Geolocationing system and method for use of same
A geolocationing system and method for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, such as a hospitality environment or educational environment, are presented. In one embodiment of the geolocationing system, a vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices is provided. The vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices form a mesh network. Each gateway device includes a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location within the multi-space environment. Each gateway device includes a wireless transceiver that receives a beacon signal from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device. The gateway devices, in turn, send gateway signals via the mesh network to a server, which determines estimated location of the wireless-enabled personal location device with received signal characteristic modeling.
1. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
a vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location;
the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices forming a mesh network, the mesh network further comprises a local topology in which the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other gateway devices as possible to cooperate with one another to efficiently route the gateway signal, the mesh network being outside of a network covered area and connected thereto in order to spatially extend network coverage at the multi-space environment, the network covered area being in communication with a server;
each gateway device of the vertical and horizontal array including:
a housing,
a wireless transceiver associated with the housing,
a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification,
measure received signal characteristic of the beacon signal,
transmit a gateway signal to the network covered area in communication with the server via the mesh network, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and the received signal characteristic; and
the server located within the multi-space environment and in communication with the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices by way of the network covered area, the server including:
a processor, and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive by way of the network covered area a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the vertical and horizontal array,
process the plurality of gateway signals with signal strength modeling, and
determine estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device.
2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the mesh network further comprises a partially connected mesh network.
3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the mesh network further comprises a fully connected mesh network.
4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to communicate with a standard selected from the group consisting of infrared (IR), 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy.
5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a plurality of wireless transceivers.
6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a device selected from the group consisting of set-top boxes, common space gateway devices, and gateway service devices.
7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device further comprises a device selected from the group consisting of single button personal locator devices and wireless-enabled interactive programmable devices.
8. The system as recited in claim 7 , wherein the wireless-enabled interactive programmable device further comprises a device selected from the group consisting of smart watches, smart phones, and tablet computers.
9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the server further comprises a back-office hotel server in communication with the vertical and horizontal array of set-top boxes.
10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to process the plurality of gateway signals with trilateration and signal modeling strength further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to:
utilize at least three distances between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween.
11. The system as recited claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises an operational mode selected from the group consisting of alerts-enabled, service request-enabled, tracking-enabled, and non-tracking-enabled.
12. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein in the alerts-enabled mode, the server receives a distress signal from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
13. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein in the service-request-enabled mode, the server receives a service request from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
14. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein in the tracking-enabled mode, the server maintains in memory a plurality of estimated locations with timestamps associated with the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
15. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein in the non-tracking-enabled mode, the server maintains in memory only the last known locations with timestamps associated with the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.
16. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
a vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location;
the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices forming a mesh network, the mesh network further comprises a local topology in which the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other gateway devices as possible to cooperate with one another to efficiently route the gateway signal, the mesh network being outside of a network covered area and connected thereto in order to spatially extend network coverage at the multi-space environment, the network covered area being in communication with a server; and
each gateway device of the vertical and horizontal array including:
a housing,
a wireless transceiver associated with the housing,
a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification,
measure received signal characteristic of the beacon signal, and
transmit a gateway signal to the network covered area in communication with the server via the mesh network, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and the received signal characteristic.
17. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the mesh network further comprises a local topology in which the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other gateway devices as possible to cooperate with one another to efficiently route the gateway signal.
18. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
a vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices, each gateway device being positioned within a space in the multi-space environment, each gateway device having a gateway device identification providing an accurately-known fixed location;
the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices forming a mesh network;
each gateway device of the vertical and horizontal array including:
a housing,
a wireless transceiver associated with the housing,
a processor located within the housing and coupled to the wireless transceiver, and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a beacon signal via the wireless transceiver from a proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device, the beacon signal including a personal locator device identification,
measure received signal characteristic of the beacon signal,
transmit a gateway signal to a server via the mesh network, the gateway signal including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and the received signal characteristic; and
the server located within the multi-space environment and in communication with the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices, the server including:
a processor, and
a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the vertical and horizontal array,
process the plurality of gateway signals with signal strength modeling, and
determine estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal location device.
19. The system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the mesh network further comprises a partially connected mesh network.
20. The system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the mesh network further comprises a fully connected mesh network.