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US 11,690,041 B2Granted
Wi-Fi Z-axis positioning
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsBrian S. Smith, Robert W. Mayor, Wei Kong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described herein are techniques to enable a mobile device to determine a Z-axis coordinate based on altitudes associated with Wi-Fi access points detected in a Wi-Fi scan by the mobile device. One embodiment provides for an electronic device configured to compute a weighted average of Z-axis coordinates associated with detected Wi-Fi access points and determine a Z-axis coordinate for the electronic device based on the weighted average.
Claims20
An electronic device comprising:
- a wireless network interface;
- one or more memory devices coupled with the wireless network interface;
- and
- one or more processors to execute instructions stored in the one or more memory devices, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:
- scan, via the wireless network interface, for wireless network access points within range of the electronic device for a first period of time;
- monitor barometric pressure via a barometric pressure sensor on the electronic device during the first period of time;
- responsive to elapse of the first period of time, determine whether to restart the scan for wireless network access points based on whether a detected change in barometric pressure is over a threshold;
- determine a received signal strength indicator for a set of wireless network access points detected during the scan;
- retrieve, from a server, a Z-axis coordinate for one or more wireless network access points in the set of wireless network access points;
- compute a set of weights for the one or more wireless access points based on a respective received signal strength indicator of the one or more wireless access points;
- compute a weighted average of the Z-axis coordinates based on the set of weights;
- and
- determine a Z-axis coordinate for the electronic device based on the weighted average.
10 more elements
A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions to cause one or more processors of an electronic device to perform operations comprising:
- scanning, via a wireless network interface of the electronic device, for wireless network access points within range of the electronic device for a first period of time;
- monitoring barometric pressure via a barometric pressure sensor on the electronic device during the first period of time;
- responsive to elapse of the first period of time, determining whether to restart the scan for wireless network access points based on whether a detected change in barometric pressure is over a threshold;
- determining a received signal strength indicator for a set of wireless network access points detected during the scan;
- retrieving, from a server, a Z-axis coordinate for one or more wireless network access points in the set of wireless network access points;
- computing a set of weights for the one or more wireless access points based on a respective received signal strength indicator of the one or more wireless access points;
- computing a weighted average of the Z-axis coordinates based on the set of weights;
- and
- determining a Z-axis coordinate for the electronic device based on the weighted average.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- on an electronic device including a wireless network interface and one or more memory devices coupled with the wireless network interface:
- scanning, via a wireless network interface of the electronic device, for wireless network access points within range of the electronic device for a first period of time;
- monitoring barometric pressure via a barometric pressure sensor on the electronic device during the first period of time;
- responsive to elapse of the first period of time, determining whether to restart the scan for wireless network access points based on whether a detected change in barometric pressure is over a threshold;
- determining a received signal strength indicator for a set of wireless network access points detected during the scan;
- retrieving, from a server, a Z-axis coordinate for one or more wireless network access points in the set of wireless network access points;
- computing a set of weights for the one or more wireless access points based on a respective received signal strength indicator of the one or more wireless access points;
- computing a weighted average of the Z-axis coordinates based on the set of weights;
- and
- determining a Z-axis coordinate for the electronic device based on the weighted average.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.