CN115362697A

CN115362697A - Tracking device, terminal equipment and tracking method

Info

Publication number: CN115362697A
Application number: CN202080099266.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邵帅
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-27
Filing date: 2020-04-27
Publication date: 2022-11-18
Also published as: WO2021217354A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a tracking device, terminal equipment and a tracking method, which are used for avoiding the complex Bluetooth data exchange standard and improving the data extraction efficiency by adopting a backscattering technology. The method comprises the following steps: a backscatter device; the backscattering device is used for receiving the first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, wherein the first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal comprises an identification of the tracking device.

Description

Tracking device, terminal equipment and tracking method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a tracking apparatus, a terminal device, and a tracking method.

Background

Covid-19 (coronavirus) was worldwide in 2020. International well-known companies join in battles of epidemic situations in a dispute, and try to use scientific and technological means to defeat the epidemic situations or slow down the spread of the epidemic situations. Among them, companies have introduced a Covid-19 virus contact tracking system, which builds a contact tracking system by using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. This tracking system can be applied to apple (iOS) or android (android) intelligent terminal, through using bluetooth Beacon (Beacon), acquires personnel's contact history, and people A once contacted with people B when and where promptly, realizes closely personnel and tracks.

The tracking system does not need to buy hardware independently, and users only need to utilize the existing intelligent terminal because the Bluetooth and the Bluetooth BLE technology are widely integrated in the intelligent terminal. However, the communication distance of the Bluetooth BLE technology is 10-100 meters, the range is large, and the Bluetooth BLE technology is not suitable for short-distance personnel tracking. Moreover, the Bluetooth BLE communication standard is complex, the transmission and the reception need to be allocated according to the communication standard, and the realization of the software bottom layer is complex. If one bluetooth device can connect to up to 7 other devices simultaneously according to the bluetooth 5.0 standard, the number of people to be tracked using bluetooth is limited, and if there is a large aggregation at the same time, all participants cannot be tracked efficiently.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a tracking device, terminal equipment and a tracking method, which are used for avoiding the complex Bluetooth data exchange standard and improving the data extraction efficiency by adopting a backscattering technology.

A first aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides a tracking apparatus, including: a backscatter device; the backscattering device is used for receiving the first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, wherein the first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal comprises an identification of the tracking device.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the invention, the backscatter apparatus comprises: the device comprises a processor, an oscillator, an encoder and a first Bluetooth antenna, wherein the processor is connected with the oscillator, the oscillator is connected with the encoder, and the encoder is connected with the first Bluetooth antenna;

the processor is specifically configured to receive the first continuous wave through the first bluetooth antenna; and controlling the oscillator to switch a target frequency according to the first continuous wave, controlling the encoder to encode according to the target frequency, and reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power-consumption broadcast signal through the first Bluetooth antenna.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the backscatter apparatus further comprises: a rectifier connected with the processor;

the rectifier is used for acquiring the first continuous wave, converting the first continuous wave into a direct current signal, and starting the processor when the voltage of the direct current signal is higher than a preset threshold value.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the tracking device further includes: a Continuous Wave (CW) device and a Bluetooth device, wherein the CW device is connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device respectively;

the CW device is used for generating and transmitting a second continuous wave;

the bluetooth device is further configured to receive a second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the first target tracking device according to the second continuous wave, and the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the first target tracking device.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the CW device includes: a CW modem, a CW transmitter, and a CW antenna, the CW modem connected with the CW transmitter, the CW transmitter connected with the CW antenna; the CW modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the CW modem is used for generating the second continuous wave;

the CW transmitter is configured to transmit the second continuous wave through the CW antenna.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the bluetooth device includes a bluetooth receiver;

the CW transmitter and the bluetooth receiver are configured to be turned on within a first active scanning duration T1, where T1 is within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the backscatter device is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a first time delay according to a first active scanning time length t 1; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the first time delay; wherein the first time delay is less than the T1, the T1 being within a duty cycle T1 of a CW transmitter.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the first delay is N times t1/N, N = [0, N-1], and N is a positive integer.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the tracking device further includes: the cellular radio frequency device is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the cellular radio frequency device is used for generating and transmitting a third continuous wave;

the bluetooth device is further configured to receive a third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the second target tracking device according to the third continuous wave, and the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the second target tracking device.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the cellular radio frequency device includes: the system comprises a cellular modem, a cellular radio frequency front end and a cellular antenna, wherein the cellular modem is connected with the cellular radio frequency front end, and the cellular radio frequency front end is connected with the cellular antenna; the cellular modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the cellular modem to generate the third continuous wave;

the cellular radio frequency front end is configured to send the third continuous wave through the cellular antenna.

the cellular radio frequency front end and the bluetooth receiver are configured to be turned on within a second active scanning duration T2, where T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the backscatter device is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a second time delay according to a second active scanning time length t 2; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the second time delay; wherein the second time delay is less than T2, and the T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the second delay is M times t2/M, M = [0, M-1], and M is a positive integer.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the tracking device further includes: the Bluetooth device, the switch and the second Bluetooth antenna are connected;

the Bluetooth device is used for being connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a reflection period;

and the backscattering device is used for being connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a non-reflection period.

A second aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal device, including the tracking apparatus described in the first aspect of the present invention and any optional implementation manner of the first aspect.

A third aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides a tracking method, where the method is applied to a tracking apparatus as described in any one of the first aspect and the optional implementation manners of the first aspect of the present invention, or a terminal device as provided in the second aspect of the present invention, where the method includes: receiving a first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, the first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the tracking device.

A third aspect of embodiments of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to the third aspect of the present invention.

In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, the tracking apparatus includes: a backscatter device; a backscatter device for receiving the first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, the first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the tracking device. In the embodiment of the invention, the backscattering technology is adopted, so that the complex Bluetooth data exchange standard is avoided, and the data extraction efficiency is improved. The first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identification of the tracking device, which may be used to determine the tracking device. Moreover, the backscattering device is used for receiving the first continuous wave and reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power-consumption broadcasting signal, so that the method is free from the limitation of the number of people and is also suitable for tracking the medium and short distances.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a system architecture diagram of medium and short range contact recording as applied by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3C is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3D is a schematic diagram of the duty cycle and active scan duration of the CW transmitter inside the tracking device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3E is a schematic diagram of a backscattering time mechanism in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a backscatter device in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a backscatter device in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a backscatter device in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an embodiment of a tracking method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Close range tracking has its unique application point with respect to remote tracking such as Global Positioning System (GPS). Such as near tracking, only acquires information of an object to be tracked within a certain range. The method firstly ensures the information security and is not easy to be intercepted maliciously. The second tracked information includes the relative physical location. The relative position is more important than the absolute position for such a positioning and tracking system, such as the one described above in which the historical relative position of the person is obtained using bluetooth BLE. In addition to specific technical applications, the tracking of personnel also needs to consider the convenience of use, such as whether hardware needs to be purchased separately or not and whether complex operation is needed in the use process or not. The following outlines how good some techniques are in close-range tracking of people.

In one implementation, item tracking is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID technology is a wireless electronic tag tracking system created specifically for item tracking. The system requires at least one card reader and a plurality of electronic tags attached to the surface of the article. At present, UHF RFID technology is not integrated in an intelligent terminal in a large quantity. The method is used for tracking the articles, is high in speed and can track a large number of articles. For example, an Impinj R420 card reader may read over 1000 electronic tags per second. Moreover, the reading distance is 5-10 meters, neither far nor near. However, this tracking method requires a professional card reader and electronic tag, and requires additional hardware expense for the general consumer. Moreover, the UHF RFID adopts a Class 1 Gen 2 (ISO 18000-6C) label protocol which is not widely integrated with an intelligent terminal, so that the difficulty of terminal development is improved.

In yet another implementation, near Field Communication (NFC) based item tracking. NFC is extensively integrated in intelligent terminal, and mainly used security such as payment is high, application that communication distance is close. As personnel tracking, it has the advantages and disadvantages that: the advantages are that: 1. the safety is strong. 2. The intelligent terminal is widely integrated, and special hardware does not need to be purchased by a consumer. The disadvantages are as follows: the wireless transmission distance is short, less than 50cm, and the method is not suitable for tracking middle-distance articles and personnel.

In summary, the embodiments of the present invention provide a system for tracking a short-distance person by using a backscattering technique, which may also be referred to as a tracking device. The tracking device can be applied to terminal equipment to realize medium-short distance personnel tracking. The tracking device directly uses the terminal equipment without purchasing special hardware by a user. The terminal equipment adopts a backscattering technology, and can quickly acquire the information of other terminal equipment in a specified range. Furthermore, the tracking device can exchange data by using a data structure specified by a Bluetooth BLE standard protocol, so that the research and development cost of terminal equipment is reduced, and compared with a tracking system in the prior art, the speed is higher and the tracking range is more accurate.

It can be understood that the terminal device in the embodiment of the present invention may be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a mobile terminal device (mobile terminal), an intelligent terminal device, and the like, and the terminal device may communicate with one or more core networks through a Radio Access Network (RAN). For example, the terminal equipment may be a mobile phone (or so-called "cellular" phone), a computer with mobile terminal equipment, etc., and the terminal equipment may also be a portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included or car-mounted mobile device and terminal equipment in future NR networks, which exchange voice or data with the radio access network. Description of terminal device: in the invention, the terminal equipment can also comprise a Relay, and the terminal equipment can be regarded as the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment and the base station can carry out data communication.

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram of medium and short distance contact recording applied in the embodiment of the present invention. Here, the following description will be given taking an example in which the terminal device includes a tracking device. The terminal equipment is used for transmitting Continuous Waves (CW) to obtain Bluetooth low energy broadcasting (BLE Advertising) signals reflected by other peripheral terminal equipment so as to record the contact history of the terminal equipment and the terminal equipment. In the illustration of fig. 1, user 0 may be understood as the user using terminal device 0, user 1, user 2, user 3 \ 8230and user N are similar. Terminal device 0 initiates the interrogation request by transmitting a CW wave. The peripheral terminal equipment receives the CW wave, and reflects the BLE adapting signal outwards by using the CW wave as a carrier wave. The BLE advertising signal transmitted by each terminal device has its unique identification information, which can be used to uniquely identify the terminal device of subscriber N. The terminal device 0 receives BLE information, namely BLE1 and BLE2 \ 8230and BLE N, and records the BLE information in the terminal device 0.

It should be noted that, from the perspective of the UHF RFID system, the terminal device in the embodiment of the present invention has dual functions of a card reader and an electronic tag. The terminal device 0 emitting the CW wave has no authority to overwrite BLE1, BLE2 \8230, and the information content in BLE N, i.e. the BLE information content, is provided only by the terminal device which is doing the backscattering.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a tracking device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The tracking device includes: a backscatter device 201; a backscatter device 201 for receiving a first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, the first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the tracking device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tracking apparatus includes the backscatter apparatus 201, that is, the backscatter technology is adopted, so that the complex data exchange standard of bluetooth is avoided, and the data extraction efficiency is improved. The first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identification of the tracking device. The identification of the tracking device may be used to determine the tracking device. Furthermore, the use of the backscatter device 201 to receive the first continuous wave and reflect the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is also suitable for medium and short distance tracking without limitation of the number of people.

It will be appreciated that the backscatter device 201 is responsible for backscattering, i.e. transmitting an advertising signal in accordance with BLE standards by backscattering using the received CW as a carrier. The tracking device transmits a unique code (ID) of the tracking device upon backscattering BLE information, which, like the terminal equipment Serial Number (SN), has the following characteristics: 1. uniqueness, each tracking device contains a unique ID.2. It is not alterable and once the packaging is complete anyone, the organization, does not have the ability and the right to alter this ID.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3A, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. The tracking device may further include: a continuous wave CW device 202 and a Bluetooth device 203, the CW device 202 is connected with the Bluetooth device 203 and the backscattering device 201 respectively;

a CW device 202 for generating and transmitting a second continuous wave;

the bluetooth device 203 is further configured to receive a second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the first target tracking device according to the second continuous wave, and the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the first target tracking device.

It is understood that the bluetooth device 203 is a bluetooth module conforming to bluetooth 4.2 and above standards, and includes a bluetooth receiver and a bluetooth transmitter, which may be referred to as a bluetooth transceiver for short, and a bluetooth modem.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tracking device may not only receive the first continuous wave through the backscatter device 201 and reflect the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, but also generate and transmit the second continuous wave through the CW device 202 and receive the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal reflected by other tracking devices through the bluetooth device 203. That is, the tracking device can track other tracking devices as well as other tracking devices.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3B, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. CW apparatus 202 may include: a CW modem 2021, a CW transmitter 2022 and a CW antenna 2023, the CW modem 2021 is connected to the CW transmitter 2022, the CW transmitter 2022 is connected to the CW antenna 2023; the CW modem 2021 is connected to the bluetooth device 203 and the backscatter device 201, respectively;

a CW modem 2021 for generating the second continuous wave;

a CW transmitter 2022 for transmitting the second continuous wave through a CW antenna 2023.

It is to be understood that the CW modem 2021 may be understood as a CW core. The CW core is a device for generating a CW wave, and controls generation of the CW wave, including defining a waveform, a frequency, an on/off time, and the like of the CW wave. The CW transmitter 2022 is responsible for converting the digital signal generated from the CW core into an analog signal, filtering and amplifying the analog signal, and transmitting the analog signal to the outside through the CW antenna 2023.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an implementation of the internal structure of CW device 202 is provided, which increases the feasibility of the solution.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3C, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. The bluetooth apparatus 203 may include a bluetooth receiver 2031;

a CW transmitter 2022 and a bluetooth receiver 2031 for switching on for a first active scan duration T1, said T1 being within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter 2022. Optionally, the starting time of T1 may be the same as the starting time of T1, or may be later than the starting time of T1, and the ending time of T1 is earlier than the ending time of T1. Further, in t1, the CW transmitter 2022 and the bluetooth receiver 2031 may be turned on simultaneously, that is, the CW transmitter 2022 may transmit a CW wave, and the bluetooth receiver 2031 may also receive the bluetooth low energy broadcast signal synchronously.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the backscatter device 201 is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a first time delay according to a first active scanning time length t 1; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the first time delay; wherein the first time delay is less than the T1, the T1 being within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter 2022. Further, the first time delay is N times of t1/N, N = [0, N-1], and N is a positive integer.

Optionally, the first time delay determined by the backscatter device 201 each time may be random, or may be determined according to a value sequence of N from small to large.

The following description is given by way of example, and as shown in fig. 3D, is a schematic diagram of the duty cycle and active scanning duration of the CW transmitter inside the tracking device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 3D, the duty cycle of the CW transmitter 2022 is T1. Within one T1, the active scan duration (continuous emission of CW waves) is T1sweep. In t1sweep, the terminal device may turn on the bluetooth receiver, as well as the CW transmitter, simultaneously.

It is understood that the medium-short distance contact recording function is enabled by the user at the terminal device, or is automatically enabled by the terminal device. It should be noted that, in the system architecture diagram shown in fig. 1, the terminal device 0 actively transmitting the CW signal (user 0 for short) may be understood as a card reader, and other terminal devices transmitting the BLE signal through the backscatter device may be understood as tags. There is a possibility that the tag signal enters the receiving device of the user 0 at the same time, causing signal collision, thereby reducing the efficiency of the tag recognition by the user 0.

The embodiment of the invention provides a time division mechanism to reduce the influence caused by multi-label emission. Fig. 3E is a schematic diagram of a backscattering time mechanism in an embodiment of the present invention. Illustratively, the first active scan duration t1 may be equally divided into n time slots s1, s2, s3 \ 8230sn. A backscatter device in the terminal device N monitors the CW wave and before backscatter is to take place, a processor in the backscatter device randomly generates a hold-off time (t 1 delay), i.e. the first delay mentioned above, where t1delay is in the range of N (t 1/N) and N = [0, N-1]. The backscatter means may reflect the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the t1 delay. Thus, for the terminal device 0, the probability that multiple tags operate in the same time period is reduced, and signal collision is reduced.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4A, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. The tracking device may further include: a cellular radio frequency device 204 and a Bluetooth device 203, wherein the cellular radio frequency device 204 is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device 203 and the backscattering device 201;

a cellular radio frequency device 204 for generating and transmitting a third continuous wave;

the bluetooth device 203 is further configured to receive a third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the second target tracking device according to the third continuous wave, and the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the second target tracking device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tracking device may not only receive the first continuous wave through the backscatter device 201 and reflect the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, but also generate and transmit a third continuous wave through the cellular rf device 204 and receive a third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal reflected by other tracking devices through the bluetooth device 203. That is, the tracking device can track other tracking devices as well as other tracking devices. Moreover, the cellular rf device 204 in the tracking device has the capability of transmitting CW waves with a certain frequency, so that it can replace a dedicated CW device, thereby reducing the hardware cost.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4B, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. The cellular radio frequency device 204 may include: the cellular radio frequency front end 2042 is connected with the cellular modem 2041, and the cellular radio frequency front end 2042 is connected with the cellular antenna 2043; the cellular modem 2041 is connected with the bluetooth device 203 and the backscatter device 201 respectively;

a cellular modem 2041 for generating the third continuous wave;

a cellular radio frequency front end 2042 for transmitting the third continuous wave via a cellular antenna 2043.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an implementation of the internal structure of the cellular radio frequency device 204 is provided, which increases the feasibility of the solution.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4C, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the tracking device in the embodiments of the present invention is shown. The bluetooth apparatus 203 may include a bluetooth receiver 2031;

a cellular radio frequency front end 2042 and a bluetooth receiver 2031 configured to turn on for a second active scanning duration T2, where T2 is within a duty cycle T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end 2042. Optionally, the starting time of T2 may be the same as the starting time of T2, or may be later than the starting time of T2, and the ending time of T2 is earlier than the ending time of T2. Further, in t2, the cellular radio frequency front end 2042 and the bluetooth receiver 2031 may be turned on simultaneously, that is, the cellular radio frequency front end 2042 may transmit a CW wave, and the bluetooth receiver 2031 may also receive a bluetooth low energy broadcast signal synchronously.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the backscatter device 201 is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a second time delay according to a second active scanning time length t 2; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the second time delay; wherein the second time delay is less than T2, and T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end 2042. Further, the second time delay is M times t2/M, M = [0, M-1], and M is a positive integer.

Optionally, the second time delay determined by the backscatter device 201 each time may be random, or may be determined according to a value sequence of M from small to large.

It should be noted that, for the descriptions of the second active scanning duration T2 in the duty cycles T2 and T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end 2042 and the second time delay in the backscatter time mechanism, reference may be made to the descriptions of the first active scanning duration T1 (as shown in fig. 3D) in the duty cycles T1 and T1 of the CW transmitter 2022 and the first time delay in the backscatter time mechanism (as shown in fig. 3E), which are not described herein again.

It is understood that the first target tracking device and the second target tracking device are devices around the tracking device.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5A, a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a backscatter device in an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The backscatter device 201 may include: the system comprises a processor 2011, an oscillator 2012, an encoder 2013 and a first Bluetooth antenna 2014, wherein the processor 2011 is connected with the oscillator 2012, the oscillator 2012 is connected with the encoder 2013, and the encoder 2013 is connected with the first Bluetooth antenna 2014;

a processor 2011, specifically configured to receive the first continuous wave via the first bluetooth antenna 2014; according to the first continuous wave, the oscillator 2012 is controlled to switch a target frequency, the encoder 2013 is controlled to encode according to the target frequency, and the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is reflected by the first bluetooth antenna 2014.

It should be noted that the encoder 2013 is a device that realizes encoding by changing impedance matching of the first bluetooth antenna 2014. For example: the encoder 2013 may be a Field Effect Transistor (FET) or the like. The processor 2011 may be a microprocessor or the like, and is not limited herein.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 5B, a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a backscatter device in an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The backscatter device 201 may further include: a rectifier 2015 connected to the processor 2011;

the rectifier 2025 is configured to obtain the first continuous wave, convert the first continuous wave into a dc electrical signal, and start the processor 2011 when a voltage of the dc electrical signal is higher than a preset threshold.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the invention, rectifier 2025 may comprise: diode and electric capacity, the one end of diode is connected with first bluetooth antenna 2014, and the other end of diode is connected with the one end and the treater 2011 of electric capacity respectively, and the other end ground connection of electric capacity.

Fig. 5C is a schematic view of another embodiment of a backscatter device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The backscatter device is used to "transmit" a BLE adaptation signal using the CW as a carrier. The backscatter device 201 may include a rectifier 2025, a processor 2011, an oscillator 2012, and an encoder 2013. The encoder 2013 may be a FET switch, among others. Rectifier 2025 is responsible for "listening" to the CW signal and converting Radio Frequency (RF) energy corresponding to the CW signal into a Direct Current (DC) voltage. When the DC voltage is above the limit, the processor 2011 wakes up, ready for backscatter. In the backscattering process, the processor 2011 controls the oscillator 2012, and the oscillator 2012 controls the FET switch to realize signal encoding meeting the BLE tag requirement by switching the frequencies f1 and f 2. It is understood that the CW signal is one of the cases of RF.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, there is a correspondence between the CW frequency and the frequencies f1 and f2 generated by the oscillator 2012 in the backscatter device 201. The CW signal is transmitted using a cellular network as an example. For terminal devices supporting 4G LTE and 5G NR and subsequent higher communication levels, 4G B40 and 5G n40 frequency bands are supported. Table 1 below shows the correspondence between the CW frequency and f1 and f 2. Wherein, in Table 1, 5 MHz-f0-50MHz were constructed.

TABLE 1

In the embodiment of the present invention, since the CW transmitter in the tracking apparatus transmits only the CW wave that is not subjected to the encoding process, there is no problem of an increase in decoding error due to multi-CW collision. A problem that may arise is that the superposition (super position) of the CW from different terminals causes an increase or decrease in the energy radiated to the backscatter receiver due to the difference in phase. However, since even one transmitter is used to transmit the CW wave in a specific application, the CW wave is superimposed (superimposed) due to the environmental reflection, and the effect of the superimposition is unpredictable. Therefore, to reduce system complexity, this proposal does not specially deal with multi-transmitter collisions.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the user has the freedom to turn on or off backscatter device 201, CW device 202, bluetooth device 203, or cellular rf device 204. If the user selects to turn on, the corresponding back scattering device 201, CW device 202, bluetooth device 203 or cellular radio frequency device 204 of the tracking device is in the working mode. If the user selects to turn off, the backscatter device 201, CW device 202, bluetooth device 203, or cellular radio frequency device 204 corresponding to the tracking device is turned off, or the backscatter device 201, CW device 202, bluetooth device 203, or cellular radio frequency device 204 is in a sleep mode. The user can select according to actual demand, improves user experience, and when not needing work, tracer closes or dormancy, can save the electric quantity.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 6, which is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a tracking device in an embodiment of the present invention, the tracking device may include: the tracking device may further include: the Bluetooth device 203, the switch 205 and the second Bluetooth antenna 206, wherein the switch 205 is connected with the second Bluetooth antenna 206;

a bluetooth device 203 for connecting with a second bluetooth antenna 206 through a switch 205 during a reflection period;

a backscatter device 201 for connecting to a second bluetooth antenna 206 via a switch 205 during a non-reflection period.

It will be appreciated that the operating frequency of the backscatter device 201 is the same as the operating frequency of the bluetooth device 203. For example: backscatter device 201 also operates at bluetooth frequencies 2.4-2.5GHz, so backscatter device 201 and bluetooth device 203 may share an antenna.

Illustratively, the switch may be a Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switch. That is, the bluetooth device 203 and the backscatter device 201 can share one antenna by the SPDT switch. In the default mode, the backscatter device can be in communication with the bluetooth antenna, ready to reflect signals at any time. After the processor 2011 in the backscatter device 201 determines the time slot for backscatter, during the non-transmit time slot, the SPDT switch switches the bluetooth device 203 to the on-path for "listening" for nearby tag reflection information. When the time reaches the transmit time slot, the SPDT switch switches back to the backscatter device 201, performing backscatter.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device in an embodiment of the present invention, where the terminal device may include a tracking apparatus as described in any one of fig. 2, fig. 3A to fig. 3C, fig. 4A to fig. 4C, and fig. 6.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment can rapidly record the medium-short distance contact history information by utilizing a backscattering technology. Provides a new solution for processing contact history of people like Covid 19. Compared with the traditional Bluetooth technology, the technology is faster in information acquisition and can acquire more personnel information at the same time. Moreover, the backscattering technology is adopted, the complex Bluetooth data exchange standard is avoided, and the data extraction efficiency is improved. The medium-short distance contact history record is realized on the data interaction definition of hardware.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a tracking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method is applied to a tracking apparatus as described in the embodiment of the present invention, or a terminal device as described in the embodiment of the present invention, where the terminal device includes a tracking apparatus, the tracking apparatus includes a backscatter apparatus (refer to fig. 2), and the method includes:

801. a first continuous wave is received.

The tracking device receives the first continuous wave through the backscatter device.

Optionally, the backscatter apparatus includes: the bluetooth communication device comprises a processor, an oscillator, an encoder and a first bluetooth antenna (refer to fig. 5A), wherein the processor is connected with the oscillator, the oscillator is connected with the encoder, and the encoder is connected with the first bluetooth antenna. The tracking device receives the first continuous wave through the first Bluetooth antenna, and the processor acquires the first continuous wave.

Optionally, the backscatter apparatus further comprises: a rectifier (refer to fig. 5B) connected to the processor; the tracking device acquires the first continuous wave through the rectifier, converts the first continuous wave into direct-current voltage, and starts the processor when the direct-current voltage is higher than a preset threshold value.

802. Reflecting a first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, wherein the first Bluetooth Low energy broadcast signal comprises an identification of the tracking device.

And the tracking device reflects a first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal through a backscattering device according to the first continuous wave, wherein the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal comprises an identifier of the tracking device.

Optionally, the processor controls the oscillator to switch to a target frequency according to the first continuous wave, controls the encoder to encode according to the target frequency, and reflects the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal through the first bluetooth antenna.

(1) Optionally, in an implementation manner, the tracking apparatus further includes: a continuous wave CW device and a bluetooth device (refer to fig. 3A), the CW device and the bluetooth device being connected respectively; the tracking device generates and transmits a second continuous wave through the CW device; the tracking device receives a second Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal through the Bluetooth device, the second Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the first target tracking device according to the second continuous wave, and the second Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal comprises an identifier of the first target tracking device.

Optionally, the CW apparatus includes: a CW modem, a CW transmitter, and a CW antenna (refer to fig. 3B), the CW modem being connected with the CW transmitter, the CW transmitter being connected with the CW antenna; the CW modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device; the tracking device generates the second continuous wave through the CW modem; a tracking device sends the second continuous wave through the CW antenna using the CW transmitter.

Optionally, the bluetooth apparatus includes a bluetooth receiver (refer to fig. 3C); the tracking device may turn on the CW transmitter and the bluetooth receiver for a first active scanning duration T1, where T1 is within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter (see fig. 3D).

Optionally, the tracking device generates the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave through the backscatter device; determining a first time delay according to a first active scanning time length t 1; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the first time delay; wherein the first time delay is less than the T1, the T1 being within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter. Further, the first delay is N times t1/N (refer to fig. 3E), N = [0, N-1], and N is a positive integer.

(2) In an optional further implementation manner, the tracking apparatus further includes: a cellular radio frequency device and a bluetooth device (refer to fig. 4A), wherein the cellular radio frequency device is connected with the bluetooth device and the backscatter device respectively; the tracking device generates and transmits a third continuous wave through the cellular radio frequency device; the tracking device receives a third Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal through the Bluetooth device, the third Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal being a signal reflected by the second target tracking device according to the third continuous wave, the third Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the second target tracking device.

Optionally, the cellular radio frequency device includes: a cellular modem, a cellular radio frequency front end, and a cellular antenna (see fig. 4B), the cellular modem being connected to the cellular radio frequency front end, the cellular radio frequency front end being connected to the cellular antenna; the cellular modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device; the tracking device generating the third continuous wave through the cellular modem; a tracking device transmits the third continuous wave through the cellular antenna using the cellular radio frequency front end.

Optionally, the bluetooth apparatus includes a bluetooth receiver (refer to fig. 4C); the tracking device may turn on the cellular rf front end and the bluetooth receiver for a second active scanning duration T2, where T2 is within a duty cycle T2 of the cellular rf front end (refer to fig. 3D).

Optionally, the tracking device generates the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave through the backscatter device; determining a second time delay according to a second active scanning time length t 2; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the second time delay; wherein the second time delay is smaller than the T2, and the T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end. Further, the second delay is M times t2/M (refer to fig. 3E), M = [0, M-1], and M is a positive integer.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the present invention, the tracking device further includes: a bluetooth device, a switch and a second bluetooth antenna (refer to fig. 6), the switch and the second bluetooth antenna being connected; the tracking device is connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a reflection period through the Bluetooth device; the tracking device is connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a non-reflection period through the backscattering device.

It should be noted that, regarding the relevant contents in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, reference may also be made to the description of the tracking device, and details are not repeated here.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the tracking device includes a backscattering device, that is, a backscattering technology is adopted, so that a complex bluetooth data exchange standard is avoided, and data extraction efficiency is improved. The first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identification of the tracking device. The identification of the tracking device may be used to determine the tracking device. Moreover, the first continuous wave is received by using the backscattering device, and the first Bluetooth low-power-consumption broadcasting signal is reflected, so that the method is not limited by the number of people, and is also suitable for tracking medium and short distances.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can store or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that includes one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, as well as in the drawings, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It will be appreciated that the data so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein may be implemented in other sequences than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Claims

A tracking device, comprising: a backscatter device;

the backscattering device is used for receiving the first continuous wave; reflecting a first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, the first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the tracking device.
The tracking device of claim 1, wherein said backscatter device comprises: the device comprises a processor, an oscillator, an encoder and a first Bluetooth antenna, wherein the processor is connected with the oscillator, the oscillator is connected with the encoder, and the encoder is connected with the first Bluetooth antenna;

the processor is specifically configured to receive the first continuous wave through the first bluetooth antenna; and controlling the oscillator to switch a target frequency according to the first continuous wave, controlling the encoder to encode according to the target frequency, and reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power-consumption broadcast signal through the first Bluetooth antenna.
The tracking device of claim 2, wherein said backscatter device further comprises: a rectifier connected with the processor;

the rectifier is used for acquiring the first continuous wave, converting the first continuous wave into a direct current signal, and starting the processor when the voltage of the direct current signal is higher than a preset threshold value.
The tracking device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: a Continuous Wave (CW) device and a Bluetooth device, wherein the CW device is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the CW device is used for generating and transmitting a second continuous wave;

the bluetooth device is further configured to receive a second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the first target tracking device according to the second continuous wave, and the second bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the first target tracking device.
The tracking device as defined in claim 4, wherein the CW device includes: a CW modem, a CW transmitter and a CW antenna, the CW modem being connected with the CW transmitter, the CW transmitter being connected with the CW antenna; the CW modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the CW modem is used for generating the second continuous wave;

the CW transmitter is configured to transmit the second continuous wave through the CW antenna.
The tracking device of claim 5, wherein the Bluetooth device comprises a Bluetooth receiver;

the CW transmitter and the bluetooth receiver are configured to be turned on within a first active scanning duration T1, where T1 is within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter.
The tracking device according to any one of claims 4-6,

the backscattering device is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a first time delay according to a first active scanning time length t 1; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power broadcast signal according to the first time delay;

wherein the first time delay is less than the T1, the T1 being within a duty cycle T1 of the CW transmitter.
The tracking device as defined in claim 7, wherein the first time delay is N times t1/N, N = [0, N-1], N being a positive integer.
The tracking device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: the cellular radio frequency device is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the cellular radio frequency device is used for generating and transmitting a third continuous wave;

the bluetooth device is further configured to receive a third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal, where the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal is a signal reflected by the second target tracking device according to the third continuous wave, and the third bluetooth low energy broadcast signal includes an identifier of the second target tracking device.
The tracking device of claim 9, wherein said cellular radio frequency device comprises: the system comprises a cellular modem, a cellular radio frequency front end and a cellular antenna, wherein the cellular modem is connected with the cellular radio frequency front end, and the cellular radio frequency front end is connected with the cellular antenna; the cellular modem is respectively connected with the Bluetooth device and the backscattering device;

the cellular modem to generate the third continuous wave;

the cellular radio frequency front end is configured to transmit the third continuous wave through the cellular antenna.
The tracking device of claim 10, wherein the bluetooth device includes a bluetooth receiver;

the cellular radio frequency front end and the bluetooth receiver are configured to be turned on within a second active scanning duration T2, where T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end.
The tracking device according to any one of claims 9-11,

the backscattering device is further configured to generate the first bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave; determining a second time delay according to a second active scanning time length t 2; reflecting the first Bluetooth low-power-consumption broadcasting signal according to the second time delay;

wherein the second time delay is smaller than the T2, and the T2 is within a working period T2 of the cellular radio frequency front end.
The tracking device as defined in claim 12, wherein the second time delay is M times t2/M, M = [0, M-1], M being a positive integer.
The tracking device as defined in claim 1, further comprising: the Bluetooth device, the switch and the second Bluetooth antenna are connected;

the Bluetooth device is used for being connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a reflection period;

and the backscattering device is used for being connected with the second Bluetooth antenna through the switch in a non-reflection period.
A terminal device, characterized in that it comprises a tracking device according to any one of claims 1 to 14.
A tracking method, wherein the method is applied to the tracking apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14 or the terminal device according to claim 15, the method comprising:

receiving a first continuous wave;

reflecting a first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal according to the first continuous wave, the first Bluetooth low energy broadcast signal including an identification of the tracking device.
A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 16.