U.S. patent application number 15/293588 was filed with the patent office on 2018-01-04 for indoor positioning system and method thereof.
The applicant listed for this patent is Quanta Computer Inc.. Invention is credited to Ming-Jen CHEN, Tien-Chin FANG, Chen-Chung LEE, Chia-Hung LIN, Ching-Wen LIN, Chih-Ling LIU.
Application Number | 20180007508 15/293588 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 60189266 |
Filed Date | 2018-01-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180007508 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FANG; Tien-Chin ; et
al. |
January 4, 2018 |
INDOOR POSITIONING SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF
Abstract
An indoor positioning method for use in an indoor positioning
system is provided. The indoor positioning system includes beacon
devices, a mobile device, and a positioning server. The method
includes the steps of: utilizing the mobile device to receive a
positioning signal from each beacon device and determine distance
information between the mobile device and each beacon device;
determining a specific primary region in which the mobile device is
located according to the distance information between the mobile
device and the top beacon devices; determining a precise location
in the specific primary region according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region; and reporting the
precise location to the mobile device, so that the precise location
is illustrated on a plan view of the indoor space displayed on the
mobile device.
Inventors: |
FANG; Tien-Chin; (Taoyuan
City, TW) ; LEE; Chen-Chung; (Taoyuan City, TW)
; LIU; Chih-Ling; (Taoyuan City, TW) ; LIN;
Ching-Wen; (Taoyuan City, TW) ; CHEN; Ming-Jen;
(Taoyuan City, TW) ; LIN; Chia-Hung; (Taoyuan
City, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Quanta Computer Inc. |
Taoyuan City |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
60189266 |
Appl. No.: |
15/293588 |
Filed: |
October 14, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 4/80 20180201; H04W
4/33 20180201; H04W 4/023 20130101; H04W 4/021 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/02 20090101
H04W004/02; H04W 4/04 20090101 H04W004/04; H04W 4/00 20090101
H04W004/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 4, 2016 |
TW |
105121065 |
Claims
1. An indoor positioning system, comprising: a plurality of beacon
devices, comprising a plurality of top beacon devices and a
plurality of planar beacon devices, wherein each top beacon device
is deployed on a ceiling of a corresponding primary region of an
indoor space, and the planar beacon devices are deployed in the
surroundings of each primary region; a mobile device, for executing
an indoor positioning application to receive a positioning signal
from each beacon device and determining distance information
between the mobile device and each beacon device; and a positioning
server, for receiving the distance information between the mobile
device and each beacon device from the mobile device and
determining a primary region in the indoor space in which the
mobile device is located according to the received distance
information, wherein the positioning server further determines a
precise location of the mobile device according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region, and the positioning
server further reports the determined precise location to the
mobile device, so that the indoor positioning application running
on the mobile device illustrates the precise location of the mobile
device on a plan view of the indoor space, wherein after the
positioning sever has determined the precise location of the mobile
device in the specific primary region, if the positioning server
further determines that the distances from the planar beacon
devices corresponding to the specific primary region to the mobile
device are equal, the positioning server further determines whether
the distances from the planar beacon devices in the specific
primary region to the mobile device are longer than the distance
from the mobile device to the top beacon device corresponding to
the specific primary region, if so, the positioning server
determines that the mobile device is located at the center of the
specific primary region; if not, the positioning server determines
that the precise location of the mobile device is faulty.
2. The indoor positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
beacon devices support the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol.
3. The indoor positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
positioning server determines one of the top beacon devices that
has the shortest distance to the mobile device to correspond to the
specific primary region.
4. (canceled)
5. The indoor positioning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
indoor positioning application comprises a program code that
converts signal strength of the positioning signal from each beacon
device to corresponding distance information.
6. An indoor positioning method for use in an indoor positioning
system, wherein the indoor positioning system comprises a plurality
of beacon devices, a mobile device, and a positioning server, and
the plurality of beacon devices comprises a plurality of top beacon
devices and a plurality of planar beacon devices, wherein each top
beacon device is deployed on a ceiling of a corresponding primary
region of an indoor space, and the planar beacon devices are
deployed in the surroundings of each primary region, the method
comprising: utilizing the mobile device to execute an indoor
positioning application to receive a positioning signal from each
beacon device and determine distance information between the mobile
device and each beacon device; utilizing the positioning server to
receive the distance information from the mobile device; utilizing
the positioning server to determine a specific primary region in
which the mobile device is located according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the top beacon devices;
utilizing the positioning server to determine a precise location in
the specific primary region according to the distance information
between the mobile device and the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region; and utilizing the
positioning server to report the precise location to the mobile
device, so that the indoor positioning application running on the
mobile device illustrates the precise location of the mobile device
on a plan view of the indoor space, wherein after the positioning
sever has determined the precise location of the mobile device in
the specific primary region, the method further comprises: if it is
determined that the distances from the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region to the mobile device
are equal, determining whether the distance from the planar beacon
devices in the specific primary region to the mobile device is
longer than the distance from the mobile device to the top beacon
device corresponding to the specific primary region, if so,
determining that the mobile device is located at the center of the
specific primary region; if not, determining that the precise
location of the mobile device is faulty.
7. The indoor positioning method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the
beacon devices support the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol.
8. The indoor positioning method as claimed in claim 6, further
comprising: determining one of the top beacon devices that has the
shortest distance to the mobile device to correspond to the
specific primary region.
9. (canceled)
10. The indoor positioning method as claimed in claim 6, wherein
the indoor positioning application comprises a program code that
converts signal strength of the positioning signal from each beacon
device to corresponding distance information.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This Application claims priority of Taiwan Patent
Application No. 105121065, filed on Jul. 4, 2016, the entirety of
which is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0002] The invention relates to positioning systems, and, in
particular, to a beacon-assisted indoor positioning system and an
associated indoor positioning method thereof.
Description of the Related Art
[0003] With recent advances in technology, a mobile device is
usually equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) that is
capable of performing outdoor positioning with satellites. However,
since the strength of the wireless signal of the GPS is relatively
weak, the GPS is usually not functional while the user is located
in an indoor space. Thus, the GPS cannot perform precise
positioning of the user's mobile device for the indoor space such
as an office, a classroom, or a mall.
[0004] Accordingly, there is demand for an indoor positioning
system and an associated indoor positioning method thereof for
performing precise indoor positioning.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] A detailed description is given in the following embodiments
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0006] In an exemplary embodiment, an indoor positioning system is
provided. The indoor positioning system includes: a plurality of
beacon devices, a mobile device, and a positioning server. The
beacon devices includes a plurality of top beacon devices and a
plurality of planar beacon devices, wherein each top beacon device
is deployed on the ceiling of a corresponding primary region of an
indoor space, and the planar beacon devices are deployed in the
surroundings of each primary region. The mobile device is used for
executing an indoor positioning application to receive a
positioning signal from each beacon device and determining distance
information between the mobile device and each beacon device. The
positioning server is used for receiving the distance information
between the mobile device and each beacon device from the mobile
device and determining a primary region in the indoor space in
which the mobile device is located according to the received
distance information. The positioning server further determines the
precise location of the mobile device according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region. The positioning
server reports the determined precise location to the mobile
device, so that the indoor positioning application running on the
mobile device illustrates the precise location of the mobile device
on a plan view of the indoor space.
[0007] In another exemplary embodiment, an indoor positioning
method for use in an indoor positioning system is provided. The
indoor positioning system comprises a plurality of beacon devices,
a mobile device, and a positioning server. The beacon devices
comprises a plurality of top beacon devices and a plurality of
planar beacon devices, wherein each top beacon device is deployed
on the ceiling of a corresponding primary region of an indoor
space, and the planar beacon devices are deployed in the
surroundings of each primary region. The method includes the steps
of: utilizing the mobile device to execute an indoor positioning
application to receive a positioning signal from each beacon device
and to determine distance information between the mobile device and
each beacon device; utilizing the positioning server to receive the
distance information from the mobile device; utilizing the
positioning server to determine the specific primary region in
which the mobile device is located according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the top beacon devices;
utilizing the positioning server to determine the precise location
in the specific primary region according to the distance
information between the mobile device and the planar beacon devices
corresponding to the specific primary region; and utilizing the
positioning server to report the precise location to the mobile
device, so that the indoor positioning application running on the
mobile device illustrates the precise location of the mobile device
on a plan view of the indoor space.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The invention can be more fully understood by reading the
subsequent detailed description and examples with references made
to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cloud video system in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a top view of an indoor space in accordance with
an embodiment of the invention;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a diagram of indoor positioning in the primary
region 201 in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2; and
[0012] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an indoor positioning method in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] The following description is made for the purpose of
illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not
be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best
determined by reference to the appended claims.
[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an indoor positioning system in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0015] In an embodiment, the indoor positioning system includes a
plurality of beacon devices 110, a mobile device 120, and a
positioning server 130. For example, each beacon device 110 can be
disposed at an individual position in an indoor space such as an
office, a classroom, a theater, a stadium, etc., but the invention
is not limited thereto. In addition, each beacon device 110 may
advertise a positioning signal associated with the beacon device
110 thereof using a wireless communication protocol. For example,
each beacon device 110 may advertise the positioning signal every
second using a wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth
Low Energy (BLE), Wifi, or infrared ray (IR), but the invention is
not limited thereto. For the purposes of description, the BLE
protocol is used in the following embodiments.
[0016] A mobile device 120 such as a smartphone, a tablet PC, or a
laptop is carried by the user, but the invention is not limited
thereto. When the user carries the mobile device and enters an
indoor space in which the beacon devices 110 are deployed, the user
may activate a specific indoor positioning application on the
mobile device 120, and thus a transceiver (not shown in FIG. 1) on
the mobile device 120 may receive the advertised positioning signal
from each beacon device 110. For example, if the BLE protocol is
used, the mobile device 120 may receive the advertised positioning
signal from each beacon device within a distance range (e.g. about
5.about.10 meters, non-directional, and depending on the power of
each beacon device 110).
[0017] Specifically, the specific indoor positioning application
running on the mobile device 120 includes a program code that is
capable of converting the strength of the advertised positioning
signal to a corresponding distance. For example, the program code
can be implemented by a software development kit (SDK), but the
invention is not limited thereto. It should be noted that the
estimated distance by the conversion may be inaccurate only based
on the signal strength from a specific beacon device because there
might be an obstacle between the specific beacon device and the
mobile device 120, resulting in weak signal strength.
[0018] The positioning server 130, for example, may be a personal
computer, a dedicated server, or another computing device that is
capable of performing positioning calculations, but the invention
is not limited thereto. For example, the positioning server 130 may
retrieve distance information between the mobile device 120 and
each beacon device from the mobile device 120 via a wireless
network, thereby determining the position of the mobile device 120
in the indoor space.
[0019] In an embodiment, the beacon device 110 can be classified
into two categories such as top beacon devices 111 and planar
beacon devices 112. The top beacon devices 111 are disposed on the
ceiling of the indoor space according to a predetermined
arrangement, thereby defining the predetermined primary regions in
the indoor space. Since the top beacon devices 111 are disposed on
the ceiling of the indoor space, there should be no obstacles
between the mobile device 120 and the top beacon devices, and thus
the predetermined primary region in which the mobile device 120 is
located can be determined more precisely. The planar beacon devices
112 are disposed or affixed to the surrounding walls or objects of
each predetermined primary region, thereby defining the sub-regions
in each predetermined primary region. Details for indoor
positioning will be described in the following embodiments.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a top view of an indoor space in accordance with
an embodiment of the invention. Referring to both FIG. 1 and FIG.
2, the top beacon devices 111 include top beacon devices
111A.about.111F that are disposed on the ceiling of the indoor
space 200 according to a predetermined arrangement, and each of the
top beacon devices 111A.about.111F corresponds to a predetermined
primary region in the indoor space 200 such as primary regions
201.about.206. For the purposes of description, the primary regions
201.about.206 are illustrated as rectangles, and the user may
adjust the arrangement of the top beacon devices and planar beacon
devices according to practical application.
[0021] The planar beacon devices 112 include planar beacon devices
112A.about.112L. For example, each of the primary regions
201.about.206 has four corresponding planar beacon devices. The
primary region 201 is equipped with planar beacon devices 112A,
112B, 112C, and 112D in addition to the top beacon device 111A. The
primary region 202 is equipped with planar beacon devices 112C,
112D, 112E, and 112F in addition to the top beacon device 111B. The
arrangement of the top beacon device and planar beacon devices are
similar to that in the primary regions 201 and 202, and thus the
details will be omitted here. Since the primary regions 201 and 202
are adjacent and the advertised positioning signal of each planar
beacon device is non-directional, the planar beacon devices 112C
and 112D on the common edge of the primary regions 201 and 202 can
be shared.
[0022] FIG. 3 is a diagram of indoor positioning in the primary
region 201 in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 2.
[0023] The arrangement of beacon devices in the primary region 201
is shown in FIG. 3. If the mobile device 120 is located in the
primary region 201, the mobile device 120 may receive the
advertised positioning signal from the beacon devices 111A and
112A-112D. The indoor positioning application running on the mobile
device 120 may convert the signal strength of the received
positioning signal from each beacon device into a corresponding
distance, and the aforementioned distance is a function of the
signal strength of the positioning signal and time. For example,
the distance function between the mobile device 120 and the top
beacon device 111A can be expressed as D(S.sub.111A, T), and the
distance function between the mobile device 120 and the planar
beacon device 112A can be expressed as D(S.sub.112A, T), wherein
S111A and S112 denote the respective estimated signal strengths of
the positioning signals from the top beacon device 111A and planar
beacon device 112A at time T. Similarly, the distance functions
between the mobile device 120 and the planar beacon devices
112B.about.112D can be expressed as D(S.sub.112B, T), D(S.sub.112c,
T), and D(S.sub.112D, T), respectively. S112B, S112C, and S112D
denote respective estimated signal strengths of the positioning
signals from planar beacon devices 112B, 112C, and 112D at time T.
It should be noted that the estimated signal strength of the
positioning signal from each beacon device may vary at different
times even if the mobile device 120 is stationary, and the
estimated signal strength of the positioning signal from each
beacon device is based on the signal stability, obstacles between
the mobile device and each beacon device, or other
interference.
[0024] Specifically, the indoor positioning application running on
the mobile device 120 may transmit the corresponding distance that
is converted from the signal strength to the positioning server 130
via a wireless network, and the positioning server 130 may
calculate the position of the mobile device 120 in the indoor space
200 according to the corresponding distance between the mobile
device and each beacon device.
[0025] For example, the mobile device 120 transmits the
corresponding distance between the mobile device 120 and each
beacon device to the positioning server 130. Since the distance
between the mobile device 120 and the top beacon device 111A is the
shortest among the beacon devices, the positioning server 130 may
determine that the mobile device 120 is located in the primary
region 201. Then, the positioning server 130 may further determine
the precise location of the mobile device 120 in the primary region
201. Specifically, because the mobile device 120 is located in the
primary region 201, the mobile device 120 is capable of
simultaneously receiving the positioning signals from the planar
beacon devices 112A-112D without any obstacles. Accordingly, the
positioning server 130 may determine the location of the mobile
device 120 in the primary region 210 according to the corresponding
distance between the mobile device 120 and each of the planar
beacon devices 112A-112D in the primary region 210.
[0026] In addition, when the positioning server 130 has determined
the relative position of the mobile device 120 in the primary
region 201, the positioning server 130 may perform a precise
calibration of the location of the mobile device 120. For example,
in a special situation wherein the mobile device 120 is located
directly below the top beacon device 111A, the positioning server
130 may determine that the corresponding distances between the
mobile device 120 and the planar beacon devices 112A.about.112D are
equal. In this special situation, the positioning server 130 may
further determine whether the distances between the mobile device
120 and the planar beacon devices 112A.about.112D are longer than
the distance between the mobile device 120 and the top beacon
device 111A in the primary region 201. If so, the positioning
server 130 may determine that the mobile device 120 is located at
the center of the primary region 201. Otherwise, the positioning
server 130 may determine that the previously determined location of
the mobile device 120 is faulty.
[0027] In an embodiment, the indoor positioning application may
illustrate a detailed plan view of the indoor space 200, such as
seat numbers, IDs of users, and/or employee numbers. When the
positioning server 130 has determined the position of the mobile
device 120 according to the corresponding distance between the
mobile device 120 and each of the planar beacon devices
112A.about.112D, the positioning server 130 may transmit the
determined location to the mobile device 120 via a wireless
network. Then, the user may know the current position of the mobile
device 120 from the plan view illustrated by the indoor positioning
application.
[0028] It should be noted that the positioning server 130 is
capable of managing positioning in various indoor spaces. For
example, the positioning server 130 includes a database for
recording metadata including a plan view of each predetermined
indoor space and location information of the beacon devices that
are deployed in the predetermined indoor spaces, thereby supporting
calculations of precise positioning.
[0029] In some embodiments, the indoor positioning application
running on the mobile device 120 may replace the function of the
positioning server 130. That is, the determination of the location
of the mobile device 120 in the indoor space and the illustration
of the determined location of the mobile device 120 in the indoor
space are performed by the mobile device 120 itself.
[0030] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an indoor positioning method in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In step S410, the
mobile device is utilized to perform an indoor positioning
application to receive a positioning signal corresponding to each
beacon device and determining distance information between the
mobile device and each beacon device.
[0031] In step S420, the positioning server is utilized to receive
the distance information between the mobile device and each beacon
device.
[0032] In step S430, the positioning server is utilized to
determine a specific primary region of the indoor space according
to the distance information between the mobile device and each top
beacon device.
[0033] In step S440, the positioning server is utilized to
determine a precise position of the mobile device in the specific
primary region according to the distance information corresponding
to the planar beacon devices in the specific primary region.
[0034] In step S450, the positioning server is utilized to report
the precise position to the mobile device, so that the indoor
positioning application running on the mobile device illustrates
the precise position of the mobile device on a plan view of the
indoor space that is displayed on the screen of the mobile
device.
[0035] While the invention has been described by way of example and
in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that
the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the
contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar
arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the
broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications
and similar arrangements.
* * * * *