Geolocationing system and method for use of same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12137258-B2
Application number	US-202217821736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2022
Priority date	Feb 5, 2014
Publication date	Nov 5, 2024
Grant date	Nov 5, 2024

Abstract

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. 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 to a server, which determines estimated location of the wireless-enabled personal location device with trilateration and received signal strength modeling.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
an 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;
a server 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 array of gateway devices,
process the plurality of gateway signals, including a personal locator device identification and the gateway device identification for each of the plurality of gateway signals, with trilateration, the personal locator device identification originating from a wireless-enabled personal locator device,
process the plurality of gateway signals, including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and a received signal strength measurement for each of the plurality of gateway signals, with received signal strength modeling, and
determine an estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a plurality of wireless transceivers.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a set-top box.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a common space gateway device.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gateway device further comprises a gateway service device.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device further comprises a single button personal locator device.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device further comprises a wireless-enabled interactive programmable device.

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 a 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 strength modeling 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 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 strength modeling further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to:
access a signal map stored in the storage, the signal map being a received signal strength model of collected offline signals at the vertical and horizontal array of gateway devices, and
compare a plurality of received signal strength measurements of a respective plurality of gateway signals to the signal map.

12. 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 strength modeling further comprise processor-executable instructions that, when executed cause the processor to:
utilize at least three received signal strength measurements between at least three gateway signals from respective gateway devices to determine a point of intersection therebetween.

13. 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.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein in the alerts-enabled mode, the server receives a distress signal from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.

15. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein in the service request-enabled mode, the server receives a service request from the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.

16. The system as recited in claim 13 , 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.

17. The system as recited in claim 13 , 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.

18. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
an 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;
a server 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 array of gateway devices,
process the plurality of gateway signals, including the personal locator device identification, the gateway device identification, and a received signal strength measurement for each of the plurality of gateway signals, with received signal strength modeling, by accessing the signal map stored in the storage,
compare a plurality of received signal strength measurements of a respective plurality of gateway signals to the signal map, and
determine an estimated location of the proximate wireless-enabled personal locator device.

19. The system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
process the plurality of gateway signals, including a personal locator device identification and the gateway device identification for each of the plurality of gateway signals, with trilateration, the personal locator device identification originating from a wireless-enabled personal locator device.

20. A system for providing awareness in a multi-space environment, the system comprising:
an 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;
a server 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:
process a plurality of gateway signals from a plurality of gateway devices of the array of gateway devices with trilateration, the plurality of gat

Assignees

• Enseo Llc

Inventors

• Miller Thomas R
• Fang William C
• Ogle Vanessa

Classifications

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• H04W88/16

  Gateway arrangements · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04N21/414

  Specialised client platforms, e.g. receiver in car or embedded in a mobile appliance · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title