Apparatus and method for estimating indoor location based on packet capture

1. A method for operating an apparatus for estimating an indoor location based on packet capture, the method comprising:

receiving packet capture information from multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points in a service area;

searching a positioning infrastructure database for positioning data of a reference point corresponding to the received packet capture information, the positioning infrastructure database including positioning data of a plurality of reference point obtained by dividing the service area;

estimating the reference point corresponding to the received packet capture information to be a location of a target terminal; and

estimating a movement direction of the target terminal based on the reference point,

wherein estimating the movement direction comprises:

calculating rates of change in strengths of signals of the packet capture information received from the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points; and

vectorizing received signal strengths corresponding to the calculated rates of change; and

comparing a vector of the received signal strengths with vectors constructed in respective directions of the reference point, thus determining a direction angle of the target terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points receives a packet transmitted from the target terminal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points collects the packet capture information having a unique number of the target terminal and signal strength information of the transmitted packet using a packet-sniffing technique.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the positioning infrastructure database is constructed by receiving packet capture information from the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points each receiving a packet of a collection terminal deployed at each of the plurality of reference points, and storing, as positioning data corresponding to each of the plurality of reference points, a signal strength corresponding to the packet received by each of the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points from the collection terminal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching the positioning infrastructure database for the positioning data comprises searching for a reference point corresponding to the packet capture information by performing pattern matching on the positioning infrastructure database and the received packet capture information.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a found the reference point is estimated to be a location of the target terminal.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the reference point is found using a method corresponding to any one of nearest neighbor search, k-nearest neighbor search, and Jaccard Similarity comparison.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rates of change in strengths of signals are determined within a preset period of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rates of change in strengths of signals are used for linear regression.

10. An apparatus for estimating an indoor location based on packet capture, the apparatus comprising:

multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points disposed in a service area and configured to receive a packet from a target terminal and output information of the received packet as packet capture information;

a positioning infrastructure database for storing positioning data of a plurality of reference points obtained by dividing the service area, the positioning data corresponding to strengths of signals received by the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points from a collection terminal deployed at each of the plurality of reference points; and

a location estimation server configured to receive the packet capture information from the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points, searching the positioning infrastructure database for a reference point corresponding to the received packet capture information, and estimating the reference point to be a location of the target terminal,

wherein the location estimation server is further configured to calculate rates of change in signals corresponding to the reference point from the packet capture information transmitted from the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points, vectorize the calculated rates of change in the signals, compare a vector of the rates of change in the signals with vectors constructed in the positioning infrastructure database, and estimate a movement direction of the target terminal based on a result of the comparison.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the target terminal transmits a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packet to the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the packet capture information includes a unique number of the target terminal and strength information of a signal transmitted from the target terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the location estimation server calculates a rate of change in signal strengths appearing within a preset period of time at a specific time point and vectorizes the calculated rate of change in the signal strengths to estimate the movement direction of the target terminal.

14. A location estimation server of an apparatus for estimating an indoor location based on packet capture, the server comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory for storing at least one instruction that is executed by the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor so as to:

collect packet capture information from multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points in a service area,

perform pattern matching on the packet capture information and positioning data in a positioning infrastructure database to find a reference point corresponding to the packet capture information, the positioning data corresponding to a plurality of reference points obtained by dividing the service area, and

estimate the reference point corresponding to the packet capture information to be a location of a target terminal,

wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor so as to calculate, for possible movement directions from the reference point, rates of change in signals acquired by the multiple packet-collection-dedicated access points and vectorize the calculated rates of change in signals.

15. The location estimation server of claim 14 , wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor so as to calculate a rate of change in signal strengths appearing within a preset period of time at a specific time point and vectorize the calculated rate of change in the signal strengths.

16. The location estimation server of claim 15 , wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor so as to compare a vector of the rate of change in the signal strengths with vectors of rates of change constructed in the positioning infrastructure database, and determine a movement direction of the target terminal based on a result of the comparison.

17. The location estimation server of claim 14 , wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor so as to predict a current location of the target terminal based on past movement status of the target terminal using a Kalman filter or particle filter and correct the current location of the target terminal in consideration of the packet capture information.