A system and method for identifying a person's location at a school, hotel, office, business, restaurant or other venue and tracking the movements of that person during their visit to the venue. One or more wireless virtual beacons communicate with the person's electronic device. The virtual beacons provide the system with real-time data about the person's whereabouts, allowing for the confirmation and tracking of the person at the location. A first non-limiting example of use, include a company that provides food and beverage allowing the person to place an order for food and beverages on their electronic device and having the order delivered to the person at their current location as determined by the system. Another non-limiting example includes a company performing analytics on the time and movement of its employees and customers.

The disclosure provides a method and a device for positioning in wireless communication. A first node transmits Q1 first-type radio signal(s) and transmits first information; wherein the Q1 first-type radio signal(s) is(are) transmitted by Q1 spatial parameter group(s) respectively; the first information includes a first Identifier (ID) and Q1 piece(s) of channel information, and the first information is used for indicating Q1 geographic position(s); the Q1 piece(s) of channel information is(are) based on a channel measurement(s) performed by a target node for the Q1 spatial parameter group(s) respectively, and the target node is identified by the first ID; and the Q1 spatial parameter group(s) cover(s) the Q1 geographic position(s) respectively. The disclosure can improve the precision of positioning and meanwhile keep a good compatibility with existing systems.

Disclosed are techniques and apparatuses for transmitting positioning beacon beams including transmitting a plurality of positioning beacon beams from a first node in a first time period using a first order of transmission. Then, the first node transmits the plurality of positioning beacon beams from a second time period using a second order of transmission, where the first order of transmission is different in the second order of transmission.

In an embodiment, a first node receives, from a second node, a plurality of beams. The first node determines a time of arrival of each beam of the plurality of beams. The first node identifies, from the plurality of beams, one or more first beams of interest for a positioning procedure based on the times of arrival of the plurality of beams. The first node determines a first reference timing based on the time of arrival for a given beam among the identified one or more first beams of interest. The first node sends, to the second node, a positioning beacon in accordance with the first reference timing.

One variation of a method includes: defining a first capacitance gradient of capacitance thresholds spanning a capacitive touch sensor; defining a first pressure gradient of pressure thresholds spanning a pressure sensor; reading a capacitance value from the capacitive touch sensor proximal a first location; detecting presence of a first input at the first location in response to the capacitance value exceeding a capacitance threshold assigned to the first location; reading a pressure value from the pressure sensor proximal the first location; detecting presence of a second input proximal the first location in response to the pressure value exceeding a pressure threshold; in response to detecting the first input and detecting the second input: merging the first input and the second input into a confirmed touch input; and generating a first touch image representing the first location and the pressure value of the confirmed touch input.

Methods for: (1) extracting Doppler/velocity measurements; (2) estimating relative clock bias errors; (3) determining range and velocity estimates with associated confidences; and (4) extracting range estimates using channel estimation are disclosed. These methods can be used separately or combined to improve positioning solutions obtained by positioning systems used in indoor locations and other GPS-denied environments.

Methods for: (1) extracting Doppler/velocity measurements; (2) estimating relative clock bias errors; (3) determining range and velocity estimates with associated confidences; and (4) extracting range estimates using channel estimation are disclosed. These methods can be used separately or combined to improve positioning solutions obtained by positioning systems used in indoor locations and other GPS-denied environments.

A method of combined direction finding (DF) and fine timing measurement (FTM) positioning in a wireless location area network (WLAN) is proposed. A multiple antenna IEEE 802.11 transmitting device (AP) can transmit signal preamble containing multiple Long Training Field (LTF) symbols in a radio frame from multiple antennas, which allows a receiving device (STA) to resolve multiple DF sounding signals transmitted from the multiple antennas and thereby estimating angle of departure (AoD). On the other hand, the AP can estimate angle of arrival (AoA) from radio signals transmitted from the STA. When the radial resolution error of AoD or AoA positioning increases, DF positioning and fine-timing measurement (FTM) ranging can be jointly applied to reduce the radial resolution error and extends the AoD/AoA service area with positing accuracy.

A method of combined direction finding (DF) and fine timing measurement (FTM) positioning in a wireless location area network (WLAN) is proposed. A multiple antenna IEEE 802.11 transmitting device (AP) can transmit signal preamble containing multiple Long Training Field (LTF) symbols in a radio frame from multiple antennas, which allows a receiving device (STA) to resolve multiple DF sounding signals transmitted from the multiple antennas and thereby estimating angle of departure (AoD). On the other hand, the AP can estimate angle of arrival (AoA) from radio signals transmitted from the STA. When the radial resolution error of AoD or AoA positioning increases, DF positioning and fine-timing measurement (FTM) ranging can be jointly applied to reduce the radial resolution error and extends the AoD/AoA service area with positing accuracy.

A control system of an article according to an embodiment includes a first transmitter having a first radio signal range, being mounted at a first location, and transmitting first position information relating to the first location, a second transmitter having a second radio signal range, being mounted at a second location, and transmitting second position information relating to the second location, the second radio signal range being narrower than the first radio signal range, an acquirer acquiring the first position information and the second position information, and a memory part, information relating to the article is associated with the first position information or the second position information and stored in the memory part.