A seamless indoor and outdoor positioning method and system

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and system for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning, which solves the technical problem of indoor and outdoor positioning fusion, avoids the limitations of technical application, and adapts to the problem of indoor and outdoor positioning fusion in more situations. A transition zone is set in the critical area between indoors and outdoors, a group of at least two columns of Bluetooth beacons is established on the indoor side of the transition zone, and a GPS marker point is set on the outdoor side of the transition zone. On this basis, the fusion positioning from indoor to outdoor or from outdoor to indoor is realized through the control unit in the mobile terminal and the supporting software management program. The present invention can realize four-mode positioning, and can provide various combinations of indoor only, outdoor only, indoor and outdoor, indoor and outdoor with high-precision positioning, etc. according to different user needs, which is beneficial for management personnel to understand the trajectory status of the positioned personnel in real time. At the same time, it can also be applied in the field of intercom technology to realize intercom communication, fixed-point clocking in and inspection.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of Bluetooth and GPS positioning, and is mainly used for indoor and outdoor positioning of large factories, especially for achieving seamless combination when indoor and outdoor positioning are connected, so that the positioning track can be continuously positioned indoors and outdoors. Background Art

[0002] Indoor and outdoor positioning technologies are now widely used. Indoor positioning generally uses Bluetooth or wireless base stations, and outdoor positioning generally uses GPS or base station positioning. However, due to the large relative error of base station positioning, it is only used as a backup solution. Using Bluetooth for indoor positioning and GPS for outdoor positioning are the preferred positioning solutions.

[0003] Although there are positioning technologies for indoor and outdoor use, with the continuous advancement of technology and the continuous improvement of people's needs, higher requirements have been put forward in large industrial plants. Due to the needs of job responsibilities or the scope of work, some staff members need to be positioned in all aspects, including in the factory and all areas outside the factory. Therefore, the integration of indoor and outdoor positioning is involved. If the integration is not good, since there is a critical point between indoor and outdoor, the positioning point will be lost during the switching of positioning modes, and the actual movement trajectory cannot be reflected.

[0004] In order to solve the problem of indoor and outdoor positioning fusion, the existing technology is also constantly improving. For example, the ambient light detection unit set on the mobile terminal is used to determine whether it is indoors or outdoors, and then the positioning module is switched for positioning. This method solves the problem of indoor and outdoor fusion positioning to a certain extent, but its limitations are very obvious. Because the method of detecting ambient light is not easy to implement in all situations, for example, in dark weather or rainy season, the outdoor light is not necessarily brighter than the indoor light. In addition, if it is night, the indoor is even brighter than the outdoor. Therefore, this method obviously cannot meet the current needs.

[0005] When it comes to the indoor and outdoor positioning fusion technology itself, no matter which method is used, three issues must be considered: 1. The power issue. Since at least two modes must be used for positioning indoors and outdoors, the power consumption of the positioning module is extremely high when both modes are turned on; 2. Since there is a critical point between indoors and outdoors, the positioning point is easily lost during the switching of positioning modes; 3. Whether indoors or outdoors, how to improve the positioning accuracy can achieve a high degree of positioning trajectory display. Summary of the invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the technical problem of indoor and outdoor positioning fusion, while avoiding the limitations of technical application, adapting to the indoor and outdoor positioning fusion problems in more situations, and designing a seamless indoor and outdoor positioning method and system.

[0007] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is a method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning. A Bluetooth beacon is fixedly set indoors, and a mobile terminal uses a Bluetooth positioning module and a GPS positioning module to respectively realize indoor and outdoor positioning. The key is to set a transition zone in the critical area between indoors and outdoors, establish a group of at least two columns of Bluetooth beacons on the indoor side of the transition zone, and set a GPS marker point on the outdoor side of the transition zone. On this basis, the fusion positioning from indoor to outdoor or from outdoor to indoor is realized through the control unit in the mobile terminal and the supporting software management program. The specific steps are as follows:

[0008] a. The Bluetooth positioning module and GPS positioning module of the mobile terminal are turned on at the same time, and the Bluetooth positioning module searches for the number of Bluetooth beacons around;

[0009] b. If the number of Bluetooth beacons searched is greater than the set threshold, the control unit turns on the Bluetooth positioning module and turns off the GPS positioning module; otherwise, the control unit turns on the GPS positioning module and turns off the Bluetooth positioning module;

[0010] c. After turning on the Bluetooth positioning module and turning off the GPS positioning module, when the Bluetooth beacon group detects that the mobile terminal is moving toward the outside of the door, the GPS positioning module is turned on, and the Bluetooth positioning module is turned off with a delay, switching to outdoor positioning;

[0011] After turning on the GPS positioning module and turning off the Bluetooth positioning module, when the GPS positioning point of the mobile terminal enters the area covered by the GPS landmark point, turn on the Bluetooth positioning module, delay turning off the GPS positioning module, and switch to indoor positioning;

[0012] d. Repeat step c until the mobile terminal positioning function is turned off.

[0013] In the step c, when switching to outdoor positioning, if the GPS positioning module cannot obtain the GPS signal, the control unit controls the mobile terminal to restart and restart step a;

[0014] After switching to indoor positioning, if the Bluetooth positioning module cannot search for the Bluetooth beacon, the control unit controls the mobile terminal to restart and restart step a.

[0015] In the step c, the specific method in which the Bluetooth beacon group detects the movement direction of the mobile terminal is to install a gravity sensor in the mobile terminal and determine the movement direction of the mobile terminal by the direction of gravity acceleration collected by the gravity sensor.

[0016] The method for a mobile terminal to perform Bluetooth positioning indoors through a Bluetooth beacon is as follows:

[0017] 1) Build a mobile terminal area scanning model, which is used to collect signal strength data and location data from all Bluetooth beacons in the area;

[0018] 2) By combining the method of rotating the regional scanning position, expanding the regional scanning range, and reducing the regional scanning range, a set of Bluetooth beacons whose effective Bluetooth beacon density tends to 1 but is not equal to 1 is found as the effective Bluetooth beacon set, where the effective Bluetooth beacon density is equal to the ratio of the number of Bluetooth beacons with strong signal strength divided by the number of all Bluetooth beacons scanned in the area;

[0019] 3) Based on the position data of the Bluetooth beacons in the valid Bluetooth beacon set obtained in step 2), the positioning point of the mobile terminal is calculated.

[0020] The method for performing Bluetooth positioning of a mobile terminal indoors through a Bluetooth beacon also includes: 4) compensating the calculated positioning point data with an environmental attenuation factor, wherein the environmental attenuation factor is determined based on the actual site conditions, distance and signal strength value, combined with a signal attenuation formula.

[0021] In the step 3), the positioning point of the mobile terminal is calculated using a triangulation positioning method.

[0022] The GPS positioning module is a high-precision positioning module. The high-precision positioning module performs carrier phase differential processing through the RTK working mode to achieve high-precision positioning.

[0023] The mobile terminal is a walkie-talkie, or a badge, or a hand card.

[0024] The positioning method is applied to workshops or factories with equipment and machines, and uses walkie-talkies for communication, clocking in and out, and inspection.

[0025] The present invention also relates to a seamless indoor and outdoor positioning system, which is implemented on the basis of the above-mentioned positioning method. The positioning system includes a mobile terminal with a Bluetooth positioning module, a GPS positioning module, a control unit and a communication module, a Bluetooth beacon fixed indoors, and a server, a control host and a display arranged in the background.

[0026] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0027] 1. Through the Bluetooth beacon group and GPS marker points set in the transition zone, it is possible to accurately determine whether the mobile terminal is located indoors or outdoors, and whether it is walking from indoors to outdoors or from outdoors to indoors. When switching positioning modes, it can be switched accurately to avoid positioning gaps at the critical points between indoors and outdoors. At the same time, it can avoid positioning errors caused by weather or other environmental factors.

[0028] 2. When positioning indoors, a model is built to search for Bluetooth beacons in rotation, which can find reliable and effective Bluetooth beacons, making the positioning accuracy more precise. It is especially suitable for indoor positioning in complex workshops or factories with equipment and machinery.

[0029] 3. The whole system can realize four working modes: pure indoor positioning, pure outdoor positioning, indoor and outdoor integrated positioning, and indoor or outdoor high-precision positioning, covering a wider range of user needs. It can also realize various functions such as intercom, clocking in, and inspection for mobile terminals. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Figure 1 It is a layout diagram for indoor and outdoor fusion positioning in the present invention.

[0031] 1 represents the transition zone, 2 represents the Bluetooth beacon group, and 3 represents the GPS marker point. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The specific working principle of the present invention is explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0033] Figure 1 The box on the left represents indoors, and the box on the right represents outdoors. A person carries a mobile terminal with a positioning function, and the mobile terminal has a Bluetooth positioning module and a GPS positioning module. When the positioning function is just turned on, the Bluetooth positioning module and the GPS positioning module are turned on at the same time, and the Bluetooth positioning module scans the surrounding Bluetooth beacons. If a person is indoors, the Bluetooth positioning module will scan the Bluetooth beacons set up indoors, and generally scan at least 3 or more at the same time, but the signals of some beacons are strong and some are relatively weak. The mobile terminal will think that it is indoors at this time, and will keep the Bluetooth positioning module turned on and turn off the GPS positioning module; if the Bluetooth positioning module cannot scan the Bluetooth beacon, or only scans 1-2 Bluetooth beacons, and the signal strength relative to the Bluetooth beacon is also very weak, it means that the mobile terminal is outdoors, or outdoors relatively close to the door, then turn off the Bluetooth positioning module and keep the GPS positioning module turned on. The above working process is mainly automatically controlled by the control unit in the mobile terminal.

[0034] When the mobile terminal moves only indoors, its positioning adopts the Bluetooth positioning mode, and when the mobile terminal moves only outdoors, its positioning adopts the GPS positioning mode. When the mobile terminal moves from indoors to outdoors, or from outdoors to indoors, it is the core technical solution of the present invention. In order to consider the low power consumption problem, the two positioning modes need to be switched, but the following three important aspects need to be considered when switching: 1. How to capture the changes of the mobile terminal indoors and outdoors, 2. How to ensure the continuity of the connection of the positioning point after the transformation when the space where the mobile terminal is located changes, and 3. The handling of special situations, including originally moving from indoors to outdoors, but about to move outdoors, or just moving outdoors and returning, is described in detail below.

[0035] See also Figure 1 , assuming that the staff now wants to go from indoors to outdoors, first the staff must pass through transition zone 1. At this time, the Bluetooth beacon group 2 will receive the Bluetooth signal sent by the Bluetooth positioning module in the mobile terminal. At the same time, through the direction of gravity acceleration in the mobile terminal, the control unit will also know that the walking direction of the mobile terminal is to move outdoors. That is, through the communication between the Bluetooth beacon group 2 and the Bluetooth positioning module and the direction of gravity acceleration, it can be determined that the mobile terminal is about to move from indoors to outdoors. At this time, the control unit controls the GPS positioning module to delay for a period of time, such as 5 seconds, and turns off the Bluetooth positioning module at the same time. After being outdoors, the GPS positioning module continues to be used for positioning. When a special situation occurs, assuming that the staff plans to go outdoors, but turns around at the door and does not go out, although the GPS positioning module is turned on with a delay, the GPS positioning module cannot receive the GPS signal well, so the control unit controls to return to the state just started and start again.

[0036] Assume that the staff is going from outdoors to indoors, and the current mobile terminal turns on the GPS positioning module. When the mobile terminal reaches the transition zone, the GPS positioning module will enter the area where the GPS marker 1 is located. The area where the GPS marker 1 is located is pre-set. As long as the mobile terminal passes through the area where the GPS marker 1 is located from outdoors, the control unit will think that the mobile terminal is going from outdoors to indoors. At this time, the control unit controls the Bluetooth positioning module to delay turning on for a period of time, such as 5 seconds, and turns off the GPS positioning module at the same time. After being indoors, the Bluetooth positioning module continues to be used for positioning. When encountering special circumstances, the staff enters the area where the GPS marker 1 is located but returns to the outdoors. At this time, the Bluetooth positioning module naturally cannot search for the Bluetooth beacon, and the control unit controls to return to the state just started and restart. Of course, the control logic of the control unit can also be adjusted according to different products. For example, when some mobile terminals restart slowly, in order to avoid the loss of positioning points, they will not restart, but turn off the currently turned on module and turn on the currently turned off module.

[0037] In order to improve the accuracy of indoor Bluetooth positioning, the present invention improves the indoor Bluetooth positioning method on the basis of seamless combination of indoor and outdoor positioning. The purpose of constructing a mobile terminal regional scanning model is to exclude Bluetooth beacons with weak signal strength as much as possible when using Bluetooth positioning, because if the Bluetooth beacon signal is weak, a large deviation will occur during positioning. Therefore, a combination of rotating regional scanning positions, expanding the regional scanning range, and reducing the regional scanning range is adopted to find a group of Bluetooth beacons whose effective Bluetooth beacon density tends to 1 but is not equal to 1 as a valid Bluetooth beacon set, and the position data of the Bluetooth beacons in the above valid Bluetooth beacon set are used to calculate the positioning point of the mobile terminal.

[0038] For example, a circular model with a diameter of 5 meters is used for scanning, and 3 Bluetooth beacons are scanned. The signal strengths of these 3 Bluetooth beacons are very strong, and the effective Bluetooth beacon density at this time is 1. If in the prior art, the current positioning point can be directly obtained by the triangulation positioning algorithm, but this application believes that the positioning point obtained in this way is not accurate enough. Therefore, the regional scanning model is changed again, and the regional scanning model is changed to a circular model with a diameter of 5 meters for scanning, and then 6 Bluetooth beacons are scanned, and 5 Bluetooth beacons with strong signals and 1 Bluetooth beacon with weak signal are obtained. The effective Bluetooth beacon density at this time is 0.83. 3 Bluetooth beacon data are selected from the 5 Bluetooth beacons with strong signals. There are a total of six combinations, which are calculated by the triangulation positioning algorithm respectively to obtain six positioning points, and then the six positioning points are neutralized to obtain the final positioning position.

[0039] In order to take into account the complexity of the surrounding environment, compensation for the environmental attenuation factor is also performed. For example, indoor equipment, machines or obstacles will block and interfere with the Bluetooth signal, which will inevitably have a certain impact on the data of the Bluetooth beacon. Therefore, the environmental attenuation factor is used for adjustment to further improve the positioning accuracy of indoor Bluetooth.

[0040] When outdoors, in order to improve the accuracy of GPS positioning, the RTK working mode is adopted to perform carrier phase differential processing to achieve high-precision positioning.

[0041] Through the new design of the above solution, the problem of how to capture the changes of mobile terminals indoors and outdoors can be effectively solved, and the problem of how to ensure the continuity of the positioning points after the transformation when the space where the mobile terminal is located changes can be solved. At the same time, some special situations that may be encountered can be effectively handled, and the accuracy of indoor and outdoor positioning can be greatly improved respectively.

[0042] When the present invention is applied in a specific application, the mobile terminal may be a walkie-talkie, or a badge, or a hand card.

[0043] The positioning method is applied to workshops or factories with equipment and machines, and uses walkie-talkies for communication, clocking in and inspection. In addition, safety issues are taken into consideration. For example, in some chemical plant areas where entry is prohibited, the movement trajectory and walking points of the staff are accurately located. Once they are monitored to enter the prohibited area, an alarm is immediately issued. At the same time, the movement trajectory is also conducive to the display of background data, which is convenient for management personnel to conduct scheduling management.

[0044] The present invention can realize four-mode positioning. According to different user needs, it can provide multiple combinations such as indoor only, outdoor only, indoor and outdoor, and indoor and outdoor with high-precision positioning. It is helpful for managers to understand the trajectory status of the positioned personnel in real time. At the same time, it can also be applied in the field of intercom technology to realize intercom communication, fixed-point clocking and inspection.

Claims

1. A seamless indoor and outdoor positioning method, in which a Bluetooth beacon is fixedly set indoors, and a mobile terminal uses a Bluetooth positioning module and a GPS positioning module to respectively realize indoor and outdoor positioning, characterized in that: A transition zone (1) is set at the critical area between indoors and outdoors, a group of at least two Bluetooth beacons (2) is established on the indoor side of the transition zone (1), and a GPS marker (3) is set on the outdoor side of the transition zone (1). On this basis, a control unit in a mobile terminal and a matching software management program are used to realize indoor-to-outdoor or outdoor-to-indoor fusion positioning. The specific steps are as follows: a. The Bluetooth positioning module and GPS positioning module of the mobile terminal are turned on at the same time, and the Bluetooth positioning module searches for the number of Bluetooth beacons around; b. If the number of Bluetooth beacons searched is greater than the set threshold, the control unit turns on the Bluetooth positioning module and turns off the GPS positioning module; otherwise, the control unit turns on the GPS positioning module and turns off the Bluetooth positioning module; c. After turning on the Bluetooth positioning module and turning off the GPS positioning module, when the Bluetooth beacon group (2) detects that the mobile terminal is moving toward the outside of the door, the GPS positioning module is turned on, and the Bluetooth positioning module is turned off with a delay, switching to outdoor positioning; After the GPS positioning module is turned on and the Bluetooth positioning module is turned off, when the GPS positioning point of the mobile terminal enters the area covered by the GPS landmark point (3), the Bluetooth positioning module is turned on, the GPS positioning module is turned off after a delay, and the indoor positioning is switched on; d. Repeat step c until the mobile terminal positioning function is turned off. The method for a mobile terminal to perform Bluetooth positioning indoors through a Bluetooth beacon is as follows: 1) Build a mobile terminal area scanning model, which is used to collect signal strength data and location data from all Bluetooth beacons in the area; 2) By combining the method of rotating the regional scanning position, expanding the regional scanning range, and reducing the regional scanning range, a set of Bluetooth beacons whose effective Bluetooth beacon density tends to 1 but is not equal to 1 is found as the effective Bluetooth beacon set, where the effective Bluetooth beacon density is equal to the ratio of the number of Bluetooth beacons with strong signal strength divided by the number of all Bluetooth beacons scanned in the area; 3) Based on the position data of the Bluetooth beacons in the valid Bluetooth beacon set obtained in step 2), the positioning point of the mobile terminal is calculated.

2. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the step c, after switching to outdoor positioning, if the GPS positioning module cannot obtain the GPS signal, the control unit controls the mobile terminal to restart and restart step a; After switching to indoor positioning, if the Bluetooth positioning module cannot search for the Bluetooth beacon, the control unit controls the mobile terminal to restart and restart step a.

3. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the step c, the specific method in which the Bluetooth beacon group (2) detects the movement direction of the mobile terminal is to install a gravity sensor in the mobile terminal and determine the movement direction of the mobile terminal by the direction of gravity acceleration collected by the gravity sensor.

4. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method for performing Bluetooth positioning of a mobile terminal indoors through a Bluetooth beacon also includes: 4) compensating the calculated positioning point data with an environmental attenuation factor, wherein the environmental attenuation factor is determined based on the actual site conditions, distance and signal strength value, combined with a signal attenuation formula.

5. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the step 3), the positioning point of the mobile terminal is calculated using a triangulation positioning method.

6. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The GPS positioning module is a high-precision positioning module. The high-precision positioning module performs carrier phase differential processing through the RTK working mode to achieve high-precision positioning.

7. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mobile terminal is a walkie-talkie, or a badge, or a hand card.

8. The method for seamlessly combining indoor and outdoor positioning according to claim 1, characterized in that: The positioning method is applied to workshops or factories with equipment and machines, and uses walkie-talkies for communication, clocking in and out, and inspection.

9. A seamless indoor and outdoor positioning system, implemented on the basis of the positioning method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The positioning system comprises a mobile terminal with a Bluetooth positioning module, a GPS positioning module, a control unit and a communication module, a Bluetooth beacon fixed indoors, and a server, a control host and a display arranged in the background.

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