Position accuracy using sensor data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025172688-A1
Application number	US-202519036229-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 24, 2025
Priority date	Mar 11, 2021
Publication date	May 29, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are provided for determining a location of a mobile device based on visual positioning solution (VPS). An example method for determining a position estimate of a mobile device includes obtaining sensor information, detecting one or more identifiable features in the sensor information, determining a range to at least one of the one or more identifiable features, obtaining coarse map information, determining a location of the at least one of the one or more identifiable features based on the coarse map information, and determining the position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the range to the at least one of the one or more identifiable features.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for determining a position estimate of a mobile device, comprising:
obtaining coarse position information for the mobile device; obtaining, based at least in part on the coarse position information, map information for an area proximate to a coarse position of the mobile device corresponding to the coarse position information; obtaining sensor information including at least one image; detecting one or more visually-identifiable features in the at least one image of the sensor information; determining an orientation of the mobile device based at least in part on an orientation of each of at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features in at least a respective one of the at least one image; and determining the position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the coarse position information and the orientation of the mobile device.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more visually-identifiable features includes at least one of a street corner, a building corner, a sidewalk corner, an intersection, a crosswalk, a street light, a traffic light, and a stop sign marker line, or any combination thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the coarse position information is based at least in part on signals received from one or more satellites in a satellite navigation system.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the coarse position information is based at least in part on signals received from a cellular communication system.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining a range from the mobile device to at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features; and
determining a location of each of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features, wherein the position estimate is based at least in part on the range from the mobile device to each of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features and the location of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein determining the range from the mobile device to the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features is based on an output of a remote sensor.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the remote sensor is a lidar device or a radar device.

8 . The method of claim 6 wherein the remote sensor is an optical sensor.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the one or more visually-identifiable features in the sensor information includes performing an optical character recognition process on at least one of the at least one image.

10 . An apparatus, comprising:
at least one memory; at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory and the at least one transceiver, and configured to:
obtain coarse position information for a mobile device;
obtain, based at least in part on the coarse position information, map information for an area proximate to a coarse position of the mobile device corresponding to the coarse position information;
obtain sensor information including at least one image;
detect one or more visually-identifiable features in the at least one image of the sensor information;
determine an orientation of the mobile device based at least in part on an orientation of each of at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features in at least a respective one of the at least one image; and
determine a position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the coarse position information and the orientation of the mobile device.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the one or more visually-identifiable features includes at least one of a street corner, a building corner, a sidewalk corner, an intersection, a crosswalk, a street light, a traffic light, and a stop sign marker line, or any combination thereof.

12 . The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain the coarse position information based at least in part on signals received by the GNSS receiver.

13 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain the coarse position information based at least in part on signals transmitted by one or more stations in a cellular communication system.

14 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine a range from the mobile device to at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features;
determine a location of each of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features; and
determine the position estimate based at least in part on the range from the mobile device to each of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features and the location of each of the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the range from the mobile device to the at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features based on an output of a remote sensor.

16 . The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising at least one lidar device or at least one radar device, wherein the at least one processor is communicatively coupled to the at least one lidar device or the at least one radar device.

17 . The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising at least one optical sensor, wherein the at least one processor is communicatively coupled to the at least one optical sensor.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform an optical character recognition process on at least one of the at least one image to detect the one or more visually-identifiable features in the sensor information.

19 . An apparatus for determining a position estimate of a mobile device, comprising:
means for obtaining coarse position information for the mobile device; means for obtaining, based at least in part on the coarse position information, map information for an area proximate to a coarse position of the mobile device corresponding to the coarse position information; means for obtaining sensor information including at least one image; means for detecting one or more visually-identifiable features in the at least one image of the sensor information; means for determining an orientation of the mobile device based at least in part on an orientation of each of at least one of the one or more visually-identifiable features in at least a respective one of the at least one image; and means for determining the position estimate for the mobile device based at least in part on the coarse position information and the orientation of the mobile device.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the one or more visually-identifiable features includes at least one of a street corner, a building corner, a sidewalk corner, an intersection, a crosswalk, a street light, a traffic light, and a stop sign marker line, or any combination thereof.

21 . The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising means for receiving signals from one or more satellite vehicles, wherein the coarse position information is based at least in part on signals received from the one or more satellites vehicles.

22 . The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising means for receiving

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Nirula Gautam
• Morrison William

Classifications

• G01S19/10

  providing dedicated supplementary positioning signals · CPC title

• G01S13/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S13/865

  Combination of radar systems with lidar systems · CPC title

• G01S19/071

  DGPS corrections · CPC title

• G06V20/63

  Scene text, e.g. street names · CPC title