Reverse-beacon indoor positioning system using existing detection fields
Indoor positioning systems and methods including a reverse-beacon for location determination and presence sensing technology. The reverse-beacon is any device comprising a transceiver and a computer operating with system nodes and will generally be in the form of a smartphone or other mobile computer. The systems and methods utilize wireless signals of any device that adheres to a general-purpose communication protocol, such as Bluetooth™ and Wi-Fi, to provide location-based services such as location determination and acting as a ground-truth field for presence sensing systems. The systems and methods operate by passively licensing to wireless communications that take place during the ordinarily course of operation of a wireless network irrespective of the presence of the reverse-beacon.
1. A method for locating a reverse-beacon comprising;
providing a reverse beacon comprising a transceiver and a computer in communication with said transceiver;
providing a plurality of system nodes, said plurality forming a detection field;
creating a plurality of historical datasets by obtaining measurements between a first system node in said plurality of system nodes and said reverse-beacon with said reverse beacon at different locations within said detection field, wherein said measurements are obtained by:
placing said reverse-beacon within said detection field;
receiving at said reverse-beacon, first system node signals from said first system node at said transceiver;
converting at said computer said first system node signals to a historical dataset including a first system node identifier and a first system node distance between said first system node and said reverse beacon; and
moving said reverse-beacon relative to said detection field a plurality of times and at each time in said plurality of times repeating said receiving and said converting to form said plurality of said historical datasets;
at a later time, determining at said computer that said reverse-beacon is within said detection field by comparing each of said historical datasets in said plurality of historical datasets to first system node signals received by said reverse beacon at said later time.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said reverse-beacon comprises a mobile device.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said reverse beacon comprises a smart phone or tablet computer.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said reverse beacon comprises a wearable computer device.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first system node is selected from the group consisting of: a computer; a network device; and a smart appliance.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining at said computer further comprises determining a location determination status of said reverse-beacon with respect to said detection field.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said location determination status is selected from the group consisting of approaching; departing; in room; static; and mobile.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said computer comprises a local network computer.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said reverse-beacon includes said local network computer.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises a wireless computer server communicably coupled to said transceiver over a telecommunications network.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a third party system;
operating said third party system based at least in part on said location of said reverse-beacon determined in said determining.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said third party system is selected from the group consisting of; an electrical system; a lighting system; a heating, venting, and cooling (HVAC) system; a security system; a home automation system; an industrial automation system.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detection field is formed by wireless communications using a protocol selected from the group consisting of: Bluetooth™, Bluetooth™ Low Energy, ANT,ANT+, WiFi, Zigbee, Thread, and Z-Wave.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein. at least one said system node in said plurality of system nodes is configured to communicate using a different communication protocol than at least one other system node in said plurality of system nodes.
15. The method of claim 1 Wherein said detection field is disposed within an indoor space.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by said reverse-beacon only passively receiving wireless communication signals from said first system node.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by said reverse-beacon actively receiving wireless communication signals from said first system node.
18. A system for locating a reverse-beacon in a detection field comprising:
a plurality of system nodes, said plurality forming a detection field;
a reverse-beacon comprising a transceiver, a computer, and a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium having program instructions thereon which, when executed by said computer, cause said reverse-beacon to perform the steps of:
creating a plurality of historical datasets by obtaining measurements between a first system node in said plurality of system nodes and said reverse-beacon with said reverse beacon at different locations within said detection field, wherein said measurements are obtained by:
receiving first system node signals from said first system node of said transceiver;
converting said first system node signals to a historical dataset including a first system node identifier and a first system node distance between said first system node and said reverse beacon;
repeating said receiving and said converting a plurality of times while said reverse-beacon is moving relative to said detection field to form said plurality of said historical datasets and;
at a later time, determining that said reverse-beacon is within said detection field by comparing each of said historical datasets in said plurality of historical datasets to first system node signals received by said reverse-beacon at said later time.
19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:
a third-party system;
a computer server;
wherein said program instructions thereon which, when executed by said computer, further cause said reverse-beacon to perform the steps of:
transmitting said determined location of said reverse-beacon on said computer server;
wherein said computer server comprises a non-volatile computer-readable medium having program instructions thereon which when executed by said computer server, cause said computer server to operate said third party system based at least in part on said determined location of said reverse-beacon.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein said third party system is selected from the group consisting of; an electrical system; a lighting system; a heating, venting, and cooling (HVAC) system; a security system; a home automation system; an industrial automation system.