US 2006/0187028 A1 · Position-tracing system

Abstract

A position-tracking system for tracking the position of an object is disclosed. According to various embodiments, the tracking system includes a tracking device that is connected to or otherwise affixed to the object to be tracked. The tracking device may include, among other things, an inertial sensor assembly, radio transceivers and a processor. The position tracking system may also include a host processing system that is in communication with the tracking device. The position tracking system may provide variable-resolution position information based on the environment in which the object is moving. In a “wide resolution” area, the system may compute a general position for the object based on a wireless telephone network Cell-ID/map correlation architecture. In a high-resolution area, greater position resolution may be realized from the combination of a wireless aiding system and inputs from the inertial sensors. In the high-resolution mode, the system may exploit distinct patterns of motion that can be identified as motion “signatures” that are characteristic of certain types of motion. Kinematic (or object movement) models may be constructed based on these motion signatures and the position tracking system may estimate the state of the object based on the kinematic model for the current mode of the object. Adaptive and cascaded Kalman filtering may be employed in the analysis to more accurately estimate the position and velocity of the object based on the motion pattern identified.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A position-tracking system for tracking the position of at least one mobile object comprising:

a position-tracking device associated with the at least one mobile object such that the position-tracking device moves with the mobile object, wherein the position-tracking device includes at least one inertial sensor;
a wireless aiding system associated with a first area;
and
a host computer system in wireless communication with the position-tracking device,
wherein the system includes a high resolution operational mode and a wide area resolution operational mode, and wherein the system transitions between the high resolution operational mode to the wide area resolution operational mode when the mobile object moves between the first area, which requires high object location resolution, and a second area, which requires lesser object location resolution, and wherein the location of the at least one mobile object in the high resolution operational mode is determined based on at least a combination of input from the at least one inertial sensor and reference position signals from the wireless aiding system received by the position-tracking device.

2 more elements

A method for tracking the position of at least one mobile object comprising:

associating a position-tracking device with the at least one mobile object such that the position-tracking device moves with the at least one mobile object, wherein the position-tracking device includes at least one inertial sensor;
detecting when the at least one mobile object moves between a first area, requiring high location resolution, and a second area, requiring lesser location resolution;
determining the location of the at least one mobile object when the mobile object is determined to be in the first area based on at least a combination of input from the at least one inertial sensor and reference position signals received by the position-tracking device from a wireless aiding system associated with the first area.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Position-tracing system

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Position-tracing system

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Abstract

Claims20