Sonitor Technologies as

Forkbeard Technologies as

Polight as

Wilfred Edwin Booij

Cyril Antille

Endre Bakka

Oystein Haug Olsen

Magnus Oplenskedal

Ib-Rune Johansen

Dag Thorstein Wang

Karl Henrik Haugholt

Frode Tyholdt

Mattheus Franciscus Albertus Ten Veldhuis

Fritjof Boger Engelhardtsen

Arne Øyen

Vladimir Kartashov

Lars Henriksen

Morten Eliassen

Øysten Haug Olsen

Jon Herman Ulvensøen

Elad Shabtai

Vincent Martello Kwie Hoe Thio

Knut Osvald Welle

Øystein Haug Olsen

Jon Herman Ulvensoen

Jonas Tysso

Kristian Lund

Mattheus Franciscus Ten Veldhuis

Kjetil Haslum

Terje Aasen

Hans Magnus Ewald

Knut Welle

ØYstein Haug Olsen

ØYstein Olsen

Dag Torstein Wang

Johansen Ib-Rune

Arne ØYen

Arne Oyen

Endre Bakke

Thys Ten Veldhuis

In a positioning system, a plurality of transmitter units () transmit respective locating signals which are received at a mobile receiver unit (). A processing system () identifies the transmitter unit that transmitted each locating signal, and determines, for each transmitter unit, range data representative of a respective distance between the transmitter unit and the mobile receiver unit. The processing system determines a position estimate for the mobile receiver unit () by solving an optimisation problem that depends on i) the range data determined for the plurality of transmitter units, ii) data representative of the positions of the plurality of transmitter units in an environment (), and iii) data representative of a position of a surface () in the environment, by optimising for an objective function comprising a cost term that depends on a distance between the surface and the position estimate.

Positioning using cost terms

In a positioning system () for estimating the position of a mobile device (), a processing system () receives external-range data, representative of a range between the mobile device and an external unit (), and acceleration data representative of acceleration of the mobile device due to its movement as it is carried by a person (). The acceleration data is processed in a step-detection algorithm to determine step-distance data representative of a time series of step-data-based distances travelled by the mobile device, and step-distance data is processed to determine a step-data-based position estimate for the mobile device. A position estimate for the mobile device is determined by solving an optimisation problem comprising a first cost term based on distance to positions located at said range from the external unit, and a second cost term based on distance to the step-data-based position estimate or to positions located at a step-data-based distance from said step-data-based position estimate.

Step-based positioning

The present disclosure relates to an acoustic position determination system that includes a mobile communication device and at least one base transmitter unit. The mobile communication device is configured to transmit and receive acoustic signals. Due to relative movements between the mobile communication device and the base transmitter unit, frequencies of the received signals shift due to Doppler effect. The mobile communication device is configured to compensate Doppler frequency shifts in the received acoustic signals prior to performing a deconvolution decoding process. The mobile communication device is further configured to compensate Doppler frequency shifts and perform deconvolution decoding process on acoustic signals received from multiple signal transmission paths.

Position determination system having a deconvolution decoder

A communication device including a clock, a memory, and at least one processor is disclosed. The at least one processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory that cause the at least one processor to perform operations including receiving at least one message from a second communication device of a plurality of communication devices over a preconfigured time duration, determining a first local time of the clock of the communication device at which the at least one message from the second communication device is received, and determining a sync-time of the second communication device based on the at least one message from the second communication device. The operations include mapping the sync-time of the second communication device based on the first local time and the determined sync-time of the second communication device and adjusting a sync-time of the communication device based on the second local time.

Master-less device coordination in location positioning system

An acoustic location determination system is disclosed. The system includes one or more transmitting devices and one or more mobile devices. The transmitting device includes a first transducer configured to transmit first acoustic signals having a first frequency, and a second transducer configured to transmit second acoustic signals having a second frequency. The transmitting device further includes a beacon device configured to transmit beacon data via a short-range wireless communication technique. The transmitting device further includes one or more control devices configured to select the first or second acoustic signals based at least in part on one or more operating capabilities of one or more mobile units associated with the real-time locating system. The one or more control devices are further configured to cause transmission of the selected acoustic signals and the beacon data.

Transmitting device for use in location determination systems

An acoustic model determination approach for a real-time locating system is disclosed. The system includes one or more transmitting devices and one or more mobile devices. The acoustic model may be determined by deriving an acoustic representation of sub-structures within the building, and then forming the acoustic model based on the acoustic representation and the location and orientation of the static acoustic transmitting device. In another embodiment, an acoustic signal is transmitted from a static acoustic transmitting device, with the reflected signals received by the same static acoustic transmitting device in a receiving mode. Based on these received acoustic signals, the acoustic model is formed based on the reflected signals and the location and orientation of the static acoustic transmitting device.

Acoustic positioning transmitter and receiver system and method

An approach for providing a lower cost real time location system in less trafficked areas of a building. This approach uses on-board audio capabilities of a mobile device to receive a room response trace resulting from a self-generated acoustic signal. By comparing the room response trace to a modeled room response trace, the location of the mobile device is determined.

Ad hoc positioning of mobile devices using near ultrasound signals

An approach for product localization is described that includes detecting one or more movement activities of a user in an indoor environment, and determining a respective position for each of the one or more movement activities using a sensor associated with the user. The approach further includes identifying one or more stoppage locations from the detected one or more movement activities, and receiving a list of one or more purchased items purchased by the user in the indoor environment. Finally, the approach further includes correlating at least one of the more purchased items with at least one of the one or more stoppage locations, and predicting the location of the one or more purchased items based on the correlating.

Method and system for automated product localization through mobile data analysis

A positioning system comprising a processing system () configured to receive a first position estimate for a mobile device (), and to receive data representative of an acoustic signal received by the mobile device () from one of a plurality of acoustic transmitter units (). For each of the acoustic transmitter units (), the processing system () determines spatial likelihood data representative of a likelihood of the received acoustic signal having been transmitted by the respective acoustic transmitter unit by comparing a time-of-flight range value with a geometric distance value, representative of a distance between the acoustic transmitter unit and the first position estimate. The processing system () processes the spatial likelihood data to identify a subset of the acoustic transmitter units, and processes information relating to the positions of the acoustic transmitter units in the identified subset and/or relating to the acoustic signals transmitted by the acoustic transmitter units in the identified subset, to determine a second position estimate for the mobile device ().

Likelihood-based acoustic positioning

A receiving apparatus () that can estimate a motion-induced frequency shift in a received signal comprises a processing system () and a receiver () configured to receive a signal comprising one or more instances of a transmitted signal. The processing system () is configured to generate data representative of a plurality of impulse response functions by deconvolving the received signal with each of a plurality of templates representative of the transmitted signal shifted in frequency by a different respective frequency shift. The processing system () is further configured to evaluate a signal-to-noise measure for each of the plurality of impulse response functions, and to identify an impulse response function of the plurality of impulse response functions for which the signal-to-noise measure satisfies a peak criterion.

Frequency-shift determination

Systems and methods of estimating a location of a mobile computing device are provided. For instance, acoustic signals can be received from one or more transmitting devices associated with a real-time locating system. A set of peaks can be selected from the received acoustic signals. A first set of transmitter locations can be assigned to the selected set of peaks. The first set of transmitter locations can be specified by an acoustic model specifying a plurality of transmitter locations within an acoustic environment in which the one or more transmitting devices are located. A first model path trace associated with the first set of transmitter locations can be compared to the received acoustic signals. A location of the mobile computing device can be estimated based at least in part on the comparison.

Location determination using acoustic models

A transmitter is disclosed. The transmitter includes a clock configured to generate one or more output clock signals. The transmitter further includes at least one frequency divider configured to generate a plurality of divided frequencies based on the one or more output clock signals, and a modulator. The transmitter also includes at least one antenna or transducer configured to transmit modulated data. The transmitter includes a memory configured to store instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute instructions performing operations including mapping data to a decimal code value of a plurality of decimal code values, converting the decimal code value to a shrinking base system, and selecting a set of frequencies among the plurality of divided frequencies based on the code value corresponding to the shrinking base system for the decimal code value. The modulator may be configured to modulate the decimal code value using the set of frequencies.

Orthogonal frequency scheme for narrowband acoustic signaling

The present disclosure relates to a location determination system that includes acoustic transmitting devices, location tags, and a wireless mesh network, where the wireless mesh network uses battery-powered devices. A location tag receives acoustic signals (e.g., ultrasound signals) from an acoustic transmitting device. Clocks from members of the wireless mesh network are synchronized by observation of clock pairings, each clock pair formed by respective clocks in a transmitting device that transmits a message and a receiving device that receives the message. By analyzing the observed clock pairings, a best fit between the clock pairings may be determined. After selecting a reference clock, an acoustic transmission schedule may be propagated to the respective acoustic transmitting device.

Location determination system having mesh infrastructure to reduce power consumption

The present disclosure relates to a location determination system that includes acoustic transmitting devices and mobile devices. A mobile device receives acoustic signals (e.g., ultrasound signals) from an acoustic transmitting device. The mobile device must be able to identify the acoustic transmitting device with particularity when receiving the acoustic signals. It is more efficient to use a short identifier, for example 6 bits, for this purpose because it requires less power to transmit and decode. By utilizing the rotating identifier system described herein, more acoustic transmitting devices can be distinguished than using a time-invariant identifier would otherwise provide, and the transmissions are more secure and therefore less vulnerable to free-riders.

Location determination system having rotating identifiers for distinguishing transmitters

In a positioning system, a plurality of transmitter units () transmit respective transmitter-specific identification signals at intervals, which are received at a mobile receiver unit (). A processing system () identifies the transmitter unit that transmitted each received identification signal, and, for each signal, determines range data from time of arrival data and determines distance data from Doppler shift information. The range data and distance data are compared to determine range error data. A position estimate for the mobile receiver unit () is determined by solving an optimisation problem using range estimates determined for the plurality of transmitter units, weighted in dependence on the range error data.

Growing community of inventors

Nordby, Norway

Wilfred Edwin Booij