FIRST DEVICE, SECOND DEVICE, THIRD DEVICE, RESPECTIVELY IN A POSITIONING SYSTEM, POSITIONING SYSTEM AND METHOD

Abstract

Devices in a positioning system are described. In an example, a first device in the positioning system is configured to detect whether the first device is moving or stationary. The first device periodically send a first signal to a second device in the positioning system as long as the first device is not stationary, the first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information. When detecting that the first device is stationary the first device is further configured to send a second signal to the second device, the second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, and to stop sending the first signal.

Claims

1. A first device in a positioning system, wherein the first device is configured to detect whether the first device is moving or stationary, the first device is configured to periodically send a first signal to a second device in the positioning system as long as the first device is not stationary, the first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information, and wherein when detecting that the first device is stationary the first device is further configured to send a second signal to the second device, the second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, and to stop sending the first signal.

2. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device comprises: a sensor configured to detect a movement of the first device and accordingly provide a movement information, a first device processing unit configured to provide at least one data packet comprising the localization enabling information and a flag bit, wherein the flag bit is indicative of the first device's movement detected by the sensor, and a first device radio frequency (RF) transceiver implementing transmission according to a short range radio standard, the first device RF transceiver being configured to receive the at least one data packet from the first device processing unit and therefrom provide the first or the second signal.

3. The first device according to claim 2, wherein the first device processing unit is configured to set the flag bit according to the movement information provided by the sensor.

4. The first device according to claim 2, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of: a gyro sensor, or an accelerometer, or a compass or a magnetometer.

5. A second device in a positioning system, wherein the second device is configured to receive at least one first and at least one second signal from a first device in the positioning system, each first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information, each second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, the second device being further configured to upon reception of each first signal extract the localization enabling information and calculate at least a direction of said first signal from the localization enabling information and send the extracted localization information or send at least the calculated direction together with an identification information of the first device to a third device in the positioning system, and upon reception of the second signal the second device is configured to stop extracting the localization enabling information and calculating the direction, to send a stop message together with the identification information of the first device to the third device, to stop sending any data of the first device to the third device and to release computing and storage resources allocated to the first device.

6. The second device according to claim 5, wherein the second device comprises: a second device radio frequency (RF) transceiver implementing reception according to a short range radio standard, the second device RF transceiver being configured to receive the first and the second signal and therefrom provide a data packet comprising the localization enabling information and a flag bit, wherein the flag bit is indicative of the first device's movement, and a second device processing unit configured to provide the stop message based on a value of the flag bit.

7. A third device in a positioning system, wherein the third device is configured to: receive from a second device in the positioning system a localization enabling information or at least calculated directions in each case together with an identification information of a first device in the positioning system to which the localization enabling information or the directions are accorded and to determine therefrom a position of the first device, receive from the second device a stop message together with the identification information of the first device, determine from the stop message that the first device identified by the identification information is stationary, to store a previously calculated position of the identified first device and release computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device.

8. A positioning system comprising: a first device, and a second device, wherein the first device is configured to detect whether the first device is moving or stationary, the first device is configured to periodically send a first signal to the second device in the positioning system as long as the first device is not stationary, the first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information, and when detecting that the first device is stationary the first device is operable to send a second signal to the second device, the second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, and to stop sending the first signal, and wherein the second device is configured to receive at least one first and at least one second signal from the first device, each first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information, each second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, the second device being operable to, upon reception of each first signal, extract the localization enabling information, calculate at least a direction of said first signal from the localization enabling information and send the extracted localization information or send at least the calculated direction together with an identification information of the first device to a third device, and upon reception of the second signal, the second device is operable to stop extracting the localization enabling information and calculating the direction, to send a stop message together with the identification information of the first device to the third device, to stop sending any data of the first device to the third device, and to release computing and storage resources allocated to the first device.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a third device configured to: receive from the second device in the positioning system a localization enabling information or at least calculated directions in each case together with an identification information of the first device in the positioning system to which the localization enabling information or the directions are accorded and to determine therefrom a position of the first device, receive from the second device a stop message together with the identification information of the first device, determine from the stop message that the first device identified by the identification information is stationary, to store a previously calculated position of the identified first device and release computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device.

10. A method comprising: continuously checking, by a first device in a positioning system, whether it is moving or stationary, periodically sending, by the first device, a first signal to a second device in the positioning system as long as the first device is moving, the first signal comprising at least a localization enabling information, when detecting, by the first device, that it is stationary, sending, by the first device, a second signal to the second device, the second signal indicating that the first device is stationary, and stopping, by the first device, sending the first signal.

11. A method according to claim 10 further comprising: receiving, by the second device, the first signal from the first device, therefrom extracting, by the second device, the localization enabling information and calculating at least a direction of said first signal using the localization enabling information and sending, by the second device, the extracted localization enabling information or at least the calculated direction together with an identification information of the first device to a third device in the positioning system, receiving, by the second device, the second signal from the first device, stopping, by the second device, extracting the localization enabling information and calculating the direction, sending, by the second device, a stop message together with the identification information of the first device to the third device, stopping, by the second device, sending any data of the first device to the third device, and releasing, by the second device, computing and storage resources related to the first device.

12. A method according to claim 11 further comprising: receiving, by the third device, from the second device the localization enabling information or the calculated directions together with the identification information of the first device to which the localization enabling information and the directions are accorded and therefrom determining, by the third device, a position of the first device, receiving, by the third device, from the second device a stop message together with the identification information of the first device, determining, by the third device, from the stop message that the first device identified by the identification information is stationary, storing, by the third device, a previously calculated position of the identified first device and releasing, by the third device, any computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device.

13. A method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting, by the first device, that it is stationary further comprises checking, by the first device, whether it has been stationary for a predetermined amount of time and then sending, by the first device, the second signal to the second device.

14. A method according to claim 10, wherein the sending, by the first device, the first signal to the second device in the positioning system and the sending, by the first device, the second signal to the second device each respectively comprises providing at least one data packet comprising the localization enabling information and a flag bit, setting the flag bit according to the first device's movement, and providing respectively the first signal and the second signal using the at least one data packet, the first signal and the second signal each conforming to a short range radio standard.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the receiving, by the second device, the first signal from the first device, and the receiving, by the second device, the second signal from the first device, each respectively comprises extracting the at least one data packet from the first or second signal.

Description

[0050] The text below explains the proposed first device, second device, third device, positioning system and method in detail using exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings. Components and elements that are functionally identical or have an identical effect bear identical reference numbers. Insofar as parts or components correspond to one another in their function, a description of them will not be repeated in each of the following figures. Therein,

[0051] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a first device as proposed,

[0052] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a second device as proposed,

[0053] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a third device as proposed,

[0054] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a positioning system as proposed,

[0055] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary flowchart of a method as proposed,

[0056] FIG. 6 shows a exemplary embodiments of data packets as used in the proposed devices and method, and

[0057] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary overview of the system and method as proposed.

[0058] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a first device as proposed. The first device 10 is part of a positioning system. The first device 10 comprises a sensor 11, a first device processing unit 12, and a first device radio frequency, RF, transceiver 13. The sensor 11 is configured to detect a movement of the first device 10 and accordingly provide movement information. The first device processing unit 12 is configured to provide at least one data packet comprising localization enabling information and a flag bit. Therein the flag bit is indicative of the first device's movement detected by the sensor 11. The first device radio RF transceiver 13 implements transmission according to a short range radio standard, and is configured to receive the at least one data packet from the first device processing unit 22 and therefrom provide a first or a second signal. The first signal comprises at least localization enabling information, whereas the second signal indicates that the first device 10 is stationary and will stop sending the first signal.

[0059] The first device 10 may be implemented e.g. as a mobile device having UWB or Bluetooth, specifically as a UWB or Bluetooth tag, thereby realizing UWB positioning, e.g. as specified in IEEE 802.15.4, especially IEEE 802.15.4 a/z, or Bluetooth positioning, e.g. as specified in the BLE 5.1 standard.

[0060] Functioning of the first device will explained below with reference to FIG. 5.

[0061] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a second device as proposed. The second device 20 is also part of the positioning system. The second device 20 comprises a second device RF transceiver 21 implementing reception according to the short range radio standard and a second device processing unit 22. The second device RF transceiver 21 is configured to receive the first and the second signal from the first device and therefrom provide the data packet comprising the localization enabling information and the flag bit, which flag bit is indicative of the first device's movement. The second device processing unit 22 is configured to detect a value of the flag bit and to accordingly provide a stop message which is sent to a third device in case the second signal has been received.

[0062] The second device 20 may be implemented e.g. as a Bluetooth anchor point or a UWB reader in correspondence with the implementation of the first device.

[0063] The second device 20 may have a processor and storage means for realizing the functionality of the second device processing unit 22 described herein.

[0064] Functioning of the second device will explained below with reference to FIG. 5.

[0065] FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of a third device as proposed. The third device 30 is also part of the positioning system. The third device 30 has a third device processing unit 31 and a storage component 32. The processing unit 31 and the storage component 32 in conjunction implement the following tasks: obtain from a second device in the positioning system, e.g. the second device 20 described above, localization enabling information or at least calculated directions together with identification information of a first device in the positioning system to which the directions are accorded, e.g. the first device 10 described above, and to determine a position of the first device from the localization enabling information or the direction; receive from the second device 20 the stop message together with identification information of the first device 10, determine from the stop message that the first device 10 identified by the identification information is stationary, store a previously calculated position of the identified first device 10 and release computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device.

[0066] The third device 30 may be implemented as a positioning engine, i.e. a software component, on separate hardware, e.g. a computer, which is connected via a wired or wireless network to the second device, or as a software component reusing processing resources of the second device.

[0067] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a positioning system as proposed. The positioning system 40 has various first devices 10 and numerous second devices 20. Each of the first devices 10 coincides with the first device described above. Each of the second devices 20 coincides with the second device described above. Communication amongst first devices 10 and second devices 20, especially exchange of the first and the second signals, is implemented by using a short range radio standard, for example, Bluetooth, UWB, Wi-Fi or the like.

[0068] As long as a first device 10 in the system 40 is moving, as detected by its sensor, the device 10 periodically sends the first signal having localization enabling information. As soon as one of the first devices 10 detects that it is stationary, it sends out the second signal and stops sending the first signal during the period in which it is stationary. First and second signals are received or detected by at least one of the second devices 20. Depending on the value of the flag bit, the second device 20 decodes the first or the second signal. Localization enabling information provided with the first signal is computed in the second device 20. Upon detection of the second signal, the second device 20 learns that the first device 10 identified in the second signal is stationary and subsequently releases computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device 10.

[0069] Optionally the positioning system 40 may also have a third device 30. The third device 30 is in connection with each of the second devices 20. The third device 30 receives from at least one second device 20 localization enabling information or at least calculated directions, or angles together with identification information of a first device 10 to which the localization enabling information or the directions are accorded and determines therefrom a position of said first device 10. When the third device 30 receives a stop message from any second device 20, it determines that the first device 10 identified in the stop message is stationary, it stores a previously calculated position of the identified first device 10 and subsequently releases computing and storage resources allocated to the identified first device 10.

[0070] By means of the proposed first, second and third devices, 10, 20, 30, as well as the positioning system 40 described above, robust and accurate position estimation of moving first devices 10 is realized and waste of resources for stationary first devices 10 is prohibited.

[0071] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary flowchart of a method as proposed. The flowchart has method steps 100 as performed by the device 10 which is described above. In a first step 101 the first device collects data from the sensor, for instance an IMU sensor, to detect whether it is moving or stationary in a second step 102. Optionally, it is additionally checked in step 102 whether the stationary or non-moving status of the first device already persists for a predefined amount of time. In case it is detected that the first device is stationary and optionally has been stationary for the predetermined amount of time, the flag bit is set as shown in step 103. In case it is determined that the first device is moving, the flag bit is not set as shown in step 104. In both cases, as shown in step 105, the first or second signal is provided and sent. In case of usage of BLE5.1, an advertisement message is additionally equipped with the flag bit and sent out as the first signal or the second signal, wherein the first signal differs from the second signal in the value of the flag bit.

[0072] The flowchart also shows method steps 200 which are performed by the second device 20 as described above. In the step 201, the second device receives the first or the second signal via wireless communication according to the short range radio standard. The received signal is decoded and in step 202 it is determined whether the flag bit is set or not. In case the flag bit is set, which signifies that the first device which is identified in the received second signal is stationary, data related to the identified first device, like previously calculated directions, is stored and subsequently said data is down prioritized in step 203. Furthermore, a stop message together with identification information of the identified first device is sent to the third device as shown in step 204. In the opposite case in which the flag bit is not set, signifying that the identified first device 10 is still moving, the localization enabling information provided with the first signal is extracted and directions, or angles, or a distance are calculated with respect to the first device in step 205. The calculated data is kept in active storage in step 206. Optionally, said calculated data is sent to the third device as depicted in step 207.

[0073] The flowchart also shows optional method steps 300 which are performed by the third device 30 as described above. In step 301, the third device receives from the second device a calculated direction, or calculated angles, or a calculated distance for the identified first device and therefrom determines a position of the first device. In case of receipt of the stop message from the second device which also contains an ID of the first device as of step 302, the third device determines that the identified first device is stationary, and therefore stores a previously calculated position of the first device until new data for said first device arrives. Subsequently, computing and active storage resources for the identified first device are released.

[0074] In the depicted example the flag bit is set in case the first device is stationary. In an alternative implementation the flag bit may be set in case the first device is moving and remain unset when the first device is stationary.

[0075] FIG. 6 shows exemplary embodiments of data packets as used in the devices and method as proposed. As an example, the structure of BLE5.1 direction finding packets or advertisement packets is depicted. From top to bottom three different direction finding packets are shown, each of which represents one data packet as defined above. Starting from the left side with the least significant bit, LSB, to the right side with the most significant bit, MSB, each packet has a preamble 1, a resolvable ID 2, corresponding to the identification information of the first device, a packet data unit 3, a medium access control, MAC, address 4 and a constant tone extension, CTE, 5. The PDU 3 may carry different data of the first device, for instance the IMU data, and it additionally has the flag bit 3a. At least one of these three packets is sent out by the first device on one advertisement channel as known to those skilled in the art. In an optional implementation all three packets depicted in FIG. 6 are transmitted using three different advertisement channels as defined in the BLE5.1 specification, for example.

[0076] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary overview of the system 40 and method as proposed. The depicted example relies on the usage of BLE direction finding, i.e. positioning using BLE. The first device 10 sends the first or the second signal S1, S2, each being structured as depicted in FIG. 6, for example, depending on whether or not its sensor has detected that it is stationary. The first signal S1 comprises at least localization enabling information. The first signal S1 further comprises the flag bit. The second signal S2 also comprises the flag bit which is set inverse to the flag bit of the first signal S1. The first or second signal S1, S2 is detected by various second devices 20 of the positioning system. Each of the second devices 20 which detects the first or second signal S1, S2 of the first device 10 decodes the received signal and forwards either extracted localization enabling information or calculated directions/angles to the third device 30 in case a first signal S1 was received with the first message M1, or the stop message M2. The first message M1 and the stop message M2 each also convey the ID of the first device 10. Other data, like data from an IMU sensor and/or a calculated angle, may also be included in the first message M1 and/or the stop message M2.

[0077] It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments and to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, features recited in separate dependent claims or in the description may advantageously be combined. Furthermore, the scope of the invention includes those variations and modifications which will be apparent to those skilled in the art and fall within the scope of the appended claims. The term “comprising” used in the claims or in the description does not exclude other elements or steps of a corresponding feature or procedure. In case that the terms “a” or “an” are used in conjunction with features, they do not exclude a plurality of such features. Moreover, any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

REFERENCE LIST

[0078] 1 preamble [0079] 2 ID [0080] 3 PDU [0081] 4 MAC address [0082] 5 CTE [0083] 10, 20, 30 device [0084] 40 system [0085] 11 sensor [0086] 12, 22, 31 processing unit [0087] 13, 21 RF transceiver [0088] 32 storage component [0089] 100, 200, 300 method steps [0090] 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 method step [0091] 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207 method step [0092] 301, 302 method step [0093] S1, S2 signal [0094] M1, M2 message