altitude determination. If the user has turned on the positioning navigation function outdoors, when the user is about to enter the room from outside, the height can be calibrated with a height given by a radio positioning system (such as GPS and/or base station positioning). However, the radio positioning technology has an error of more than 10 meters even when the height is set in an outdoor environment. Therefore, this method can only perform rough calibration, and it can not meet the high precision requirements of indoor positioning. A better way is to use the horizontal position given by the radio location in conjunction with the building map to determine which user is located in the building when the user is at the entrance and exit of the building. The entrance and exit, and further get the height of the entrance (such as a specific floor, usually the first floor), so that the barometer can be calibrated. If the terminal also has an electronic thermometer and / or hygrometer, the terminal can also combine the measured value of the thermometer and / or hygrometer with the barometric pressure value to jointly calculate the height of the terminal. However, there is a certain probability of error in fully automatic calibration. Therefore, it is better to combine automatic calibration with manual calibration. For example, when the user finds that there is an error in the automatic calibration, manual correction/calibration is performed, which can provide relatively high. user experience.

The principle of a barometric altimeter makes it possible to react very sensitively to changes in altitude, with low power consumption and fast response times. Therefore, a calibrated pneumatic altimeter can meet the requirements for height positioning in indoor positioning. When the height of the terminal is calculated (including the height indicated by the floor), the terminal can display a map of the floor on the display screen to facilitate the user to quickly find the map information of the floor. On the other hand, the water level location can be obtained using GPS satellite positioning or the position of the water level obtained by the base station. In this way, after obtaining the water level positioning result, the terminal can display the approximate location of the user, so as to facilitate the user's navigation and positioning application. The user can further correct the water level positioning result, for example, by indicating the current position through the touch screen, and the correction result can also be used to calibrate the horizontal positioning. For example, when mixing data using satellite positioning and base station positioning, the possible positioning mode is The data of multiple data sources is filtered, filtered, and/or weighted (eg, using the Kalman Filter), and the processed algorithms (parameters) can be corrected and calibrated based on the correct location of the user input.

Example 2: The terminal has GPS capability and/or base station positioning capability (for example, the LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standard organization), and has the function of an electronic altimeter. When the terminal enters the room from outside or enters the room, the user can manually select to open the room. Positioning mode/function (The terminal can distinguish between outdoor positioning mode/function and indoor positioning mode/function for users to choose to use, in this case, in other words, the terminal has an outdoor positioning mode or an indoor positioning mode). After the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal measures the height of the current terminal (user) through an electronic altimeter, which may be expressed in altitude or relative height. On the other hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building through the nearby base station. Combine After the map and the measured height, the terminal or the floor where the user is located is calculated. At this time, the terminal can display the plane map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

In addition to the high positioning, the terminal also performs the horizontal plane positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS. Since the method usually takes longer than the positioning time of the level altimeter, it is likely that the positioning result of the horizontal plane is more than the height positioning. Later, that is to say, the terminal may first display the map of the floor on the interface (that is, complete the positioning of the height), and then display the specific location of the floor where the terminal is located (for example, a certain room or a corridor).

The height positioning (height measurement/estimation) of the electronic altimeter is limited by its working principle. The pneumatic electronic altimeter is affected by weather factors such as temperature and humidity, which may affect the positioning accuracy of the altimeter. With this in mind, the terminal can use the following methods to improve the accuracy of the altitude:

1) Obtain the weather parameters affecting the operation of the barometric altimeter at the location of the terminal (in the building), such as temperature and/or humidity, and then combine these parameters with the air pressure measured by the electronic altimeter to calculate the exact height of the terminal, or to parameter Used to correct the original height obtained by the electronic altimeter to obtain the exact height of the terminal. The acquisition method includes at least the following types and combinations thereof: obtained by a nearby base station (for example, an indoor base station/home base station or a WIFI access point in a building); acquired by a user manually input; obtained from other modules of the terminal (for example, a terminal strip) With thermometers and / or hygrometers, temperature and humidity values can be obtained directly from these modules for height calculation or correction); obtained from other nearby terminals (eg via other terminals with thermometers and/or altimeters under the same service base station) ).

2) Get the height of a reference position and then use this height to calibrate the estimated height of the terminal. For example, the user corrects the height by manual mode: the user manually inputs the height of a reference position, such as an altitude of 300 meters or the third floor of a certain mall, and then the terminal uses the height value as a calibration reference value, and the calibration method has various methods. An example is given below. For example, the terminal first uses the altimeter to combine the map to find that the terminal/user is now located on the 5th floor of the mall (the terminal displays the result to the user, and the user can perform calibration on this basis), and the user knows that the data is incorrect. , And calibrate it to the 3rd floor. Therefore, the terminal knows that the second floor should be subtracted from the original estimation result to be the correct floor result. Therefore, when the terminal and the user move to the 1st floor, if the terminal obtains the original estimation method, The result is the 3rd floor, and the terminal subtracts the 2nd floor correction method according to the 3rd floor, and finally gives the terminal a new location to the 1st floor. The method of obtaining the calibration reference value may be various, such as manual input, using GPS or outdoor base station positioning height as a calibration height at a window or balcony where the outdoor signal is better.

When the terminal is leveled, the methods that can be used include: GPS, A-GPS, and/or base station positioning methods. When using the base station positioning method or the A-GPS positioning method, the terminal can obtain adjacent ones through the network. The network topology information of the base station, when using the base station positioning method or the A-GPS positioning method, positioning using the neighboring base station can also improve the positioning accuracy. For example, when the terminal is in the building, there may be a WIFI access point and/or a femto base station (or Home NodeB, HNB, or Home evolved NodeB, HeNB) nearby, and the terminal measures these access points and/or families. The signals of the base stations, or allowing these access points and/or home base stations to measure the signals of the terminals, can more accurately locate the terminal (including horizontal plane positioning and altitude positioning, wherein the height positioning result can be combined with the altimeter measurement results).

When the terminal is horizontally positioned, if the height positioning information of the terminal has been acquired (for example, the accurate height information of the terminal has been obtained by the pneumatic electronic altimeter), the known height information can be used in the horizontal positioning (ie, Use high positioning to assist the horizontal plane positioning). That is to say, the terminal is positioned more accurately and horizontally after being highly positioned. For example, when selecting a base station for horizontal positioning of a terminal, a base station that is closer to the terminal at a height/floor may be selected, or a base station closer to the terminal at a height/floor may be given a greater weight, or according to the following formula Select the reference station signal closer to the terminal to improve the accuracy of horizontal positioning:

For the TOA method, (the path length ^ - the height difference between the base station and the terminal ^Λ 2 ) ^Λ η, (the value of η can be 1/2, 1 etc.), or (path propagation time 八 2 - (base station and terminal) The height difference / speed of light) ^Λ 2 ) ^Λ η as a condition for selecting a base station signal, or as a weight parameter of a base station signal in positioning calculation. Example 3: The terminal has GPS capability or base station positioning capability (for example, LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standard organization) or A-GPS capability, and has the function of an electronic altimeter. The user may open the positioning function at any position (the terminal does not distinguish between the outdoor positioning mode and the indoor positioning mode, or the user selects the automatic mode), and then first uses the terminal's GPS positioning function or the base station positioning function or the A-GPS positioning function to obtain a rough The position (accuracy is between 10 meters and 50 meters), combined with the map to determine whether the terminal is in an outdoor environment or an indoor environment. If it is determined that the terminal is in an indoor environment, the indoor positioning mode is activated. Height measurement by electronic altimeter Similar to Example 1 or 2, the height measurement function can be corrected by a series of methods to obtain a more accurate height.

On the other hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain a map of the building in the vicinity through the nearby base station. The base station and/or the core network may be based on a terminal identity, eg, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), or a Medium Access Control Layer (MAC) address, and/or a user identity, eg, an international mobile subscriber identity i Only the (IMSI, International Mobile Subscriber Identifier), or Network Address Identifier (NAI) controls the authority of the terminal/user. If the nearby base station is a home base station, the home base station and/or the core network side can control the terminal/user authority by using an Access Control List or a Closed Subscriber Group list. . After combining the map and the measured height, the terminal or the floor where the user is located is calculated. At this time, the terminal can display the plane map of the floor where the user is located and its water level position for the user's reference. Wherein, the water level position can also be positioned by the neighboring base station using the method of the second embodiment to improve the accuracy of the horizontal plane positioning.

Example 4: The terminal has GPS capability or base station positioning capability (such as LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standard organization) or A-GPS capability, and has the function of an electronic altimeter. The location requester (for example, a government department) may request the location of the terminal through the network. Under the direction of the network, the terminal starts the positioning function, and first obtains the approximate location by using the GPS positioning function of the terminal or the base station positioning function or the A-GPS positioning function (accuracy) At 10 meters to 50 meters), the positioning controller in the network combines the map to determine whether the terminal is in an outdoor environment or an indoor environment. If you judge that the terminal is in the room In the internal environment, the indoor positioning mode is activated, for example, the terminal is instructed to start an electronic altimeter or a barometer to measure and report the measurement result (air pressure or altitude).

The height positioning (height measurement/estimation) of the electronic altimeter is limited by its working principle. The pneumatic electronic altimeter is affected by weather factors such as temperature, humidity, etc. These factors may affect the positioning accuracy of the altimeter. With this in mind, the positioning controller or the positioning server can obtain the weather parameters of the location, including temperature, humidity, etc., through nearby base stations (such as indoor base stations or WIFI access points in the building), and then report these parameters to the terminal. The electronic altimeter measurements are combined to calculate the exact height of the terminal.

On the other hand, the positioning controller or the positioning server combines the precise height of the terminal with the map of the building in which it is located, that is, the terminal or the floor on which the user is located. At this time, the positioning requester can display the plane map of the floor where the user is located and its horizontal position for the user's reference. Wherein, the water level position can also be positioned by the neighboring base station by using the method of the second example to improve the accuracy of the horizontal plane positioning.

Example 5: This example supplements the selection/switching method of the indoor positioning mode and other modes on the basis of the above examples 1 to 4.

For precise altitude positioning in indoor and outdoor environments, the GPS terminal also features a pneumatic altimeter. Since the terminal may use different positioning technologies and/or different setting parameters in outdoor and indoor environments, the terminal has two positioning modes, an outdoor positioning mode and an indoor positioning mode. When the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the terminal can provide the user with the ability to manually select the positioning mode through the display screen, and the user can select the corresponding positioning mode according to the environment in which the environment is located, and the terminal can also pass the display screen. Provides the user with the ability to select "automatic mode" or "specified mode" (and further divided into outdoor positioning mode or indoor positioning mode), or provide the user with the choice of "automatic mode" or outdoor positioning mode or indoor positioning mode through the display screen. ability. If the user selects the automatic mode, the terminal determines whether the user and the terminal are in an indoor or outdoor environment according to certain conditions, and selects a corresponding positioning mode, for example: the terminal selects a corresponding location according to the geographical location given by the GPS positioning and the corresponding map. Positioning mode; terminal can also The indoor positioning mode or the outdoor positioning mode is selected according to the strength of the GPS signal. If the user selects the specified mode and further selects the indoor or outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the indoor positioning mode, the terminal can determine whether the user has changed the environment according to certain conditions, that is, When you come indoors from the room or come indoors from outside, the terminal can ask the user whether the environment is changed through the display, or prompt the user to change the positioning mode through the display, and give a suggested new positioning mode (for example: Assume the user The outdoor positioning mode was originally selected. When the user enters the room from outside, the terminal detects the change of the environment, and then prompts the user to select the automatic mode or the indoor positioning mode. The terminal can also provide the user with the detected environment change and trigger mode change. The reason, for example, the GPS signal is too weak, or the terminal may determine that it has entered the indoor environment through GPS positioning combined with the map. If the user accepts, the terminal changes to a new positioning mode, or changes to a new positioning mode selected by the terminal, new Positioning mode is not Using positioning technology modules (e.g., GPS module) may enter a power save state; if the user does not accept, then the terminal is still using the original positioning mode.

Example 6. This example supplements the selection/switching method of the indoor positioning mode and other modes on the basis of the above examples 1 to 4.

For precise altitude positioning in indoor and outdoor environments, the GPS terminal also features a pneumatic altimeter. Since the terminal may use different positioning technologies in outdoor and indoor environments, the terminal has two positioning strategies, namely GPS priority or altimeter priority. When the mobile phone is turned on or the user is enabled, the user can select a corresponding positioning strategy according to the environment, for example, when the user is located in the indoor environment, the user selects the altimeter priority policy, and when the user is located in an outdoor environment with poor GPS signals such as a canyon or a jungle, the user Select the altimeter priority strategy (for example, the height gauge output will be used directly as the final height measurement during height measurement); when the user is in the (ordinary) outdoor environment and the altimeter is not calibrated, the user selects the GPS priority positioning strategy (eg, The altimeter can be turned off.) When the user is in an outdoor environment but the altimeter has been calibrated, the user selects the altimeter priority positioning strategy (for example, in height measurement, the altimeter output results in the final height result) It has a higher weight than the height value of the GPS output).

The terminal can also provide the user with the ability to select "automatic setting policy" or "designation strategy" (and further divided into an altimeter priority positioning strategy or a GPS priority positioning strategy) through the display, or provide the user with the "automatic setting" through the display screen. The ability to define a strategy or an altimeter prioritization strategy or a GPS prioritization strategy. If the user selects the automatic setting policy, the terminal judges the advantages and disadvantages of the two positioning methods according to certain conditions, and selects the corresponding positioning strategy, for example: the terminal selects the corresponding according to the geographical location given by the GPS positioning and the corresponding map. The positioning mode; the terminal can also select the indoor positioning mode or the outdoor positioning mode according to the strength of the GPS signal. If the user selects the specified mode and further selects the indoor or outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the indoor positioning mode, the terminal can determine whether the user has changed the environment according to certain conditions, that is, When you come indoors from the room or come indoors from outside, the terminal can ask the user whether the environment is changed through the display, or prompt the user to change the positioning mode through the display, and give a suggested new positioning mode (for example: Assume the user The outdoor positioning mode was originally selected. When the user enters the room from outside, the terminal detects the change of the environment, and then prompts the user to select the automatic mode or the indoor positioning mode. The terminal can also provide the user with the detected environment change and trigger mode change. The reason, for example, the GPS signal is too weak, or the terminal may determine that it has entered the indoor environment through GPS positioning combined with the map), if the user accepts, the terminal changes to a new positioning mode, or changes to a new positioning mode selected by the terminal, if If the user does not accept, the terminal still uses the original positioning mode.

As shown in FIG. 3, an embodiment of the present invention provides a positioning terminal, including: a determining module 301 and an indoor positioning module 302, where:

The determining module 301 is configured to determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The indoor positioning module 302 is configured to: when the terminal is in the indoor environment, perform indoor height positioning on the terminal by using the first positioning manner and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning on the terminal by using the second positioning manner; the first positioning manner includes using a pneumatic altimeter or The barometer is highly positioned; the second positioning mode includes horizontal positioning in conjunction with the result of the height positioning. In this embodiment, the determining module 301 determines whether the terminal is in the indoor environment, and may automatically select, for example, an automatic mode by the terminal, or manually select, for example, a specified mode by the user.

When manually selected by the user, taking the mobile phone as an example, when the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the mobile phone can provide the user with manual selection whether to enter the room through the display, and the user can select indoor or outdoor according to the environment. Enter the environment in which the corresponding terminal is located.

When the terminal is in the indoor environment, the indoor positioning module 302 can measure the height of the current terminal (user) by using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer to perform a highly positioned first positioning manner, and the measured height can be expressed by altitude or relative height; On the one hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building in the vicinity through the nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated. Finally, the terminal displays the flat map of the user's floor for the user's reference.

In addition to highly positioning the terminal, the terminal can also perform indoor positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning method that performs horizontal positioning in combination with the result of the height positioning. In the horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform the horizontal plane positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS. Since the simple horizontal positioning usually takes longer than the height positioning time, the horizontal positioning result is more than the height positioning. Later, therefore, horizontal positioning can be performed in combination with the results of the height positioning. For example, the height of the terminal is first measured by a barometer, and the map of the floor is displayed on the terminal interface (ie, the height is completed), by GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS horizontally locates the terminal, and displays the indication of a specific location (for example, a certain room or a certain corridor) of the floor on which the terminal is located. As shown in FIG. 4, another embodiment of the present invention provides a positioning terminal, including: a determining module 401, a starting module 402, a calibration module 403, an indoor positioning module 404, a map obtaining module 405, and a map display module 406, where:

a determining module 401, configured to determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The startup module 402 is configured to start an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment, or activate an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment;

The calibration module 403 is configured to calibrate the pneumatic altimeter or the barometer; the indoor positioning module 404 is configured to perform indoor height positioning and/or second positioning of the terminal by using the first positioning mode when the terminal is in the indoor environment. The method performs indoor horizontal positioning on the terminal; the first positioning mode includes using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer for height positioning; and the second positioning mode includes horizontal positioning in combination with the result of the height positioning.

a map obtaining module 405, configured to acquire a map of a local building;

The map display module 406 is configured to display the positioning result in combination with the local building map.

The above-mentioned judging module 401 and the indoor positioning module 404 are the same as those of the judging module 301 and the indoor positioning module 30 in the above embodiment, and are not described herein again.

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, the startup module 402 initiates an indoor positioning mode. Before the terminal starts the indoor positioning mode, the parameters of the positioning mode and/or its positioning result can be initialized. When the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal can measure the height of the current terminal (user) by a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer, or can also perform horizontal positioning by GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS or the like. The method is combined with highly positioned results for horizontal positioning.

Pneumatic altimeters have the advantage of being unaffected by complex environments, especially those that are not affected by complex indoor environments. However, the function of air pressure and altitude is also affected by weather factors such as temperature and humidity, which can cause errors in barometric altimeters. In addition, barometric altimeters are subject to cumulative errors. All of these will bring errors to the fixed height of the barometric altimeter, thus reducing its accuracy. Therefore, in this embodiment, the pneumatic altimeter or barometer is calibrated by the calibration module 403 before the terminal is height-positioned using a pneumatic altimeter or barometer.

After obtaining the terminal positioning result, the local building map can be acquired by the map obtaining module 405, and the positioning result is displayed by the map display module 406 in combination with the local building map.

Specifically, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building in the vicinity through the nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated. Finally, the terminal displays a flat map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference. The manner in which the terminal acquires the local building map includes: the terminal acquires a local building map through the nearby base station and/or the core network; the base station and/or the core network acquires the local building by using the terminal identifier and/or the user identifier The permissions of the map are controlled. The base station may be a home base station; the home base station and/or the core network controls the terminal to obtain the authority of the local building map through the access control list.

A positioning method and terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer to perform indoor height positioning and/or combined height positioning on a terminal to level the terminal The two positioning methods solve the problem that the height and the accuracy of the horizontal plane positioning and the positioning delay time are different in the indoor navigation and positioning service, and the positioning accuracy is reduced, the positioning delay time is reduced, and the indoor navigation positioning is improved. The user experience thus satisfies the needs of various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and equivalent structural or process changes made by the present specification and drawings may be directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields. The same is included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

Claim

1. A positioning method for judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

When the terminal is in the indoor environment, the terminal is indoorally positioned by the first positioning mode and/or the indoor positioning is performed by the second positioning mode.

2. The positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the first positioning mode comprises using a pneumatic altimeter or a barometer for height positioning; and the second positioning mode comprises horizontal positioning with or without a result of height positioning. .

The positioning method according to claim 2, wherein the step of performing indoor height positioning on the terminal by the first positioning manner further comprises: calibrating the pneumatic altimeter or the air pressure gauge.

4. The positioning method according to claim 3, wherein the calibration method of the pneumatic altimeter or barometer comprises at least one of: performing calibration according to user input, performing calibration according to radio positioning technology, according to neighboring base stations Data is calibrated and calibrated based on data from adjacent terminals;

Among them, the radio positioning technology includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology, and radio frequency identification technology.

The positioning method according to claim 2, wherein the first positioning mode comprises calculating a height of the terminal according to a measured value of a barometric altimeter or a barometer and an auxiliary calibration parameter;

The auxiliary calibration parameter includes at least one of: a height of a neighboring base station, a measured value of a barometric altimeter or barometer at a neighboring base station, a temperature at a target terminal, a humidity at a target terminal, a temperature at a neighboring base station And the humidity at the adjacent base station.

The positioning method according to claim 2, wherein the first positioning mode further comprises performing high positioning using a radio positioning technology.

The positioning method according to claim 6, wherein the first positioning mode is After the step of performing indoor height positioning on the terminal and/or performing indoor horizontal positioning on the terminal by using the second positioning manner, the method further includes:

The terminal acquires a map of a local building;

Display the positioning results in conjunction with the local building map.

The positioning method according to claim 7, wherein the step of displaying the positioning result in combination with the local building map further comprises: correcting/calibrating the displayed positioning result.

The locating method according to claim 7, wherein the manner in which the terminal acquires a local building map comprises: obtaining, by the terminal, a local building map through a nearby base station and/or a core network;

The base station and/or the core network controls the terminal to obtain the authority of the local building map through the terminal identifier and/or the user identifier.

The locating method according to claim 9, wherein the base station is a home base station; and the home base station and/or the core network controls the terminal to acquire the authority of the local building map through the access control list.

The positioning method according to claim 2, wherein the horizontally positioning the result of combining the height positioning comprises: screening and/or filtering and/or powering the horizontally positioned data source according to the result of the height positioning;

The horizontally located data source includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station positioning data, wireless local area network/personal network positioning data, and radio frequency identification positioning data.

The locating method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein before the step of performing indoor height positioning on the terminal by using the first positioning mode, the method further includes:

The locating method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, after the step of determining whether the terminal is in an indoor environment, the method further includes:

When the terminal is in an outdoor environment, an outdoor positioning mode is activated; The mode includes manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the outdoor positioning mode.

The locating method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: performing indoor or outdoor positioning on the terminal according to the priority of the first positioning mode and the second positioning mode.

15. A positioning terminal, comprising:

The positioning terminal according to claim 15, wherein the terminal further comprises: a calibration module, configured to calibrate the barometric altimeter or barometer.

The locating terminal according to claim 15, wherein the terminal further comprises: a map obtaining module, configured to acquire a local building map;

The positioning terminal according to claim 15, 16 or 17, wherein the terminal further comprises:

And a startup module, configured to activate an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment; or activate an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment.