CN116750117A

CN116750117A - Bell positioning system, method of positioning bell, positionable bell and computer readable storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN116750117A
Application number: CN202310984799.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 付兴伟
Original assignee: Shenzhen Ruina Intelligent Robot Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Ruina Intelligent Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2023-08-07
Filing date: 2023-08-07
Publication date: 2023-09-15

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a bell positioning system, a method of positioning a bell, a positionable bell, and a computer readable storage medium. The bell positioning system in one embodiment may include a bell that may include a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor; a first electronic device; a server; a second electronic device; the antenna is used for periodically transmitting a first wireless signal, and the first electronic equipment determines the position of the bell relative to the first electronic equipment according to the first wireless signal; the first electronic equipment also determines the position of the bell relative to a specific reference frame by utilizing the position of the bell relative to the first electronic equipment and the position of the first electronic equipment relative to the specific reference frame, generates a corresponding position report and uploads the position report to the server; in this way, the second electronic device can locate the bell based on the location report.

Description

Bell positioning system, method of positioning bell, positionable bell and computer readable storage medium

Technical Field

The embodiment of the disclosure relates to the technical field of vehicle positioning, in particular to a bell positioning system, a bell positioning method, a positionable bell and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

Some bells in the prior art can be directly installed on traffic vehicles such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, balance cars and the like, but the function is single, and only the bells can be stirred to warn passers-by. Some prior art have also improved new functions designed by this, such as additional high cost positioning devices like GPS or beidou positioning systems mounted on the bell, to achieve positioning of the vehicle. However, these positioning schemes are costly, and in addition, the maintenance costs are high, especially in terms of power endurance.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing technical background, there is a need for improved positioning schemes for vehicles such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, balance cars, etc., to reduce the cost of the positioning schemes and/or reduce maintenance costs and/or improve convenience of use, such as being able to independently navigate in terms of electricity for a long period of time.

To this end, one non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure provides a bell positioning system that may include a bell that may include a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor; a first electronic device; a server; a second electronic device; the antenna is used for periodically transmitting a first wireless signal which can be received by the first electronic device in the communication range of the antenna, and the first electronic device determines the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device according to the first wireless signal; the first electronic equipment also determines the position of the bell relative to a specific reference frame by utilizing the position of the bell relative to the first electronic equipment and the position of the first electronic equipment relative to the specific reference frame, generates a corresponding position report and uploads the position report to the server; the second electronic device is used for acquiring the position report from the server to locate the bell; wherein the antenna is further for receiving a second wireless signal transmitted by the second electronic device, the processor being configured to control the audio system to produce an audible audio output for assisting a user in locating the bell in response to receiving the second wireless signal.

The bell in the bell positioning system can be applied to transportation vehicles such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, balance cars and the like, so that the positioning of the transportation vehicles can be indirectly realized through the positioning of the bell. The location information of the vehicle bell in the positioning system may be uploaded indirectly to the server of the positioning system by means of a first electronic device, such as a mobile phone, so that the user of the vehicle or vehicle can obtain the location information of the vehicle bell or vehicle in the server by means of his second electronic device, such as a mobile phone, in order to find the vehicle bell and/or the vehicle in which the vehicle bell is installed. The first electronic device herein may mainly refer to electronic devices of other people than the user, in particular to electronic devices of those other people close to the bell, such as a mobile phone. The greatest advantage of the positioning system is therefore that the positioning of the vehicle bell and/or the vehicle can be achieved indirectly by means of the electronics of other people, so that no GPS-like active positioning means need to be installed on the vehicle or the vehicle bell, since the costs of the positioning solution are significantly reduced.

Optionally, the bell may further comprise an at least partially exposed solar panel for powering at least the processor, the antenna and the audio system.

Optionally, the particular reference frame is earth; the location report includes latitude and longitude information of the bell relative to the earth.

Optionally, the wireless communication protocol applicable to the antenna is a near field wireless communication protocol and/or a UWB protocol and/or a bluetooth protocol and/or a WiFi protocol and/or a cellular protocol.

Optionally, the first wireless signal is a UWB signal; the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device includes distance information; the first electronic device determines a TOF of the UWB signal and multiplies the TOF by a propagation speed of the UWB signal to determine a distance between the bell and the first electronic device.

Optionally, the first electronic device determines the TOF by calculating a difference between a time of transmission of the UWB signal and a time of receipt of the UWB signal; the time of transmission of the UWB signal is included in the UWB signal received by the first electronic device.

Optionally, the second electronic device may transmit the second wireless signal to the antenna when within communication range of the antenna.

Another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a method of locating a bell, wherein the bell may include a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor, the method of locating a bell may include the steps of:

step S10: periodically transmitting, using the antenna, a first wireless signal receivable by a first electronic device within a communication range of the antenna;

step S20: determining, using a first electronic device, a position of the bell relative to the first electronic device from the first wireless signal;

step S30: determining the position of the bell relative to a specific reference frame by using the first electronic equipment according to the position of the bell relative to the first electronic equipment and the position of the first electronic equipment relative to the specific reference frame, generating a corresponding position report and uploading the position report to a server;

step S40: obtaining the location report from the server using a second electronic device to locate the bell;

step S50: receiving, using the antenna, a second wireless signal transmitted by the second electronic device; and

step S60: controlling, using the processor, the audio system to produce an audible audio output for assisting a user in locating the bell in response to receiving the second wireless signal.

The method for positioning the bell can be applied to the scene of positioning the transportation vehicles such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, balance cars and the like, and the transportation vehicles can be conveniently positioned by using the method for positioning the bell. As in practice the positioning of the vehicle can be achieved indirectly by positioning the bell. The position information of the vehicle bell involved in the method can be uploaded indirectly to the corresponding server by means of the first electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone), so that the user of the vehicle or vehicle bell can obtain the position information of the vehicle bell or vehicle in the server by means of the second electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) of the user, thereby finding the vehicle bell and/or the vehicle on which the vehicle bell is mounted. The first electronic device herein mainly refers to electronic devices of other people than the user, and particularly refers to electronic devices of other people close to the bell, such as a mobile phone. The greatest advantage of this positioning method is therefore that the positioning of the vehicle bell and/or the vehicle can be achieved indirectly by means of the electronics of other people, so that no GPS-like active positioning means need to be installed on the vehicle or vehicle bell, since the costs of the positioning solution are significantly reduced.

Yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a positionable bell including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implementing at least the foregoing step S10 and/or step S60 when executing the computer program.

Yet another non-limiting embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements at least the aforementioned step S10 and/or step S60.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings that are needed in the descriptions of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a bell positioning system in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the system components of the bell of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing steps involved in a method for locating a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of additional steps involved in a method of locating a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is yet another exploded view of a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the bell of one embodiment of the present disclosure taken along line I-I of FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a shell in a bell according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the housing of the bell of one embodiment of the present disclosure taken along line V-V of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the interior of the housing in the bell in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is yet another perspective view of a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is an exploded view of a striking member in a bell in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is an exploded view of the interior of the housing in the bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of the top of the housing in the bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of the peripheral portion of the shell in the bell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a schematic view of a radius of a first outer surface and a radius of a second outer surface of an example bell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a diagram of some electrical connections within a bell in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Detailed Description

In order that the above-recited objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more readily apparent, a more particular description of specific embodiments/examples thereof will be rendered by reference to the appended drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. The present disclosure may be embodied in many other alternate forms and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art to achieve the same or similar functional results without departing from the spirit of the disclosure, and it is therefore intended that the present disclosure and in particular the claims hereof be limited to non-limiting embodiments of the following disclosure.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that, if there are terms such as "center", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", "diagonal", etc., the positional relationship indicated by these terms may be understood based on the positional relationship or positional relationship shown in the drawings, for convenience of description and simplification of the description only, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," or the like, if any, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present disclosure, the terms "plurality," "plurality," and the like, if any, mean at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically defined otherwise.

Furthermore, unless specifically stated and limited otherwise, references to "coupled," "mounted," "connected," "secured," "mated," "disposed," and "positioned" in this disclosure should be interpreted broadly in connection with the inventive concepts of the present disclosure, as at least direct, indirect, fixed, movable, etc., and as an example "connected," as both direct and indirect, e.g., through a third party element, as well as both fixed and movable, e.g., hinged, etc. For example, "fixed" is in turn understood to mean at least both non-detachably fixed and detachably fixed.

Furthermore, as used in connection with the present disclosure, the term "coupled" may refer to two or more elements in physical or electrical or communication contact/connection with each other, or may refer to two or more elements in operation or action with each other.

In this disclosure, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the meaning of a "first feature being on or off a second feature" and the like, if any, may mean that the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, or that the first and second features are in indirect contact via an intervening medium. Also, a first feature being "above," "over" and "above" a second feature may mean that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply that the level of the first feature is higher than the level of the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature may be the first feature being directly under or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicating that the level of the first feature is less than the level of the second feature.

In addition, the terms "vertical", "horizontal", "upper", "lower", "left", "right" and the like are used in this disclosure for descriptive purposes only and do not represent the only embodiment.

Referring to fig. 1, there is shown a bell location system 1000 that may be physically and/or geographically located using wireless communication systems and techniques in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the location system 1000 may include a bell 10, at least one first electronic device 10a, a server 10c, and a second electronic device 10e. The positioning system 1000 is therefore mainly used for finding vehicles such as bicycles, electric bicycles, scooters, balance cars, etc. which are carelessly lost or temporarily lost by the user, and which can be equipped with the bell 10 in the positioning system, by means of which bell 10 and/or the bell positioning system 1000 the user can find his or her bicycle very conveniently.

In some examples, the bell 10 may include an antenna that transmits a wireless signal that may be detected with another electronic device, such as a smart mobile phone. Using the detected wireless signals (and using positioning techniques such as time of flight, received signal strength indications, triangulation, etc.), the smart mobile phone is able to determine the position of the bell 10 relative to the smart mobile phone, and also to determine the absolute position of the bell 10 using the absolute position of the smart mobile phone relative to GPS or earth, where the absolute position of the bell 10 refers to, for example, latitude and longitude position information of the bell 10 relative to earth.

In some examples, referring to fig. 2, which relates to the system components of the vehicle bell 10, the vehicle bell 10 may include a solar panel 10f, a processor 10g, an antenna 10j coupled to the processor 10g, and an audio system 10h coupled to the processor 10 g. In some examples, a wireless signal is transmitted by the antenna 10j to other devices (e.g., smart phones, tablets, etc.) that analyze the wireless signal to determine the distance, position, location, and/or orientation of the bell 10 with high accuracy. In this disclosure, locating may refer to determining one or more spatial parameters of the bell 10 or other wirelessly positionable device. Spatial parameters include parameters of an object defining aspects of distance, position, location and/or orientation of the object in absolute space or relative to another object. For example, spatial parameters may include parameters such as distance between objects, specific geographic locations (e.g., latitude and longitude coordinates), unit vectors pointing from one object to another, orientation of objects in three-dimensional space (also referred to as angular positioning or pose), and so forth.

In some examples, more broadly, the position, location, orientation, or other spatial parameter of the bell 10 may be determined by any electronic device configured to wirelessly communicate with the bell 10. Exemplary electronic devices include smart phones, tablets, laptops, wireless routers, desktop computing devices, home automation systems, and the like. The electronic devices may update a server or other database with the location of the bell 10. This may improve the ability to locate a lost bell 10 or vehicle in which the bell 10 is installed, because the user may be able to determine the location of the bell 10 by querying the server or database to find the corresponding vehicle even if the user is not within communication range of the bell 10, such as around 10 meters when the bell 10 is using bluetooth to effect location communication.

In some examples, for example, if a user leaves her vehicle, such as a bicycle, at home, the user's home desktop computer may have periodically communicated with (or otherwise received signals from) the bell 10 attached to the range of bluetooth communications, and updated the server with the location of the bell 10. The user can thus simply request the current location of the bell 10 from the server even if she is at a distance and is unable to communicate directly with the bell 10 and her smart phone. The present disclosure describes additional exemplary use cases and device details. Outside the user's home environment, other devices not associated with the user (e.g., other people's smart phones) may also communicate with the bell 10 (or otherwise receive signals from the bell 10) to update the server securely and anonymously with the position of the bell 10. This is a significant improvement over prior positioning techniques for either the bell 10 or the positioning system 1000. More specifically, for example, outside the user's home environment, there may be thousands or even millions of electronic devices (e.g., cell phones) that are able to communicate with the bell 10 and report the location of the bell 10 securely and anonymously while within communication range of the bell 10. Any of these numerous electronic devices that are sufficiently close to the bell 10 to receive signals or communicate with the bell 10 (e.g., via bluetooth) can update the server securely and anonymously with the position of the bell 10. In this way, the large number of electronic devices that can communicate with the bell 10 or receive signals from the bell 10 are generally equivalent to forming a robust multi-redundant device location relay network that can continuously (and privately) monitor and update the locations of many individual bells 10.

In some examples, the antenna 10j in the bell 10 may communicate with a nearby electronic device (e.g., 10 a) by transmitting a periodic wireless signal. The wireless communication protocol to which the antenna 10j is adapted may be a near field wireless communication protocol (e.g., ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 18092, ISO/IEC 21481), UWB protocol, bluetooth (e.g., IEEE 802.15), wiFi (e.g., IEEE 802.11), cellular protocol, and Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4 standard) or any suitable combination of these communication protocols. Accordingly, a nearby electronic device (e.g., 10 a) may monitor the wireless communication protocols and detect a responsive communication signal within communication range (e.g., 20 meters) of those communication protocols, thereby establishing a communication connection with the bell 10.

In some examples, the antenna 10j may periodically transmit a first wireless signal that may be received by one or more first electronic devices 10a within communication range of the antenna 10j, and the first electronic device 10a may then determine the position of the bell 10 relative to the first electronic device 10a based on the first wireless signal. For example, the first wireless signal may be a UWB signal, which in this disclosure may refer to a signal transmitted over a substantial portion of the radio spectrum (e.g., having a bandwidth greater than 500MHz or greater than 20% of the center carrier frequency). Performing positioning using UWB signals may be referred to in this disclosure as "UWB positioning.

In some examples, electronic device 10a (or a device operably coupled to electronic device 10 a) responsible for receiving the signal may analyze the UWB signal or UWB signal pulses detected by electronic device 10a (e.g., through a UWB antenna carried by device 10 a) to determine a distance between electronic device 10a and bell 10 that transmitted the UWB signal pulses. Specifically, the electronic device 10a may determine a time of flight (TOF) of the UWB signal pulse and multiply the TOF by a propagation speed (e.g., speed of light) of the signal pulse to determine or estimate a distance between the bell 10 and the electronic device 10 a.

In addition, the electronic device 10a may determine TOF by calculating the difference between the time of transmission (i.e., the time of the transmitted signal) and the time of detection of the signal, also referred to as time of arrival (TOA). The transmission time may be included in the detected UWB signal pulse, sent as part of a separate transmission, or known due to a synchronization process previously performed between the electronic device 10a and the bell 10.

Using UWB signals to determine distance or location may provide a number of advantages, including improved accuracy in determining TOA and/or TOF. For example, UWB signals may have shorter wavelengths than other signals, which may reduce the time range in which signals may be detected. This reduces errors in determining TOA and TOF, resulting in a more accurate distance estimate. In other examples, it is also preferable that the antenna 10j transmit bluetooth signals using the bluetooth communication protocol.

In some examples, the first electronic device 10a may determine the position of the bell 10a relative to a particular frame of reference (e.g., earth) and generate a corresponding position report using the position of the bell 10 relative to the first electronic device 10a and the position of the first electronic device 10a itself relative to the particular frame of reference (e.g., earth), and upload the position report to the server 10c over the network 10b (e.g., 4G communication network). In particular, the electronic device 10a (e.g., a smart phone) may include or be operatively coupled to a GPS receiver configured to determine the location of the electronic device 10 a. As described above, in this disclosure, a "location" may refer to a geographic point where an electronic device is located, such as a point of the earth's surface or elsewhere, and may be specified according to a geographic coordinate system (e.g., latitude and longitude) or according to a location relative to another geographic point or point of interest. As discussed above, UWB positioning may be used to determine the position of the chime 10 relative to the electronic device 10 a. Thus, by using the GPS to determine the location of the electronic device 10a and using the UWB positioning to determine the location of the bell 10 relative to the electronic device 10a, the absolute location of the bell 10 or the location relative to the earth (e.g., including latitude and longitude information) can be determined. In other examples, the electronic device 10a may also determine its own absolute position (relative to the earth's position) by Beidou satellite positioning or base station positioning (e.g., GSM network) or the Geornass system (GLONASS) or the Galileo system (Galileo).

As another example, in some examples, the electronic devices 10a use their own location as an estimated location of the bell 10. For example, if the device 10a is capable of connecting to the bell 10 via bluetooth, the bell 10 may be assumed to be within about 30 feet of the device 10a (or another distance, depending on the parameters of the bluetooth communication). Thus, for example, the device 10a may report the location of the bell 10 as an area centered on the electronic device 10a and having a radius corresponding to the communication range of the wireless communication protocol used to communicate with the bell 10 (e.g., the communication range of the Bluetooth communication protocol is 10-100 meters). In other cases, the electronic device 10a may more accurately determine or estimate the location of the bell 10. For example, the device 10a may use time of flight (TOF), angle of arrival (AOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA) Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), triangulation, synthetic aperture, and/or any other suitable technique to determine the location of the bell 10 relative to the user device 10 a.

In some examples, the user of the vehicle in which the bell 10 is installed may obtain the aforementioned location report regarding the bell 10 from the server 10c (e.g., over the 4G network 10 d) using the second electronic device 10e to locate the bell 10 so that the user may move to a location proximate to that provided by the location report to find the bell 10 or the vehicle in which the bell 10 is installed. Then, when the user approaches the bell 10 or the vehicle in which the bell 10 is installed, for example, when the user comes within a wireless communication range (for example, 50 meters) of the bell 10, the antenna 10j in the bell 10 can establish communication with the user's electronic device 10e (for example, a cell phone). More specifically, the antenna 10j may receive a second wireless signal (e.g., a Bluetooth signal) transmitted by the electronic device 10e that includes primarily instructions for producing sound, such that the processor 10g in the chime 10 may control the responsive audio system 10h (e.g., a buzzer) to produce an audible audio output, such as a beep or other audible tone (e.g., a constant tone, song, etc.), for assisting the user in locating/discovering the chime 10 at that time in response to receiving the second wireless signal. It should be noted that the types of the second wireless signal and the first wireless signal may be the same or similar, for example, both are bluetooth signals.

In some examples, the aforementioned bell 10 also includes an at least partially exposed solar panel 10f for powering at least the processor 10g, the antenna 10j, and the audio system 10 h. Due to the solar panel 10f, the cruising problem of the bell 10 is guaranteed, and the user is not required to charge the bell in a tedious manner. The type of the solar panel 10f is not particularly limited, and may include several types or any suitable combination of these types such as a single-junction solar panel (made of single-crystal silicon or polycrystalline silicon, and having a conversion efficiency of generally 15% to 20%), a thin-film solar panel (made of amorphous silicon, copper indium gallium selenide, or the like, and having a conversion efficiency generally lower than that of a single-junction solar panel, but having a low manufacturing cost), a multi-junction solar panel (made of stacked photoelectric materials having different energy gaps, and having a conversion efficiency of theoretically up to 30% or more), and the like.

In some examples, referring to fig. 3, a method of locating a bell is shown, which may be referred to, for example, as bell 10 described above, which may likewise include a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor. The relevant steps or processes of the method for locating a bell may thus be the same as or similar to the relevant functions of the bell 10 or the relevant components of the bell 10 (e.g., the processor 10g, the antenna 10j, the audio system 10 h) and the technical effects (efficiencies) achieved by the method for locating a bell may be the same as or similar to the technical effects (efficiencies) achieved by the bell 10 or the relevant components of the bell 10 (e.g., the processor 10g, the antenna 10j, the audio system 10 h). Specifically, the method may include the steps of:

Step S10: an antenna is used to periodically transmit a first wireless signal receivable by a first electronic device within a communication range of the antenna.

Step S20: the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device is determined from the first wireless signal using the first electronic device.

Step S30: the position of the bell relative to a specific reference frame (such as the earth) is determined by using the first electronic device according to the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device and the position of the first electronic device relative to the specific reference frame, and a corresponding position report is generated and uploaded to a server.

Step S40: the location report is obtained from a server using a second electronic device to locate the bell.

Step S50: a second wireless signal transmitted by a second electronic device is received using an antenna.

Step S60: the processor is used to control the audio system to produce an audible audio output, such as a beep or other audible tone (e.g., a constant tone, song, etc.), for assisting the user in locating the bell in response to receiving the second wireless signal.

In some examples, the first wireless signal may be a UWB signal, which in this disclosure may refer to a signal transmitted over a substantial portion of the radio spectrum (e.g., having a bandwidth greater than 500MHz or greater than 20% of the center carrier frequency). Performing positioning using UWB signals may be referred to in this disclosure as "UWB positioning. Referring to fig. 4, therefore, the first electronic device (e.g., electronic device 10 a) may further include the following steps in performing step S20: step S201: the time of transmission of the UWB signal is determined. Step S202: the time of receipt of the UWB signal is determined. Step S203: the difference between the time of transmission of the UWB signal and the time of receipt of the UWB signal is calculated to determine the TOF of the UWB signal. Step S204: the distance between the bell and the first electronic device is determined using the first electronic device by multiplying the propagation speed of the UWB signal with the TOF.

With continued reference to fig. 2, the bell 10 of this embodiment further includes a memory 10K coupled to the processor 10g and a program (or instructions) 10n stored in the memory 10K and executable on the aforementioned processor 10g, the processor 10g in the bell 10, when executing the program 10n, may implement relevant steps in the aforementioned exemplary methods, such as at least steps S10 and S60.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system composition diagram of fig. 2 is merely an example of the system composition of the bell 10 and is not intended to limit the system composition of the bell 10, and may include more or less components than those shown in fig. 2, or may combine certain components, or different components, such as may also include input-output devices, network access devices, etc.

The processor 10g may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), the processor 10g may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

The memory 10K may be an internal storage unit of the bell 10 in some embodiments, such as a hard disk or memory of the bell 10. The memory 10K may also be an external storage device of the bell 10 in other embodiments, such as a plug-in hard disk, a Smart Media Card (SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) Card, a Flash Card (Flash Card) or the like, which are provided on the bell 10. Further, the memory 61 may also include both an internal memory unit and an external memory device of the robot 6. The memory 10K may be used to store an operating system, application programs or instructions, boot loader (BootLoader), data, and other program code, among others. The memory 10K may also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the program 10n executable by the processor 10g may constitute each software functional unit or module, and in practical application, the above-mentioned functions may be distributed as needed to be completed by different functional units or modules, i.e. the internal structure of the apparatus is divided into different functional units or modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The functional units and modules in the embodiments 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.

In addition, in other examples, each of the software functional units or modules described above may also be implemented in hardware. In addition, the specific names of the functional units and modules are only for distinguishing from each other, and are not used for limiting the protection scope of the present application. The specific working process of the units and modules in the above system may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the relevant steps of the method embodiments described above.

Embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product that, when run on the bell 10, causes the bell 10 to perform the relevant steps of the method embodiments described above, e.g., step S10 and step S60.

When the program 10n or similar software functional units or modules executable by the processor 10g are sold or otherwise used as a stand-alone product (e.g., a computer program product), these computer program products may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the present disclosure may implement all or part of the flow of the method of the above-described embodiments, and may be implemented by a computer program to instruct or control related hardware, where the computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, may implement the steps of the method embodiments described above. Wherein the computer program comprises computer program code which may be in source code form, object code form, executable file or some intermediate form etc. The computer readable medium may include at least: any entity or device capable of carrying computer program code to a photographing device/terminal apparatus, recording medium, computer Memory, read-Only Memory (ROM), random access Memory (RAM, randomAccess Memory), electrical carrier signal, telecommunications signal, and software distribution medium. Such as a U-disk, removable hard disk, magnetic or optical disk, etc.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

Referring to fig. 1 or 5, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a particular structure/construction of a bell 10, the bell 10 being generally mountable on a vehicle such as a bicycle, electric bicycle, scooter, or the like. Specifically, the bell 10 is provided with a mounting hole 1, the mounting hole 1 can mount the bell 10 on, for example, a front steering handle of a bicycle, the bell 10 has a positioning function, for example, the bicycle on which the bell 10 is mounted is carelessly lost by a user, and the lost position is very far (for example, 30 km away) from the user, then the bell 10 can communicate with a mobile terminal located near the bell 10, the mobile terminal can determine the position of the bell 10, and report and/or upload the position information of the bell 10 to a corresponding server 10c, and then the user can acquire the position information of the bell 10 from the server 10c, thereby finding the bell 10 and the bicycle on which the bell 10 is mounted. It should be noted that the mobile terminal may be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a telephone (e.g., a mobile phone, a conventional cordless phone), a tablet computer, a watch, a headset, a wearable electronic device, or an electronic device with a built-in GPS communication device.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 5-8, the bell 10 can include a housing 100 and a base 101, with the housing 100 mechanically coupled to the base 101, such as by a mechanical fastener such as a screw 102. In this embodiment, the housing 100 and the base 101 constitute a main body portion or support frame of the bicycle bell 10. The shape of the housing 100 is not particularly limited, and preferably, it may be a substantially cylindrical shape. In other examples, the housing 100 may be square in shape. The material of manufacture of the housing 100 is not particularly limited, and the housing 100 may be manufactured by a material such as metal, plastic, glass, wood, composite material, fiber reinforced material, or the like, or may be filled with a combination of these materials. Preferably, the housing 100 may be manufactured from ABS plastic, nylon plastic, for example. In the bell 10, the housing 100 serves as a mounting platform so that the main components of the bell 10, such as the housing 100 provides mounting surfaces or mounting cavities, particularly the associated electrical components, may be mounted within corresponding cavities within the bell 100.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 7 or 15 or 16, the housing 100 may have a top 103 and a peripheral side 214, wherein the top 103 may include a top outer surface 104 and a top inner surface 105, and the peripheral side 214 may include an inner surface 106 and an outer surface 107. In this embodiment, the top outer surface 104 is fixedly connected to the solar panel 10 f. In the present embodiment, the solar panel 10f is mounted to the outside of the housing 100. In other examples, solar panel 10f may also be partially mounted outside of housing 100. The specific manner of the fixing connection is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, glue adhesion, inlay connection, screw connection, or the like. Preferably, for example, solar panel 10f may be adhesively secured to top exterior surface 104. The shape of the top outer surface 104 is not particularly limited, and may be substantially circular. In other examples, the top outer surface 104 may be square in shape. In this embodiment, the top inner surface 105 and the peripheral side inner surface 106 together define or enclose to some extent a receiving cavity 108. Specifically, the shape and volume of the receiving chamber 108 are not particularly limited. In other examples, the number of the storage chambers may be 2 or more.

Referring to fig. 9-17, in the housing 100, the outer surface 107 of the peripheral side portion 214 may include a first outer surface 109 having a first average radius of curvature R1 and a second outer surface 110 having a second average radius of curvature R2 that is greater than the first average radius of curvature R1. Wherein first and second posts 111, 112 extend at spaced intervals from the first outer surface 109. Specifically, a third column 113 is extended between the first column 111 and the second column 112 at a distance. In the present embodiment, the first, second, and third posts 111, 112, 113 are elastically connected to the sound member 114. Preferably, the connection manner may be elastic connection through the elastic member 115, and the elastic member 115 may be implemented by a spring.

Referring to fig. 5-18, in some embodiments, the sound component 114 is integrally mounted on the exterior of the housing 100. Wherein the sound component 114 is resiliently mounted on the outer surface 107 of the peripheral side portion 214 of the housing 100. In particular, the acoustic member 114 may be directly resiliently mounted to the first outer surface 109 by a spring. Wherein a first end of the spring is fixedly connected to the sound component 114 and a second end of the spring opposite the first end is connected to the first outer surface 109. Specifically, the elastic member 115 may be a spring, rubber, or the like. Preferably, the elastic member 115 is a spring. The material of the acoustic member 114 may be filled with a ceramic, brass, aluminum, or the like, or a combination of these materials. Preferably, the material of the sound component may be ceramic. In other examples, the sound component 114 may be partially mounted on the exterior of the housing 100, so long as the associated striking component can strike the sound component 114 to produce a ringing tone.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 14-17, the acoustic member 114 can be resiliently coupled to the outer surface 107 of the peripheral side portion 214. The shape of the sound component 114 is not particularly limited, and in the present embodiment, it may be a semicircle ring shape having a certain thickness. In other examples, the shape of the sound component 114 may also be square. In this embodiment, the radius of the sound component 114 and the radius of the second outer surface 110 are exactly equal to the radius of the rounded top 103. In other embodiments, the average radius of curvature of the sound component 114 and/or the radius of the second outer surface 110 may also be greater than the radius of the top 103. In other embodiments, the radius of the sound component 114 and/or the radius of the second outer surface 110 may also be less than the radius of the top 103.

Specifically, the sound component 114 may be provided on an inner side surface thereof with a first groove 135 aligned with the first post 111 and a second groove 116 aligned with the second post 112 at a spacing, wherein a third groove 117 aligned with the third post 113 is further provided between the first groove 135 and the second groove 116. In the present embodiment, the number of the hole grooves provided on the inner side surface of the sound member 114 is not particularly limited, and preferably, it may be three hole grooves. In some embodiments, it may be two aperture slots. The interval between the holes and the grooves measured in the sound member 114 is not particularly limited. Preferably, it may be three equally spaced slots. In some embodiments, it may also be two bilaterally symmetrical hole slots. The shape of the hole groove provided in the inner surface of the sound member 114 is not particularly limited, and may be a circular hole groove. In some embodiments, it may be elliptical. In some embodiments, it may also be polygonal. In this embodiment, the user may cause the sound component 114 to generate a ringtone in response to the tapping component 118 through a tapping action.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 12-13, the striking member 118 may be pivotally mounted on the stationary base 101. Specifically, the striking member 118 may include a striking member 119, a rotating shaft 120, a touching member 121, and a return torsion spring 122. The rotating shaft 120 is movably mounted on the knocking member 119, and the touching member 121 is fixedly mounted on the knocking member 119, for touching the sound component 114 to generate a bell. The reset torsion spring 122 is disposed on the rotating shaft 120, and is used for resetting and rebounding after the knocking member 119 touches the sound component 114. The striking member includes a first end 1191 and a second end 1192, the touching member 121 is mounted on the second end 1192, when the user presses the first end 1191 (e.g. by a finger), the second end 1192 will tilt, and when the user releases the finger, the second end 1192 will rebound under the drive of the reset torsion spring 112, thereby hitting the sound member 114 to make a loud bell. In this embodiment, the striking component 119 is configured to perform a striking action in response to a user's hand operation, where the user's hand touches the striking component 119, and the striking component drives the touching component 121 to touch the sound component 114, so as to complete the striking action, and thus the first sound component generates the first sound in response to the striking action. Wherein the first sound component is resiliently mounted to the outer surface 107 of the peripheral side portion 214 of the bell housing 100.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 2, 7, 8 or 19, which illustrate some electrical connection diagrams inside the bell 10, some electrical components inside the bell 10 may further include a switch 20f, a storage capacitor 40f, a solar panel 10f, a battery management module 30f, a processor 10g, an antenna 10j, and a buzzer 222. The storage capacitor 40f may be used to store the electric energy of the solar panel 10 f. In this embodiment, the solar panel 10f may be configured to power the MCU100g, the antenna 10j, and other systems, and the power management module 30f may be configured to receive power provided by the solar panel 10f and provide power to the MCU100g and other modules. Specifically, the power management module 30f can also be used to monitor parameters such as the health (leakage, impedance) of the storage capacitor 40 f. In particular, the processor 10g may be integrated by an MCU. In this embodiment, the processor 10g may be coupled with a solar panel 10 f. In particular, the MCU100g may control the responsive audio system 10h to produce an audible audio output for assisting a user in locating/discovering the bell 10 in response to receiving the second wireless signal. In particular, the audio output may be beeps, constant tones, songs, and other audible tones. In this embodiment, preferably, the audio system may be a buzzer 222, and the buzzer 222 is a second sound component. Specifically, the buzzer 222 may be coupled to the processor 10 g. The switch 20f can control the on-off of the bell communication operation, and the switch 20f is specifically a push-type switch component. Specifically, there are a plurality of sound emitting holes 201f in the vicinity of the switch 20f, and specifically, the sound emitting holes 201f can be used to facilitate the sound of the buzzer 222 to be emitted outward. Wherein the antenna 10j may be used to periodically receive and transmit wireless signals within a communication range.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 1, 2, 7, 8 or 19, a circuit board 311 may also be included within the bell 10. The circuit board may be mounted within the receiving cavity 108. Specifically, the circuit board 311 may include a controller, an energy storage component, a communication component, a second sound component, and the like. The energy storage component may be an energy storage capacitor 40f, the second component may be a buzzer 222, and the controller may be integrated with the processor 10g, and in this embodiment, the controller may be an MCU100g (microcontroller). Specifically, the processor 10g and the communication part are both mounted to the inside of the bell housing 100. In this embodiment, the communication means may comprise a communication circuit coupled to the processor 10g and having an antenna 10 j. Wherein the communication means is coupled with the MCU100 g. In particular, the communication component is configured to periodically transmit a first wireless signal receivable by the first electronic device 10 a. Preferably, the first wireless signal may be a UWB signal. Wherein the first electronic device 10a is configured to locate the bell 10 based on the first wireless signal and to receive a second wireless signal that may be transmitted by the second electronic device 10 e. Wherein the MCU100g is configured to control the second sound component to generate a second sound for assisting the user in locating the bell 10 in accordance with the second wireless signal.

The above embodiments of the disclosure and technical features of the embodiments can be reasonably combined to obtain similar technical solutions or other technical solutions without obvious conflict. For the sake of brevity, all of the possible combinations of the features of the above embodiments are not described, however, the scope of the description should be considered as if there are no contradictions between the combinations of the features.

Claims

1. A bell positioning system, comprising:

a bicycle bell comprising a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor;

a first electronic device;

a server; and

a second electronic device;

the antenna is used for periodically transmitting a first wireless signal which can be received by the first electronic device in the communication range of the antenna, and the first electronic device determines the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device according to the first wireless signal;

the first electronic equipment also determines the position of the bell relative to a specific reference frame by utilizing the position of the bell relative to the first electronic equipment and the position of the first electronic equipment relative to the specific reference frame, generates a corresponding position report and uploads the position report to the server;

The second electronic device is used for acquiring the position report from the server to locate the bell;

wherein the antenna is further for receiving a second wireless signal transmitted by the second electronic device, the processor being configured to control the audio system to produce an audible audio output for assisting a user in locating the bell in response to receiving the second wireless signal.

2. The bell positioning system of claim 1, wherein,

the bell also includes an at least partially exposed solar panel for powering at least the processor, the antenna, and the audio system.

3. The bell positioning system of claim 1, wherein,

the specific reference system is the earth;

the location report includes latitude and longitude information of the bell relative to the earth.

4. The bell positioning system of claim 1, wherein,

the wireless communication protocol applicable to the antenna is a near field wireless communication protocol and/or a UWB protocol and/or a Bluetooth protocol and/or a WiFi protocol and/or a cellular protocol.

5. The bell positioning system of claim 1, wherein,

The first wireless signal is a UWB signal;

the position of the bell relative to the first electronic device includes distance information;

the first electronic device determines a TOF of the UWB signal and multiplies the TOF by a propagation speed of the UWB signal to determine a distance between the bell and the first electronic device.

6. The bell positioning system of claim 5, wherein,

a first electronic device determining the TOF by calculating a difference between a time of transmission of the UWB signal and a time of receipt of the UWB signal;

the time of transmission of the UWB signal is included in the UWB signal received by the first electronic device.

7. The bell positioning system of claim 1, wherein,

the second electronic device may transmit the second wireless signal to the antenna when within communication range of the antenna.

8. A method of locating a bell, the bell including a processor, an antenna coupled to the processor, and an audio system coupled to the processor, the method comprising the steps of:

9. A positionable bell comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in said memory and executable on said processor, characterized in that,

the processor, when executing the computer program, at least implements step S10 and/or step S60 as claimed in claim 8.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, characterized in that,

the computer program, when executed by a processor, at least implements step S10 and/or step S60 as claimed in claim 8.