WO2021217440A1

WO2021217440A1 - Mobile device, indoor positioning system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2021217440A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/087562
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hannes Rose
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 2020-04-28
Filing date: 2020-04-28
Publication date: 2021-11-04
Also published as: CN115769048A

Abstract

It is provided a mobile device (20) for an indoor positioning system (100), the mobile device (20) being configured to move within an indoor area and being communicatively connected with a server computer (30) outside the mobile device (20). The mobile device (20) comprises: a wireless signal transceiver configured to receive tag information from a tag when the mobile device (20) moves into a proximity range with respect to the tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item (11-16) to which it fixes, the item (11-16) being in the indoor area; and a controller configured to determine the position of the mobile device (20) in response to the receipt of the tag information; wherein the position of the item (11-16), which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, is determined at the mobile device (20)-side or at the server computer (30)-side based on the position of the mobile device (20).

Description

Mobile Device, Indoor Positioning System and Method

Technical Field

The disclosure generally relates to a technical field of indoor positioning. In particular, the disclosure relates to a mobile device for an indoor positioning system, and an indoor positioning system and method.

Background Art

The current popular technology for position location is GPS and Assisted GPS. One conventional system for GPS and Assisted GPS may include, for example, a satellite positioning system (SPS) , such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other like Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) comprising a number of Earth-orbiting satellites or space vehicles (SVs) capable of transmitting wireless signals to and receiving such signals from one or more suitable wireless transmitters or receivers, terrestrial or otherwise.

The GPS signal is often very poor for indoor reception. Position location cannot be determined if the GPS signal is not received. For example, in certain venues, signals from SVs or other wireless transmitters may be attenuated or otherwise affected in some manner (e.g., insufficient, weak, fragmentary, etc. ) , which may preclude their use in a given position estimation technique.

In this regard, one system for indoor localization comprises anchors and tags. The anchors are distributed within the area in which the localization should work. They are installed at fixed positions, e.g. wall or ceiling. The tags are attached to each item that should be localized. However, a problem with this localization system is high cost. For example, if a large numbers of items need to be localized, many tags need to be attached. If a large area needs to be monitored, many anchors need to be installed at fixed positions to cover the whole area. Thus, the total system will result in very high cost. The cost may include high number of anchors and/or tags, and installation cost for installing the high number of anchors and/or tags.

Summary of the Invention

It is thus an object of the disclosure to provide a solution for indoor positioning, which can reduce the cost of the indoor positioning system and increase the accuracy of indoor positioning results.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, there provides a mobile device for an indoor positioning system, the mobile device being configured to move within an indoor area and being communicatively connected with a server computer outside the mobile device, the mobile device comprising: a wireless signal transceiver configured to receive tag information from a tag when the mobile device moves into a proximity range with respect to the tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item to which it fixes, the item being in the indoor area; and a controller configured to determine the position of the mobile device in response to the receipt of the tag information; wherein the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, is determined at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side based on the position of the mobile device.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there provides an indoor positioning system comprising: a number of tags for identifying items in an indoor space, each of the tags having a unique identifier indicating an item to which it fixes; one or more mobile devices as described above; and a server computer communicatively connected with the one or more mobile devices; wherein a position of an item, which is identified by a unique identifier of a tag, is determined at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side based on a position of a mobile device.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, there provides an indoor positioning method optionally performed by means of a mobile device as described above and/or an indoor positioning as described above, the method comprising the steps of: receiving tag information from a tag when a mobile device moves into a proximity range with respect to a tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item to which it attaches; determining the position of the mobile device in response to the receipt of the tag information; and determining the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, based on the position of the mobile device.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, there provides a computer readable medium in which instructions are stored, and the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, being able to perform the method as described above.

According to the disclosure, a high number of expensive fixed anchors are replaced by one or a low number of mobile devices (mobile anchors) , and thus the overall system cost can be reduced significantly. Moreover, in the case of passive RFID tags, the tags’ cost can be neglected, since passive RFID tags are of very low cost and do not require battery change.

Moreover, according to the disclosure, requirements on computing power at the detecting side (i.e. the mobile device-side) can be reduced by means of processing data at server computer-side.

Moreover, according to the disclosure, positions of items in the indoor area can be updated with associated time stamp in a digital map and thus the moving path of the mobile device can be tracked.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an indoor positioning system according to another possible embodiment of the disclosure;

Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile device for an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure;

Figure 4 is an exemplary process for indoor positioning using an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure;

Figure 5 shows another exemplary process for indoor positioning using an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure; and

Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of an indoor positioning method according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter, however, may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, methods, apparatuses, or systems that would be known by one of ordinary skill have not been described in detail so as not to obscure claimed subject matter.

The disclosure generally relates to a solution for determining a position of an item in an indoor area. As used herein, "indoor area" may refer to various partially or substantially enclosed areas associated with an indoor venue, for example, a building, general area (s) within a building, etc. By way of example but not limitation, indoor areas may comprise, for example, an office building, a parking lot, a convention center, an auditorium, an office building, a warehouse, a classroom building, a theater, a supermarket, a shopping mall, a sports arena, a stadium, a transit station terminal, a library, etc.

A frequent application of the technical solution of the disclosure is in manufacturing environments, where transparency of the manufacturing process can be used to optimize processes, for example, the material flow, routines of workers and operators, and faster finding of tools and materials, among others.

Hereafter, some possible embodiments of the indoor positioning system of the disclosure will be described.

According to a possible embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in Figure 1, the indoor positioning system 100 mainly comprises a number of tags (for example, TAG 1～ TAG 6) , a mobile device 20, a server computer 30 and a digital map 40.

Each of the tags is fixed to an item in an indoor area A. See Figure 1, TAG1～TAG6 are fixed to items 11-16 respectively. A tag may be attached on a surface of an item or inserted into an item. Each tag is stored with tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item to which it fixes. Tag information of a tag may also include additional information, for example, descriptions of the item fixed with the tag.

The unique identifier may be implemented in various forms, for example, alphabetical, numerical, or geometric symbol, or any other suitable form. The tags may be implemented in various forms, for example, Bluetooth beacons, RFID tags or NFC tags.

The mobile device 20 may be implemented as a mobile robot, a milkrun, a forklift etc. The mobile device 20 may be driven to move by a moving unit (not shown) , so as to move within the indoor area A. When the mobile device 20 is close enough to a tag and thus the mobile device 20 can receive tag information (e.g. the unique identifier) from the tag. The mobile device 20 determines its position in response to the reception of the tag information. Then, the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, is determined at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side based on the position of the mobile device, because the mobile device 20 is very close to the tag and thus the position of the item is almost the same as the position of the mobile device 20.

In the disclosure, the “close enough” may be understood as a mobile device is moving into a proximity range with respect to a tag such that the mobile device can communicate with the tag, i.e., the mobile device is in the communication range with the tag. The communication range may be limited to a small range (for example, 2 square meters or the like) by means of setting a certain wireless communication between the mobile device and the tag, and/or by means of adjusting parameters of the wireless communication.

In the disclosure, the “position” (for example, a position of an item, a position of a mobile device) may take different forms. For example, the position in the disclosure may be in a local coordinate system using local positions, in a global coordinate system using global positions, in a Cartesian coordinate system using x, y, and z points for positions, in a polar coordinate system, in a spherical coordinate system etc.

The server computer 30 (i.e., a server-based computer) is disposed outside the mobile device 20 and data can be transferred between the mobile device 20 and the server computer 30. The server computer 30 may comprise a communication interface (not shown) to exchange data with the mobile device 20, and one or more processors to process data received from the mobile device 20. The server computer 30 may further comprise a database (not shown) for storing additional information of the items, for example, size, material, color etc.

It is noted that, as to the physical location of the server computer 30, it may be located in the indoor area A or outside the indoor area A.

The digital map 40 may be stored in the server computer 30. The digital map 40 may also be stored in a storage 41 which is located outside the server computer 30 and communicatively connected to the server computer 30. The digital map 40 is used for the indoor area A and includes map data of positions of items in the indoor area A. In the case that a position of an item is determined, the position of the item is updated in the digital map 40 with the associated time stamp.

The digital map 40 may be a high-definition (HD) map, a dense map, a hyper map, a data rich map, a high-resolution map etc., and thus the map data may be high-definition (HD) map data, dense map data, hyper map data, data rich map data, high-resolution map data etc.

Figure 2 shows an indoor positioning system 200 according to another possible embodiment of the disclosure. Unlike the embodiment of the indoor positioning system 100 in FIG. 1, the indoor positioning system 200 comprises two or more mobile devices, for example, mobile devices 20-22. As to the function of indoor positioning, each of the mobile devices 20-22 may be implemented in a similar way, although the mobile devices 20-22 may be different moving machines. For example, the moving device 20 is a mobile robot, the moving device 21 is a milkrun and the moving device 22 is a forklift.

Each of the mobile devices 20-22 is assigned with a sub-area of the indoor area A, and all the sub-areas constitute the whole indoor area A. For example, the mobile device 20 is assigned with a sub-area A1 and moves within the sub-area A1, and thus the mobile device 20 is responsible for positioning the items (items 11-13 identified by TAG 1-TAG 3) in the sub-area A1. The mobile device 21 is assigned with a sub-area A2 and moves within the sub-area A2, and thus the mobile device 21 is responsible for positioning the items (items 14-16 identified by TAG 4-TAG 6) in the sub-area A2. The mobile device 22 is assigned with a sub-area A3 and moves within the sub-area A3, and thus the mobile device 22 is responsible for positioning the items (items 17-19 identified by TAG 7-TAG 9) in the sub-area A3.

The indoor positioning system 200 may be applied to an indoor environment with a larger area and/or with more items. The indoor positioning system 200 may applied to an indoor environment wherein several mobile devices are working in it with different jobs and moving within different sub-areas of the indoor area.

In an example, in the indoor positioning system 200, wireless communications may be different among different sub-areas. In this example, the tags may be different in different sub-areas. For example, tags of items in sub-area A1 may be RFID tags, tags of items in sub-area A2 may be bluetooth beacons, and tags of items in sub-area A3 may be NFC tags.

Figure 3 shows an exemplary mobile device 20 for an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in Figure 3, the mobile device 20 mainly comprises a wireless signal transceiver 21, a controller 23, a sensor unit 25 and a communication interface 27. Figure 4 shows an exemplary process 400 for indoor positioning using an indoor positioning system according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure. In the process 400, a position of an item is determined at mobile device-side.

Hereinafter, the exemplary process 400 for indoor positioning using the

indoor positioning system

100 or 200 will be described with reference to Figs 3 and 4.

At block 402, the mobile device 20 moves within the indoor area A and when it moves into the proximity range with respect to TAG 1, i.e., the mobile device 20 is within the communication range of the wireless communication between the mobile device 20 and TAG 1, the wireless signal transceiver 21 can receive the tag information including the unique identifier from TAG 1.

In an example, TAG 1 is implemented as an RFID tag, and the wireless signal transceiver 21 is implemented as an RFID reader.

In this example, TAG 1 may be an active RFID tag. In the case of TAG 1 being an active RFID tag, the active RFID tag includes an internal power source, such as a battery. Because the active RFID tag uses an internal power source, the active RFID tag may be continuously powered and may transmit information (e.g., the unique ID) stored in the tag continuously, at predetermined intervals, or when requested by the RFID reader.

In this example, TAG 1 may be a passive RFID tag. In the case of TAG 1 being a passive RFID tag, the RFID reader may be called an interrogator, and the passive RFID tag may be also called a transponder. The passive RFID tag is powered by RF energy transferred from the RFID reader. When receiving RF power from the RFID reader, the passive RFID tag transmits information (e.g., the unique ID) stored in the tag back to the RFID reader. This transmission is often called backscattering. By detecting the backscattering signal, the tag information stored in the passive RFID tag can be fully identified by the RFID reader.

It is noted that, the RFID reader may be powered by an external device, or it may be powered by an internal source such as a battery.

At block 404, in response to the receipt of the tag information (tag ID) , the controller 23 determines the accurate position of the mobile device 20.

In an example, the controller 23 includes a localization unit for obtaining positional information (for example, from a real time localization system) and determines the position of the mobile device 20 based on the positional information.

In this example, the localization unit may determine the position of the mobile device 20 by means of various ways, for example, by means of one or more of self-localization via SLAM, mapping and localization -based service and sensors system.

At block 406, the sensor unit 25 obtains environmental information including information which shows environmental states around the mobile device 20.

In an example, the sensor unit 25 may include one or more environmental sensors for detecting environmental information and providing the environmental information to the controller 23.

In this example, the sensor unit 25 may include one or more of a video sensor, a radar sensor, an ultrasound sensor, and a lidar sensor. The sensors may be installed on/around the mobile device, for carrying out sensor-based detection of the mobile device surroundings. For example, the mobile device surroundings may include a number of various objects and the item, which is identified by TAG 1, is one of the objects. The environmental information detected by the sensors may include a serious of images and one of the images may include the item. The environmental information detected by the sensors may also include a number of distances and each of the distances indicates a distance between the mobile device and one of the various objects. The images and/or the distances will be used in calculating steps to be performed later.

In particular, the sensor unit 25 may include a video camera, preferably a 3D video camera, a surroundings camera system for the pictorial detection of 360° surroundings of the mobile device, a time-of-flight sensor, and/or a photonic mixing device (PMD) sensor.

At block 408, the controller 23 calculates the relative position between the mobile device 20 and TAG 1 based on the environmental information (e.g., sensor data) . The relative position may include relative distance and/or relative direction. The relative position may be provided in various forms. For example, the relative position is provided with three coordinate dimensions (X, Y, and Z) or longitude, latitude, and elevation.

At block 410, the controller 23 generates a time stamp which is representative of the time of receiving the tag information. The time stamp can be used for indicating a time at which an item is located at a certain position. The time stamp can also be used for indicating a time at which a mobile device appears at a certain position.

It is noted that, the above described

blocks

404, 406 and 410 can be conducted in any sequence.

At block 412, the controller 23 determines the position of the item identified by the unique identifier.

In an example, the controller 23 calculates the position of the item based on the absolute position of the mobile device 20 and the relative position between TAG 1 and the mobile device 20.

At block 414, the map data of the digital map 40 are updated with the position of the item and the time stamp. In this way, the latest position of an item, which is discovered by the mobile device, and the discovered time can be reflected in the digital map 40.

Optionally, the controller 23 may store the information, such as the position data with the associated time stamps. For example, in the event that there is no permanent connection to the server computer 30, the mobile device-side buffers and then transmits to the server computer 30 when a connection could be successfully established. The server computer 30 then has all the information available at a time-delayed time as to where the respective item was at certain times.

At block 416, the server computer 30 judges if there are some places which are not passed by a mobile device for a time duration exceeding a time threshold. The time threshold may be a predetermined time interval, such as 5 hours, one day or one week.

It is noted that, the “place” may refer to a predetermined area which is much smaller than the the indoor area A. For example, the predetermined area may be an area of 2 square meters or the like. “A place is not passed by a mobile device for a time duration” may be understood as the mobile device does not move past the place (i.e., the predetermined area) for the time duration.

In an example, the server computer 30 may trace the moving path (e.g., route) of the mobile device based on updated map data including positions of items and associated time stamps. Then, the judgment is done based on the moving path.

In the case of two or more mobile devices, the server computer 30 may trace the moving path of each mobile device within its sub-area, and the judgment is done based on the respective moving path for each mobile device. In this case, the time thresholds for each sub-area may be identical, or may be different. When the time thresholds are being predetermined, the indoor environment of each sub-area and/or the job which is being done in each sub-area may be taken into consideration.

At block 418, if the judgment result is affirmative, i.e., there are some places that are not passed by a mobile device for a time duration exceeding a time threshold, the server computer 30 will generate a reminder message and provide the reminder message to the mobile device, such that the mobile device may receive the reminder message via the communication interface 27 and adjust its moving path and go to the reminded places.

In the case of two or more mobile devices, the server computer 30 may determine which mobile device or mobile devices should be reminder, i.e., the server computer 30 may check the sub-area or sub-areas that the places belong to. Then, the server computer 30 sends the reminder message to the determined mobile device or mobile devices.

If the judgment result is negative, no reminder message will be generated or provided.

In this way, it can make sure all the places (items) in the indoor area will be passed (checked) regularly.

At block 420, the server computer 30 generates a history record regarding the items in the indoor area A.

In an example, the server computer 30 combines an updated position of an item with an associated time stamp and additional information of the item stored in the database together, and generates history data of the item. The server computer 30 generates a history record of the items in the indoor area based on the history data. The history record may be presented in the form of table and/or graph.

In the case of two or more mobile devices, the two or more mobile devices contribute to a same digital map, i.e., the digital map 40, and the history record is generated based on history data from all of the two or more mobile devices.

Figure 5 shows another exemplary process 500 for indoor positioning using an

indoor positioning system

100 or 200 according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure. In the process 500, a position of an item is determined at server computer-side.

The

blocks

502, 506, 510 may be implemented in the similar way as the

blocks

402, 406, 410 respectively.

At block 511, the controller 23 provides (reports) the received tag information, the environmental information and the time stamp to the server computer 30 via the communication interface 27.

At block 512, the server computer 30 determines the absolute position of the mobile device, calculates the relative position between the mobile device 20 and TAG 1 based on the environmental information, and then determines the position of the item based on the absolute position of the mobile device 20 and the relative position.

The

blocks

514, 516, 518 and 520 may be implemented in the similar way as the

blocks

414, 416, 418 and 420 respectively.

The disclosure also provides an indoor positioning method, which can be performed by means of using the above described system and/or mobile device. For this reason, various features described above with reference to the system and mobile device are also applicable in the method. An indoor positioning method 600 according to a possible embodiment of the disclosure is schematically shown in Figure 6 and mainly comprises the steps described below.

In step S602, tag information is received from a tag when a mobile device moves into a proximity range with respect to the tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating the item to which it attaches.

In step S604, the position of the mobile device is determined in response to the receipt of the tag information.

In step S606, the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, is determined based on the position of the mobile device.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in a non-transitory computer readable medium. The non-transitory computer readable medium may include instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform any operation of a method for indoor positioning according to an embodiment of the present disclosure as described above.

It should be appreciated that all the operations in the methods described above are merely exemplary, and the present disclosure is not limited to any operations in the methods or sequence orders of these operations, and should cover all other equivalents under the same or similar concepts.

It should also be appreciated that all the modules in the apparatuses described above may be implemented in various approaches. These modules may be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Moreover, any of these modules may be further functionally divided into sub-modules or combined together.

The processors can be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether these processors are implemented as hardware or software will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system. By way of example, a processor, any portion of a processor, or any combination of processors presented in this disclosure may be implemented as a microprocessor, a micro-controller, a digital signal processor (DSP) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) , a programmable logic device (PLD) , state machine, gate logic, discrete hardware circuitry, and other suitable processing components configured to perform the various functions described in this disclosure. The functions of a processor, any portion of a processor, or any combination of processors presented in this disclosure may be implemented as software executed by a microprocessor, a micro-controller, a DSP, or other suitable platforms.

Software should be considered broadly to represent instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, running threads, processes, functions, and the like. Software can reside on computer readable medium. Computer readable medium may include, for example, a memory, which may be, for example, a magnetic storage device (e.g., a hard disk, a floppy disk, a magnetic strip) , an optical disk, a smart card, a flash memory device, a random access memory (RAM) , a read only memory (ROM) , a programmable ROM (PROM) , an erasable PROM (EPROM) , an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM) , a register, or a removable disk. Although a memory is shown as being separate from the processor in various aspects presented in this disclosure, a memory may also be internal to the processor (e.g., a cache or a register) .

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein. All structural and functional equivalent transformations to the elements of the various aspects of the disclosure, which are known or to be apparent to those skilled in the art, are intended to be covered by the claims.

Claims

A mobile device for an indoor positioning system, the mobile device being configured to move within an indoor area and being communicatively connected with a server computer outside the mobile device, the mobile device comprising:

a wireless signal transceiver configured to receive tag information from a tag when the mobile device moves into a proximity range with respect to the tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item to which it fixes, the item being in the indoor area; and

a controller configured to determine the position of the mobile device in response to the receipt of the tag information;

wherein the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, is determined at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side based on the position of the mobile device.
The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine the position of the item based on the position of the mobile device and to send the position of the item and the tag information to the server computer; or

the mobile device is configured to send the position of the item and the tag information to the server computer such that the position of the item is determined based on the position of the mobile device at the server computer.
The mobile device of claim 1 or 2, wherein, in the case that the mobile device is in the proximity range, a relative position between the tag and the mobile device is determined; and

the position of the item is determined based on the relative position and the position of the mobile device.
The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the mobile device further comprises a sensor unit for detecting environmental information; and

the relative position is determined based on the environmental information at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side,

optionally, the sensor unit comprises one or more environmental sensors installed on or around the mobile device.
The mobile device of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the controller is further configured to generate a time stamp indicating the time of the receipt of the tag information; and

the position of the item and the time stamp are updated in a digital map of the indoor positioning system.
The mobile device of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the mobile device is configured to receive a reminder message via a communication interface of the mobile device from the server computer in the case that the mobile device does not pass a place within the indoor area for a time duration exceeding a time threshold.
An indoor positioning system comprising:

a number of tags for identifying items in an indoor space, each of the tags having a unique identifier indicating an item to which it fixes;

one or more mobile devices as described in any one of claims 1-6; and

a server computer communicatively connected with the one or more mobile devices;

wherein a position of an item, which is identified by a unique identifier of a tag, is determined at the mobile device-side or at the server computer-side based on a position of a mobile device.
The indoor positioning system of claim 7, wherein the indoor positioning system comprises two or more mobile devices, each of the two or more mobile devices is configured to move within one of a plurality of sub-areas of the indoor area, and all the sub-areas constitute the whole indoor area.
The indoor positioning system of claim 7 or 8, wherein the indoor positioning system further comprises a digital map, and map data of the digital map are updated with determined positions of items and associated time stamps.
The indoor positioning system of claim 9, wherein the server computer judges if there are some places in the indoor area or sub-areas which are not passed by for a time duration exceeding a time threshold based on the updated map data; and

if the judgment is affirmative, the server computer sends a reminder message to the mobile device which moves within the indoor area or the sub-areas including the places,

optionally, the server computer is configured to track the moving path of the mobile device based on the updated map data, and to judge if there are some places in the indoor area or sub-areas which are not passed by for a time duration exceeding a time threshold based on the moving path.
The indoor positioning system of any one of claims 7-10, wherein the determined position of the item and the associated time stamp are combined with additional information regarding the item and stored in a database in the server computer, as history data; and

the server computer is configured to generate a history record based on the history data,

optionally, the history record is presented in the form of a table and/or a graph.
The indoor positioning system of any one of claims 7-11, wherein the tags include at least one of RFID tags, bluetooth beacons, and NFC tags.
The indoor positioning system of any one of claims 7-12, wherein the tags are passive RFID tags or active RFID tags; and

the tags fixing to the items includes a tag attaching on a surface of an item and/or a tag being inserted into an item.
An indoor positioning method optionally performed by means of a mobile device of any one of claims 1 to 6 and/or an indoor positioning system of any one of claims 7 to 13, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving tag information from a tag when a mobile device moves into a proximity range with respect to a tag, the tag information at least including a unique identifier for indicating an item to which it attaches;

determining the position of the mobile device in response to the receipt of the tag information; and

determining the position of the item, which is identified by the unique identifier of the tag, based on the position of the mobile device.
A computer readable medium in which instructions are stored, and the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, being able to perform the method of claim 14.