CN116156417A

CN116156417A - Equipment positioning method and related equipment thereof

Info

Publication number: CN116156417A
Application number: CN202211071950.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 何彦杉; 许强; 刘哲; 黄雪妍
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-05
Filing date: 2020-11-30
Publication date: 2023-05-23
Also published as: WO2022028362A1; CN112637758A; CN112637758B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a device positioning method, which comprises the following steps: acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor; when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value, triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state, wherein the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that in the second working state; and acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state. According to the method and the device, the high-power-consumption first sensor is started only when the position change of the first terminal device is determined to exceed the threshold value based on the second data acquired by the low-power-consumption second sensor, so that the power consumption of the first terminal device is reduced.

Description

Equipment positioning method and related equipment thereof

The present application is a divisional application, the application number of the original application is 202011376728.6, the original application date is 11 months 30 in 2020, and the entire content of the original application is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of computers, and in particular, to a device positioning method and related devices.

Background

Wireless location technology refers to measurement methods and calculation methods, i.e. location algorithms, used to determine the location of a mobile user. The most commonly used positioning techniques at present mainly include: time of arrival (TOA) and time difference of arrival (time different of arrival, TDOA), and the like. Among them, TDOA technology is one of the most popular schemes at present, and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology is also adopted. UWB is a carrierless communication technique that uses no carrier, but rather a short sequence of energy pulses and spreads the pulses over a range of frequencies by orthogonal frequency division modulation or direct sequencing.

The space interaction refers to a man-machine interaction technology and a method based on space position sensing (including relative position and angle among devices, etc.), and in order to achieve better use experience, space sensing among multiple devices of a user needs to be achieved, such as the prior art center uses UWB technology to achieve an Airdrop directional sharing function. However, the device positioning power consumption realized based on UWB is higher, and although the device positioning power consumption can bring good experience to users in space interaction, the using time of the terminal device is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first aspect, the present application provides a device positioning method applied to a first terminal device, where the first terminal device may be a terminal device in an intelligent home system or other indoor/outdoor scenarios. The data collected by the first sensor and the second sensor are used for positioning the first terminal equipment, the data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment can start a sensor carried by the first terminal equipment for determining the relative position with other terminal equipment, and the data collected by the sensor can be used for positioning the equipment, so-called equipment positioning in the application can be understood as determining the relative position between the terminal equipment. In order to obtain a high-precision device positioning result, the first terminal device may turn on the first sensor with higher positioning precision, which in this application refers not to the sensor with positioning capability but to the calculation result of device positioning based on the data collected by the sensor with higher precision. It should be appreciated that the first sensor may be a single high-precision sensor or a combination of multiple precision sensors, and embodiments of the present application are not limited. The data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal device, that is, the data collected by the second sensor can be used for determining how much displacement occurs in the terminal device, the positioning accuracy is lower when positioning is performed based on the data collected by the second sensor, but the power consumption required by the terminal device is lower when the sensors are started at the same time. It should be understood that the second sensor may also be other sensors that may have lower positioning accuracy and lower power consumption, and the present application is not limited thereto.

The data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal device, however, the data collected by the first sensor can be used for determining the relative position between the terminal devices, and the data collected by the second sensor can also be used for determining the relative position between the terminal devices, or the data collected by the second sensor can be used for determining the size of the position change of the terminal devices, but not the relative position between the terminal devices. The power of the first sensor is larger than the power of the second sensor, that is, the power consumption required by the first terminal device to keep the first sensor on is larger than the power consumption required by the first terminal device to keep the second sensor on in unit time.

The method comprises the following steps: acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor; when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value, triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state, wherein the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that in the second working state. The second working state may be a sensor off state, or a low power consumption state in which only a part of the sensor functions are on standby. The first operating state may be a sensor on state or a high power consumption state where most of the sensor functions are turned on. For example, the first operating state is a sensor on state and the second operating state is a sensor off state. And acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor.

In the embodiment of the application, the threshold may include a distance threshold and an angle threshold. It should be noted that, according to different device types of the first terminal device, different thresholds may be corresponding, and the first terminal device may be a mobile device, for example, a mobile phone, a Pad, AR glasses, a smart watch, a smart bracelet, etc.; the first terminal equipment can be semi-mobile equipment such as an intelligent sound box, a notebook computer and the like; the first terminal device may be a fixed device such as a smart screen, a desktop computer, a smart home appliance, etc. The corresponding threshold values can be gradually reduced from the mobile equipment and the semi-mobile equipment to the fixed equipment, namely when the first terminal equipment is the mobile equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a first threshold value, when the first terminal equipment is the semi-mobile equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a second threshold value, and when the first terminal equipment is the fixed equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a third threshold value, the first threshold value is larger than a second threshold value, and the second threshold value is larger than the third threshold value.

The first terminal device may belong to a computing system, which may be the smart home system described above or other indoor/outdoor scenario, and the computing system may comprise a plurality of terminal devices, where the plurality of terminal devices may comprise a control center, which in this embodiment is also referred to as a target terminal device. The computing system may include a first terminal device, where the first terminal device may acquire, in order to acquire a relative position with other terminal devices in the computing system, second data acquired by a first sensor provided on the first terminal device, where the second data may be used to calculate the relative position between the first terminal device and the other terminal devices in the computing system. The first location information may indicate a relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, which may be a relative distance and/or a relative azimuth. The first location information may be directly represented by a relative distance and/or a relative azimuth, or may be data for calculating the relative distance and/or the relative azimuth, which may directly or indirectly obtain a relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, regardless of the expression of the first location information.

In this embodiment, only when the position change of the first terminal device is determined to exceed the threshold based on the first data collected by the second sensor with low power consumption, the first sensor with high power consumption is triggered to change from the first working state to the second working state, so that the power consumption of the first terminal device is reduced.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises: before acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, acquiring second position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the second position information is determined according to third data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state; triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state.

In this embodiment, second location information of the first terminal device may be acquired, where the second location information is determined according to third data acquired by the first sensor; the first terminal device may belong to a computing system, which may be the smart home system described above or other indoor/outdoor scenario, and the computing system may comprise a plurality of terminal devices, where the plurality of terminal devices may comprise a control center, which in this embodiment is also referred to as a target terminal device. The computing system may include a first terminal device, where the first terminal device may acquire, in order to acquire a relative position with other terminal devices in the computing system, third data acquired by a first sensor provided on the first terminal device, where the third data may be used to calculate a relative position between the first terminal device and the other terminal devices in the computing system. The second location information may indicate a relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, which may be a relative distance and/or a relative azimuth.

It should be understood that the second location information may be directly represented by a relative distance and/or a relative azimuth, or may be data for calculating the relative distance and/or the relative azimuth, which may directly or indirectly obtain the relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, regardless of the manner in which the first location information is represented.

Triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state; it should be appreciated that the present application is not limited to closing the timing between the first sensor and acquiring the second position information of the first terminal device, in one implementation, after the first sensor acquires the third data, before acquiring the second position information of the first terminal device, the first sensor may be triggered to change from the second operating state to the first operating state, and in one implementation, after acquiring the second position information of the first terminal device, the first sensor may be triggered to change from the second operating state to the first operating state.

In order to reduce power consumption, the first sensor can be triggered to change from the second working state to the first working state. In one implementation, other terminal devices in the computing system may trigger the first terminal device to change from the second operating state to the first operating state, e.g., turn off its own first sensor. Specifically, the first terminal device may receive an indication sent by other terminal devices in the computing system to turn off the first sensor, and turn off the first sensor based on the received indication.

In one possible design, the data accuracy of the data collected by the first sensor is greater than the data accuracy of the data collected by the second sensor.

It will be appreciated that in one implementation, the data collected by the second sensor is not available for performing a positioning operation of the first terminal device, and that only a change in position determination of the first terminal device can be determined. In another implementation, the data collected by the second sensor may be used to perform a positioning operation of the first terminal device, however, the data accuracy of the data collected by the second sensor is less than the data accuracy of the data collected by the first sensor.

Specifically, if the first sensor and the second sensor of the first terminal device are opened together, after the position of the first terminal device changes, the positioning calculation of the first terminal device may be performed according to the data collected by the first sensor, and the positioning calculation of the first terminal device may also be performed according to the data collected by the second sensor (the positioning algorithm performed by the data collected by the first sensor is the same as or similar to the positioning algorithm performed by the data collected by the second sensor), however, the calculation result of the positioning calculation of the first terminal device may be performed according to the data collected by the first sensor is more accurate than the calculation result of the positioning calculation of the first terminal device may be performed according to the data collected by the second sensor, which is more accurate than the calculation result of the positioning calculation of the first terminal device may be performed according to the data collected by the first sensor.

And when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds the threshold value based on the second data acquired by the second sensor with low power consumption, positioning calculation is performed through the data acquired by the first sensor with higher positioning accuracy, so that the positioning accuracy is ensured.

In one possible design, the method further comprises:

and triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state after triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state.

It should be appreciated that the present application is not limited to triggering the timing between the first sensor changing from the second operating state to the first operating state and acquiring the first position information of the first terminal device, and in one implementation, after the first sensor acquires the second data, the first sensor may be triggered to change from the second operating state to the first operating state before acquiring the first position information of the first terminal device, and in one implementation, the first sensor may be triggered to change from the second operating state to the first operating state after acquiring the first position information of the first terminal device.

In one possible design, the first location information is used to indicate a first relative location between the first terminal device and a second terminal device; the second position information is used for indicating a second relative position between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; the second terminal device and the first terminal device belong to the same computing system.

The first terminal device belongs to a computing system which also comprises other terminal devices (second terminal devices), which can be understood as one or more terminal devices.

In one possible design, the triggering the first sensor to change from the second operating state to the first operating state includes: and receiving a second instruction sent by the second terminal equipment and used for triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state, and triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state based on the second instruction.

In one possible design, when the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value, triggering the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state includes:

When the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value, sending a third indication for indicating that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds the threshold value to the second terminal device;

and receiving a fourth indication sent by the second terminal equipment and used for triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state, and triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the fourth indication.

In one possible design, the second terminal device comprises M terminal devices, each of the M terminal devices comprising the first sensor;

the first position information is determined according to the second data and data acquired by first sensors of N terminal devices in the M terminal devices, wherein N is smaller than or equal to M; and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the second position information is determined according to the third data and data acquired by first sensors of N terminal devices in the M terminal devices, and N is smaller than or equal to M.

That is, the calculation of the first position may be performed based on data acquired by the first sensors of all or part of the M terminal devices, and in one implementation, the N is smaller than the M, and the N terminal devices are N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device, and when N terminal devices of the M terminal devices acquire data for determining the second position, the first sensors of terminal devices other than the N terminal devices are in the first operating state, for example, in an off state. In this embodiment, N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device may be selected to be in the second working state, and the calculation of the first position information may be performed based on data collected by the first sensors of the N terminal devices. The number of N depends on the total number of devices in the computing system, and the positioning accuracy of the second sensor of the first terminal device is higher, namely the positioning accuracy of the second sensor is smaller. In the embodiment of the application, only N terminal equipment with close positions are selected, so that energy conservation and consumption reduction can be realized under the condition of ensuring the system precision.

In one possible design, the N is smaller than the M, and the N terminal devices are N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device from among the M terminal devices.

In one possible design, the first relative position and the second relative position comprise relative distances and/or relative azimuth angles. The relative azimuth angle may also be referred to herein as a relative pose, such as a relative 3DOF pose.

In one possible design, before the acquiring the second location information of the first terminal device, the method further includes:

indicating that the first sensor is changed from the first working state to the second working state.

In one possible design, the triggering the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state includes:

establishing connection with the second terminal equipment;

and receiving a first indication sent by the second terminal equipment and used for triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state, and triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the first indication.

In one scenario, a first terminal device may keep a first sensor in the first operating state, for example, in an off state, until a first indication for triggering the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state is received or it is determined that the first sensor should change from the first operating state to the second operating state, where the first operating state is in an off state and the second operating state is in an on state, for example, the first terminal device may keep the first sensor in an off state until the first terminal device establishes a connection with at least one terminal device (second terminal device) in a computing system, and may receive a first indication sent by the second terminal device in the computing system to turn on the first sensor, where the first terminal device may turn on the first sensor based on the first indication. Taking the computing system as an intelligent home system as an example, the target terminal device may be a smart screen, the first terminal device may be a mobile phone carried by a user, when the user returns from outside to inside, the first terminal device may establish an establishment with at least one terminal device in the intelligent home system, so-called an establishment connection may be a local area network connection, such as bluetooth, WIFI, etc., in which case the smart screen may capture that the first terminal device returns to the intelligent home system, and the second terminal device may send a first indication to the first terminal device to turn on the first sensor.

In one possible design, the acquiring the first location information of the first terminal device includes: and acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor, and determining first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data.

In one possible design, the acquiring the first location information of the first terminal device includes: acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor and data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices, and determining first position information of the first terminal device according to the second data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices; or, acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor; the second data is sent to target terminal equipment in the M terminal equipment, so that the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data, or the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the first position information sent by the target terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the acquiring the second location information of the first terminal device includes: and acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor, and determining second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data.

In one possible design, the acquiring the second location information of the first terminal device includes: acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor and data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices, and determining second position information of the first terminal device according to the third data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices; or, acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor; the third data is sent to target terminal equipment in the M terminal equipment, so that the target terminal equipment determines second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data, or the target terminal equipment determines second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the second position information sent by the target terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the first sensor includes at least one of the following sensors: an ultra-wideband UWB sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser sensor and a visual sensor; wherein, UWB sensor can include UWB sender and UWB receiver, and the ultrasonic sensor can include ultrasonic sender and ultrasonic receiver, and laser sensor can include laser sender and laser receiver.

The second sensor includes at least one of the following sensors: accelerometer sensor, gyroscope sensor, magnetometer sensor, bluetooth low energy BLE, and wireless fidelity WIFI.

In one possible design, the first sensor includes at least one of the following sensors: the accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor are used for positioning equipment according to data acquired by the first sensor, and the positioning precision is larger than a preset value. The accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor have lower power consumption of the first terminal device when being started, however, the positioning accuracy of the device positioning is higher when the data acquired by some accelerometer sensors and gyroscope sensors are used for device positioning.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a device positioning apparatus applied to a first terminal device, where the first terminal device includes a first sensor and a second sensor, where data collected by the first sensor is used to position the first terminal device, data collected by the second sensor is used to determine a change in position of the first terminal device, and power of the first sensor is greater than power of the second sensor, where the apparatus includes:

The acquisition module is used for acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor;

the sensor state change module is used for triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value, and the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that of the first sensor in the second working state;

the acquisition module is configured to acquire first location information of the first terminal device, where the first location information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state.

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to acquire second location information of the first terminal device before acquiring the location change of the first terminal device, where the second location information is determined according to third data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state;

the sensor state change module is used for triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to:

after the first sensor is triggered to change from the first working state to the second working state, the first sensor is triggered to change from the second working state to the first working state.

In one possible design, the first location information is used to indicate a first relative location between the first terminal device and a second terminal device;

the second position information is used for indicating a second relative position between the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

the second terminal device and the first terminal device belong to the same computing system.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to receive a second indication sent by the second terminal device and used to trigger the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state, and trigger the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state based on the second indication.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to send a third indication to the second terminal device indicating that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value when the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value;

In one possible design, the first relative position and the second relative position comprise relative distances and/or relative azimuth angles.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to instruct the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state before acquiring the second position information of the first terminal device.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to establish a connection with the second terminal device;

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to:

and acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor, and determining first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data.

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to:

acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor and data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices, and determining first position information of the first terminal device according to the second data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

Acquiring second data acquired by the first sensor; the second data is sent to target terminal equipment in the M terminal equipment, so that the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data, or the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the first position information sent by the target terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to:

and acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor, and determining second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data.

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to:

acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor and data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices, and determining second position information of the first terminal device according to the third data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices; or alternatively, the first and second heat exchangers may be,

acquiring third data acquired by the first sensor; the third data is sent to target terminal equipment in the M terminal equipment, so that the target terminal equipment determines second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data, or the target terminal equipment determines second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the second position information sent by the target terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the first sensor includes at least one of the following sensors: an ultra-wideband UWB sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser sensor and a visual sensor;

In one possible design, the first sensor includes at least one of the following sensors: the accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor, and the data precision of the data acquired by the first sensor is larger than a preset value.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a terminal device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor retrieving code stored in the memory to perform any one of the first aspect and its alternative implementations.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium containing computer instructions for performing any one of the first aspect and its alternative implementations.

In a fifth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product comprising code which, when executed, is adapted to carry out any one of the implementations of the first aspect and its alternatives.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising a processor for performing part or all of the operations of the method described in the first aspect above.

The embodiment of the application provides a device positioning method, which is applied to first terminal devices, wherein the first terminal devices comprise a first sensor and a second sensor, the first sensor is used for positioning the first terminal devices, data acquired by the second sensor are used for determining position change of the first terminal devices, and the power of the first sensor is larger than that of the second sensor, and the method comprises the following steps: acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor; when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value, triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state, wherein the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that in the second working state; and acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state. By the method, the high-power-consumption first sensor is started only when the position change of the first terminal device is determined to exceed the threshold value based on the second data acquired by the low-power-consumption second sensor, so that the power consumption of the first terminal device is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1a is a system architecture diagram of an intelligent home system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1b is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in the present application;

fig. 2 is a software architecture block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a device positioning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a device positioning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some, but not all embodiments of the present application. As one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate, with the development of technology and the appearance of new scenes, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are applicable to similar technical problems.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application and in the above-described figures, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments described herein may be implemented in other sequences than those illustrated or otherwise 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 modules is not necessarily limited to those steps or modules that are expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. The naming or numbering of the steps in the present application does not mean that the steps in the method flow must be executed according to the time/logic sequence indicated by the naming or numbering, and the execution sequence of the steps in the flow that are named or numbered may be changed according to the technical purpose to be achieved, so long as the same or similar technical effects can be achieved.

First, an application scenario of the present application is introduced, where the application may be applied in an intelligent home system or an office, where a user's home or office may be provided with a plurality of terminal devices, where a plurality of terminal devices have mutual spatial awareness and form a spatial network (in this embodiment, the application may also be referred to as a computing system).

Taking an intelligent home system as an example, fig. 1a is a system architecture diagram of an intelligent home system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1a, the smart home system comprises a user terminal 11, a control center 12 and at least one screen terminal (e.g. screen terminals 13, 14); wherein the screen terminals 13, 14 are arranged in different positions. The user terminal 11 and at least one screen terminal (e.g. screen terminals 13, 14) may be in the same area or in different areas, for example the user terminal 11 may be in a living room and the screen terminal 13 may be in a living room or bedroom.

In some examples, the user terminal 11 and the screen terminal (e.g., screen terminals 13, 14) may each be a cell phone, tablet computer, digital camera, personal digital assistant (personal digitalassistant, PDA), wearable device, laptop computer (laptop), smart television, smart screen, or other electronic device having a display screen. Exemplary embodiments of the electronic device include, but are not limited to, electronic devices that carry iOS, android, windows, hong System (Harmony OS), or other operating systems. The electronic device may also be other electronic devices such as a laptop computer (laptop) or the like having a touch-sensitive surface, e.g. a touch panel. The type of the electronic device is not particularly limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In some examples, the control center 12 may also be a terminal device, such as an electronic device with a display screen, such as a cell phone, tablet, digital camera, personal digital assistant (personal digitalassistant, PDA), wearable device, laptop (laptop), smart television, smart screen, etc.

It should be understood that the control center 12 may not be provided in the smart home system.

The user terminal 11 and the screen terminal (e.g., the screen terminals 13, 14) may be connected to the control center 12 through a Wired network (wireless network) or a wireless network (wireless network), or the user terminal 11 and the screen terminal (e.g., the screen terminals 13, 14) may be connected to each other through a Wired network (wireless network) or a wireless network (wireless network). For example, the network may be a local area network (local area networks, LAN) or a wide area network (wide area networks, WAN) (e.g., the internet). The network between the user terminal 11 and the screen terminal and the control center 12 may be implemented using any known network communication protocol, which may be various wired or wireless communication protocols, such as ethernet, universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB), firewire (firewire), global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM), general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), code division multiple access (code divisionmultiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), time division multiple access (time-division code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), new air interface (NR), bluetooth (blue) wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wi-Fi), etc.

The user terminal 11 and the screen terminal (for example, the screen terminals 13 and 14) may be connected to each other via a network such as a Wired network (Wired network) or a wireless network (wireless network). The detailed network type is referred to above and will not be described in detail herein.

A schematic hardware structure of a terminal device in the embodiment of the present application is described below, where the terminal device may be a user terminal 11 and/or a screen terminal (e.g. screen terminals 13, 14).

Terminal devices, which may also be referred to as User Equipment (UE) or electronic devices, may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, hand-held or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); but may also be deployed in the air (e.g., on aircraft, balloon, satellite, etc.). The electronic device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (pad), a wearable device with a wireless communication function (such as a smart watch), a position tracker with a positioning function, a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless device in a smart home (smart home), etc., which is not limited in this application. The electronic device and the chip that can be provided in the electronic device are collectively referred to as an electronic device in this application.

The terminal device in the present application may include, but is not limited to: smart mobile phones, televisions, tablet computers, hand rings, head mounted display devices (Head Mount Display, HMD), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) devices, mixed Reality (MR) devices, cellular phones (cellular phones), smart phones (smart phones), personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant, PDA), tablet computers, in-vehicle terminal devices, laptop computers (labop computer), personal computers (personal computer, PC), monitoring devices, robots, in-vehicle terminals, autonomous vehicles, and the like. Of course, in the following embodiments, there is no limitation on the specific form of the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may include one or more sensors (which may also be referred to as a first sensor in the present application) for collecting data for determining a relative position with other terminal devices, where the first sensor may be an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser sensor, and a visual sensor.

The data collected by the UWB sensor can be used for accurately measuring the relative distance and the relative azimuth angle between the terminal devices. The data collected by the ultrasonic sensor can be used for accurately measuring the relative distance between the terminal devices. The data collected by the vision sensor can be used to make accurate terminal device-to-terminal device angle measurements. The positioning accuracy is higher when positioning is performed based on the data acquired by the first sensor, but the power consumption required by the terminal equipment is higher when the sensors are started at the same time.

It should be understood that the first sensor may be another sensor with higher positioning accuracy, which is not limited in this application.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device may include one or more sensors (which may also be referred to as a second sensor in the application) for collecting data for determining whether the terminal device is moving or how much position change has occurred. The second sensor may comprise at least one of the following sensors: accelerometer sensors, gyroscopic sensors, magnetometer sensors, bluetooth low energy (bluetooth low energy, BLE) and wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI).

The data collected by the accelerometer sensor can be used for measuring the movement of the terminal equipment, the acceleration of the terminal equipment in the x, y and z directions is measured by taking the inertial coordinate system of the terminal equipment as a reference, and the accelerometer sensor is a main sensing mode of the pedometer. The data collected by the gyroscope sensor can be used for rotating the measurement terminal equipment, and the rotation of the equipment in the x, y and z directions is measured by taking the equipment inertial coordinate system as a reference. The data collected by the magnetometer sensor can be used for measuring the magnetic field intensity detected by the terminal equipment and eliminating the severe change of the external environment, wherein the change of magnetic force values in the directions of x, y and z can represent the change of the position of the terminal equipment. The data collected by BLE may be used to make less accurate measurements of relative distance and relative angle from terminal device to terminal device, but BLE acts as a sensor, the received signal strength (received signal strength, RSS) it scans may act as a location fingerprint, and the change in BLE RSS may be a change in the location of the representative terminal device. The data collected by the WIFI can be used for measuring the relative distance between the terminal equipment which is not accurate, but the network card is used as a sensor, the scanned RSS can be used as a position fingerprint, and the change of the general WiFi RSS can represent the change of the position of the terminal equipment. The positioning accuracy is lower when positioning is performed based on the data acquired by the second sensor, but the power consumption required by the terminal equipment is lower when the sensors are started at the same time.

It should be understood that the second sensor may also be other sensors that may have a lower positioning accuracy, and the present application is not limited thereto.

By way of example, referring to fig. 1b, a specific structure is taken as an example, and an exemplary structure of the terminal device provided in the present application is described below.

The terminal device 100 may include a processor 110, an external memory interface 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB) interface 130, a charge management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 150, a wireless communication module 160, an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a receiver 170B, a microphone 170C, an earphone interface 170D, a sensor module 180, keys 190, a motor 191, an indicator 192, a camera 193, a display 194, and a subscriber identity module (subscriber identification module, SIM) card interface 195, etc. The sensor module 180 may include a pressure sensor 180A, a gyroscope sensor 180B, an air pressure sensor 180C, a magnetic sensor 180D, an acceleration sensor 180E, a distance sensor 180F, a proximity sensor 180G, a fingerprint sensor 180H, a temperature sensor 180J, a touch sensor 180K, an ambient light sensor 180L, a bone conduction sensor 180M, a motion sensor 180N, and the like.

It is to be understood that the structure illustrated in the embodiment of the present invention does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal device 100. In other embodiments of the present application, terminal device 100 may include more or less components than illustrated, or certain components may be combined, or certain components may be split, or different arrangements of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

The processor 110 may include one or more processing units, such as: the processor 110 may include an application processor (application processor, AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (graphics processing unit, GPU), an image signal processor (image signal processor, ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a neural network processor (neural-network processing unit, NPU), etc. Wherein the different processing units may be separate devices or may be integrated in one or more processors.

The controller can generate operation control signals according to the instruction operation codes and the time sequence signals to finish the control of instruction fetching and instruction execution.

A memory may also be provided in the processor 110 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in the processor 110 is a cache memory. The memory may hold instructions or data that the processor 110 has just used or recycled. If the processor 110 needs to reuse the instruction or data, it can be called directly from the memory. Repeated accesses are avoided and the latency of the processor 110 is reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of the system.

In some embodiments, the processor 110 may include one or more interfaces. The interfaces may include an integrated circuit (inter-integrated circuit, I2C) interface, an integrated circuit built-in audio (inter-integrated circuit sound, I2S) interface, a pulse code modulation (pulse code modulation, PCM) interface, a universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, UART) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (mobile industry processor interface, MIPI), a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) interface, a subscriber identity module (subscriber identity module, SIM) interface, and/or a universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB) interface, among others.

The I2C interface is a bi-directional synchronous serial bus comprising a serial data line (SDA) and a serial clock line (derail clock line, SCL). In some embodiments, the processor 110 may contain multiple sets of I2C buses. The processor 110 may be coupled to the touch sensor 180K, charger, flash, camera 193, etc., respectively, through different I2C bus interfaces. For example: the processor 110 may be coupled to the touch sensor 180K through an I2C interface, so that the processor 110 and the touch sensor 180K communicate through an I2C bus interface to implement a touch function of the terminal device 100.

The I2S interface may be used for audio communication. In some embodiments, the processor 110 may contain multiple sets of I2S buses. The processor 110 may be coupled to the audio module 170 via an I2S bus to enable communication between the processor 110 and the audio module 170. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 may transmit an audio signal to the wireless communication module 160 through the I2S interface, to implement a function of answering a call through the bluetooth headset.

PCM interfaces may also be used for audio communication to sample, quantize and encode analog signals. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 and the wireless communication module 160 may be coupled through a PCM bus interface. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 may also transmit audio signals to the wireless communication module 160 through the PCM interface to implement a function of answering a call through the bluetooth headset. Both the I2S interface and the PCM interface may be used for audio communication.

The UART interface is a universal serial data bus for asynchronous communications. The bus may be a bi-directional communication bus. It converts the data to be transmitted between serial communication and parallel communication. In some embodiments, a UART interface is typically used to connect the processor 110 with the wireless communication module 160. For example: the processor 110 communicates with a bluetooth module in the wireless communication module 160 through a UART interface to implement a bluetooth function. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 may transmit an audio signal to the wireless communication module 160 through a UART interface, to implement a function of playing music through a bluetooth headset.

The MIPI interface may be used to connect the processor 110 to peripheral devices such as a display 194, a camera 193, and the like. The MIPI interfaces include camera serial interfaces (camera serial interface, CSI), display serial interfaces (display serial interface, DSI), and the like. In some embodiments, processor 110 and camera 193 communicate through a CSI interface to implement the photographing function of terminal device 100. The processor 110 and the display 194 communicate via a DSI interface to implement the display function of the terminal device 100.

The GPIO interface may be configured by software. The GPIO interface may be configured as a control signal or as a data signal. In some embodiments, a GPIO interface may be used to connect the processor 110 with the camera 193, the display 194, the wireless communication module 160, the audio module 170, the sensor module 180, and the like. The GPIO interface may also be configured as an I2C interface, an I2S interface, a UART interface, an MIPI interface, etc.

The USB interface 130 is an interface conforming to the USB standard specification, and may specifically be a Mini USB interface, a Micro USB interface, a USB Type C interface, or the like. The USB interface 130 may be used to connect a charger to charge the terminal device 100, or may be used to transfer data between the terminal device 100 and a peripheral device. And can also be used for connecting with a headset, and playing audio through the headset. The interface may also be used to connect other terminal devices, such as AR devices, etc.

It should be understood that the interfacing relationship between the modules illustrated in the embodiment of the present invention is only illustrative, and does not constitute a structural limitation of the terminal device 100. In other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device 100 may also use different interfacing manners, or a combination of multiple interfacing manners in the foregoing embodiments.

The charge management module 140 is configured to receive a charge input from a charger. The charger can be a wireless charger or a wired charger. In some wired charging embodiments, the charge management module 140 may receive a charging input of a wired charger through the USB interface 130. In some wireless charging embodiments, the charge management module 140 may receive wireless charging input through a wireless charging coil of the terminal device 100. The charging management module 140 may also supply power to the terminal device through the power management module 141 while charging the battery 142.

The power management module 141 is used for connecting the battery 142, and the charge management module 140 and the processor 110. The power management module 141 receives input from the battery 142 and/or the charge management module 140 to power the processor 110, the internal memory 121, the display 194, the camera 193, the wireless communication module 160, and the like. The power management module 141 may also be configured to monitor battery capacity, battery cycle number, battery health (leakage, impedance) and other parameters. In other embodiments, the power management module 141 may also be provided in the processor 110. In other embodiments, the power management module 141 and the charge management module 140 may be disposed in the same device.

The wireless communication function of the terminal device 100 can be implemented by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 150, the wireless communication module 160, a modem processor, a baseband processor, and the like.

The antennas 1 and 2 are used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in the terminal device 100 may be used to cover a single or multiple communication bands. Different antennas may also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: the antenna 1 may be multiplexed into a diversity antenna of a wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antenna may be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

The mobile communication module 150 may provide a solution including 2G/3G/4G/5G wireless communication applied to the terminal device 100. The mobile communication module 150 may include at least one filter, switch, power amplifier, low noise amplifier (low noise amplifier, LNA), etc. The mobile communication module 150 may receive electromagnetic waves from the antenna 1, perform processes such as filtering, amplifying, and the like on the received electromagnetic waves, and transmit the processed electromagnetic waves to the modem processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 150 can amplify the signal modulated by the modem processor, and convert the signal into electromagnetic waves through the antenna 1 to radiate. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 150 may be disposed in the processor 110. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 150 may be provided in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 110.

The modem processor may include a modulator and a demodulator. The modulator is used for modulating the low-frequency baseband signal to be transmitted into a medium-high frequency signal. The demodulator is used for demodulating the received electromagnetic wave signal into a low-frequency baseband signal. The demodulator then transmits the demodulated low frequency baseband signal to the baseband processor for processing. The low frequency baseband signal is processed by the baseband processor and then transferred to the application processor. The application processor outputs sound signals through an audio device (not limited to the speaker 170A, the receiver 170B, etc.), or displays images or video through the display screen 194. In some embodiments, the modem processor may be a stand-alone device. In other embodiments, the modem processor may be provided in the same device as the mobile communication module 150 or other functional module, independent of the processor 110.

The wireless communication module 160 may provide solutions for wireless communication including wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN) (e.g., wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wi-Fi) network), bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (global navigation satellite system, GNSS), frequency modulation (frequency modulation, FM), near field wireless communication technology (near field communication, NFC), infrared technology (IR), etc., applied to the terminal device 100. The wireless communication module 160 may be one or more devices that integrate at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 160 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 2, modulates the electromagnetic wave signals, filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and transmits the processed signals to the processor 110. The wireless communication module 160 may also receive a signal to be transmitted from the processor 110, frequency modulate it, amplify it, and convert it to electromagnetic waves for radiation via the antenna 2.

In some embodiments, antenna 1 and mobile communication module 150 of terminal device 100 are coupled, and antenna 2 and wireless communication module 160 are coupled, such that terminal device 100 may communicate with a network and other devices via wireless communication techniques. The wireless communication techniques may include, but are not limited to: fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5 th-Generation, 5G) systems, global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM), general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA), time division code division multiple access (time-division code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), bluetooth (blue), global navigation satellite system (the global navigation satellite system, GNSS), wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi), near field wireless communication (near field communication, NFC), FM (which may also be referred to as frequency modulation broadcast), zigbee, radio frequency identification technology (radio frequency identification, RFID) and/or Infrared (IR) technology, and the like. The GNSS may include a global satellite positioning system (global positioning system, GPS), a global navigation satellite system (global navigation satellite system, GLONASS), a beidou satellite navigation system (beidou navigation satellite system, BDS), a quasi zenith satellite system (quasi-zenith satellite system, QZSS) and/or a satellite based augmentation system (satellite based augmentation systems, SBAS), etc.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 may also include a wired communication module (not shown in fig. 1 b), or the mobile communication module 150 or the wireless communication module 160 may be replaced with a wired communication module (not shown in fig. 1 b) herein, which may enable the terminal device to communicate with other devices through a wired network. The wired network may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: optical transport network (optical transport network, OTN), synchronous digital hierarchy (synchronous digital hierarchy, SDH), passive optical network (passive optical network, PON), ethernet (Ethernet), or flexible Ethernet (FlexE), etc.

The terminal device 100 implements display functions through a GPU, a display screen 194, an application processor, and the like. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing, and is connected to the display 194 and the application processor. The GPU is used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. Processor 110 may include one or more GPUs that execute program instructions to generate or change display information.

The display screen 194 is used to display images, videos, and the like. The display 194 includes a display panel. The display panel may employ a liquid crystal display (liquid crystal display, LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) or an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (matrix organic light emitting diode), a flexible light-emitting diode (flex), a mini, a Micro led, a Micro-OLED, a quantum dot light-emitting diode (quantum dot light emitting diodes, QLED), or the like. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 may include 1 or N display screens 194, N being a positive integer greater than 1.

The terminal device 100 may implement a photographing function through an ISP, a camera 193, a video codec, a GPU, a display screen 194, an application processor, and the like.

The ISP is used to process data fed back by the camera 193. For example, when photographing, the shutter is opened, light is transmitted to the camera photosensitive element through the lens, the optical signal is converted into an electric signal, and the camera photosensitive element transmits the electric signal to the ISP for processing and is converted into an image visible to naked eyes. ISP can also optimize the noise, brightness and skin color of the image. The ISP can also optimize parameters such as exposure, color temperature and the like of a shooting scene. In some embodiments, the ISP may be provided in the camera 193.

The camera 193 is used to capture still images or video. The object generates an optical image through the lens and projects the optical image onto the photosensitive element. The photosensitive element may be a charge coupled device (charge coupled device, CCD) or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistor. The photosensitive element converts the optical signal into an electrical signal, which is then transferred to the ISP to be converted into a digital image signal. The ISP outputs the digital image signal to the DSP for processing. The DSP converts the digital image signal into an image signal in a format of a standard RGB camera, YUV, or the like. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 may include 1 or N cameras 193, N being a positive integer greater than 1.

The digital signal processor is used for processing digital signals, and can process other digital signals besides digital image signals. For example, when the terminal device 100 selects a frequency bin, the digital signal processor is used to fourier transform the frequency bin energy, or the like.

Video codecs are used to compress or decompress digital video. The terminal device 100 may support one or more video codecs. In this way, the terminal device 100 can play or record video in various encoding formats, for example: dynamic picture experts group (moving picture experts group, MPEG) 1, MPEG2, MPEG3, MPEG4, etc.

The NPU is a neural-network (NN) computing processor, and can rapidly process input information by referencing a biological neural network structure, for example, referencing a transmission mode between human brain neurons, and can also continuously perform self-learning. Applications such as intelligent awareness of the terminal device 100 may be implemented by the NPU, for example: image recognition, face recognition, speech recognition, text understanding, etc.

The external memory interface 120 may be used to connect an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, to realize expansion of the memory capability of the terminal device 100. The external memory card communicates with the processor 110 through an external memory interface 120 to implement data storage functions. For example, files such as music, video, etc. are stored in an external memory card.

The internal memory 121 may be used to store computer executable program code including instructions. The internal memory 121 may include a storage program area and a storage data area. The storage program area may store an application program (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, etc.) required for at least one function of the operating system, etc. The storage data area may store data (such as audio data, phonebook, etc.) created during use of the terminal device 100, and the like. In addition, the internal memory 121 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may further include a nonvolatile memory such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash memory (universal flash storage, UFS), and the like. The processor 110 performs various functional applications of the terminal device 100 and data processing by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 121 and/or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

The terminal device 100 may implement audio functions through an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a receiver 170B, a microphone 170C, an earphone interface 170D, an application processor, and the like. Such as music playing, recording, etc.

The audio module 170 is used to convert digital audio information into an analog audio signal output and also to convert an analog audio input into a digital audio signal. The audio module 170 may also be used to encode and decode audio signals. In some embodiments, the audio module 170 may be disposed in the processor 110, or a portion of the functional modules of the audio module 170 may be disposed in the processor 110.

The speaker 170A, also referred to as a "horn," is used to convert audio electrical signals into sound signals. The terminal device 100 can listen to music or to handsfree talk through the speaker 170A.

A receiver 170B, also referred to as a "earpiece", is used to convert the audio electrical signal into a sound signal. When the terminal device 100 receives a call or voice message, it is possible to receive voice by approaching the receiver 170B to the human ear.

Microphone 170C, also referred to as a "microphone" or "microphone", is used to convert sound signals into electrical signals. When making a call or transmitting voice information, the user can sound near the microphone 170C through the mouth, inputting a sound signal to the microphone 170C. The terminal device 100 may be provided with at least one microphone 170C. In other embodiments, the terminal device 100 may be provided with two microphones 170C, and may implement a noise reduction function in addition to collecting sound signals. In other embodiments, the terminal device 100 may be further provided with three, four or more microphones 170C to collect sound signals, reduce noise, identify the source of sound, implement directional recording functions, etc.

The earphone interface 170D is used to connect a wired earphone. The earphone interface 170D may be a USB interface 130 or a 3.5mm open mobile terminal platform (open mobile terminal platform, OMTP) standard interface, a american cellular telecommunications industry association (cellular telecommunications industry association of the USA, CTIA) standard interface.

The pressure sensor 180A is used to sense a pressure signal, and may convert the pressure signal into an electrical signal. In some embodiments, the pressure sensor 180A may be disposed on the display screen 194. The pressure sensor 180A is of various types, such as a resistive pressure sensor, an inductive pressure sensor, a capacitive pressure sensor, and the like. The capacitive pressure sensor may be a capacitive pressure sensor comprising at least two parallel plates with conductive material. The capacitance between the electrodes changes when a force is applied to the pressure sensor 180A. The terminal device 100 determines the intensity of the pressure according to the change of the capacitance. When a touch operation is applied to the display 194, the terminal device 100 detects the intensity of the touch operation according to the pressure sensor 180A. The terminal device 100 may also calculate the position of the touch from the detection signal of the pressure sensor 180A. In some embodiments, touch operations that act on the same touch location, but at different touch operation strengths, may correspond to different operation instructions. For example: and executing an instruction for checking the short message when the touch operation with the touch operation intensity smaller than the first pressure threshold acts on the short message application icon. And executing an instruction for newly creating the short message when the touch operation with the touch operation intensity being greater than or equal to the first pressure threshold acts on the short message application icon.

The gyro sensor 180B may be used to determine a motion gesture of the terminal device 100. In some embodiments, the angular velocity of the terminal device 100 about three axes (i.e., x, y, and z axes) may be determined by the gyro sensor 180B. The gyro sensor 180B may be used for photographing anti-shake. Illustratively, when the shutter is pressed, the gyro sensor 180B detects the angle of the shake of the terminal device 100, calculates the distance to be compensated by the lens module according to the angle, and allows the lens to counteract the shake of the terminal device 100 by the reverse motion, thereby realizing anti-shake. The gyro sensor 180B may also be used for navigating, somatosensory game scenes.

The air pressure sensor 180C is used to measure air pressure. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 calculates altitude from barometric pressure values measured by the barometric pressure sensor 180C, aiding in positioning and navigation.

The magnetic sensor 180D includes a hall sensor. The terminal device 100 can detect the opening and closing of the flip cover using the magnetic sensor 180D. In some embodiments, when the terminal device 100 is a folder, the terminal device 100 may detect opening and closing of the folder according to the magnetic sensor 180D. And then according to the detected opening and closing state of the leather sheath or the opening and closing state of the flip, the characteristics of automatic unlocking of the flip and the like are set.

The acceleration sensor 180E can detect the magnitude of acceleration of the terminal device 100 in various directions (typically three axes). The magnitude and direction of gravity may be detected when the terminal device 100 is stationary. The method can also be used for identifying the gesture of the terminal equipment, and is applied to the applications such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, pedometers and the like.

A distance sensor 180F for measuring a distance. The terminal device 100 may measure the distance by infrared or laser. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 may range using the distance sensor 180F to achieve fast focusing.

The proximity light sensor 180G may include, for example, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) and a light detector, such as a photodiode. The light emitting diode may be an infrared light emitting diode. The terminal device 100 emits infrared light outward through the light emitting diode. The terminal device 100 detects infrared reflected light from a nearby object using a photodiode. When sufficient reflected light is detected, it can be determined that there is an object in the vicinity of the terminal device 100. When insufficient reflected light is detected, the terminal device 100 may determine that there is no object in the vicinity of the terminal device 100. The terminal device 100 can detect that the user holds the terminal device 100 close to the ear to talk by using the proximity light sensor 180G, so as to automatically extinguish the screen for the purpose of saving power. The proximity light sensor 180G may also be used in holster mode, pocket mode to automatically unlock and lock the screen.

The ambient light sensor 180L is used to sense ambient light level. The terminal device 100 may adaptively adjust the brightness of the display 194 based on the perceived ambient light level. The ambient light sensor 180L may also be used to automatically adjust white balance when taking a photograph. The ambient light sensor 180L may also cooperate with the proximity light sensor 180G to detect whether the terminal device 100 is in a pocket to prevent false touches.

The fingerprint sensor 180H is used to collect a fingerprint. The terminal device 100 can utilize the collected fingerprint characteristics to realize fingerprint unlocking, access an application lock, fingerprint photographing, fingerprint incoming call answering and the like.

The temperature sensor 180J is for detecting temperature. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 performs a temperature processing strategy using the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 180J. For example, when the temperature reported by the temperature sensor 180J exceeds a threshold, the terminal device 100 performs a reduction in the performance of a processor located near the temperature sensor 180J in order to reduce power consumption to implement thermal protection. In other embodiments, when the temperature is below another threshold, the terminal device 100 heats the battery 142 to avoid the low temperature causing the terminal device 100 to shut down abnormally. In other embodiments, when the temperature is below a further threshold, the terminal device 100 performs boosting of the output voltage of the battery 142 to avoid abnormal shutdown caused by low temperatures.

The touch sensor 180K, also referred to as a "touch device". The touch sensor 180K may be disposed on the display screen 194, and the touch sensor 180K and the display screen 194 form a touch screen, which is also called a "touch screen". The touch sensor 180K is for detecting a touch operation acting thereon or thereabout. The touch sensor may communicate the detected touch operation to the application processor to determine the touch event type. Visual output related to touch operations may be provided through the display 194. In other embodiments, the touch sensor 180K may also be disposed on the surface of the terminal device 100 at a different location than the display 194.

The bone conduction sensor 180M may acquire a vibration signal. In some embodiments, bone conduction sensor 180M may acquire a vibration signal of a human vocal tract vibrating bone pieces. The bone conduction sensor 180M may also contact the pulse of the human body to receive the blood pressure pulsation signal. In some embodiments, bone conduction sensor 180M may also be provided in a headset, in combination with an osteoinductive headset. The audio module 170 may analyze the voice signal based on the vibration signal of the sound portion vibration bone block obtained by the bone conduction sensor 180M, so as to implement a voice function. The application processor may analyze the heart rate information based on the blood pressure beat signal acquired by the bone conduction sensor 180M, so as to implement a heart rate detection function.

The motion sensor 180N may be used to detect a moving object within a range shot by the camera, and collect a motion profile or a motion track of the moving object. For example, the motion sensor 180N may be an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, a dynamic vision sensor (dynamic vision sensor, DVS), etc., which may include, in particular, a DAVIS (Dynamic and Active-pixel Vision Sensor), ATIS (Asynchronous Time-based Image Sensor), or CeleX sensor, etc. DVS uses the biological vision characteristics to simulate a neuron per pixel, and responds independently to the relative change in illumination intensity (hereinafter referred to as "light intensity"). When the relative change in light intensity exceeds a threshold, the pixel outputs an event signal including the position of the pixel, a time stamp, and characteristic information of the light intensity.

The keys 190 include a power-on key, a volume key, etc. The keys 190 may be mechanical keys. Or may be a touch key. The terminal device 100 may receive key inputs, generating key signal inputs related to user settings and function controls of the terminal device 100.

The motor 191 may generate a vibration cue. The motor 191 may be used for incoming call vibration alerting as well as for touch vibration feedback. For example, touch operations acting on different applications (e.g., photographing, audio playing, etc.) may correspond to different vibration feedback effects. The motor 191 may also correspond to different vibration feedback effects by touching different areas of the display screen 194. Different application scenarios (such as time reminding, receiving information, alarm clock, game, etc.) can also correspond to different vibration feedback effects. The touch vibration feedback effect may also support customization.

The indicator 192 may be an indicator light, may be used to indicate a state of charge, a change in charge, a message indicating a missed call, a notification, etc.

The SIM card interface 195 is used to connect a SIM card. The SIM card may be contacted and separated from the terminal apparatus 100 by being inserted into the SIM card interface 195 or by being withdrawn from the SIM card interface 195. The terminal device 100 may support 1 or N SIM card interfaces, N being a positive integer greater than 1. The SIM card interface 195 may support Nano SIM cards, micro SIM cards, and the like. The same SIM card interface 195 may be used to insert multiple cards simultaneously. The types of the plurality of cards may be the same or different. The SIM card interface 195 may also be compatible with different types of SIM cards. The SIM card interface 195 may also be compatible with external memory cards. The terminal device 100 interacts with the network through the SIM card to realize functions such as call and data communication. In some embodiments, the terminal device 100 employs esims, namely: an embedded SIM card. The eSIM card can be embedded in the terminal device 100 and cannot be separated from the terminal device 100.

The software system of the terminal device 100 may employ a layered architecture, an event driven architecture, a micro-core architecture, a micro-service architecture, or a cloud architecture. In the embodiment of the invention, taking an Android system with a layered architecture as an example, a software structure of the terminal device 100 is illustrated.

Fig. 2 is a software configuration block diagram of the terminal device 100 of the embodiment of the present invention.

The layered architecture divides the software into several layers, each with distinct roles and branches. The layers communicate with each other through a software interface. In some embodiments, the Android system is divided into four layers, from top to bottom, an application layer, an application framework layer, an Zhuoyun row (Android run) and system libraries, and a kernel layer, respectively.

The application layer may include a series of application packages.

As shown in fig. 2, the application package may include applications for cameras, gallery, calendar, phone calls, maps, navigation, WLAN, bluetooth, music, video, short messages, etc.

The application framework layer provides an application programming interface (application programming interface, API) and programming framework for application programs of the application layer. The application framework layer includes a number of predefined functions.

As shown in FIG. 2, the application framework layer may include a window manager, a content provider, a view system, a telephony manager, a resource manager, a notification manager, and the like.

The window manager is used for managing window programs. The window manager can acquire the size of the display screen, judge whether a status bar exists, lock the screen, intercept the screen and the like.

The content provider is used to store and retrieve data and make such data accessible to applications. The data may include video, images, audio, calls made and received, browsing history and bookmarks, phonebooks, etc.

The view system includes visual controls, such as controls to display text, controls to display pictures, and the like. The view system may be used to build applications. The display interface may be composed of one or more views. For example, a display interface including a text message notification icon may include a view displaying text and a view displaying a picture.

The telephony manager is used to provide the communication functions of the terminal device 100. Such as the management of call status (including on, hung-up, etc.).

The resource manager provides various resources for the application program, such as localization strings, icons, pictures, layout files, video files, and the like.

The notification manager allows the application to display notification information in a status bar, can be used to communicate notification type messages, can automatically disappear after a short dwell, and does not require user interaction. Such as notification manager is used to inform that the download is complete, message alerts, etc. The notification manager may also be a notification in the form of a chart or scroll bar text that appears on the system top status bar, such as a notification of a background running application, or a notification that appears on the screen in the form of a dialog window. For example, a text message is prompted in a status bar, a prompt tone is emitted, the terminal equipment vibrates, and an indicator light blinks.

Android run time includes a core library and virtual machines. Android run time is responsible for scheduling and management of the Android system.

The core library consists of two parts: one part is a function which needs to be called by java language, and the other part is a core library of android.

The application layer and the application framework layer run in a virtual machine. The virtual machine executes java files of the application program layer and the application program framework layer as binary files. The virtual machine is used for executing the functions of object life cycle management, stack management, thread management, security and exception management, garbage collection and the like.

The system library may include a plurality of functional modules. For example: surface manager (surface manager), media Libraries (Media Libraries), three-dimensional graphics processing Libraries (e.g., openGL ES), 2D graphics engines (e.g., SGL), etc.

The surface manager is used to manage the display subsystem and provides a fusion of 2D and 3D layers for multiple applications.

Media libraries support a variety of commonly used audio, video format playback and recording, still image files, and the like. The media library may support a variety of audio and video encoding formats, such as MPEG4, h.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, etc.

The three-dimensional graphic processing library is used for realizing three-dimensional graphic drawing, image rendering, synthesis, layer processing and the like.

The 2D graphics engine is a drawing engine for 2D drawing.

The kernel layer is a layer between hardware and software. The inner core layer at least comprises a display driver, a camera driver, an audio driver and a sensor driver.

The following describes in detail the steps of the device positioning method provided in this embodiment with reference to fig. 3, and as shown in fig. 3, the device positioning method may include the following steps:

301. and acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor.

In the embodiment of the application, in an intelligent home system or other indoor/outdoor scenes, the terminal equipment needs to determine the relative position with other terminal equipment based on the data acquired by the sensors carried by the terminal equipment.

In order to obtain a high-precision device positioning result, the first terminal device may turn on the first sensor with higher positioning precision, which in this application refers not to the sensor with positioning capability, but to a calculation result of device positioning based on data collected by the sensor with higher precision. It should be appreciated that the first sensor may be a single high-precision sensor or a combination of multiple precision sensors, and embodiments of the present application are not limited. The data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal device, that is, the data collected by the second sensor can be used for determining how much displacement occurs in the terminal device, the positioning accuracy is lower when positioning is performed based on the data collected by the second sensor, but the power consumption required by the terminal device is lower when the sensors are started at the same time. It should be understood that the second sensor may also be other sensors that may have lower positioning accuracy and lower power consumption, and the present application is not limited thereto.

The data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal device, however, the data collected by the first sensor can be used for determining the relative position between the terminal devices, and the data collected by the second sensor can also be used for determining the relative position between the terminal devices, or the data collected by the second sensor can be used for determining the size of the position change of the terminal devices, but not the relative position between the terminal devices.

In particular, in one implementation, the first sensor may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: ultra wideband UWB sensor, ultrasonic sensor, laser sensor and vision sensor. The data collected by the UWB sensor can be used for accurately measuring the relative distance and the relative azimuth angle between the terminal devices. The data collected by the ultrasonic sensor can be used for accurately measuring the relative distance between the terminal devices. The data collected by the vision sensor can be used to make accurate terminal device-to-terminal device angle measurements. The positioning accuracy is higher when positioning is performed based on the data acquired by the first sensor, but the power consumption required by the terminal equipment is higher when the sensors are started at the same time.

In particular, in one implementation, the first sensor may also, but is not limited to, at least one of the following sensors: the accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor are used for positioning equipment according to data acquired by the first sensor, and the positioning precision is larger than a preset value. The accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor have lower power consumption of the first terminal device when being started, however, the positioning accuracy of the device positioning is higher when the data acquired by some accelerometer sensors and gyroscope sensors are used for device positioning.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may belong to a computing system, which may be the smart home system described above or other indoor/outdoor scenarios, and the computing system may include a plurality of terminal devices, where the plurality of terminal devices may include a control center, and this embodiment of the control center is also referred to as a second terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the computing system includes a first terminal device, where the first terminal device may acquire, in order to acquire a relative position with other terminal devices in the computing system, first data acquired by a sensor provided on the first terminal device, where the first data may be used to calculate the relative position between the first terminal device and the other terminal devices in the computing system.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device may include a first sensor and a second sensor, where data collected by the first sensor and the second sensor is used to perform device positioning on the first terminal device, data collected by the second sensor is used to determine a position change of the first terminal device, and power of the first sensor is greater than power of the second sensor, that is, in a unit time, power consumption required for the first terminal device to keep the first sensor on is greater than power required for the first terminal device to keep the second sensor on. For example, the second sensor may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following sensors: accelerometer sensor, gyroscope sensor, magnetometer sensor, bluetooth low energy BLE, and wireless fidelity WIFI.

It should be understood that the second sensor may also be other sensors that may have lower positioning accuracy and lower power consumption, and the present application is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment of the present application, in a unit time, power consumption required for the first terminal device to keep the first sensor on is greater than power consumption required for the first terminal device to keep the second sensor on, however, positioning accuracy when performing device positioning according to data acquired by the first sensor is greater than positioning accuracy when performing device positioning according to data acquired by the second sensor.

That is, the relative position between the first terminal device and the other terminal devices can be accurately calculated based on the data acquired by the first sensor, however, the power consumption required by the first terminal device is higher, the relative position between the first terminal device and the other terminal devices cannot be accurately calculated based on the data acquired by the second sensor, and however, the power consumption required by the first terminal device is lower.

It will be appreciated that both the data collected by the first and second sensors may be used to make device location determination, however, the data collected by the first sensor may be used to make determination of the relative position between the terminal devices, while the data collected by the second sensor may be used to make determination of the relative position between the terminal devices, or the data collected by the second sensor may be used to make determination of the magnitude of the change in position in which the terminal devices are located, but not the relative position between the terminal devices. However, the power consumption required by the first terminal device to keep the first sensor on is greater than the power consumption required by the first terminal device to keep the second sensor on for a unit time.

According to the method and the device for calculating the relative position between the first terminal equipment and the other terminal equipment, the power consumption of the first terminal equipment can be reduced on the premise that the relative position between the first terminal equipment and the other terminal equipment can be accurately calculated.

The first sensor in the embodiment of the application may include a first working state and a second working state; the second working state may be a sensor off state, or a low power consumption state in which only a part of the sensor functions are on standby. The first operating state may be a sensor on state or a high power consumption state where most of the sensor functions are turned on. For example, the first operating state is a sensor on state and the second operating state is a sensor off state.

The following description will take the first operation state as the sensor off state and the second operation state as the sensor on state as an example.

First, the timing of the first terminal device to turn on the first sensor will be described.

In one scenario, the first terminal device may remain in a normally open state of the first sensor at all times.

In one scenario, when devices in a computing system where a first terminal device is located are all in a preset state, a first sensor of the terminal device in the computing system may be turned on, and then the first sensor of the first terminal device is turned on, where the preset state may mean that all devices simultaneously meet the following conditions: are all in a starting state; it is detected that the movement itself is stopped or only within a certain distance range, and that both the movement speed and the rotation speed are smaller than a certain preset value, for example, the movement speed is smaller than 0.01m/min and the rotation speed is smaller than 1 °/min.

In one scenario, the first terminal device may maintain the closed state of the first sensor until a trigger to open the first sensor is received or it determines that the first sensor should be opened, e.g., the first terminal device may maintain the closed state of the first sensor until a fourth indication to open the first sensor sent by a target terminal device in the computing system may be received after the first terminal device establishes a connection with at least one terminal device in the computing system, where the computing system includes M-1 terminal devices, where M-1 is a positive integer, and where M-1 is greater than 1, each of the M-1 terminal devices is connected to at least one terminal device other than itself in the M-1 terminal devices. Taking the computing system as an example of the smart home system, the target terminal device may be a smart screen, the first terminal device may be a mobile phone carried by a user, when the user returns from outside to inside, the first terminal device may establish an establishment with at least one terminal device in the smart home system, so-called an establishment connection may be a local area network connection, such as bluetooth, WIFI, etc., in which case the smart screen may capture that the first terminal device returns to the smart home system, and may send a first indication to the first terminal device to turn on the first sensor.

In this embodiment of the present application, after the third data acquired by the first sensor is acquired, in order to acquire the accurate position where the first terminal device is located, calculation of the second position information of the first terminal device needs to be performed based on the third data acquired by the first sensor. It should be appreciated that the second location information may indicate a relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, which may be a relative distance and/or a relative direction angle between the terminal devices.

It should be understood that the second location information may be directly represented by a relative distance and/or a relative azimuth, or may be data for calculating the relative distance and/or the relative azimuth, which may directly or indirectly obtain the relative location between the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the computing system, regardless of the manner in which the second location information is represented.

Next, how to acquire the second location information of the first terminal device is described.

In the embodiment of the application, the second location information may represent a relative location between the first terminal device and other devices of the computing system.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may acquire the third data acquired by the first sensor, and determine the second location information of the first terminal device according to the third data, that is, the first terminal device may perform calculation of the second location information based on the third data acquired by the first sensor.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may acquire the third data acquired by the first sensor and the data acquired by the first sensors of other terminal devices in the system, and determine the second position information of the first terminal device according to the third data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the other terminal devices in the system, that is, the first terminal device may perform calculation of the second position information based on the third data acquired by the first sensor of the first terminal device and the data acquired by the first sensors of the other terminal devices in the computing system.

As shown in fig. 4, the geometric center of the first terminal device is taken as the midpoint of the device, and meanwhile, the device is taken as the origin of the coordinate system of the device, and an X, Y and Z coordinate system is established based on the self structure of the device. The distance between the two devices is the length d of the central line of the two devices in space, and the direction angle between the two devices comprises a height angle alpha, a horizontal angle beta and a turnover angle gamma.

Taking the first sensor as the UWB sensor as an example, taking the simplest scenario in a computing system comprising four devices A, B, C, D as an example, the UWB sensors of the four devices are on. Each device search a surrounding UWB signal. Then, between every two devices, the computing system of the device uses TDOA positioning algorithm, TOF positioning algorithm and TOA positioning algorithm to calculate the relative distance between the devices, such as 8.10m of the device A from the device B. In the UWB positioning algorithm, the device can be used as a positioning base station of other devices without adding a base station additionally. As with device A, B, C as a base station, the computing system, based on the distance of device D to device A, B, C, the position of device D relative to device A, B, C is located. The TOF ranging is independent of time synchronization of the base station and the tag, so that errors caused by clock synchronization deviation are avoided, but the time of the TOF ranging method depends on clock precision, and errors are caused by clock offset. In order to reduce the ranging error caused by the clock offset, a measurement method in the forward and reverse directions is generally adopted, namely, a remote base station sends ranging information, a tag receives the ranging information and replies, then the tag initiates the ranging information, the remote base station replies, and the time offset between the remote base station and the remote base station is reduced by calculating the time-of-flight average value, so that the ranging precision is improved. The TDOA-based positioning method is also called hyperbolic positioning, and is based on the principle that a fixed distance difference between a device D and two UWB base stations is obtained by measuring a difference in propagation time of a UWB signal from the device D to the two UWB base stations (e.g., the device A, B). TOA positioning algorithms, i.e. "time of arrival", are implemented by multiple communications between UWB base stations and UWB tags, as shown in fig. 5: the UWB base station firstly sends a packet to the UWB tag, meanwhile records the current time information of the UWB base station, which is marked as T1, the UWB tag receives the information of the base station, returns an ACK, the UWB base station receives the ACK of the UWB tag, and records the current time information, which is marked as T2. The UWB base station calculates a time difference tr=t2-T1 and from this calculates the distance: d=c Tr/2 wherein c is the speed of light. When the positioning system has more than or equal to 4 devices, the relative position and azimuth angle can be positioned by a multi-point positioning method. By the method, the second position information of the first terminal equipment can be obtained through calculation.

Taking the first sensor as an ultrasonic sensor as an example, the ultrasonic positioning mainly adopts a reflection type distance measuring method, the object position is determined by a multilateral positioning method and the like, the system consists of a main range finder and a plurality of receivers, wherein the main range finder can be placed on a target to be measured, and the receivers are fixed in an indoor environment. When positioning is carried out, the same-frequency signal is transmitted to the receiver, the receiver receives the signal and then transmits the signal to the main range finder, and the distance is calculated according to the time difference between the echo and the transmitted wave, so that the position is determined. When more than or equal to 3 devices exist in the positioning system, the relative positions among the terminal devices can be calculated through a multi-point positioning method.

Taking the first sensor as a laser sensor for example, the basic principle is that the laser pulse is emitted to an object to be measured, the timing is started, and the timing is stopped when the reflected light is received. This time may be converted to the distance between the laser and the target. The laser rangefinder may also emit multiple laser pulses, the doppler effect is used to determine whether an object is far from or near a light source.

Taking the first sensor as an example of a vision sensor, the first terminal device can obtain azimuth angles between other devices and the first terminal device through first data acquired by the vision sensor, and if a device group with known positions mutually forms multi-view vision, the positions of the other devices relative to the device group can be obtained.

It should be understood that the manner of calculating the first position information is merely illustrative, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may not calculate the second location information, but send the third data collected by the first sensor to other terminal devices in the computing system, where the other terminal devices may be used as a distributed computing system to complete calculation of the second location information based on the third data, or one terminal device may complete calculation of the second location information based on the third data, and after the calculation of the second location information is completed, the second location information may be sent to the first terminal device, and thus the first terminal device may obtain the second location information of the first terminal device. Specifically, the first terminal device may acquire third data acquired by the first sensor; the third data is sent to other terminal equipment in the computing system, so that the other terminal equipment in the computing system can determine second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data, or the other terminal equipment in the computing system can determine second position information of the first terminal equipment according to the third data and data acquired by first sensors of the other terminal equipment in the computing system; and receiving the second position information sent by other terminal equipment in the computing system.

In one implementation, the computing system includes M terminal devices, where each of the M terminal devices includes the first sensor, and accordingly, the second location information is determined according to third data collected by the first sensor and data collected by first sensors of N terminal devices of the M terminal devices, where N is less than or equal to M.

That is, the calculation of the second position information may be performed based on data acquired by the first sensors of all or part of the M terminal devices, and in one implementation, the N is smaller than the M, and the N terminal devices are N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device among the M terminal devices, and when the N terminal devices among the M terminal devices acquire data for determining the second position information, the first sensors of the terminal devices other than the N terminal devices among the M terminal devices are in an off state. In this embodiment, N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device may be selected to turn on the first sensor, and the second location information may be calculated based on data collected by the first sensors of the N terminal devices. The number of N depends on the total number of devices in the computing system, and the positioning accuracy of the second sensor of the first terminal device is higher, namely the positioning accuracy of the second sensor is smaller. In the embodiment of the application, only N terminal equipment with close positions are selected, so that energy conservation and consumption reduction can be realized under the condition of ensuring the system precision.

It should be appreciated that the first sensor may be activated by a certain terminal device in the computing system for the N terminal devices of the M terminal devices.

In the embodiment of the application, the first location may be shared to each terminal device in the computing system, so that each terminal device in the computing system knows the relative location with the first terminal device.

It should be appreciated that for each terminal device in the computing system, the relative position between itself and the other terminal devices in the computing system may be obtained based on the manner described above.

It should be understood that the first terminal device may also obtain other location information besides the second location information, such as a relative location between other terminal devices, which is not limited in this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first sensor may be triggered to be changed from the second working state to the first working state, for example, the first sensor may be turned off.

In this embodiment of the present application, a position change of the first terminal device may be obtained, where the position change is determined according to first data collected by the second sensor.

In this embodiment, each terminal device in the computing system includes a second sensor, and each terminal device may keep the second sensor on all the time, where the second sensor may include at least one of the following sensors: accelerometer sensor, gyroscope sensor, magnetometer sensor, bluetooth low energy BLE, and wireless fidelity WIFI.

In this embodiment of the present application, the data precision of the data collected by the first sensor is greater than the data precision of the data collected by the second sensor. It will be appreciated that in one implementation, the data collected by the second sensor is not available for performing a positioning operation of the first terminal device, and that only a change in position determination of the first terminal device can be determined. In another implementation, the data collected by the second sensor may be used to perform a positioning operation of the first terminal device, however, the data accuracy of the data collected by the second sensor is less than the data accuracy of the data collected by the first sensor.

302. When the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value, the first sensor is triggered to change from a first working state to a second working state, for example, the first sensor can be started.

In this embodiment of the present application, the data collected by the second sensor may determine whether the first terminal device changes position and the amount of change in position. Specifically, the determining basis for determining that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds the threshold may be according to the change of the signal acquired by the second sensor, taking the second sensor as an example, and may be according to the received signal intensities of the plurality of WIFI, where the position change of the first terminal device may be determined, and the position change amount of the first terminal device may be determined according to the change of the signal intensity of the WIFI, where the signal of the WIFI may be WIFI RSS, and if the signal amount change of the WIFI RSS exceeds the threshold, the position change of the first terminal device may be considered to exceed the threshold; the second sensor is taken as a magnetometer sensor, the position change of the first terminal equipment can be determined according to the change of the signal intensity received by the magnetometer sensor, the position change quantity of the first terminal equipment can be determined according to the change of the signal intensity received by the magnetometer sensor, and if the signal intensity received by the magnetometer sensor exceeds a threshold value, the position change of the first terminal equipment can be considered to exceed the threshold value.

It should be noted that, according to different device types of the first terminal device, different thresholds may be corresponding, and the first terminal device may be a mobile device, for example, a mobile phone, a Pad, AR glasses, a smart watch, a smart bracelet, etc.; the first terminal equipment can be semi-mobile equipment such as an intelligent sound box, a notebook computer and the like; the first terminal device may be a fixed device such as a smart screen, a desktop computer, a smart home appliance, etc. The corresponding threshold values can be gradually reduced from the mobile equipment and the semi-mobile equipment to the fixed equipment, namely when the first terminal equipment is the mobile equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a first threshold value, when the first terminal equipment is the semi-mobile equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a second threshold value, and when the first terminal equipment is the fixed equipment, the first sensor is started when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a third threshold value, the first threshold value is larger than a second threshold value, and the second threshold value is larger than the third threshold value.

In the embodiment of the application, the threshold may include a distance threshold and an angle threshold. For example, if the second sensor is an accelerometer sensor, the threshold value of the accelerometer may be set based on the integral of the accelerometer value over time, i.e. the distance, e.g. 0.2m,0.5m; if the second sensor is a gyro sensor, a threshold value of the gyro may be set, for example, 20 °,10 °, based on the integration of the gyro value over time, i.e., the angle; if the second sensor is a magnetometer sensor, a threshold value of the magnetometer, such as 10%, can be set based on the changing strength of the magnetometer; if the second sensor is BLE, it may be based on the RSS of BLE, if the RSS rate of change exceeds a certain proportion, it is above a threshold, such as 20%; if the second sensor is WIFI, the RSS based on WIFI may be used, and if the RSS rate of change exceeds a certain proportion, the threshold value is exceeded, for example, 20%.

For mobile devices, such as a mobile phone, considering that a user is sitting on a sofa, holding and using the mobile phone all the time, some movement of the hand is not considered as movement of the mobile phone by the user, the threshold of the mobile phone for distance is set to 0.5m, and the angle threshold is set to 30 °.

For a semi-mobile device, such as a smart speaker distance threshold is set to 0.3m and an angle threshold is set to 20 °. For stationary devices, such as smart large screens, the distance threshold is set to 0.1m and the angle threshold is set to 10 °.

In this embodiment of the present application, if it is determined, based on the first data collected by the second sensor, that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value, the first sensor is triggered to change from the first working state to the second working state.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first sensor may be triggered to be turned on by other terminal devices in the computing system, and specifically, if it is determined, based on the first data collected by the second sensor, that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold, the first terminal device may send, to the other terminal devices in the computing system, a third indication for indicating that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds the threshold; the first terminal device may then receive a fourth indication sent by other terminal devices in the computing system to turn on the first sensor, and turn on the first sensor based on the fourth indication.

303. And acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor.

In one implementation, a first terminal device may acquire second data acquired by the first sensor, and determine first location information of the first terminal device according to the second data.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may acquire the second data acquired by the first sensor and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices, and determining first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal equipment.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may acquire the second data acquired by the first sensor; the second data is sent to target terminal equipment in the M terminal equipment, so that the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data, or the target terminal equipment determines first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the first position information sent by the target terminal equipment.

In one implementation, the first terminal device may not calculate the first location information by itself, but send the second data collected by the first sensor to other terminal devices in the computing system, where the other terminal devices may be used as a distributed computing system to complete the calculation of the first location information based on the second data, or one terminal device may complete the calculation of the first location information based on the second data, and after the calculation of the first location information is completed, the first location information may be sent to the first terminal device, and then the first terminal device may obtain the first location information of the first terminal device. Specifically, the first terminal device may acquire second data acquired by the first sensor; the second data is sent to other terminal equipment in the computing system, so that the other terminal equipment in the computing system can determine a second position where the first terminal equipment is located according to the second data, or the other terminal equipment in the computing system can determine first position information of the first terminal equipment according to the second data and data acquired by first sensors of the N terminal equipment; and receiving the first position information sent by other terminal equipment in the computing system.

Regarding how to acquire the first location information of the first terminal device, reference may be made to the description of how to acquire the second location information of the first terminal device in the above embodiment, and the description is not repeated here.

In one implementation, the first sensor may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following sensors: the accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor are used for positioning equipment according to data acquired by the first sensor, and the positioning precision is larger than a preset value. Taking the first sensor as an accelerometer sensor and a gyroscope sensor as an example, the first terminal device can integrate the signals of the accelerometer sensor in time according to the signals of the accelerometer sensor, so as to obtain the moving distance from the last time the first terminal device accelerometer is set to zero (namely, the first terminal device is stationary), wherein the moving distance is based on the coordinate system of the first terminal device. And integrating the signals of the gyroscope sensor in time according to the signals of the gyroscope sensor, so as to obtain the rotation angle of the gyroscope of the first terminal equipment after the last time, wherein the rotation angle is based on the self coordinate system of the equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the second location may be shared to each terminal device in the computing system, so that each terminal device in the computing system knows the relative location with the first terminal device.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided by an embodiment of the present application, where the device positioning method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a target terminal device, where the target terminal device belongs to a computing system, the computing system includes M terminal devices, where the M terminal devices include a first terminal device, the first terminal device includes a first sensor and a second sensor, the first sensor is used to position the first terminal device, data collected by the second sensor is used to determine a position change of the first terminal device, and power of the first sensor is greater than that of the second sensor; the device positioning method provided by the embodiment of the application comprises the following steps:

601. and acquiring second position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the second position information is determined according to third data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state.

In the embodiment of the application, the first position information can be shared to each terminal device in the computing system, so that each terminal device in the computing system knows the relative position with the first terminal device.

The specific description of step 601 may refer to the description of the relevant steps in step 301, and the description thereof will not be repeated here.

602. And sending a second indication for triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first terminal equipment, so that the first terminal equipment triggers the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the second indication.

Taking the first working state as a sensor off state and the second working state as a sensor on state as an example, in one implementation, a target terminal device in the computing system may trigger the first terminal device to turn off its own first sensor. Specifically, the first terminal device may receive a first indication sent by the target terminal device of the M terminal devices to turn off the first sensor, and turn off the first sensor based on the first indication.

The detailed description of step 602 may refer to the description of the relevant steps in step 302, and the description of the relevant steps is not repeated here.

603. And if a third indication which is sent by the first terminal equipment and used for indicating that the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value is received, a fourth indication which is used for triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state is sent to the first terminal equipment, so that the first terminal equipment triggers the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the third indication.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first sensor may be triggered to be turned on by the target terminal device, and specifically, if it is determined, based on the first data collected by the second sensor, that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold, the first terminal device may send, to the target terminal device in the M terminal devices, a third indication for indicating that the position change of the first terminal device exceeds the threshold; and the second terminal equipment can receive a fourth indication sent by the target terminal equipment and used for starting the first sensor, and starts the first sensor based on the fourth indication.

A detailed description of step 603 may refer to step 303, and is similar, and will not be repeated here.

604. And acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor.

In one possible design, the target terminal device may send a fourth indication for triggering the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state to the first terminal device and N terminal devices of the M terminal devices, so that the first terminal device and the N terminal devices trigger the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state based on the fourth indication, where N is less than or equal to M;

in one possible design, the first location information is determined from the second data acquired by the first sensor and the data acquired by the first sensors of the N terminal devices of the M terminal devices.

In one possible design, the N is smaller than the M, and the target terminal device may determine the N terminal devices from the M terminal devices, where the N terminal devices are N terminal devices closest to the first terminal device in the M terminal devices.

In one possible design, the first position information and the second position information are used to indicate a relative position between the first terminal device and a terminal device other than the first terminal device of the M terminal devices.

In one possible design, the relative positions include relative distances and/or relative azimuth angles.

The device positioning method provided by the embodiment of the application is described below by taking a computing system as an intelligent home system as an example and combining an actual scene.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided by an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, a computing system may include a target terminal device, a first terminal device, and at least one terminal device, where the device positioning method provided by the embodiment of the present application includes:

701. the target terminal device determines that the first terminal device and the at least one terminal device are in place.

By in-place, it is meant that both the first terminal device and the at least one terminal device simultaneously fulfil the following conditions: are all in a starting state; it is detected that the movement itself is stopped or only within a certain distance range, and that both the movement speed and the rotation speed are smaller than a certain preset value, for example, the movement speed is smaller than 0.01m/min and the rotation speed is smaller than 1 °/min.

702. The target terminal device triggers the first terminal device and at least one terminal device turns on the first sensor.

703. The first terminal device and the at least one terminal device acquire the relative position between the terminal devices based on the data acquired by the first sensor.

The description of step 703 may refer to the description of step 301, and the similarities are not repeated.

704. The target terminal device triggers the first terminal device and at least one terminal device to turn off the first sensor.

The description of step 704 may refer to the description of step 302, and the similarities are not repeated.

705. The first terminal device determines that the change in position exceeds a threshold based on the data collected by the second sensor.

706. The first terminal device transmits information indicating that the position change exceeds a threshold value to the target terminal device.

707. The target terminal device triggers the first terminal device and at least one terminal device turns on the first sensor.

708. The first terminal device and the at least one terminal device acquire the relative position between the terminal devices based on the data acquired by the first sensor.

709. Triggering the first sensor to be turned off.

The descriptions of steps 705 to 709 may refer to the descriptions of step 303, and the similarities are not repeated.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a flowchart of a device positioning method provided by an embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 8, a computing system may include a target terminal device, a first terminal device, and at least one terminal device, and the device positioning method provided by the embodiment of the present application includes:

801. the target terminal device determines that at least one terminal device is in place.

By in-situ, it is meant that at least one terminal device fulfils the following conditions: are all in a starting state; it is detected that the movement itself is stopped or only within a certain distance range, and that both the movement speed and the rotation speed are smaller than a certain preset value, for example, the movement speed is smaller than 0.01m/min and the rotation speed is smaller than 1 °/min.

802. The target terminal device triggers the first terminal device and at least one terminal device turns on the first sensor.

803. At least one terminal device obtains a relative position between the terminal devices based on the data acquired by the first sensor.

The description of step 803 may refer to the description of step 301, and the similarities are not repeated.

804. The target terminal device triggers the at least one terminal device to turn off the first sensor.

The description of step 804 may refer to the description of step 302, and the similarities are not repeated.

805. The target terminal device determines that the first terminal device is connected to the computing system.

In one scenario, the first terminal device may maintain the first sensor off state until a trigger to turn on the first sensor is received or it is determined by itself that the first sensor should be turned on, e.g., the first terminal device may maintain the first sensor off state, until the first terminal device establishes a connection with at least one terminal device in the computing system, an indication sent by a target terminal device in the computing system to turn on the first sensor may be received, and the first terminal device may turn on the first sensor based on the fourth indication.

806. The target terminal device triggers the first terminal device and at least one terminal device turns on the first sensor.

807. The first terminal device and the at least one terminal device acquire the relative position between the terminal devices based on the data acquired by the first sensor.

808. Triggering the first sensor to be turned off.

The descriptions of steps 805 to 808 may refer to the descriptions of step 303, and the similarities are not repeated.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus positioning device provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus positioning device provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a first terminal device, where the first terminal device includes a first sensor and a second sensor, data collected by the first sensor is used to position the first terminal device, data collected by the second sensor is used to determine a position change of the first terminal device, and power of the first sensor is greater than that of the second sensor, as shown in fig. 9, an apparatus positioning device 900 provided in an embodiment of the present application may include:

An obtaining module 901, configured to obtain a position change of the first terminal device, where the position change is determined according to first data acquired by the second sensor;

the steps performed by the obtaining module 901 may refer to step 301 and descriptions in the corresponding embodiments, which are not described herein.

A sensor state change module 902, configured to trigger the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state when a position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold, where power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than power consumption in the second working state;

the steps performed by the sensor state change module 902 may refer to step 302 and descriptions in the corresponding embodiments, and are not described herein.

The acquiring module 901 is configured to acquire first location information of the first terminal device, where the first location information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state.

The steps performed by the obtaining module 901 may refer to step 303 and descriptions in the corresponding embodiments, which are not described herein.

In one possible design, the sensor state change module is configured to:

In one possible design, the acquiring module is configured to:

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus positioning device provided by an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus positioning device provided by the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a target terminal device, where the target terminal device belongs to a computing system, the computing system includes M terminal devices, the M terminal devices include a first terminal device, and the first terminal device includes a first sensor and a second sensor, where data collected by the second sensor is used to determine a position change of the first terminal device, and power of the first sensor is greater than power of the second sensor; the device positioning apparatus 1000 provided in the embodiment of the present application may include:

And an obtaining module 1001, configured to obtain second location information of the first terminal device, where the second location information is determined according to third data collected by the first sensor in the second working state.

The steps performed by the obtaining module 1001 may refer to the step 601, the step 604 and descriptions in the corresponding embodiments, which are not described herein.

And a sending module 1002, configured to send, to the first terminal device, a second instruction for triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state, so that the first terminal device triggers the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the second instruction.

And if a third indication which is sent by the first terminal equipment and used for indicating that the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value is received, a fourth indication which is used for triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state is sent to the first terminal equipment, so that the first terminal equipment triggers the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the third indication.

The steps performed by the sending module 1002 may refer to the step 602, the step 603, and descriptions in the corresponding embodiments, which are not described herein.

The obtaining module 1001 is configured to obtain first location information of the first terminal device, where the first location information is determined according to second data collected by the first sensor.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 1500 provided in the present application, where the terminal device 1500 may be the device positioning apparatus 900 described in fig. 9 in the foregoing embodiment, or the device positioning apparatus 1000 described in fig. 10 in the foregoing embodiment, and as shown in fig. 11, the terminal device includes a processor 1501 and a memory 1502, and the processor 1501 is configured to obtain codes of the memory 1502 to execute the device positioning method described in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 3 and fig. 6.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of elements is merely a logical functional division, and there may be additional divisions of actual implementation, e.g., multiple elements or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or other network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in the embodiment of fig. 2 of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Claims

1. The device positioning method is characterized by being applied to first terminal devices, wherein the first terminal devices comprise a first sensor and a second sensor, the first sensor is used for positioning the first terminal devices, data acquired by the second sensor are used for determining position change of the first terminal devices, the power of the first sensor is larger than that of the second sensor, and the first sensor comprises at least one of the following sensors: an ultra wideband UWB sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser sensor, and a vision sensor, the method comprising:

acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position change is determined according to the first data acquired by the second sensor;

when the position change of the first terminal equipment exceeds a threshold value, triggering the first sensor to change from a first working state to a second working state, wherein the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that in the second working state;

acquiring first position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state, the first position information is used for indicating a first relative position between the first terminal equipment and second terminal equipment, and the second terminal equipment and the first terminal equipment belong to the same computing system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

before acquiring the position change of the first terminal equipment, acquiring second position information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the second position information is determined according to third data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state;

triggering the first sensor to change from the second working state to the first working state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data accuracy of the data collected by the first sensor is greater than the data accuracy of the data collected by the second sensor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining the position of the substrate comprises,

the second position information is used to indicate a second relative position between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second terminal device comprises M terminal devices, each of the M terminal devices comprising the first sensor;

6. The method of claim 5, wherein N is less than M, and wherein the N terminal devices are N terminal devices of the M terminal devices closest to the first terminal device.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the first and second relative positions comprise relative distances and/or relative azimuth angles.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein before the obtaining the second location information of the first terminal device, the method further comprises:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said triggering the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state comprises:

establishing connection with the second terminal equipment;

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein,

11. A device positioning method, applied to a second terminal device, the method comprising:

establishing connection with a first terminal device; the first terminal device comprises a first sensor and a second sensor, wherein the first sensor is used for positioning the first terminal device, the data collected by the second sensor is used for determining the position change of the first terminal device, the power of the first sensor is larger than that of the second sensor,

when the position change of the first terminal device exceeds a threshold value, a first instruction for triggering the first sensor to change from the first working state to the second working state is sent to the first terminal device, and the first sensor is triggered to change from the first working state to the second working state based on the first instruction, wherein the power consumption of the first sensor in the first working state is smaller than that of the first sensor in the second working state.

12. The device positioning apparatus is characterized by being applied to a first terminal device, wherein the first terminal device comprises a first sensor and a second sensor, data collected by the first sensor is used for positioning the first terminal device, data collected by the second sensor is used for determining position change of the first terminal device, the power of the first sensor is larger than that of the second sensor, and the first sensor comprises at least one of the following sensors: ultra wideband UWB sensor, ultrasonic sensor, laser sensor and vision sensor, the device includes:

the acquisition module is configured to acquire first position information of the first terminal device, where the first position information is determined according to second data acquired by the first sensor in the second working state, the first position information is used to indicate a first relative position between the first terminal device and a second terminal device, and the second terminal device and the first terminal device belong to the same computing system.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the obtaining module is configured to obtain second location information of the first terminal device before obtaining the location change of the first terminal device, where the second location information is determined according to third data collected by the first sensor in the second working state;

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data accuracy of the data collected by the first sensor is greater than the data accuracy of the data collected by the second sensor.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second terminal device comprises M terminal devices, each of the M terminal devices comprising the first sensor;

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein N is less than M, and wherein the N terminal devices are N terminal devices of the M terminal devices closest to the first terminal device.

18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the first and second relative positions comprise relative distances and/or relative azimuth angles.

19. The apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the sensor state change module is configured to instruct the first sensor to change from the first operating state to the second operating state before obtaining the second position information of the first terminal device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the sensor state change module is configured to establish a connection with the second terminal device;

21. The device according to any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein,

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein the first sensor comprises at least one of: the accelerometer sensor and the gyroscope sensor, and the data precision of the data acquired by the first sensor is larger than a preset value.

23. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer instructions which, when executed by one or more computers, are to perform the device location method of any of claims 1 to 11.

24. A terminal device, characterized in that it comprises a memory in which a code is stored and a processor for acquiring the code to perform the device positioning method according to any of claims 1 to 11.