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US 12,074,633 B2Granted
System and method for indoor location
AssigneeLonprox Corporation
InventorsSaed Younis, Wesley J. Chaffin, Nathaniel Danandeh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods enabling location determination within an indoor environment. In an embodiment, a plurality of stationary nodes are arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment. Each of the plurality of stationary nodes may be configured to transmit a ranging signal, receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes, calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits.
Claims36
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits;
- wherein each of one or more of the plurality of stationary nodes is housed within a containing device that provides a function other than location determination.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to operate in both a first mode in which only a forward link is used from the stationary node to each of one or more roaming nodes, and a second mode in which both the forward link is used and a reverse link is used from each of the one or more roaming nodes to the stationary node.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits, wherein a transmission power of each ranging signal is set such that the ranging signal is below thermal background noise at room temperature at a distance of one meter from the stationary node that transmitted the ranging signal.
2 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits;
- and
- a calibration node, wherein the calibration node comprises at least one processor configured to, after the plurality of stationary nodes have been arranged in the constellation and while the calibration node is moved in a pattern with a known relationship to a datum of the indoor environment, calculate a location of each of the plurality of stationary nodes with respect to the datum.
4 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein each ranging signal comprises a pilot channel, a binary offset carrier (BOC) channel, a data channel, and an acquisition channel.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein the ranging signal transmitted by at least one of the plurality of stationary nodes uses a different polynomial code than the ranging signal transmitted by one or more others of the plurality of stationary nodes.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein the offset is included in the ranging signal as one or more coefficients to a predictive modeling equation.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein each ranging signal comprises a packet that comprises the offset, wherein each packet is either a Bluetooth™ or Wi-Fi™ packet, and wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to transmit the packet at least ten times per second.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is further configured to transmit both a primary ranging signal and a secondary ranging signal, and wherein the secondary ranging signal has a different center carrier frequency than the primary ranging signal.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits;
- and
- a server configured to:
- from each of one or more roaming nodes within the indoor environment, receive an indication of a power level of one or more ranging signals, transmitted by a subset of the plurality of stationary nodes, as received by the roaming node;
- and
- apply an optimization algorithm to the received indications of power levels to determine one or more adjustments to a transmission power of the ranging signal transmitted by one or more of the plurality of stationary nodes;
- and
- send a control instruction to the one or more stationary nodes to adjust the transmission power of the one or more stationary nodes according to the determined one or more adjustments.
9 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits,
- wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to cycle transmission of the ranging signal between on and off.
3 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits, wherein the offset comprises a time offset and a frequency offset.
2 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits;
- and
- wherein all of the ranging signals transmitted by the plurality of stationary nodes use a same Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) polynomial code, and wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes uses a different pseudorandom number (PN) offset than all others of the plurality of stationary nodes, such that the ranging signal transmitted by each of the plurality of stationary nodes is distinguishable from the ranging signal transmitted by all others of the plurality of stationary nodes based on the respective PN offset.
4 more elements
A system enabling location determination within an indoor environment, the system comprising:
- a plurality of stationary nodes to be arranged as a constellation within the indoor environment, wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes is configured to
- transmit a ranging signal,
- receive ranging signals transmitted by one or more neighboring ones of the plurality of stationary nodes,
- calculate an offset between the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits and the ranging signals received from the one or more neighboring stationary nodes, and
- include the offset in the ranging signal that the stationary node transmits;
- and
- wherein each of the plurality of stationary nodes transmits the ranging signal using direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS).
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.