Method and apparatus for estimating location in a terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017195834-A1
Application number	US-201615346141-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 8, 2016
Priority date	Jan 5, 2016
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, and technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the above technologies, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services.
A method and apparatus for estimating a location in a terminal are provided. The method includes calculating locations of the terminal and a tag, calculating information about movement of the terminal using a motion sensor, and correcting the calculated location of the tag based on information about the movement of the terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for estimating a location in a terminal, the method comprising:
calculating locations of the terminal and a tag; calculating information about movement of the terminal using a motion sensor; and correcting the calculated location of the tag based on information about the movement of the terminal.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating of locations of the terminal and a tag comprises calculating the location of the tag based on a first direction angle of a signal received from the tag.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the information about the movement of the terminal is calculated based on a received signal strength indicator of the signal received from the tag.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the correcting of the calculated location of the tag comprises:
measuring a second direction angle based on the movement of the terminal; determining a direction angle of the tag by combining the second direction angle with the information about the movement of the terminal, if a received signal strength indicator of a signal received if the second direction angle is measured is greater than a received signal strength indicator of a signal received if the first direction angle is measured; and determining the first direction angle to be the direction angle of the tag, if the received signal strength indicator or a variation in the received signal strength indicator is less than a current value.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the correcting of the calculated location of the tag comprises:
measuring a second direction angle based on the movement of the terminal; determining a direction angle of the tag by combining the second direction angle with the information about the movement of the terminal, if a beam width or a beam width variation of a signal received if the second direction angle is measured is less than a beam width or a beam width variation of a signal received if the first direction angle is measured; and determining the first direction angle to be the direction angle of the tag, if the beam width of the received signal is less than a current beam width or beam width variation.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information about the movement of the terminal includes information about at least one of an inclination variation of the terminal and a movement distance of the terminal.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an inclination variation of the motion sensor; and correcting the calculated location of the tag based on the inclination variation of the motion sensor.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an inclination variation of the motion sensor; and correcting the calculated location of the tag, if the inclination variation of the motion sensor is greater than or equal to a threshold; and maintaining the calculated location of the tag, if the inclination variation of the motion sensor is less than the threshold.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the location of the tag is calculated based on a direction of arrival (DoA) of a received signal.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the inclination variation of the motion sensor is sensed using at least one of a gravity sensor, a gyro senor, and an accelerometer sensor.

11 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein a movement distance of the tag is measured using at least one of a gyro senor and an accelerometer sensor, and wherein a direction angle of the tag is measured according to a trigonometric method.

12 . An apparatus for estimating a location in a terminal, the apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
calculate locations of the terminal and a tag, calculating information about movement of the terminal using a motion sensor, and
correct the calculated location of the tag based on information about the movement of the terminal.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to, if the controller calculates locations of the terminal and the tag, calculate the location of the tag based on a first direction angle of a signal received from the tag.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the information about the movement of the terminal is calculated based on a received signal strength indicator of the signal received from the tag.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to, if the controller corrects the calculated location of the tag:
measure a second direction angle based on the movement of the terminal, determine a direction angle of the tag by combining the second direction angle with the information about the movement of the terminal, if a received signal strength indicator of a signal received if the second direction angle is measured is greater than a received signal strength indicator of a signal received if the first direction angle is measured, and determine the first direction angle to be the direction angle of the tag, if the received signal strength indicator or a variation in the received signal strength indicator is less than a current value.

16 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to, if the controller corrects the calculated location of the tag:
measure a second direction angle based on the movement of the terminal, determine a direction angle of the tag by combining the second direction angle with the information about the movement of the terminal, if a beam width or a beam width variation of a signal received if the second direction angle is measured is less than a beam width or a beam width variation of a signal received if the first direction angle is measured, and determine the first direction angle to be the direction angle of the tag, if the beam width of the received signal is less than a current beam width or beam width variation.

17 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the information about the movement of the terminal includes information about at least one of an inclination variation of the terminal and a movement distance of the terminal.

18 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine an inclination variation of the motion sensor, correct the calculated location of the tag, if the inclination variation of the motion sensor is equal to or larger than a threshold, and maintain the calculated location of the tag, if the inclination variation of the motion sensor is smaller than the threshold.

19 . The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising:
the motion sensor, wherein the motion sensor is at least one of a gravity sensor, a gyro senor, and an accelerometer sensor.

20 . A method for estimating a location in an access point, the method comprising:
receiving a beacon signal from a tag; determining information about a distance to the tag; transmitting the determined information about the distance to a terminal; and receiving, from the terminal, information about a location of the tag corrected based on information about movement of the terminal and the information about the distance.

21 . An apparatus for estimating a location in an access point, the apparatus comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a beacon signal from a tag; and a transmitter configured to:
determine information about a distance to the tag, and
transmit the determined information about the distance to a terminal,
wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, from the termin

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Na In-Hak
• Moon Sang-Jun
• Seo Sin-Seok
• Chang Sang-Hyun
• Choi Dae-Kyu

Classifications

• G01S3/48

  the waves arriving at the antennas being continuous or intermittent and the phase difference of signals derived therefrom being measured · CPC title

• G01S5/12 Primary

  by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial · CPC title

• G01S5/0258 Primary

  by combining or switching between measurements derived from different systems · CPC title

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• G01S5/0263

  by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems · CPC title