IP Library Granted Patent US 11,585,663
Granted Patent B2
US 11,585,663 · App. 17/572,857 · Granted Feb 21, 2023

Automatic egress/ingress detection in an acoustic positioning system

Inventor: Wilfred Edwin Booij (Oslo, NO)
Assignee: Forkbeard Technologies AS
G01C21/206G01S5/30G01S15/02H04W4/023H04W4/33
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 11,585,663
App. No.
17/572,857
Granted
Feb 21, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for finding door location in an automated way based on observations of people that are equipped with a device whose position is determined acoustically. By observing positioning transitions across internal structures such as walls, the location of doors can be automatically identified.

Claims (48)

1. A computing system for determining a door location in an indoor environment comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

locating, by an acoustic location system, a location tag at a first location in a first region within the indoor environment;

locating at a later time, by the acoustic location system, the location tag at a second location in a second region within the indoor environment, wherein the first region is separated from the second region by a partition;

determining a velocity vector of the location tag while the location tag is transitioning from the first region to the second region; and

determining a presence of a door located in the partition, the determining based on a magnitude of an inner product of the velocity vector with a normal vector of the partition exceeding a predetermined threshold.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

determining an abrupt change of a property of an acoustic signal in locating the location tag at the first location and at the second location; and

confirming the presence of the door based on the determining of the abrupt change.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the property is one of time-of-flight-based range or a root sum square (RSS) level.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic location system includes a first acoustic beacon transceiver located in the first region and a second acoustic beacon transceiver located in the second region.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is 0.15 meters/second.

6. A computing system for determining a door location in an indoor environment comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices, the one or more memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

locating, by an acoustic location system, a location tag at a first location in a first region within the indoor environment;

receiving data showing a partition associated with the first region;

determining a velocity vector of the location tag in a vicinity of the partition; and

determining a presence of a door located in the partition based on a magnitude of an inner product of the velocity vector with a normal vector of the partition exceeding a predetermined threshold.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the predetermined threshold is 0.15 meters/second.

8. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the determining the presence of the door further includes determining a location error of the location tag exceeds another predetermined threshold.

9. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the acoustic location system includes a first acoustic beacon transceiver located in the first region and a second acoustic beacon transceiver located in the second region.

10. The computing system of claim 6 , the operations further comprising:

repeating the determining a velocity vector and the determining a presence of a door located in the partition over a number of transition events from the first region to the second region; and

analyzing statistically data from the repeating to yield a location of the door.

11. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

locating, by an acoustic location system, a location tag at a first location in a first region within an indoor environment;

locating at a later time, by the acoustic location system, the location tag at a second location in a second region within the indoor environment, wherein the first region is separated from the second region by a partition;

determining a velocity vector of the location tag while the location tag is transitioning from the first region to the second region; and

determining a presence of a door located in the partition, the determining based on a magnitude of an inner product of the velocity vector with a normal vector of the partition exceeding a predetermined threshold.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:

determining an abrupt change of a property of an acoustic signal in locating the location tag at the first location and at the second location; and

confirming the presence of the door based on the determining of the abrupt change.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , wherein the property is one of time-of-flight-based range or a root sum square (RSS) level.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the acoustic location system includes a first acoustic beacon transceiver located in the first region and a second acoustic beacon transceiver located in the second region.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the predetermined threshold is 0.15 meters/second.

16. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

locating, by an acoustic location system, a location tag at a first location in a first region within an indoor environment;

receiving data showing a partition associated with the first region;

determining a velocity vector of the location tag in a vicinity of the partition; and

determining a presence of a door located in the partition based on a magnitude of an inner product of the velocity vector with a normal vector of the partition exceeding a predetermined threshold.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the predetermined threshold is 0.15 meters/second.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the determining the presence of the door further includes determining a location error of the location tag exceeds another predetermined threshold.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , wherein the acoustic location system includes a first acoustic beacon transceiver located in the first region and a second acoustic beacon transceiver located in the second region.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 , the operations further comprising:

repeating the determining a velocity vector and the determining a presence of a door located in the partition over a number of transition events from the first region to the second region; and

analyzing statistically data from the repeating to yield a location of the door.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 3, 2023
From: FORKBEARD TECHNOLOGIES AS
To: SONITOR TECHNOLOGIES AS
Reel/Frame 062581/0275 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 11, 2022
From: BOOIJ, WILFRED EDWIN
To: FORKBEARD TECHNOLOGIES AS
Reel/Frame 058620/0443 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 16587577 · Sep 30, 2019
Related Publication 20220276057A1 · Sep 1, 2022