IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,952,308
Granted Patent B2
US 9,952,308 · App. 15/410,881 · Granted Apr 24, 2018

Access point, terminal, and wireless fidelity WiFi indoor positioning method

Inventors: Hongkun He (Xi'an, CN); Qianni Feng (Xi'an, CN); Lei Shi (Xi'an, CN); Jie Cui (Shenzhen, CN); Anjian Li (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
G01S5/06G01S5/0081G01S5/021H04W4/04H04W52/0206H04W64/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,952,308
App. No.
15/410,881
Granted
Apr 24, 2018
Kind
B2
Abstract

An access point, a terminal, and a Wireless Fidelity indoor positioning method are provided. The method includes: receiving, by a first access point, a first positioning signal sent by a terminal, and recording a moment for receiving the first positioning signal as a first moment t 1 ; receiving, a second positioning signal sent by an i th second access point in n second access points, and recording a fourth moment t i4 ; sending, a response signal of the second positioning signal to the i th second access point, and recording a fifth moment t i5 ; receiving, a second moment t i2 , a third moment t i3 , and a sixth moment t i6 that are sent by the i th second access point; and determining, location coordinates of the terminal. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, clock synchronization is not required. In addition, terminal positioning accuracy is improved.

Claims (438)

1. A first access point comprising:

a receiver configured to:

receive a first positioning signal from a terminal at a first moment t 1 ;

record t 1 ;

receive, at a fourth moment t 4 , a second positioning signal from a second access point; and

record t 4 ;

a transmitter configured to:

transmit, in response to receiving the second positioning signal, a response signal to the second access point at a fifth moment t 5 , and

record t 5 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a second moment t 2 indicating when the second access point receives the first positioning signal, a third moment t 3 indicating when the second access point transmits the second positioning signal to the first access point, and a sixth moment t 6 indicating when the second access point receives the response signal; and

a processor coupled to the receiver and the transmitter and configured to:

determine a time difference t d according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein t d indicates a first difference value between a first signal transmission time Δ 1 from the terminal to the first access point and a second signal transmission time Δ 2 from the terminal to the second access point;

determine a distance difference D 0 according to t d , wherein D 0 =C×t d , D 0 indicates a second difference value between a first distance from the terminal to the first access point and a second distance from the terminal to the second access point, and C indicates a velocity of light; and

determine first location (x,y) of the terminal according to the distance difference D 0 , second location coordinates (x 1 , y 1 ) of the first access point, and third location coordinates (x 2 , y 2 ) of the second access point.

2. The first access point of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine Δ 1 and Δ 2 according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein

Δ

1

=

t

1

-

t

0

,

Δ

2

=

(

t

4

-

t

0

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

Δ

3

,

Δ

3

=

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

,

t 0 indicates a moment at which the terminal sends the first positioning signal, and Δ 3 indicates a third signal transmission time from the second access point to the first access point;

determine t d according to Δ 1 and Δ 2 , wherein

t

d

=

Δ

2

-

Δ

1

=

(

t

4

-

t

1

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

;

and

determine (x,y) according to the equation

(

x

2

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

2

-

y

)

2

-

(

x

1

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

1

-

y

)

2

=

D

0

.

3. A terminal comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit a first positioning signal to a first access point and to a second access point;

a receiver configured to:

receive, from the first access point, a first moment t 1 indicating when the first access point receives the first positioning signal, a fourth moment t 4 indicating when the first access point receives a second positioning signal from the second access point, and a fifth moment t 5 indicating when the first access point transmits to the second access point a response signal of the second positioning signal; and

receive, from the second access point, a second moment t 2 indicating when the second access point receives the first positioning signal, a third moment t 3 indicating when the second access point transmits the second positioning signal to the first access point, and a sixth moment t 6 indicating when the second access point receives the response signal; and

a processor coupled to the transmitter and the receiver and configured to:

determine a time difference t d according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein t d indicates a first difference value between a first signal transmission time Δ 1 from the terminal to the first access point and a second signal transmission time Δ 2 from the terminal to the second access point;

determine a distance difference D 0 according to t d , wherein D 0 =C×t d , D 0 indicates a second difference value between a first distance from the terminal to the first access point and a second distance from the terminal to the second access point, and C indicates a velocity of light; and

determine first location coordinates (x,y) of the terminal according to the distance difference D 0 , second location coordinates (x 1 , y 1 ) of the first access point, and third location coordinates (x 2 , y 2 ) of the second access point.

4. The terminal of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine Δ 1 and Δ 2 according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein

Δ

1

=

t

1

-

t

0

,

Δ

2

=

(

t

4

-

t

0

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

Δ

3

,

Δ

3

=

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

,

t 0 indicates a moment at which the terminal sends the first positioning signal, and Δ 3 indicates a third signal transmission time from the second access point to the first access point;

determine t d according to Δ 1 and Δ 2 , wherein

t

d

=

Δ

2

-

Δ

1

=

(

t

4

-

t

1

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

;

and

determine (x,y) according to the equation

(

x

2

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

2

-

y

)

2

-

(

x

1

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

1

-

y

)

2

=

D

0

.

5. The terminal of claim 3 , wherein, before transmitting the first positioning signal, the transmitter is further configured to transmit to the first access point and the second access points an exploration signal.

6. The terminal of claim 5 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive responses from the first access point and the second access point, at preset times, and in response to the exploration signal, and wherein the responses comprise an earliest-received response and additional responses.

7. The terminal of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the first access point sent the earliest-received response.

8. A wireless fidelity (WiFi) indoor positioning method implemented by a first access point, the method comprising:

receiving a first positioning signal from a terminal at a first moment t 1 ;

recording t 1 ;

receiving, at a fourth moment t 4 , a second positioning signal from a second access point according to the first positioning signal;

recording t 4 ;

transmitting a response signal of the second positioning signal to the second access point at a fifth moment t 5 ;

recording t 5 ;

receiving a second moment t 2 indicating when the second access point receives the first positioning signal, a third moment t 3 indicating when the second access point transmits the second positioning signal to the first access point, and a sixth moment t 6 indicating when the second access point receives the response signal;

determining a time difference t d according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein t d indicates a first difference value between a first signal transmission time Δ 1 from the terminal to the first access point and a second signal transmission time Δ 2 from the terminal to the second access point;

determining a distance difference D 0 according to t d , wherein D 0 =C×t d , D 0 indicates a second difference value between a first distance from the terminal to the first access point and a second distance from the terminal to the second access point, and C indicates a velocity of light;

and

determining first location coordinates (x,y) of the terminal according to D 0 , second location coordinates (x 1 , y 1 ) of the first access point and third location coordinates (x 2 , y 2 ) of the second access point.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining the time difference t d comprises:

determining Δ 1 and Δ 2 according to t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , and t 6 , wherein

Δ

1

=

t

1

-

t

0

,

Δ

2

=

(

t

4

-

t

0

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

Δ

3

,

Δ

3

=

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

,

t 0 indicates a moment at which the terminal sends the first positioning signal, and Δ 3 indicates a third signal transmission time from the i th second access point to the first access point; and

determining t d according to Δ 1 and Δ 2 , wherein

t

d

=

Δ

2

-

Δ

1

=

(

t

4

-

t

1

)

-

(

t

3

-

t

2

)

-

(

t

6

-

t

3

)

-

(

t

5

-

t

4

)

2

.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first location coordinates (x,y) are determined according to the equation

(

x

2

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

2

-

y

)

2

-

(

x

1

-

x

)

2

-

(

y

1

-

y

)

2

=

D

0

.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 25, 2017
From: HE, HONGKUN; FENG, QIANNI; SHI, LEI; LI, ANJIAN
To: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 043402/0133 →
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 25, 2017
From: CUI, JIE
To: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 043674/0219 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTCN2014082725 · Jul 22, 2014
Related Publication 20170131382A1 · May 11, 2017