Mobile terminal, and locating method and device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560623-B2
Application number	US-201314774876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A mobile terminal, and a locating method and device are provided, wherein the mobile terminal includes a first antenna, configured to transmit a first signal to an anchor node, wherein the first signal is used by the anchor node to detect the signal strength of the first antenna; a second antenna, arranged with the first antenna according to a preset angle and configured to transmit a second signal to the anchor node, wherein the second signal is used by the anchor node to detect the signal strength of the second antenna. The preset angle enables the coverage of the first antenna and the second antenna to be overlapped to some extent. The signal strength of the first antenna and the signal strength of the second antenna are used for determining a location of the mobile terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:
a first antenna, configured to transmit a first signal to an anchor node, wherein the first signal is used by the anchor node to detect the signal strength of the first antenna;
a second antenna, arranged with the first antenna at a preset angle and configured to transmit a second signal to the anchor node, wherein the second signal is used by the anchor node to detect the signal strength of the second antenna, there is an overlap between the coverage of the first antenna and that of the second antenna due to the preset angle, and the signal strength of the first antenna and the signal strength of the second antenna are used for determining the location of the mobile terminal.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the mobile terminal further comprises:
a radio frequency switch, connected with the first antenna and the second antenna, and configured to control the first antenna and the second antenna not in an open state or a closed state simultaneously.

3. A method for determining an angle between a mobile terminal and an anchor node, comprising:
determining the strength of a first signal transmitted by a first antenna of the mobile terminal;
determining the strength of a second signal transmitted by a second antenna of the mobile terminal, wherein the second antenna is arranged with the first antenna at a preset angle, and there is an overlap between the coverage of the first antenna and that of the second antenna due to the preset angle;
determining a relative angle between the mobile terminal and the anchor node according to a linear relation of a ratio of the strength of the first signal to the strength of the second signal.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein a calculation formula for determining the relative angle φ between the mobile terminal and the anchor node according to the linear relation of the ratio of the strength of the first signal to the strength of the second signal is as follows:

φ
=

RSSI
A

RSSI
B

⁢
k

,

where RSSI A is the strength of the first signal received from the first antenna, RSSI B is the strength of the second signal received from the second antenna, and k is a natural number.

5. A locating method, comprising:
determining, according to the strength of a first signal received by a plurality of anchor nodes and transmitted by a first antenna of a mobile terminal, and the strength of a second signal transmitted by a second antenna of the mobile terminal, a plurality of relative angles between the mobile terminal and the plurality of anchor nodes, wherein the second antenna and the first antenna are arranged at a preset angle, and there is an overlap between the coverage of the first antenna and that of the second antenna due to the preset angle;
determining the location of the mobile terminal according to the plurality of relative angles with the plurality of anchor nodes.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein when there are two anchor nodes, the method comprises:
determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, a plurality of relative angles between the mobile terminal and the two anchor nodes;
determining the location of the mobile terminal according to the plurality of relative angles with the two anchor nodes.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of determining the plurality of relative angles between the mobile terminal and the two anchor nodes according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna comprises:
determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, a first group of relative angles between the mobile terminal and the two anchor nodes, wherein the relative angles comprise: a first relative angle between the mobile terminal and a first anchor node, and a second relative angle between the mobile terminal and a second anchor node;
determining, according to the signal strength of an antenna group consisting of the first antenna and the second antenna after each rotation of the mobile terminal, a second group of relative angles, a third group of relative angles and a fourth group of relative angles, wherein the mobile terminal is rotated for three times, and is rotated by 90 degrees each time.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the relative angles are in a linear relation with ratio of the strength of first signal received from the first antenna to the strength of the second signal received from the second antenna.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the step of determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, the first group of relative angles between the mobile terminal and the two anchor nodes comprises:
determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, a first group of first relative angles between the first anchor node and the mobile terminal;
determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, a first group of second relative angles between the second anchor node and the mobile terminal.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the relative angles are in a linear relation with ratio of the strength of first signal received from the first antenna to the strength of the second signal received from the second antenna.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein after determining, according to the strength of the first signal transmitted by the first antenna and the strength of the second signal transmitted by the second antenna, the first group of second relative angles between the second anchor node and the mobile terminal, the method further comprises:
determining the location of the mobile terminal according to the first relative angles and the second relative angles.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the operation of determining the location of the mobile terminal according to the plurality of relative angles with the two anchor nodes comprises:
respectively selecting two relative angles with the strongest strength of the first signal or the second signal received by the two anchor nodes;
determining the location of the mobile terminal according to the two relative angles.

13. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the relative angles are in a linear relation with ratio of the strength of first signal received from the first antenna to the strength of the second signal received from the second antenna.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein a calculation formula of the relative angles φ is as follows:

φ
=

Assignees

• Zte Corp

Inventors

• Li Chao
• Leng Wen

Classifications

• G01S5/02

  using radio waves (using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00) · CPC title

• G01S5/0226

  Transmitters · CPC title

• G01S3/04

  Details · CPC title

• H04W64/00 Primary

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title