Locating position within enclosure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9612121-B2
Application number	US-201213706621-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2012
Priority date	Dec 6, 2012
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for locating a position within an enclosure. In one example, known global coordinates (e.g., GPS coordinates of latitude/longitude) associated with the position within the enclosure may be transformed into local coordinates (e.g., x/y coordinates) for the position. The local coordinates may be used for tracking a location of the position within the enclosure. In another example, known local coordinates of the position within the enclosure may be transformed into global coordinates for the position, which may be used for tracking a location of the position within the enclosure. In another example, a blueprint image of the enclosure may be used to track a location of the position within the enclosure. In this way, location tracking may be provided for objects within indoor spaces (e.g., a mapping application may track a current position of a mobile device within a building).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:
obtaining, from a first global positioning system (GPS) device, origin point global coordinates of a global coordinate system for an origin point associated with a physical enclosure;
obtaining, from a second GPS device, reference point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for a reference point associated with the physical enclosure, the reference point different than the origin point;
determining a first axis of a local coordinate system associated with the physical enclosure, the first axis extending from the origin point;
determining an azimuth gamma from a directional reference line to the first axis, the directional reference line extending in a known direction from the origin point at the origin point global coordinates, the determining an azimuth gamma comprising:
determining an azimuth beta from the directional reference line to a reference point line connecting the origin point at the origin point global coordinates to the reference point at the reference point global coordinates based upon the origin point and the reference point;
determining an angle delta from the first axis to the reference point line; and
determining the azimuth gamma based upon the azimuth beta and the angle delta;

determining an azimuth alpha from the directional reference line to a given point line connecting the origin point at the origin point global coordinates to a given point within the physical enclosure, the determining an azimuth alpha comprising:
determining an angle theta between the first axis and the given point line based upon given point local coordinates of the local coordinate system for the given point; and
determining the azimuth alpha based upon the angle theta and the azimuth gamma;

determining given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for the given point based upon the azimuth alpha and a given point line length of the given point line; and
determining a physical position of an object within the physical enclosure based upon the given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system; and displaying, through a user interface on a mobile device, the object at the physical position within a digital representation of the physical enclosure.

2. The method of claim 1 , the physical enclosure comprising a building and the physical position corresponding to a location within the building.

3. The method of claim 1 , the given point line disposed between the directional reference line and the reference point line.

4. The method of claim 1 , the first axis disposed between the directional reference line and the given point line.

5. The method of claim 1 , the determining an azimuth beta comprising:
utilizing an inverse geodetic problem solution to determine the azimuth beta.

6. The method of claim 1 , the determining given point global coordinates comprising:
utilizing a direct geodetic problem solution to determine the given point global coordinates.

7. A computer readable device comprising instructions that when executed perform operations comprising:
obtaining, from a first global positioning system (GPS) device, origin point global coordinates of a global coordinate system for an origin point associated with a physical enclosure;
obtaining, from a second GPS device, reference point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for a reference point associated with the physical enclosure, the reference point different than the origin point;
determining a first axis of a local coordinate system associated with the physical enclosure, the first axis extending from the origin point;
determining an azimuth gamma from a directional reference line to the first axis, the directional reference line extending in a known direction from the origin point at the origin point global coordinates, the determining an azimuth gamma comprising:
determining an azimuth beta from the directional reference line to a reference point line connecting the origin point at the origin point global coordinates to the reference point at the reference point global coordinates based upon the origin point and the reference point;
determining an angle delta from the first axis to the reference point line; and
determining the azimuth gamma based upon the azimuth beta and the angle delta;

determining an azimuth alpha from the directional reference line to a given point line connecting the origin point at the origin point global coordinates to a given point within the physical enclosure;
determining an angle theta between the first axis and the given point line based upon the azimuth gamma and the azimuth alpha;
determining given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for the given point based upon the angle theta and a given point line length of the given point line; and
displaying, through a user interface on a mobile device, an object at a physical position within a digital representation of the physical enclosure based upon the given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system.

8. The computer readable device of claim 7 , the determining an azimuth alpha comprising:
utilizing an inverse geodetic problem solution to determine the azimuth alpha.

9. The computer readable device of claim 8 , the inverse geodetic problem solution comprising an inverse chord equation.

10. The computer readable device of claim 7 , the first axis disposed between the directional reference line and the given point line.

11. The computer readable device of claim 7 , the physical enclosure comprising a building, the origin point corresponding to a first portion of the building, and the reference point corresponding to a second portion of the building.

12. The computer readable device of claim 7 , the given point corresponding to a wireless communication access point.

13. A system, comprising:
one or more processing units; and
memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processing units perform operations comprising:
obtaining, from a first global positioning system (GPS) device, origin point global coordinates of a global coordinate system for an origin point associated with a physical enclosure;
obtaining, from a second GPS device, reference point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for a reference point associated with the physical enclosure, the reference point different than the origin point;
determining a first axis of a local coordinate system associated with the physical enclosure, the first axis extending from the origin point;
determining an azimuth gamma from a directional reference line to the first axis, the determining an azimuth gamma comprising:
determining an azimuth beta from the directional reference line to a reference point line connecting the origin point at the origin point global coordinates to the reference point at the reference point global coordinates based upon the origin point and the reference point;
determining an angle delta from the first axis to the reference point line; and
determining the azimuth gamma based upon the azimuth beta and the angle delta;

determining given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system for a given point based upon the azimuth gamma; and
determining a physical position of an object within the physical enclosure based upon the given point global coordinates of the global coordinate system; and

displaying, through a user interface on a mobile device, the object at the physical position within a digital representation of the physical enclosure.

14. The system of claim 13 , the deter

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Beermann Mattias
• Ferrell John Ian
• Un Edward
• Wang Kai
• Zhao Jun

Classifications

• G01S5/013 Primary

  Identifying areas in a building · CPC title

• G01S19/48

  by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system · CPC title

• G01C21/206 Primary

  specially adapted for indoor navigation · CPC title

• G01S19/51

  Relative positioning · CPC title