WO2011072077A1 - Positionnement d'un dispositif électronique portable sur la base de zones identifiables représentant des conditions de communication sans fil réduites - Google Patents

Positionnement d'un dispositif électronique portable sur la base de zones identifiables représentant des conditions de communication sans fil réduites Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2011072077A1
WO2011072077A1 PCT/US2010/059571 US2010059571W WO2011072077A1 WO 2011072077 A1 WO2011072077 A1 WO 2011072077A1 US 2010059571 W US2010059571 W US 2010059571W WO 2011072077 A1 WO2011072077 A1 WO 2011072077A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
electronic device
wireless communication
portable electronic
recited
wireless
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2010/059571
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English (en)
Inventor
Saumitra Mohan Das
Ayman Fawzy Naguib
Andrew C. Blaich
Edward Thomas Lingham Hardie
Original Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by Qualcomm Incorporated filed Critical Qualcomm Incorporated
Publication of WO2011072077A1 publication Critical patent/WO2011072077A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S5/00—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations
    • G01S5/02—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations using radio waves
    • G01S5/0257—Hybrid positioning
    • G01S5/0268—Hybrid positioning by deriving positions from different combinations of signals or of estimated positions in a single positioning system
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S5/00—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations
    • G01S5/02—Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations using radio waves
    • G01S5/0252—Radio frequency fingerprinting
    • G01S5/02521—Radio frequency fingerprinting using a radio-map

Definitions

  • the subject matter disclosed herein relates to portable electronic devices, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for use in a portable electronic device to support position estimation determination in a wireless operating environment.
  • some portable electronic devices may include a global positioning system (GPS) and/or other like satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver that is capable of determining a relative geographical position of the portable electronic device based on an applicable multiple signal-based position estimation process.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • SPS satellite positioning system
  • some portable electronic device e.g., a mobile station, may be capable of estimating on its own or with network support, its relative location based on wireless signals received from wireless signal transmitting devices (e.g., base stations, access points, location beacons, etc.) using certain multiple signal-based position estimation processes.
  • a portable electronic device may move to a position wherein the requisite wireless signal transmissions are no longer available for use. For example, a portable electronic device may move into a zone that either lacks coverage in some manner (e.g., out of range of a transmitting device), and/or in which the wireless signals that may be available are attenuated and/or otherwise affected in some manner which precludes their use in a given multiple signal-based position estimation process.
  • a portable electronic device may move into a zone that either lacks coverage in some manner (e.g., out of range of a transmitting device), and/or in which the wireless signals that may be available are attenuated and/or otherwise affected in some manner which precludes their use in a given multiple signal-based position estimation process.
  • techniques are provided which may be implemented in various methods and/or apparatuses to allow a portable electronic device to at least estimate its current position while within or otherwise operatively associated with an operating environment that may have one or more identifiable zones that present a reduced wireless communication condition.
  • a method may be provided for a portable electronic device to obtain current wireless communication environment information at a current position within an operating environment, and determine estimated current position information for the portable electronic device.
  • the estimated current position information may be determined based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information and expected wireless communication environment information associated with the operating environment.
  • the expected wireless communication environment information may be associated with at least one identifiable zone that presents a reduced wireless communication condition within the operating environment.
  • a method may include determining the estimated current position information based, at least in part, on one or more signals representing estimated previous position information associated with the portable electronic device, and/or the current wireless communication environment information may comprise wireless signaling signature information associated with a signal strength of at least one wireless signal transmitted within the operating environment.
  • a method may include determining whether the reduced wireless communication condition is present which prohibits use of a multiple signal-based position estimation function based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information.
  • a method may include determining the estimated current position information based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information without using a multiple signal-based position estimation function.
  • a method may further include, in response to determining that the reduced wireless communication condition is not present, determining the estimated current position information based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information using the multiple signal- based position estimation function (e.g., using trilateration, multilateration, triangulation, and/or other like).
  • a method may include determining that a reduced wireless communication condition is present based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information identifying that less than a threshold value of different wireless signals are available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position within the operating environment.
  • a threshold value may specify that at least a certain plurality of different wireless signals be available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position within the operating environment.
  • a method may further include selectively establishing at least one threshold parameter for use in determining whether a wireless signal is available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position within the operating environment
  • current wireless communication environment information may comprise wireless signaling signature information associated with a plurality of receiving antennas of the portable electronic device.
  • expected wireless communication environment information may comprise information associated with at least one wireless signal transmitting device capable of transmitting at least one wireless signal for use by the portable electronic device at the current position within the operating environment.
  • information associated with the at least one wireless signal transmitting device may comprise position
  • current wireless communication environment information and/or expected wireless communication environment information may comprise wireless signaling signature information associated with one or more positions wherein the portable electronic device is capable of being located while within the operating environment.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an operating environment which at times may present one or more identifiable zones that present a reduced wireless communications condition to a portable electronic device, in accordance with an implementation.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating certain features of an exemplary portable electronic device that may be a capable of estimating its location within an operating environment which at times may present one or more identifiable zones that present a reduced wireless communications condition, in accordance with an implementation.
  • FIG. 3 is a functional flow diagram illustrating certain features of an exemplary process that may be implemented in a portable electronic device that may be a capable of estimating its location within an operating environment which at times may present one or more identifiable zones that present a reduced wireless communications condition, in accordance with an
  • an identifiable zone may take the form of a "dead-zone" or the like, wherein some of the wireless signals which may support certain positioning functions are either unavailable to the portable electronic device and/or otherwise unusable for such purposes.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of obtaining one or more signals (e.g., via a wireless interface) which represent in some manner current wireless communication environment information that is available to the portable electronic device at a current position within an operating environment.
  • a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a round trip time (RTT), and/or other like information may be used.
  • the portable electronic device may also be capable of
  • estimated current position information my be based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information, e.g., as experienced/received by the portable electronic device and expected wireless communication environment information associated with at least a portion of the operating environment, e.g., as estimated, predicted, previously measured, and/or otherwise determined in some way as possibly being experienced/received by the portable electronic device.
  • expected wireless communication environment information may be received and/or stored in memory and be associated with at least one identifiable zone that presents a reduced wireless communication condition within the operating environment.
  • the portable electronic device may also be capable of determining estimated current position information based, at least in part, on estimated previous position information associated with the portable electronic device. For example, one or more last known positions and/or other related historical position/movement information may be used to determine an estimated current position.
  • current wireless communication environment information may include wireless signaling signature information associated with a signal strength and/or other like identifiable aspect of one or more of the wireless signals being transmitted within the operating environment and/or otherwise available to the portable electronic device.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of identifying whether a reduced wireless
  • a communication condition may be determined to be present if a multiple signal- based position estimation function and/or other like function may be unable to operate properly or effectively. This may be determined, for example, based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of determining estimated current position information based, at least in part, on a current wireless communication environment information without using a multiple signal-based position estimation function, for example, using the techniques provided herein.
  • a portable electronic device may determine all or part of the estimated current position information based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information using the multiple signal-based position estimation function.
  • a multiple signal-based position estimation function may include a trilateration position estimation function, a multilateration position estimation function, a triangulation position estimation function, and/or the like.
  • a portable electronic device may also be capable of determining that a reduced wireless communication condition is present based, at least in part, on a current wireless communication environment information identifying that less than a threshold value of different wireless signals are available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position within the current operating environment.
  • a threshold value may specify that at least two or three, or perhaps more, different wireless signals be available for use by the portable electronic device at a current position within a current operating environment, else a reduced wireless communication condition may be present.
  • current wireless communication environment information may also include wireless signaling signature information associated with a plurality of receiving antennas of the portable electronic device.
  • a signature for a zone may identify that a given access point may be "dead" on a given antenna in a zone.
  • a portable electronic device may also be capable of selectively establishing at least one threshold parameter for use in determining whether a wireless signal is available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position.
  • a threshold parameter may be established in advance and/or in some dynamic manner such as through user input/interaction and/or via other programmed processes.
  • communication environment information may include information associated with at least one wireless signal transmitting device capable of transmitting at least one wireless signal for use by the portable electronic device at a current position.
  • expected wireless communication may include information associated with at least one wireless signal transmitting device capable of transmitting at least one wireless signal for use by the portable electronic device at a current position.
  • current wireless communication environment information and/or expected wireless communication environment information may include wireless signaling signature information associated with one or more positions wherein the portable electronic device is capable of being located while within the operating environment.
  • a wireless signaling signature may specify certain wireless signals and/or certain aspects of such signals, and/or the absence of such signals, as expected and/or measured at certain positions within the operating environment.
  • an operating environment may be associated with a specific region, such as a specified bounded physically structured region, into, out of, and/or within, which a portable electronic device may be transported.
  • a specific region such as a specified bounded physically structured region
  • a building or portion thereof, a campus or portion thereof, and/or other like arrangement may be provided as a specified bounded physically structured region.
  • current wireless communication environment information may include wireless signal propagation time information that is associated with at least one wireless signal transmitted between a wireless signal transmitting device and the portable electronic device.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of interacting with a wireless signal transmitting device and measuring or otherwise determining wireless signal propagation time information between the portable electronic device and the wireless signal transmitting device.
  • a signature may identify an absence of ability to receive time information of sending a packet and receiving it back from an access point. Such a signature may be present along with a signature of signal strength, for example, and both may provide complementary but disjoint information useful in positioning.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of receiving at least a portion of expected wireless communication environment information from at least one other electronic device.
  • a wireless signal transmitting device may provide all or part of the expected wireless communication environment information, and/or other wireless communication system device(s) may provide all or part of the expected wireless communication environment information.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an operating environment 100, in accordance certain example implementations.
  • an operating environment 100 may, for example, include one or more wireless signal transmitting devices 104 (shown as 104-1 , 104-2, 104-3, 104-4, 104-n) operatively arranged within and/or otherwise about a bounded region 106.
  • Bounded region 106 may, for example, represent a one or more buildings or other like structures and/or portion(s) thereof.
  • Bounded region 106 may, for example, represent a campus comprising various buildings, open areas, pathways, streets, etc., and/or portion(s) thereof. These are but examples of a bounded region and claimed subject matter is not necessarily so limited. Bounded region 106 may, for example, be simply related to a service or coverage area associated with all or part of operating
  • Wireless signal transmitting devices 104 may all be the same type of device, and/or represent different types of devices depending on the situation.
  • one or more wireless transmitting devices 104 may include wireless network access points and/or other like devices which may not only transmit wireless signals but may also receive wireless signals.
  • wireless signal transmitting devices 104-1 , 104-2 and 104-3 in FIG. 1 may comprise wireless access points which are also coupled to a network 120 and/or other communication and/or computing resources.
  • Network 120 may, therefore, represent one or more communication and/or computing networks, services, resources, etc.
  • network 120 may include the Internet and/or other like computing and/or communication infrastructures. As illustrated, network 120 may be coupled to a communications network 130.
  • Communications network (which may be optional) may include, for example, a cellular and/or other like wireless telecommunications system(s)/network(s).
  • a communication network and/or certain wireless signal transmitting devices may, for example, comprise transmitting devices and/or other like computing devices which may act as repeaters to provide, extend, and/or otherwise enhance a coverage area for communications with mobile devices. For example, certain repeaters may provide for "femto-ceH", "pico-ceH", etc., operative regions of coverage.
  • the various wireless signal transmitting devices 104 and (optional) communications network 130 may be capable of transmitting wireless signals capable of being received by a portable electronic device 102.
  • wireless signals may, for example, be provided specifically for use by at least one portable electronic device 102 to support positioning functions.
  • Such wireless signals may, for example, be provided to at least one portable electronic device 102 for one or more other purposes and/or functions, such as, e.g., exchanging information (data, computer-implementable instructions, etc.) in the form of one or more signals (e.g., electrical signals).
  • a portable electronic device 102 is capable of receiving wireless signals and based, at least in part, thereon determine its current position based, at least in part, on such received wireless signals.
  • zone 108 is representative of a zone wherein a reduced wireless communication condition is not present.
  • portable electronic device 102 while in zone 108 may estimated its current position based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information using a multiple signal-based position estimation function.
  • zone information may still have advantages despite not having a reduced communication condition. For example, in certain implementations, there may be only one area where all signals are present. Thus, sometimes a position estimate may have errors to due to a ranging error which may place a portable electronic device outside of a zone despite having no reduced communication. In such example situations, a signature, e.g., about the non-absence of any signal, may be used to better estimate a position of the portable electronic device. [0036] There may be other identifiable zones, however, wherein a portable electronic device 102 may experience a reduced wireless communication condition.
  • portable electronic device 102 may be transported from zone 108 to zone 1 12, wherein portable electronic device 102 may experience a reduced wireless communication condition might otherwise reduce the effectiveness of and/or possibly prohibit the use of a multiple signal-based position estimation function and/or the like.
  • portable electronic device 102 in response to being in such a reduced wireless communication condition, may be capable of determining its estimated current position based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information without using a multiple signal-based position estimation function and/or by further using one or more of the techniques provided herein.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating some features of a portable electronic device 102 comprising a computing device 200 in accordance with certain example implementations.
  • computing device 200 may include one or more
  • Computing device 200 may also include one or more wireless interfaces 208, which may receive and/or transmit wireless signals, for example, using one or more antennas 240.
  • Computing device 200 may further include one or more input and/or output mechanisms 209 and/or other like arrangements, which may be used to convey information to and/or receive information from a user.
  • connections 206 may also operatively couple wireless interface 208 and/or input/output mechanisms 209 to one or both of processing unit(s) 202 and/or memory 204.
  • an article of manufacture represented here by a computer readable medium 214, may be provided and accessed by processing unit(s) 202, for example.
  • processing unit(s) 202 may be provided and accessed by processing unit(s) 202, for example.
  • the methods and/or apparatuses may take the form in whole or part of a computer readable medium 214 that includes computer
  • implementable instructions 216 stored thereon, which if executed by at least one processing unit or other like circuitry enable the processing unit(s) 202 and/or the other like circuitry to perform all or portions of the
  • Computer readable medium 214 may be representative of any data storage mechanism.
  • Processing unit(s) 202 may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software. Processing unit(s) 202 may be representative of one or more circuits configurable to perform at least a portion of a data computing procedure or process.
  • processing unit(s) 202 may include one or more processors, controllers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, application specific integrated circuits, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field
  • Memory 204 may be representative of any data storage mechanism.
  • Memory 204 may include, for example, a primary memory 210 and/or a secondary memory 212.
  • Primary memory 210 may include, for example, a random access memory, read only memory, etc. While illustrated in this example as being separate from processing unit(s) 202, it should be understood that at least a portion of a primary memory 210 may, for example, be provided within or otherwise co-located/coupled with processing unit(s) 202.
  • Secondary memory 212 may, for example, include the same or similar type of memory as primary memory 210 and/or one or more data storage devices or systems, such as, for example, a disk drive, an optical disc drive, a tape drive, a solid state memory drive, a smart card, etc. In certain implementations, secondary memory 212 may be operatively receptive of, or otherwise configurable to couple to, computer readable medium 214.
  • Connections 206 are representative of one or more buses, lines, conductors, fibers, etc., that operatively couple the various circuits together and carry one or more electrical and/or other like signals there between.
  • Input/output mechanism(s) 209 may, for example, include a keyboard, a keypad, a button, a touch screen, a pointer mechanism, a microphone, a camera, a motion sensor, a display, a speaker, a projector, and/or other like arrangements.
  • Wireless interface 208 may, for example, be capable of supporting one or more computing and communication services, such as, for example, telecommunication services, location/navigation services, and/or other like information and/or services with regard to portable electronic device 102.
  • portable electronic device 102 may include a mobile station (MS) such as a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a portable computing device, a navigation unit, and/or the like or any combination thereof.
  • MS mobile station
  • portable electronic device 102 may take the form of one or more integrated circuits, circuit boards, and/or the like that may be operatively enabled for use in another device.
  • wireless interface 208 may, for example, be enabled for use with various wireless communication networks such as a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and so on.
  • WWAN wireless wide area network
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • WPAN wireless personal area network
  • network and “system” may be used interchangeably herein.
  • a WWAN may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, and so on.
  • CDMA network may implement one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as cdma2000, Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), to name just a few radio technologies.
  • cdma2000 may include technologies implemented according to IS-95, IS-2000, and IS-856 standards.
  • a TDMA network may implement Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT.
  • GSM and W-CDMA are described in documents from a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP).
  • Cdma2000 is described in documents from a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2).
  • 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available.
  • a WLAN may include an IEEE 802.1 1 x network
  • a WPAN may include a Bluetooth network, an IEEE 802.15x, for example.
  • Antenna(s) 240 may, for example, include one or more antennas intended for specific communication related tasks/capabilities.
  • two or more antennas and/or antenna elements may be arranged and used to provide additional information regarding a received wireless signal.
  • signal diversity and/or other like antenna- based capabilities may be employed to provide additional information regarding a transmitted wireless signal.
  • input/output mechanism(s) 209 may include one or more sensor mechanisms that may also provide information that may be considered separately and/or together in some manner with signal information relating to antenna(s) 240.
  • certain directional information (e.g., to a transmitting device) may be determined based, at least in part, on antenna diversity information and/or the like, and/or along with motion sensor information, magnetometer sensor information, and/or the like relating to a relative position/movement of the portable electronic device.
  • primary memory 210 may have stored therein data as provided by, e.g., one or more signals (e.g., electrical signals) representing: current
  • communication environment information 220 e.g., associated with a current position of the portable electronic device
  • propagation time information 222 e.g., associated with one or more wireless signals
  • estimated current position information 224 e.g., associated with the portable electronic device at or about a current time
  • zone information 230 e.g., regarding one or more identifiable zones having or expected to present a reduced wireless communication condition to the portable electronic device (e.g., dead zones)
  • wireless signaling signature information 232 e.g., as experienced at or about a current time by the portable electronic device at or about a current position in which either no useable wireless signals or some useable wireless signals are available for the portable electronic device
  • signal strength information 234 e
  • FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 300 that may be implemented in a portable electronic device 102, e.g., as in FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 2, in accordance with certain example
  • a block 302 current wireless communication environment information associated with a portable electronic device at a current position within an operating environment may be obtained.
  • a wireless receiver may be used to detect, receive and/or possibly acquire various wireless signals that may be available to the portable electronic device.
  • wireless signal signature information may be established for the current position at or about a current time which identifies wireless signals and/or wireless signal transmitting devices that may be operatively identified and possibly available for use by portable electronic device.
  • one or more threshold parameters may be selectively established for use in determining whether a wireless signal may be operatively identified and/or possibly available for use by the portable electronic device at the current position.
  • a threshold parameter may be established via user input and define, at least in part, a range of signal strengths and/or other measurable or identifiable metrics that may be employed to differentiate or otherwise characterize wireless signals and/or the absence of wireless signals.
  • wireless signal propagation time information may be determined in some manner and included in or otherwise used to affect at least a portion of the current wireless communication environment information.
  • wireless signal propagation time information may be used to determine an estimated distance or range between the portable electronic device and a transmitting device and such information may be included in or otherwise used to affect at least a portion of current wireless communication environment information.
  • estimated current position information may be determined based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information and expected wireless communication environment information.
  • Expected wireless communication environment information may, for example, be associated with at least one identifiable zone that presents a reduced wireless communication condition within the operating environment.
  • all or part of expected wireless communication environment information may be received in advance and/or possibly in real time, from at least one other electronic device.
  • estimated current position information may be determined based, at least in part, estimated previous position information.
  • estimated current position information may be determined based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information using a multiple signal-based position estimation function if a reduced wireless communication condition is not present.
  • estimated current position information may be determined based, at least in part, on current wireless communication environment information without using a multiple signal-based position estimation function if a reduced wireless communication condition is present.
  • a reduced wireless communication condition may be identified as being present at the current position of the portable electronic device based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information.
  • a reduced wireless communication condition may be determined to be present based, at least in part, on the current wireless communication environment information identifying that less than a threshold value of different wireless signals are available for use by the portable electronic device.
  • a portable electronic device may be capable of estimating its current position despite being in zone that has or presents a reduced wireless communication condition.
  • such identifiable zone(s) while possibly being devoid of wireless signals and/or having limited numbers of usable wireless signals may nonetheless serve as information useful in determining an estimated current position of the portable electronic device within an operating environment.
  • methods and/or apparatuses may be provided which allow a portable electronic device to employ dead zone fingerprinting Wi-Fi based positioning capabilities, wherein dead zones may be used as or like landmarks for positioning.
  • dead zones may be used as or like landmarks for positioning.
  • user input or other like functions may be used to further improve such dead zone fingerprints, e.g., via dynamic noise level adjustments controlled using certain threshold parameters.
  • antenna related information e.g., signal to noise (SNR) information, etc.
  • SNR signal to noise
  • wireless signal signature information may identify in some manner the wireless signals and/or wireless signals transmitting devices that are currently available to the portable electronic device.
  • a wireless signal signature may identify those access points (APs) of a Wi-Fi network that may be "seen” and those which cannot be “seen” for a given or certain position(s) and/or region(s) of an operating environment which may be used in some manner to estimate a current position of the portable electronic device within the operating
  • APs access points
  • a process may include obtaining wireless signal signature information as follows. Assuming that there are six access points (numbered 104-1 through 104-6) available and that only Access Points 104-1 , 104-2 and 104-3 (each of which are unique) can be seen out of a possible six APs at a particular location (LCI (location context
  • the resulting signature inputted into a Dead Zone (DZ) process would be: 1 1 1000, where AP 104-1 is at the far left and AP 104-6 is at the far right of the example bitmap signature.
  • DZ Dead Zone
  • "1 "'s in the bitmap represent that an AP that can be seen (e.g., at a certain RSSI meeting a threshold parameter, if RSSI is available, etc.) and "0"'s in the bitmap represent that an AP cannot be seen (e.g., at a certain RSSI failing a threshold parameter, etc.).
  • ⁇ ' represents an ability to obtain a round trip time.
  • the resulting wireless signal signature information may be compared to and/or otherwise processed along with signature information that may be provided in and/or determined from the expected wireless communication environment information for one or more specific position(s) and/or region(s)/zone(s).
  • signature information may be provided in and/or determined from the expected wireless communication environment information for one or more specific position(s) and/or region(s)/zone(s).
  • current wireless signal signature information may "match" and/or otherwise be determined to be similar enough to similar signature information in the expected wireless communication environment information to lead to a determination that the portable electronic device may be currently positioned at, near and/or within such specific position(s) and/or region(s)/zone(s).
  • the portable electronic device may be currently located at or about a position associated with (x, y) coordinates (and/or other like position indicators) that make up or otherwise related to a dead zone boundary.
  • one or more various matching functions may be used. For example, a number of digits at which a signature matches may be considered. Thus, for example between 1 1 1000 and 1 10000 a match value may be deemed to be five since five digits match.
  • Another matching function may, for example, take all the zeros and see how many of them match up. Thus, in the above example, one may ignore digits that have 1 in both signatures, in which case the match value would be three.
  • a last known good position (LKGP) and/or the like may be used to further assist in determining the current position of the portable electronic device.
  • LKGP last known good position
  • a previous position and/or other movement information relating to the device may be used to place the device near a particular dead zone or among multiple dead zones and/or otherwise be used in some manner to better fix or estimate a current position of the portable electronic device.
  • a process such as process 300 at block 308, may logically draw or otherwise consider a convex hull around the x, y, and possibly z coordinates (and/or the like) that describe a dead zone (e.g., a zone with the same signature for absence of signal information) in order to draw or otherwise consider a region on a corresponding map for the current LCI.
  • a convex hull drawing technique may, for example, employ a line- sweeping algorithm and/or the like.
  • the hull, once constructed may, for example, be used to fix a portable electronic device to a particular region within a dead-zone (e.g., upper or lower, etc.). Having more accurate wireless signature information may, for example, allow for fixing or estimating a portable electronic device to a sub-hull within a main or larger convex hull in certain instances, and/or otherwise refine an estimated position for the portable electronic device.
  • process 300 may include storing a bit vector about presence or absence of signal information, e.g., such as RSSI or RTT at/for various points in an area.
  • process 300 may include clustering points with same and/or similar signatures, e.g., using a convex hull and/or the like to define a zone with the same/similar signature.
  • process 300 may include matching portable electronic device signatures with above stored signatures to find (a closest) matching zone(s).
  • a portable electronic device which may know its position accurately from some other method may upload information to one or more other computing devices for use in creating and/or maintaining a signature database, and/or the like.
  • references throughout this specification to "one example”, “an example”, “certain examples”, or “exemplary implementation” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the feature and/or example may be included in at least one feature and/or example of claimed subject matter.
  • the appearances of the phrase “in one example”, “an example”, “in certain examples” or “in certain implementations” or other like phrases in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same feature and/or example.
  • the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more examples and/or features.
  • a portable electronic device e.g., also referred to as a mobile station (MS) or mobile device, refers to a device such as a cellular or other wireless communication device, personal communication system (PCS) device, personal navigation device (PND), Personal Information Manager (PIM), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), laptop, netbook, smartbook, tablet or other suitable device which is capable of receiving wireless communication and/or navigation signals.
  • PCS personal communication system
  • PND personal navigation device
  • PIM Personal Information Manager
  • PDA Personal Digital Assistant
  • laptop netbook
  • smartbook tablet or other suitable device which is capable of receiving wireless communication and/or navigation signals.
  • PDA Personal Digital Assistant
  • laptop netbook
  • smartbook tablet or other suitable device which is capable of receiving wireless communication and/or navigation signals.
  • PND personal navigation device
  • PND personal navigation device
  • portable electronic device is intended to include all devices, including wireless communication devices, computers, laptops, etc. which are capable of communication with a server, such as via the Internet, Wi-Fi, or other network, and regardless of whether satellite signal reception, assistance data reception, and/or position-related processing occurs at the device, at a server, or at another device associated with the network. Any operable combination of the above are also considered a “portable electronic device.”
  • the methodologies described herein may be implemented by various means depending upon the application. For example, these methodologies may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof.
  • the processing units may be implemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.
  • ASICs application specific integrated circuits
  • DSPs digital signal processors
  • DSPDs digital signal processing devices
  • PLDs programmable logic devices
  • FPGAs field programmable gate arrays
  • processors controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.
  • the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein.
  • Any machine-readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein.
  • software codes may be stored in a memory and executed by a processing unit.
  • Memory may be implemented within the processing unit or external to the processing unit.
  • memory refers to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other memory and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.
  • the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer- readable medium.
  • Examples include computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program.
  • Computer-readable medium may take the form of an article of manufacture.
  • Computer-readable medium includes physical computer storage media.
  • a storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer.
  • such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, semiconductor storage, or other storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer; disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
  • instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus.
  • a communication apparatus may include a transceiver having signals indicative of instructions and data.
  • the instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processing units to implement the functions outlined in the claims. That is, the communication apparatus includes transmission media with signals indicative of information to perform disclosed functions. At a first time, the transmission media included in the communication apparatus may include a first portion of the information to perform the disclosed functions, while at a second time the transmission media included in the communication apparatus may include a second portion of the information to perform the disclosed functions.
  • Algorithmic descriptions or symbolic representations are examples of techniques used by those of ordinary skill in the signal processing or related arts to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.
  • An algorithm is here, and generally, is considered to be a self-consistent sequence of operations or similar signal processing leading to a desired result.
  • operations or processing involve physical manipulation of physical quantities.
  • quantities may take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared or otherwise manipulated as electronic signals representing information. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals as bits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, numerals, information, or the like.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Position Fixing By Use Of Radio Waves (AREA)
  • Telephone Function (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne des techniques pouvant être mises en œuvre dans divers procédés et/ou appareils pour permettre à un dispositif électronique portable d'estimer au moins sa position actuelle pendant qu'il est à l'intérieur ou bien pendant qu'il est fonctionnellement associé à un environnement de fonctionnement qui peut avoir une ou plusieurs zones identifiables présentant une condition de communication sans fil réduite.
PCT/US2010/059571 2009-12-10 2010-12-08 Positionnement d'un dispositif électronique portable sur la base de zones identifiables représentant des conditions de communication sans fil réduites WO2011072077A1 (fr)

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US28550909P 2009-12-10 2009-12-10
US61/285,509 2009-12-10
US12/857,309 2010-08-16
US12/857,309 US20110201350A1 (en) 2009-12-10 2010-08-16 Portable electronic device positioning based on identifiable zones presenting reduced wireless communication conditions

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