Using historical data to correct GPS data in a network of moving things

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10310095-B2
Application number	US-201615169876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2016
Priority date	Oct 22, 2015
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

A system comprises model generation circuitry operable to process positioning data from a plurality of positioning system receivers of a network of vehicles to generate one or more statistical models of the positions of the vehicles, wherein the positioning data is received via a plurality of mobile access points of the network of vehicles. The system also comprises positioning circuitry operable to receive a reading from a particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers, and compensate the reading from the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers based on the one or more statistical models to determine a most-probable location of the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
model generation circuitry operable to process a respective series of positioning data samples received from each of a plurality of satellite based positioning system receivers of respective vehicles mobile within a service area of a wireless network comprising a plurality of vehicles to generate one or more statistical models of historical positions of the plurality of vehicles, wherein the series of positioning data samples from each positioning system receiver is received via a respective mobile access point of a plurality of mobile access points of the network of vehicles, and wherein each of the generated one or more statistical models describes a path of the plurality of vehicles based on an aggregate of the series of positioning data samples; and
positioning circuitry operable to:
receive a current positioning data sample from a particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers; and
compensate for error in the current positioning data sample from the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers using the one or more statistical models to determine a most-probable location of the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more statistical models characterize the density of positioning data samples from the plurality of vehicles.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more statistical models is based on a spatial histogram generated from the positioning data samples from the plurality of positioning system receivers.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more statistical models is based on an average of paths of particular vehicles over time.

5. The system of claim 1 , comprising data analysis circuitry operable to analyze the one or more statistical models to identify public transportation stops and/or terminals.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the data analysis circuitry is operable to:
detect whether a particular one of the vehicles is stopped based on positioning data samples from a satellite based positioning receiver installed in the particular one of the vehicles; and
in response to a detection that the particular vehicle is stopped, determine, based on the one or more statistical models, whether the particular vehicle is at a public transportation stop or terminal.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning circuitry is operable to compensate the current positioning data sample from the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers based on one or more readings from one or more sensors.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a speedometer, and an odometer.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the positioning circuitry resides in one of the mobile access points and is operable to perform the compensation in real-time.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning circuitry resides in a network location accessed via one or more of the mobile access points and is operable to perform the compensation during post-processing of the positioning data.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein information representative of the one or more statistical models generated by model generation circuitry of a first vehicle of the network of vehicles is shared with respective positioning circuitry of one or more other vehicles of the network of vehicles to enable correction of current positioning data samples from respective positioning system receivers of the one or more other vehicles.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the model generation circuitry is operable to predict a next path of a particular vehicle of the network of vehicles using one or more statistical models for the particular vehicle and information representative of a current path of the particular vehicle.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the positioning circuitry is operable to cause the most-probable location of the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers to be made available for operation of a vehicle corresponding to the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers.

14. A method comprising:
receiving, by model generation circuitry via a mobile access point of each of a plurality of mobile access points of respective vehicles of a wireless network comprising a plurality of vehicles mobile within a service area of the network, a respective series of positioning data samples from each of a plurality of satellite based positioning system receivers of respective vehicles of the network of vehicles;
processing, by the model generation circuitry, the received positioning data samples to generate one or more statistical models of historical positions of the plurality of vehicles, wherein each of the generated one or more statistical models describes a path of the plurality of vehicles based on an aggregate of the series of positioning data samples;
receiving, by positioning circuitry, a current positioning data sample from a particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers; and
compensating for error in the current positioning data sample, by the positioning circuitry using the one or more statistical models, to determine a most-probable location of the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more statistical models characterize the density of positioning data samples from the plurality of vehicles.

16. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
generating a spatial histogram from the positioning data samples from the plurality of positioning system receivers; and
generating the one or more statistical models based on the spatial histogram.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more statistical models is based on an average of paths of particular vehicles over time.

18. The method of claim 14 , comprising analyzing, by data analysis circuitry, the one or more statistical models to identify public transportation stops and/or terminals.

19. The method of claim 18 , comprising:
detecting, by the data analysis circuitry, whether a particular one of the vehicles is stopped based on positioning data samples from a satellite based positioning receiver installed in the particular one of the vehicles; and
in response to detecting that the particular vehicle is stopped, determining, by the data analysis circuitry based on the one or more statistical models, whether the particular vehicle is at a public transportation stop or terminal.

20. The method of claim 14 , comprising compensating, by the positioning circuitry, the current positioning data sample from the particular one of the plurality of positioning system receivers based on one or more readings from one or more sensors.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a speedometer, and an odometer.

22. The method of claim 14 , wherein the positioning circuitry resides in one of the mobile access points and the method comprises performing the compensating in real-time.

23. The method of claim 14 , wherein the positioning circuitry resides in a network location accessed via one or more of the mobile access points and the method comprises performing the compensating during post-processing of the positioning data.

Assignees

• Veniam Inc

Inventors

• Moura Daniel
• Russell Roy

Classifications

• G01S19/45

  by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement · CPC title

• G01S19/49

  whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled · CPC title

• G01S19/07 Primary

  providing data for correcting measured positioning data, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS] or ionosphere corrections · CPC title

• G01S5/0278

  involving statistical or probabilistic considerations (G01S5/0252, G01S5/0294 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01S19/40 Primary

  Correcting position, velocity or attitude · CPC title