IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,750,470

Granted Patent B2

US 10,750,470 · App. 15/952,600 · Granted Aug 18, 2020

Systems and methods for determining if a receiver is inside or outside a building or area

Inventors: Ganesh Pattabiraman (Saratoga, CA); Deepak Joseph (Oakton, VA)

Assignee: NextNav, LLC

H04W64/006 G01S5/0252 G01S5/0257 H04B7/0413 H04B7/0452 H04B7/061 H04B7/0697 H04B7/10 H04B7/12 H04B7/22 H04W4/021 H04W4/029 H04W16/14 H04W16/18 H04W16/22 H04W16/24 H04W16/32 H04W52/0209 H04W52/0251 H04W64/00 H04W64/003 H01Q1/246 H04L1/06 H04L1/0668 H04L5/0007 H04W36/00 H04W40/00 Y02D70/142 Y02D70/144 Y02D70/146 Y02D70/162 Y02D70/164 Y02D70/166 Y02D70/26

View Patent ↗

Loading inventors, assignments & file history…

Monitor This Case

Get email alerts when status or documents change.

Order Certified Copies

Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.

Order via The Patent Place →

Pre-filled with this patent's details

Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,750,470
App. No.: 15/952,600
Granted: Aug 18, 2020
Kind: B2

External Links

USPTO Patent Center↗ Full Patent PDF↗

Abstract

Determining if a receiver is inside or outside a building or area. Particular systems and methods for determining if a receiver is inside or outside a building determine an estimate of a position of a receiver, and use the estimate of the position of the receiver and other data to determine if the position of the receiver is inside a first building. The other data may include locations of geo-fences inside buildings, heights of buildings, or other types of data.

Claims (81)

1. A method for determining positions of receivers, the method comprising:

determining a first estimate of a position at which a receiver was located at a first time;

setting a current position of the receiver as the first estimate;

determining a second estimate of a position at which the receiver was located at a second time;

determining a difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate;

estimating, using one or more sensors of the receiver, a distance moved by the receiver between the first time and the second time;

determining if (i) the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate and (ii) the estimated distance moved by the receiver between the first time and the second time meet a condition;

based on determining that the condition is met, setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate; and

based on determining that the condition is not met, maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate,

wherein determining if (i) the difference in distance and (ii) the estimated distance moved by the receiver meet the condition comprises determining if (i) the difference in distance and (ii) the estimated distance moved by the receiver are within a predefined amount of distance from each other,

wherein setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate if the condition is met comprises using the second estimate as the current estimated position of the receiver if the difference in distance and the estimated distance moved by the receiver are within the predefined amount of distance from each other, and

wherein maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate if the condition is not met comprises maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate if the difference in distance and the estimated distance moved by the receiver are not within the predefined amount of distance from each other.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:

determining that the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate exceeds a threshold value of distance,

wherein the distance moved by the receiver is estimated in response to determining that the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate exceeds the threshold value of distance.

3. A method for determining positions of receivers, the method comprising:

determining a first estimate of a position at which a receiver was located at a first time;

setting a current position of the receiver as the first estimate;

determining a second estimate of a position at which the receiver was located at a second time;

determining a difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate;

determining that the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate exceeds a threshold value of distance;

estimating, using one or more sensors of the receiver, a distance moved by the receiver between the first time and the second time,

wherein determining if (i) the difference in distance and (ii) the estimated distance moved by the receiver meet the condition comprises determining if the estimated distance moved by the receiver exceeds the threshold value of distance;

based on determining that the condition is met, setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate; and

based on determining that the condition is not met, maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate,

wherein setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate if the condition is met comprises using the second estimate as the current estimated position of the receiver if the estimated distance moved by the receiver exceeds the threshold value of distance, and

wherein maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate if the condition is not met comprises maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate if the estimated distance moved by the receiver does not exceed the threshold value of distance.

4. A method for determining positions of receivers, the method comprising:

determining a first estimate of a position at which a receiver was located at a first time;

setting a current position of the receiver as the first estimate;

determining a second estimate of a position at which the receiver was located at a second time;

determining a difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate;

determining that the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate exceeds a threshold value of distance;

estimating, using one or more sensors of the receiver, a distance moved by the receiver between the first time and the second time,

based on determining that the condition is met, setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate; and

based on determining that the condition is not met, maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate, wherein the threshold value of distance is at least 5 meters.

5. One or more non-transitory processor-readable media embodying program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method for determining positions of receivers, the method comprising:

determining a first estimate of a position at which a receiver was located at a first time;

setting a current position of the receiver as the first estimate;

determining a second estimate of a position at which the receiver was located at a second time;

determining a difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate;

estimating, using one or more sensors of the receiver, a distance moved by the receiver between the first time and the second time;

based on determining that the condition is met, setting the current position of the receiver as the second estimate; and

based on determining that the condition is not met, maintaining the current position of the receiver as the first estimate,

6. The one or more non-transitory processor-readable media of claim 5 , wherein the method comprises:

determining that the difference in distance between the first estimate and the second estimate exceeds a threshold value of distance,

7. One or more non-transitory processor-readable media embodying program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method for determining positions of receivers, the method comprising: