Method and device for determining distance between devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016212587-A1
Application number	US-201615002872-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 21, 2016
Priority date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of determining a distance between devices, including receiving, by a device, a first signal from a target device, the first signal being associated with a first intensity; receiving, from a reference device located at a predetermined distance from the target device, intensity information corresponding to a second intensity associated with a second signal received by the reference device from the target device; and determining a distance between the device and the target device based on the first intensity and the intensity information corresponding to the second intensity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of determining a distance between devices, the method comprising:
receiving, by a device, a first signal from a target device, the first signal being associated with a first intensity; receiving, from a reference device located at a predetermined distance from the target device, intensity information corresponding to a second intensity associated with a second signal received by the reference device from the target device; and determining a distance between the device and the target device based on the first intensity and the intensity information corresponding to the second intensity.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the distance comprises comparing the second intensity, which corresponds to the preset distance between the target device and the reference device, with the first intensity.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first signal is broadcasted from the target device at an output intensity, and the second signal is broadcasted from the target device at the output intensity.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensity information comprises a packet including a power value indicating the second intensity from the reference device.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
decoding the received packet; and acquiring the power value from the decoded packet.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring, from the target device, reference intensity information indicating an intensity of a received signal per a unit distance, which has been predetermined by the target device; and determining channel state between the device and the target device by comparing the reference intensity information with the intensity information.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensity information corresponding to the second intensity is generated by the reference device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second signal is transmitted by the target device located at the predetermined distance from the reference device.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the intensity information comprises information about the second intensity and the predetermined distance.

10 . A device for determining a distance between devices, the device comprising:
a communicator configured to receive a first signal from a target device, the first signal being associated with a first intensity, and to receive, from a reference device located at a predetermined distance from the target device, intensity information corresponding to a second intensity of a second signal received by the reference device from the target device; and a controller configured to determine a distance between the device and the target device based on first intensity and the intensity information corresponding to the second intensity.

11 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine the distance between the device and the target device by comparing the second intensity, which corresponds to the predetermined distance between the target device and the reference device, and the first intensity.

12 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the first signal is broadcasted from the target device at an output intensity, and the second signal is broadcasted from the target device at the output intensity.

13 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the communicator is further configured to receive a packet including a power value indicating the second intensity from the reference device.

14 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to decode the received packet and acquire the power value from the decoded packet.

15 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the communicator is further configured to acquire, from the target device, reference intensity information indicating an intensity of a received signal per a unit distance, which has been predetermined by the target device, and
the controller is further configured to determine a channel state between the device and the target device by comparing the reference intensity information with the intensity information.

16 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the intensity information corresponding to the second intensity is generated by the reference device.

17 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the second signal is transmitted by the target device located at the predetermined distance from the reference device.

18 . The reference device of claim 17 , wherein the intensity information comprises information about the second intensity and predetermined distance.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having recorded thereon a computer-readable program for executing the method of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Ho-Sik
• Ji Jianxun
• Chen Zili
• Park Hyun-Cheol
• Lee Won-Suck

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04W4/005

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title