Enhanced location-based services (lbs) over short range wireless communications

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a terminal device, a server, and a method for location-based services enhanced by short-range wireless communication. A method at a server for locating a first terminal device, the method comprising: selecting at least one second terminal device from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by the first terminal device and / or second information reported by the at least one second terminal device, the first information indicates a second identifier of the at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device through short-distance wireless communication, and the second information indicates a first identifier of the first terminal device received by the at least one second terminal device through short-distance wireless communication; and determining the location of the first terminal device based at least on the location of the at least one second terminal device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a terminal device, a server, and a method for enhancing a location-based service (LBS) using short-range wireless communications. Background Art

[0002] Location-based services (LBS) is a general term for software services that use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc. Common examples of location-based services include navigation software, social networking services, location-based advertising, and tracking systems. LBS can also include mobile commerce when it takes the form of coupons or advertisements directed to customers based on their current location. LBS also includes personalized weather services and even location-based games.

[0003] Several categories of methods can be used to find the location of a mobile device. A simple and standard solution is LBS based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) or alternative satellite navigation systems. It is used to keep the exact location known, however it can be expensive for the end user as they will have to invest in a GPS equipped phone. GPS is based on the concept of trilateration, a basic geometric principle that allows a location to be found if its distances to other known locations are known.

[0004] However, satellite-based positioning solutions, such as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, lose significant power indoors due to signal attenuation caused by building materials, affecting the required coverage of at least four satellites to the receiver. In addition, multiple reflections at the surface lead to multipath propagation, causing uncontrollable errors. These very same effects are degrading all known indoor positioning solutions that use electromagnetic waves from indoor transmitters to indoor receivers. Summary of the invention

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for locating a first terminal device at a server is provided. The method comprises: selecting the at least one second terminal device from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by the first terminal device and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device, the first information indicating a second identifier of the at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device via short-range wireless communication, the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device received by the at least one second terminal device via short-range wireless communication; and determining the position of the first terminal device based at least on the position of the at least one second terminal device.

[0006] In some embodiments, before the step of selecting the at least one second terminal device, the method further includes at least one of the following: receiving the first information from the first terminal device; receiving the second information from the at least one second terminal device; and receiving the first information and / or the second information from a device other than the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the step of selecting the at least one second terminal device further includes: selecting the at least one second terminal device based on at least a specified time period. In some embodiments, the first information further indicates that the second identifier of the at least one second terminal device is received by the first terminal device within the specified time period. In some embodiments, the second information further indicates that the first identifier of the first terminal device is received by the at least one second terminal device within the specified time period.

[0007] In some embodiments, the step of selecting at least one second terminal device comprises: selecting a plurality of second terminal devices based at least on the first information and / or the second information. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: sorting the positions of the plurality of second terminal devices according to their corresponding timestamps, each position being associated with a timestamp, the timestamp indicating when the corresponding second terminal device received the first identifier of the first terminal device and / or when the first terminal device received the second identifier of the corresponding second terminal device; and determining the trajectory of the first terminal device based at least on the sorted positions of the plurality of second terminal devices. In some embodiments, the step of determining the position of the first terminal device comprises: predicting the position of the first terminal device based at least on the determined trajectory of the first terminal device.

[0008] In some embodiments, the one or more terminal devices include at least one of the following: a terminal device associated with a fixed location; a terminal device capable of locating itself through its own positioning module; and a terminal device capable of locating itself by communicating with another terminal device. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device is a permanent identifier of the terminal device or a temporary identifier assigned by a server periodically or in response to a triggering event. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device is generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identification of a user associated with the terminal device. In some embodiments, short-range wireless communication includes at least one of the following: Wi-Fi communication; Near Field Communication (NFC) communication; Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) communication; Bluetooth communication; Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication; ZigBee communication; Z-Wave communication; Infrared Data Association (IrDA) communication; and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Side Link (SL) communication.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a server is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor executes any one of the methods of the first aspect.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a server for locating a first terminal device is provided. The server includes: a selection module configured to select the at least one second terminal device from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by the first terminal device and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device, the first information indicating a second identifier of the at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device via short-range wireless communication, and the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device received by the at least one second terminal device via short-range wireless communication; and a determination module configured to determine the location of the first terminal device based at least on the location of the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the server may include one or more additional modules, each of which may perform any one of the steps of any one of the methods of the first aspect.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method for facilitating a server to locate a first terminal device at a first terminal device is provided. The method comprises: detecting whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device; in response to detecting the presence of the short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device, receiving a second identifier of the second terminal device from the second terminal device; and reporting information indicating the second identifier of the second terminal device to the server.

[0012] In some embodiments, the method further comprises: in response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device, sending the first identifier of the first terminal device to the second terminal device. In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device, the method further comprises: determining whether the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device has a signal strength higher than a threshold, wherein the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device are further performed in response to determining that the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device has a signal strength higher than a threshold.

[0013] In some embodiments, after the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device to the second terminal device, the method further comprises: starting a timer for preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device from being retransmitted to the second terminal device; and preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device from being sent to the second terminal device again until the timer expires. In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device, the method further comprises: establishing a short-range connection with the second terminal device.

[0014] In some embodiments, when multiple short-range wireless signals from multiple second terminal devices are detected, the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device are performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices. In some embodiments, the step of receiving the second identifiers of the multiple second terminal devices and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device are performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices in descending order of their signal strengths.

[0015] In some embodiments, the information reported to the server also includes at least one of the following: a timestamp indicating when the second identifier of the second terminal device was received by the first terminal device; and a location at which the first terminal device received the second identifier of the second terminal device. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device is a permanent identifier of the terminal device or a temporary identifier assigned by the server periodically or in response to a triggering event. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device is generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identifier of a user associated with the terminal device. In some embodiments, the short-range wireless signal includes at least one of the following: a Wi-Fi signal; an NFC signal; an RFID signal; a Bluetooth signal; a BLE signal; a ZigBee signal; a Z-Wave signal; an IrDA signal; and a 3GPP SL signal.

[0016] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, the processor executes any one of the methods of the fourth aspect.

[0017] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a first terminal device is provided for facilitating a server to locate the first terminal device. The first terminal device comprises: a detection module for detecting whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device; a receiving module configured to receive a second identifier of the second terminal device from the second terminal device in response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device; and a reporting module configured to report information indicating the second identifier of the second terminal device to the server. In some embodiments, the terminal device may include one or more additional modules, each of which may perform any step of any method of the fourth aspect.

[0018] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program comprising instructions is provided. When the instructions are executed by at least one processor, the at least one processor executes any one of the methods of the first aspect and / or the fourth aspect.

[0019] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a carrier including the computer program of the seventh aspect, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0020] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device positioning system is provided. The system comprises: one or more terminal devices according to the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect; and a server according to the second aspect or the third aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these drawings depict only several embodiments according to the present disclosure and are therefore not to be considered as limiting the scope thereof, and the present disclosure will be described with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.

[0022] Figure 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary system for positioning a terminal device based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 2A and Figure 2B are diagrams respectively showing exemplary scenarios in a case where terminal device positioning based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is not applied and in a case where terminal device positioning based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is applied.

[0024] Figure 3 The embodiment according to the present disclosure is shown in FIG. Figure 2B 0047 is a diagram of an exemplary table of items reported by a terminal device shown in .

[0025] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary process for locating a terminal device based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating another exemplary scenario of enhancing LBS through short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 5 0047 is a diagram of an exemplary table of items reported by a terminal device shown in .

[0028] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary process for enhancing LBS with short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method at a server for locating a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method at a terminal device for facilitating a server to locate a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.10 An embodiment of an arrangement that may be used in a server or a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0032] Fig.11 is a block diagram of an exemplary server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.12 is a block diagram of an exemplary terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that these descriptions are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. In addition, in the following, descriptions of known structures and technologies are omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure.

[0035] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the term "exemplary" is used herein to mean "illustrative" or "used as an example," and is not intended to imply that a particular embodiment is superior to another embodiment or that a particular feature is essential. Similarly, the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and similar terms are used only to distinguish one particular instance of an item or feature from another, and do not indicate a particular order or arrangement, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, the term "step" as used herein is meant to be synonymous with "operation" or "action." Any description of a sequence of steps herein does not imply that these operations must be performed in a particular order, or even that these operations are performed in any order at all, unless the context or details of the described operations clearly indicate otherwise.

[0036] Unless otherwise specifically stated, or understood otherwise within the context of use, conditional language used herein, such as "can", "may", "can", "for example", etc., is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include certain features, elements and / or states. Therefore, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that features, elements and / or states are required for one or more embodiments in any way, or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining whether these features, elements and / or states are included in any particular embodiment or will be performed in any particular embodiment with or without author input or prompting. In addition, the term "or" is used in its inclusive sense (rather than its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or" means one, some or all of the elements in the list. In addition, the term "each" as used herein, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, can also mean any subset of a group of elements to which the term "each" is applied.

[0037] The term "based on" should be read as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be read as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be read as "at least one other embodiment". The following may include other definitions, both explicit and implicit. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, language such as the phrase "at least one of X, Y, and Z" should be understood with the context, as commonly used, to convey that an item, term, etc. can be X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof.

[0038] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to be limitations of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "one", "an" and "the" are intended to also include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "include", "include", "have", "have", "include" and / or "include", when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof. It should also be understood that the terms "connect", "connected", "connected", etc., when used herein, only represent that there is an electrical connection or communication connection between two elements, and they can be connected directly or indirectly, unless clearly stated to the contrary.

[0039] Of course, without departing from the scope and essential features of the present disclosure, the present disclosure may be performed in other specific ways except those described herein. One or more specific processes discussed below may be performed in any electronic device including one or more appropriately configured processing circuits, which may be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in some embodiments. In some embodiments, these processing circuits may include one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, and / or digital signal processors, which are programmed with appropriate software and / or firmware to perform one or more of the above operations, or variants thereof. In some embodiments, these processing circuits may include customized hardware to perform one or more of the above functions. Therefore, the present embodiment is considered to be illustrative and non-restrictive in all respects.

[0040] Although several embodiments of the present disclosure will be shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the following detailed description, it will be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is also capable of many rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the present disclosure as will be set forth and defined in the claims.

[0041] In addition, please note that although the following description of some embodiments of the present disclosure is given in the context of 5G New Radio (NR), the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In fact, as long as it involves LBS enhanced by short-range wireless communication, the inventive concept of the present disclosure can be applied to any appropriate communication architecture, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Time Division-Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), CDMA2000, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), 4th Generation Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), or 5th Generation New Radio (5G NR), etc. Therefore, it can be easily understood by those skilled in the art that the terms used herein can also refer to their equivalents in any other infrastructure. For example, the term "user device" or "UE" used herein can refer to a terminal device, a mobile device, a mobile terminal, a mobile station, a user device, a user terminal, a wireless device, a wireless terminal, or any other equivalent. For another example, the term "gNB" as used herein may refer to a network node, a base station, a base transceiver station, an access point, a hotspot, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB, a network element, or any other equivalent.

[0042] As mentioned above, satellite-based positioning modules, such as GPS modules, may be expensive for end users because they will have to invest in mobile devices equipped with GPS. Further, there are many types of mobile devices that do not have satellite-based positioning modules. However, LBS is still required by owners of these mobile devices. In this case, a solution that does not require a satellite-based positioning module to locate the terminal device is needed.

[0043] Figure 1 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary system 10 for positioning a terminal device based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, the system 10 may include but is not limited to a server 110 and a plurality of terminal devices 120-1 to 120-7 (collectively referred to as terminal devices 120). However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the system 10 may include any appropriate number of terminal devices and any appropriate number of servers.

[0044] In some embodiments, server 110 may be located in a network 100, such as the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or any network accessible by terminal device 120. Figure 1As shown, the terminal devices 120 can communicate with each other via short-range wireless communication and exchange their IDs with each other. For example, the terminal device 120-1 (e.g., a smart phone) can exchange its ID with the terminal device 120-2 (e.g., another smart phone) via Bluetooth communication, for example. For another example, the terminal device 120-3 (e.g., an RFID reader) can read or otherwise obtain the ID of the terminal device 120-4 (e.g., an RFID tag), for example via RFID communication. For another example, the terminal device 120-5 (e.g., a smart phone) can, for example, exchange its ID with the terminal device 120-6 (e.g., another smart phone) and the terminal device (e.g., a Wi-Fi access point (AP)) via Wi-Fi communication. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. In some other embodiments, one or more short-range wireless communication technologies may be applied, including but not limited to: Wi-Fi, NFC, RFID, Bluetooth, BLE, ZigBee, Z-Wave, IrDA or 3GPP SL.

[0045] In some embodiments, one or more terminal devices 120 can provide their own locations to other nearby terminal devices through short-range wireless communication, so that other nearby terminal devices that do not know their own locations can know the locations they are close to. In other words, the location of the terminal device can be determined indirectly.

[0046] For example, the terminal device 120-1 may not have a GPS module installed and cannot determine its own location by itself, while the terminal device 120-2 may have a GPS module installed and can determine its own location by itself. In such a case, when the terminal device 120-1 receives the ID of the terminal device 120-2 via short-range wireless communication, the terminal device 120-1 may also receive the location of the terminal device 120-2. For another example, the terminal device or Wi-Fi AP 120-7 may be installed at a fixed location, and therefore it may be aware of its own geographic location. When exchanging IDs with the terminal device 120-5, the terminal device 120-7 may provide its own geographic location directly to the terminal device 120-5. Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120-5 receives the ID of the terminal device 120-7, the terminal device 120-5 may be aware of the geographic location of the terminal device 120-7 by querying a database (or a third-party device) storing the association between the geographic location and the ID of the terminal device 120-7. Thus, the terminal devices 120 may be aware of their own locations based on the received or otherwise determined locations of nearby terminal devices 120. In this case, LBS may be provided on the terminal devices 120 even if they are unable to determine their own locations themselves.

[0047] like Figure 1As shown, the terminal device 120 may report the IDs received from other terminal devices to the server 110. For example, the terminal device 120-1 may report the ID of the terminal device 120-2 to the server 110, and the terminal device 120-2 may report the ID of the terminal device 120-1 to the server 110. As another example, the terminal device 120-3 may report the ID of the terminal device 120-4 to the server 110. However, the terminal device 120-4 does not report the ID of the terminal device 120-3 to the server 110, for example, because the terminal device 120-4 is only an RFID tag that can only passively respond to signal pulses without any communication capabilities. Similarly, the terminal devices 120-5 and 120-7 may report their collected IDs to the server 110, while the terminal device 120-6 cannot report its collected IDs because it may be out of range or cannot access the server 110 even if it receives the ID of the terminal device 120-5. In such a case, terminal device 120 - 6 may report its collected IDs at a later instance in time, such as when its access to server 110 is restored or otherwise enabled.

[0048] generally, Figure 1 The illustrated embodiment provides for automatically and accurately collecting contact information by means of devices equipped with short-range wireless communication technology. The terminal device 120 may include, but is not limited to, a smart phone (e.g., 120-1, 120-2, 120-5, 120-6), a smart wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, smart glasses), a dedicated wearable device (e.g., 120-4), and a dedicated fixed location device (e.g., 120-7). These devices may be worn by a person or installed in a fixed location, and each device may have a unique ID that may be linked to a person ID or a geographic location. When the terminal device detects other surrounding devices that are closer to itself than a predefined distance, the terminal device may automatically establish a short-range wireless connection and exchange IDs with each other. In some embodiments, a timestamp corresponding to the exchange may also be recorded. In some embodiments, the collected IDs may be reported immediately. In some embodiments, the collected IDs may be uploaded to the server 110 periodically. Using the reported IDs, the server 110 may, for example, easily determine the trajectory of a certain terminal device (e.g., a terminal device associated with a missing child). For another example involving a restraint order, utilizing the reported ID, an alert can be generated by server 100 as evidence if a restricted person (e.g., a suspect on parole) violates the contact or location restriction by, for example, approaching a protected person or protected location (or his / her / its associated terminal device) through a terminal device associated with the restricted person.

[0049] Therefore, this solution may provide more valuable records for the quick and accurate analysis of missing children, and it can also force restricted persons to follow legal restrictions and not enter restricted places or approach specific protected persons. In addition, if specific protected persons and restricted persons are in a short distance, it can also trigger a warning on their devices.

[0050] Next, two example scenarios, “Lost Child” and “Restraint Orders”, where Figure 1 The solutions shown will refer to FIG. 2A to FIG. 7B Detailed description. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the solution may be applicable to other appropriate scenarios.

[0051] Figure 2A and Figure 2B are diagrams respectively showing an exemplary scenario 20 in a case where the terminal device positioning based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is not applied and in a case where the terminal device positioning based on short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is applied.

[0052] exist Figure 2A and Figure 2B , an exemplary floor plan of a shopping mall is shown in FIG. 2 , in which a plurality of physical stores are included. For example, there are restaurant #1 261, hair salon 262, fashion store #1 263, bookstore 264, mobile phone store 255, another fashion store #2 231, gym 232, off-campus English school 233, cinema 251, cafeteria 241, and another restaurant #2 242. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, scene 20 may include more stores, fewer stores, or different stores, and may have a different layout of the floor plan. Further, as Figure 2A and Figure 2B As shown, one or more customers 210-1, 210-2, 210-3 (collectively referred to as customers 210) and one or more children may be shopping or wandering around in one or more of the stores.

[0053] refer to Figure 2A , which is not applied Figure 1In the solution shown in , the missing (or lost) child 200 may accidentally leave the English school 233 and wander around the mall, as indicated by the path P1->P2->P3->P4, and leave the mall at Exit #2. When the parents are looking for the child 200, they are not aware of this path and have to ask the passers-by they meet if they have seen the child. For example, when the parents meet passer-by #2 210-2, when passer-by #2 210-2 meets the missing child 200, passer-by #2 210-2 can tell them that the child is walking towards Exit #1. In this case, the parents may be misled and start searching for the child on the road from Exit #1.

[0054] References Figure 1 The solution shown Figure 2B , the terminal device 205 associated with the child 200 (e.g., a smart watch or a terminal device embedded in a shoe) can exchange IDs with any other terminal device that is close to it. For example, the terminal device 205 can exchange its ID with the terminal device 215-1 associated with the passerby #1 210-1, the terminal device 215-3 associated with the passerby #1 210-3, and the terminal device 225 associated with the mobile phone store 265 (e.g., a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth AP or hotspot). In such a case, the server 110 can receive multiple reports from the terminal devices 203, 215-1, 215-3, and 225, and record the reports in a table, for example, Figure 3 As shown in the table.

[0055] like Figure 3 As shown, each report may include at least the ID of a terminal device that communicated with the reporting terminal device once via short-range wireless communication. Figure 2A and Figure 2B The lost child 200 shown is wandering around and reports the ID of the terminal device 215-1 as it approaches the terminal device 215-1.

[0056] In some embodiments, the report may also include an optional timestamp associated with the ID exchange, so that the server 110 can sort the reports according to the timestamp of the reports and determine whether the report is a valid ID exchange. Figure 2B The track of the lost child 200 is shown. In some other embodiments, the timestamp may be determined by the server 110 itself. For example, when a terminal device reports the ID of another terminal device immediately upon receiving the ID, the server 110 may regard the time of receiving the report as the timestamp associated with the ID exchange.

[0057] In some embodiments, the report may also include an optional location associated with the ID exchange, for example, when the reporting terminal device has another way to locate itself, such as through GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, etc. Figure 2B In some embodiments associated with the mobile phone store 265 shown, the geographic location of the fixed location can be pre-registered at the server 110 so that when the reporting terminal device reports the ID of the terminal device associated with the fixed location, the reporting terminal device can be associated with the geographic location at the server 110.

[0058] Will refer to Figure 4 Together with Figure 2B and Figure 3 1 to describe an exemplary process for locating a missing child 200 / its associated terminal device 205 based on short-range wireless communication. The process may start from step S405, in which the terminal device 205 may detect a signal from the terminal device 215-1 and establish a connection with the terminal device 215-1 to exchange IDs therebetween. At steps S410a and S410b, the terminal devices 205 and 215-1 may report their received IDs to the server 110. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the terminal device 205 and / or the terminal device 215-1 may store the received ID locally without reporting immediately, and later report all IDs received during a specific time period together to the server 110. Similarly, the terminal device 205 may exchange the IDs of the terminal device 215-3 and the hotspot 225 at steps S415 and S425, respectively, and report the exchanged IDs at steps S420a, S420b, S430a, and S430b, respectively. In some embodiments, the reporting of the ID is not mandatory for a single device. For example, when a terminal device (e.g. Figure 1 When the RFID tag 120-4 and the smart phone 120-6 shown in FIG. 1 cannot access the server 110, another terminal device (eg, the RFID reader 120-3) may report the close contact between the two terminal devices to the server 110.

[0059] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the ID of terminal device 205 and / or terminal device 215-1 may be reported to server 110 via another device other than terminal device 205 and / or terminal device 215-1. For example, the ID report may also be relayed to server 110 via a device different from the reporting terminal device.

[0060] Later, the parent may query the server 110 for the missing child 200 at step S435, and it may at least be based on the historical location records (e.g., Figure 3) to predict, estimate or otherwise determine the location of the lost child 200 and / or its associated terminal device 203. In some embodiments, the location of the terminal device 205 may be determined based on a trajectory determined from a historical location record. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0061] In some embodiments where only a single terminal device (e.g., terminal device 215-3) exchanges its ID with terminal device 205, the location of terminal device 205 may be determined as an area (e.g., a circular area) centered on the location of the single terminal device 215-3, the radius of which increases over time. Figure 3 For the second entry in the table shown, the location of the terminal device 205 may be determined as a circular area centered at "Location #2" with an initial radius of 10 meters and increasing over time.

[0062] In some embodiments where two terminal devices exchange their IDs with the terminal device 205 at the same time or almost at the same time, the location of the terminal device 205 may be determined as the intersection of two areas (e.g., circular areas) centered at the locations of the two terminal devices, respectively, and the radii of the two areas increase over time. For example, when the terminal device 205 exchanges IDs with the terminal devices 215-1 and 215-3 at the same time or almost at the same time, the location of the terminal device 205 may be determined as the intersection of two circular areas centered at "location #1" and "location #2", the initial radii of the two circular areas being 10 meters and increasing over time.

[0063] In some embodiments where three or more terminal devices exchange their IDs with the terminal device 205 at the same time or almost at the same time, the location of the terminal device 205 can be determined in a similar manner, for example, as an intersection area of ​​three or more areas (e.g., circular areas) centered at the locations of the three or more terminal devices, respectively, and the radii of the three or more areas increase over time. In other embodiments, where three or more terminal devices exchange their IDs with the terminal device 205 at the same time or almost at the same time, the location of the terminal device 205 can be determined by a triangulation method.

[0064] In some embodiments, the server 110 may directly request the terminal device 205 to report its current location at step S440. However, such a request may not always be responded to, for example, because the terminal device 205 has a low battery, a weak signal strength, or no communication capability at all. Further, in some embodiments, the server 110 may request the mobile terminal devices 215-1 and 215-3 to report their locations when they came into contact with the lost child 200 at steps S445a and S450a, respectively, and they may report the requested locations at steps S445 and S450b, respectively, thereby facilitating the server 110 to locate the terminal device 205.

[0065] With the above-described embodiments, valuable information for finding the missing child 200 can be obtained, such as who and where the child 200 was near before the disappearance. With this information, the child's trajectory can be reconstructed, and witnesses can be identified and tracked. In contrast, such information is not available in the prior art.

[0066] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an exemplary scenario 50 of enhancing LBS (e.g., a service for restraint order monitoring) by short-range wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. According to the law, a person who applies a restraint order can prohibit a specific person who may harm him / her from staying away through the support of a "stay away" provision. In addition, a person under criminal detention must follow strict restrictions to stay away from specific places and / or people. However, it is difficult for the police to actively monitor whether the restricted person violates the restrictions to enter the restricted place or approach the protected person, because both the police and the restricted person know that there is no such record. In addition, if a specific restricted person follows him / her within a short distance, the protected person will not automatically get a warning. In addition, there is no evidence of calling the police even if he / she notices that occasion.

[0067] like Figure 5 As shown, it provides Figure 2A and Figure 2B The floor layout of a shopping mall similar to that shown in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 1 , and therefore a detailed description thereof is omitted for the sake of simplicity. Figure 5 As shown, one or more customers 510-1, 510-2, 510-3 (collectively referred to as customers 210) and one or more children 507 may be shopping or wandering around in one or more stores.

[0068] like Figure 5 As shown, a restraint command is issued to a restricted person associated with a terminal device (e.g., an ankle monitoring ring) 505 so that he / she is not allowed to approach a child (and / or its associated terminal device) 507. The terminal device 505 can enter the shopping mall with or without the intention of finding the protected child 507. Figure 5As shown, terminal device 505 can exchange the ID with any other terminal device in close proximity thereto. For example, terminal device 505 can exchange its ID with hotspot 525 and terminal devices 215-1 to 215-3. In such a case, server 110 can receive multiple reports from terminal devices 505, 525, 515-1, 515-2, and / or 515-3, and record the reports in a table, for example, Figure 6 As shown in the table.

[0069] Similar to Figure 3 Each report may include at least an ID of a terminal device that communicates with the reporting terminal device once via short-range wireless communication. For example, the reporting terminal device 505 may be in a restricted person 505 entering a Figure 5 When the mall is shown, it reports the ID of hotspot 525 because it is close to terminal device 525.

[0070] In some embodiments, the report may further include an optional timestamp associated with the ID exchange, so that the server 110 can sort the reports according to the timestamps of the reports and determine the trajectory of the restricted person 505, such as Figure 5 In some other embodiments, the timestamp may be determined by the server 110 itself. In some embodiments, the report may also include an optional location associated with the ID exchange. Figure 5 In some embodiments associated with the mobile phone store 565 shown, the geographic location of the fixed location can be pre-registered at the server 110 so that when the reporting terminal device reports the ID of the terminal device associated with the fixed location, the reporting terminal device can be associated with the geographic location at the server 110.

[0071] Return to reference Figure 5 When the server 110 detects or otherwise determines that the restricted person 505 is approaching the protected child 507, it can issue a warning to at least one of the two parties. For example, the server 110 can warn the protected child 507 that the restricted person 505 is about to arrive and that the protected child 507 should leave the place where it is now. For another example, the server 110 can warn the restricted person 505 that he / she is about to violate the restraint order and should turn around and leave the place as soon as he / she is able. In addition, in some other embodiments, the server 110 can warn a third party (e.g., a nearby patrol police officer) that the restraint order is about to be violated or has been violated.

[0072] Will refer to Fig. 7A and Figure 7B Together with Figure 5 and Figure 6An exemplary process for enhancing LBS (e.g., a service for restraint command monitoring) using short-range wireless communication is described. The process may start from steps S705a and / or S705b, and the ID of the protected terminal device 507 may be provided to the terminal device 505 associated with the restricted person, and / or the ID of the restricted terminal device 505 may be provided to the terminal device 507 associated with the protected child. Using the ID, the terminal device itself can detect whether a restraint command is about to be violated without involving the server 110. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. In some other embodiments, the ID will not be provided, and all determinations about whether a restraint command is about to be violated will be made at the server 110.

[0073] At step S710, the terminal device 505 may detect a signal from the hotspot (or terminal device) 525, and establish a connection with the hotspot 525 to exchange IDs between them. In steps S715a and S715b, the terminal devices 505 and 525 may report the IDs they received to the server 110. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the terminal device 505 and / or the terminal device 525 may store the received ID locally without reporting immediately, and later report all IDs received during a certain time period together to the server 110. Similarly, the terminal device 505 may exchange the IDs of the terminal devices 515-1, 515-2, and 515-3 at steps S720, S730, and S740, respectively, and report the exchanged IDs at steps S725a, S725b, S735a, S735b, S745a, and S745b, respectively. In some embodiments, the reporting of the ID is not mandatory for a single device. For example, when a terminal device cannot access the server 110 (e.g., Figure 1 4 and the smart phone 120 - 6 shown in FIG. 1 ), another terminal device (eg, the RFID reader 120 - 3 ) may report the close contact between the two terminal devices to the server 110 .

[0074] Based on the reported ID, the server 110 can determine in step S750 that the restricted terminal device 505 is about to violate the restraint order, for example, by the reported associated location of the terminal device, by the IDs reported by the restricted terminal device 505 and the protected terminal device 507 having a large number of public IDs in a short period of time. The server 110 can send a warning to at least one of the restricted terminal device 505 and the protected terminal device 507 in steps S755a and S755b, respectively, so that the violation of the restraint order can be prevented to the greatest extent. In some embodiments, the accurate location of the restricted terminal device 505 can be provided to the protected terminal device 507, so that the protected child can take a different path from the path taken by the restricted person. Additionally or alternatively, the server 110 can send the warning to other parties, such as the police, lawyers, judges, etc., as evidence of the violation of the restraint order.

[0075] Generally, the solutions of some embodiments of the present disclosure utilize smart phones, smart wearable devices or dedicated wearable devices, dedicated fixed-position devices, which are equipped with short-range communication modules including but not limited to Bluetooth, NFC, etc. In some embodiments, once there are devices with wireless signal field strengths higher than the field strength threshold around the device, it can be considered that these devices are in close contact. Therefore, the devices can automatically establish a connection through the short-range communication module, and then exchange device IDs with each other and record them together with a timestamp.

[0076] In some embodiments, at regular time intervals, the device can automatically upload records to the server. Each device uniquely corresponds to the device owner or location. Therefore, the server can recover all owners of such devices, all close contacts, public places, and specific contact times every day. All analysis can be run on the server side. Based on this data, the server can quickly and accurately analyze the close contact chain covering all people or locations equipped with devices.

[0077] For the warning function, different warning modes can be supported, such as warnings to both the protected person and the restricted person, warnings only to the protected person, and warnings only to the restricted person when they are close to the protected place.

[0078] Some embodiments can solve the existing problems as follows: the police can actively monitor whether the restricted person strictly follows the restraint order. In addition, in some embodiments, it can give the protected person a sense of security and deter the restricted person. In addition, in some embodiments, it can provide great help in detecting lost children to shorten the time and get the correct information.

[0079] With some embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to automatically track a restricted person to monitor whether he / she violates a restraining order under the law. In addition, with some embodiments of the present disclosure, valuable information can be provided to find witnesses and track lost children. Further, with some embodiments of the present disclosure, the entire system is based on automatic data collection in a close contact state between a person and a location, by utilizing devices including smartphones, smart wearable devices, dedicated wearable devices, or dedicated fixed-position devices equipped with short-range communication modules.

[0080] Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, the existing problems can be solved or at least alleviated as follows: the police can actively monitor whether the restricted person strictly follows the restraint order. With some embodiments of the present disclosure, it can give the protected person a sense of security and deter the restricted person. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, it can provide great help for the detection of lost children to shorten the time and obtain the correct message.

[0081] In some embodiments, the ID (i.e., device identification) exchanged and reported can be generated from a personal identification using a pseudo-random sequence code. In some embodiments, the ID can be permanent or periodically updated, and can be synchronized between the terminal device and the server. In some embodiments, the personal identification can be generated from a real personal ID assigned by a government or location. It can be a unique ID in the system stored in the device and the server.

[0082] In some embodiments, due to privacy considerations, only device identifications are allowed to be exchanged between devices. In some embodiments, a timer for blocking exchanges can be set at the terminal device to avoid repeated exchanges with the same device in a short period of time. After scanning the surrounding devices, the terminal device can, for example, check based on the timer whether some devices have just been connected not long ago. If so, the connection establishment can be skipped and no ID exchange is performed. In some embodiments, the timer can be defined by the server, and all devices maintain the same timer.

[0083] In some embodiments, an exemplary working process may be provided as follows:

[0084] 1) The device stores the same personal identification as that stored in the server.

[0085] 2) The device identification is written to the device in permanent mode or received from the server in periodic update mode.

[0086] 3) The server may send the restricted person's device identification to the protected person's device according to the warning settings.

[0087] 4) The server may send the protected person's device identification and disabled location to the restricted person's device according to the warning settings.

[0088] 5) After powering on, the device can actively scan for surrounding devices with a signal strength above a threshold.

[0089] 6) If the time since the last exchange between the two devices is not longer than the timer for exchange prevention, the device may be deleted from the list of devices to be contacted.

[0090] 7) A list of all available devices can be generated, which can be sorted by their signal strength.

[0091] 8) A connection with a device can be established based on the device list.

[0092] 9) After the connection, the device IDs can be exchanged one by one.

[0093] 10) If the exchanged device is on the list of warning settings, the alarm on the device will be triggered and the ID will be immediately uploaded to the server for alarm.

[0094] 11) If not, the device may periodically report a record of received information to the server.

[0095] 12) The server can save close contact records as evidence.

[0096] 13) The server can also determine the missing child's trajectory to find out the witnesses and location before the child disappeared.

[0097] Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, the existing problems can be solved or at least alleviated as follows: the police can actively monitor whether the restricted person strictly follows the restraint order. With some embodiments of the present disclosure, it can give the protected person a sense of security and deter the restricted person. Through some embodiments of the present disclosure, it can provide great help for the detection of lost children to shorten the time and obtain the correct message.

[0098] Figure 8 800 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 800 at a server for locating a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 800 can be performed at a server. Method 800 may include step S810 and step S820. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, method 800 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of method 800 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the steps in method 800 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in method 800 may be merged into a single step.

[0099] Method 800 may start at step S810, wherein at least one second terminal device may be selected from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by a first terminal device and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device, the first information indicating a second identifier of at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device via short-range wireless communication, and the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device received by at least one second terminal device via short-range wireless communication.

[0100] In step S820, the location of the first terminal device may be determined based at least on the location of the at least one second terminal device.

[0101] In some embodiments, before the step of selecting at least one second terminal device, method 800 may further include at least one of the following steps: receiving first information from a first terminal device; receiving the second information from the at least one second terminal device; and receiving the first information and / or the second information from a device other than the first terminal device and / or the at least one second terminal device. In some embodiments, the step of selecting the at least one second terminal device may further include: selecting the at least one second terminal device based on at least one specified time period. In some embodiments, the first information may further indicate that the second identifier of the at least one second terminal device is received by the first terminal device within the specified time period. In some embodiments, the second information may further indicate that the first identifier of the first terminal device is received by the at least one second terminal device within the specified time period.

[0102] In some embodiments, the step of selecting at least one second terminal device may include: selecting multiple second terminal devices based on at least the first information and / or the second information. In some embodiments, the method 800 may also include: sorting the positions of the multiple second terminal devices according to their corresponding timestamps, each position being associated with a timestamp indicating when the corresponding second terminal device received the first identifier of the first terminal device and / or when the first terminal device received the second identifier of the corresponding second terminal device; and determining the trajectory of the first terminal device based on at least the sorted positions of the multiple second terminal devices. In some embodiments, the step of determining the position of the first terminal device may include: predicting the position of the first terminal device based on at least the determined trajectory of the first terminal device.

[0103] In some embodiments, the one or more terminal devices may include at least one of the following: a terminal device associated with a fixed location; a terminal device capable of locating itself through its own positioning module; and a terminal device capable of locating itself by communicating with another terminal device. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device is a permanent identifier of the terminal device or a temporary identifier assigned by a server periodically or in response to a triggering event. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device can be generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identification of a user associated with the terminal device. In some embodiments, short-range wireless communication may include at least one of the following: Wi-Fi communication; NFC communication; RFID communication; Bluetooth communication; BLE communication; ZigBee communication; Z-Wave communication; IrDA communication; and 3GPP SL communication.

[0104] Fig. 9 1 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 900 for facilitating server positioning of a first terminal device at a first terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 900 can be performed at a terminal device. Method 900 may include steps S910, S920, and step S930. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, method 900 may include more steps, fewer steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. In addition, the steps of method 900 may be performed in an order different from the order described herein. In addition, in some embodiments, a step in method 900 may be split into multiple sub-steps and performed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in method 900 may be combined into a single step.

[0105] The method 900 may start at step S910 , where it may be detected whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device.

[0106] In step S920 , in response to detecting the presence of the short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device, a second identifier of the second terminal device may be received from the second terminal device.

[0107] In step S930, information indicating the second identifier of the second terminal device may be reported to the server.

[0108] In some embodiments, the method 900 may further include: in response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device, sending a first identifier of the first terminal device to the second terminal device. In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device, the method 900 may further include: determining whether the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device has a signal strength higher than a threshold, wherein the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device may be further performed in response to determining that the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device has a signal strength higher than a threshold.

[0109] In some embodiments, after the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device to the second terminal device, the method 900 may further include: starting a timer for preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device from being retransmitted to the second terminal device; and preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device from being sent to the second terminal device again until the timer expires. In some embodiments, before the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device, the method 900 may further include: establishing a short-range connection with the second terminal device.

[0110] In some embodiments, when multiple short-range wireless signals from multiple second terminal devices are detected, the step of receiving the second identifier of the second terminal device and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device may be performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices. In some embodiments, the step of receiving the second identifier of the multiple second terminal devices and / or the step of sending the first identifier of the first terminal device may be performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices in descending order of their signal strengths.

[0111] In some embodiments, the information reported to the server may also include at least one of the following: a timestamp indicating when the first terminal device received the second identifier of the second terminal device; and a location at which the first terminal device received the second identifier of the second terminal device. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device may be a permanent identifier of the terminal device, or a temporary identifier assigned by the server periodically or in response to a triggering event. In some embodiments, the identifier of the terminal device may be generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identifier of a user associated with the terminal device. In some embodiments, the short-range wireless signal may include at least one of the following: a Wi-Fi signal; an NFC signal; an RFID signal; a Bluetooth signal; a BLE signal; a ZigBee signal; a Z-Wave signal; an IrDA signal; and a 3GPP SL signal.

[0112] Fig.10 An embodiment of an arrangement 1000 that can be used in a server or terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown. A processing unit 1006 is included in the arrangement 1000, for example, with a digital signal processor (DSP) or a central processing unit (CPU). The processing unit 1006 can be a single unit or multiple units to perform different actions of the process described herein. The arrangement 1000 can also include an input unit 1002 for receiving signals from other entities, and an output unit 1004 for providing signals to other entities. The input unit 1002 and the output unit 1004 can be arranged as an integrated entity or a separate entity.

[0113] Furthermore, the arrangement 1000 may include at least one computer program product 1008 in the form of a non-volatile or volatile memory, such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory and / or a hard drive. The computer program product 1008 includes a computer program 1010, which includes code / computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit 1006 in the arrangement 1000, causes the arrangement 1000, the AST and / or the ASS including it to perform, for example, the previously described Figures 2A to 9 The actions or any other variations of the described process.

[0114] The computer program 1010 may be configured as computer program code structured in computer program modules 1010A and 1010B. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment when the arrangement 1000 is used in a server, the code in the computer program of the arrangement 1000 includes: a module 1010A configured to select at least one second terminal device from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by a first terminal device and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device, the first information indicating a second identifier of at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device via short-range wireless communication, the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device received by the at least one second terminal device via short-range wireless communication; and a module 1010B configured to determine a location of the first terminal device based at least on a location of the at least one second terminal device.

[0115] The computer program 1010 may be configured as computer program code structured in computer program modules 1010C, 1010D, and 1010E. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, when the arrangement 1000 is used in a terminal device, the code in the computer program of the arrangement 1000 includes: a module 1010C configured to: detect whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device; a module 1010D configured to receive a second identifier of the second terminal device from the second terminal device in response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device; and a module 1010E configured to report information indicating the second identifier of the second terminal device to a server.

[0116] A computer program module is essentially executable Figures 2A to 9 In other words, when these different computer program modules are executed in the processing unit 1006, they may correspond to different modules in the server or terminal device.

[0117] Although the above combination Fig.10 The code means in the disclosed embodiments are implemented as computer program modules which, when executed in a processing unit, cause the arrangement to perform the actions described above in conjunction with the above-mentioned figures, but at least one of the code means may in alternative embodiments be at least partially implemented as a hardware circuit.

[0118] The processor may be a single CPU (central processing unit), but may also include two or more processing units. For example, the processor may include a general-purpose microprocessor; an instruction set processor and / or an associated chipset and / or a dedicated microprocessor such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor may also include a board memory for cache purposes. The computer program may be carried by a computer program product connected to the processor. The computer program product may include a computer-readable medium on which the computer program is stored. For example, the computer program product may be a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM) or an EEPROM, and the above-mentioned computer program modules may be distributed on different computer program products in the form of memory within a server or terminal device in an alternative embodiment.

[0119] Corresponding to the above method 800, a server 1100 is provided. Fig.11 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary server 1100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The server 1100 may be, for example, the server 110.

[0120] The server 1100 may be configured to perform the above combined Figure 8 The method 800 is described. Fig.11As shown, the server 1100 may include a selection module 1110, configured to select at least one second terminal device from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by the first terminal device and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device, the first information indicating a second identifier of at least one second terminal device received by the first terminal device via short-range wireless communication, and the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device received by the at least one second terminal device via short-range wireless communication; and a determination module 1120, configured to determine a location of the first terminal device based at least on a location of the at least one second terminal device.

[0121] The above modules 1110 and / or 1120 may be implemented as a pure hardware solution or a combination of software and hardware, for example, by one or more of the following: a processor or microprocessor and appropriate software and a memory for storing the software, a programmable logic device (PLD) or other electronic components or processing circuits configured to perform the above actions, and for example, in Figure 8 Further, the server 1100 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute the reference Figure 8 Any of the steps of method 800 described.

[0122] Corresponding to the method 900 described above, a terminal device 1200 is provided. Fig.12 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary terminal device 1200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The terminal device 1200 may be, for example, any of the terminal devices 120 described above.

[0123] The terminal device 1200 may be configured to perform the above-mentioned Fig. 9 The method 900 is described. Fig.12 As shown, the terminal device 1200 may include: a detection module 1210, configured to detect whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device; a receiving module 1220, configured to receive a second identifier of the second terminal device from the second terminal device in response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device; and a reporting module 1230, configured to report information indicating the second identifier of the second terminal device to a server.

[0124] The modules 1210, 1220 and / or 1230 described above may be implemented as a pure hardware solution or a combination of software and hardware, for example, by one or more of the following: a processor or microprocessor and appropriate software and a memory for storing the software, a PLD or other electronic component or a device configured to perform the above and, for example, Fig. 9Further, the terminal device 1200 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute the reference Fig. 9 Any step of method 900 described.

[0125] The present disclosure has been described above with reference to the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those embodiments are provided only for the purpose of illustration, rather than for limiting the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. Those skilled in the art may make various substitutions and modifications without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, and these substitutions and modifications all fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method (800) for locating a first terminal device (205) at a server (110), the method (800) comprising: selecting (S810) at least one of the first terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) from one or more terminal devices based at least on first information reported by a first terminal device (205) and / or second information reported by at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225), the first information indicating a second identifier of the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) received by the first terminal device (203) via short-range wireless communication, and the second information indicating a first identifier of the first terminal device (203) received by the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) via short-range wireless communication; as well as The location of the first terminal device (203) is determined (S820) based at least on the location of the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225).

2. The method (800) of claim 1, wherein: Before the step of selecting (S810) the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225), the method (800) further includes at least one of the following: receiving (S410a, S420a, S430a) the first information from the first terminal device (205); receiving (S410b, S420b, S430b) the second information from the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225); as well as The first information and / or the second information is received from a device other than the first terminal device (203) and / or the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225).

3. The method (800) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The step of selecting (S810) the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) further includes: The at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) is selected further based on at least a specified time period.

4. The method (800) of claim 3, wherein The first information further indicates that the second identifier of the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) is received by the first terminal device (203) during the specified time period; and / or The second information further indicates that the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) is received by the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) during the specified time period.

5. The method (800) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: The step of selecting (S810) the at least one second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) includes: A plurality of second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) are selected based on at least the first information and / or the second information.

6. The method (800) of claim 5, further comprising: sorting the positions of the plurality of second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) according to their corresponding timestamps, each position being associated with a timestamp indicating when the corresponding second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) received the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) and / or when the first terminal device (203) received the second identifier of the corresponding second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225); as well as A trajectory of the first terminal device (203) is determined based at least on the sorted positions of the plurality of second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225).

7. The method (800) of claim 6, wherein: The step of determining (S820) the location of the first terminal device (205) comprises: The location of the first terminal device (205) is predicted based at least on the determined trajectory of the first terminal device (205).

8. The method (800) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The one or more terminal devices (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) include at least one of the following: a terminal device (225) associated with a fixed location; A terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3) capable of positioning itself through its own positioning module; and A terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3) capable of positioning itself by communicating with another terminal device.

9. The method (800) of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The identifier of the terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) is a permanent identifier of the terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) or a temporary identifier assigned by the server (110) periodically or in response to a triggering event.

10. The method (800) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: An identifier of a terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) is generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identification of a user associated with the terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225).

11. The method (800) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The short-range wireless communication includes at least one of the following: Wi-Fi communication; Near Field Communication (NFC) communication; Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) communications; Bluetooth communication; Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication; ZigBee communication; Z-Wave communication; Infrared Data Association (IrDA) communications; and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Sidelink (SL) communications.

12. A server (110, 1000, 1100), comprising: Processor (1006); A memory (1008) storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (1006), cause the processor (1006) to perform the method (800) of any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A method (900) at a first terminal device (205) for facilitating a server (110) to locate the first terminal device (205), the method (900) comprising: detecting (S910) whether there is a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225); In response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225), receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) a second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) from the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225); as well as Information indicating a second identifier of a second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) is reported (S930) to a server (110).

14. The method (900) of claim 13, further comprising: In response to detecting the presence of a short-range wireless signal from a second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225), a first identifier of the first terminal device (203) is sent (S405, S415, S425) to the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225).

15. The method (900) of claim 13 or 14, wherein: Before the step of receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) the second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) and / or the step of sending (S405, S415, S425) the first identifier of the first terminal device (203), the method (900) further comprises: determining whether the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) has a signal strength higher than a threshold, The step of receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) a second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) and / or the step of sending (S405, S415, S425) a first identifier of the first terminal device (203) is further performed in response to determining that the detected short-range wireless signal from the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) has a signal strength higher than a threshold.

16. The method (900) of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein: After the step of sending (S405, S415, S425) the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) to the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225), the method (900) further comprises: Starting a timer for preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) from being retransmitted to the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225); and Preventing the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) from being sent to the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) again until the timer expires.

17. The method (900) of any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein: Before the step of receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) the second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) and / or the step of sending (S405, S415, S425) the first identifier of the first terminal device (203), the method (900) further comprises: A short-distance connection is established with the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225).

18. The method (900) of any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein: When multiple short-range wireless signals from multiple second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) are detected, the steps of receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) the second identifiers of the second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) and / or sending (S405, S415, S425) the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) are performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225).

19. The method (900) of claim 18, wherein: The step of receiving (S405, S415, S425, S920) the second identifier of the multiple second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) and / or the step of sending (S405, S415, S425) the first identifier of the first terminal device (203) are performed one by one for the multiple second terminal devices (215-1, 215-3, 225) in descending order of their signal strength.

20. The method (900) according to any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein: The information reported to the server (110) further includes at least one of the following: a timestamp indicating when the second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225) was received by the first terminal device (203); and The first terminal device (203) receives the location of the second identifier of the second terminal device (215-1, 215-3, 225).

21. The method (900) of any one of claims 13 to 20, wherein: The identifier of the terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) is a permanent identifier of the terminal device or a temporary identifier assigned by the server (110) periodically or in response to a triggering event.

22. The method (900) according to any one of claims 13 to 21, wherein: An identifier of a terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) is generated based on a pseudo-random sequence and a personal identification of a user associated with the terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225).

23. The method (900) according to any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein: The short-range wireless signal includes at least one of the following: Wi-Fi signal; NFC signal; RFID signal; Bluetooth signal; BLE signal; ZigBee signal; Z-wave signal; IrDA signal; as well as 3GPP SL signal.

24. A terminal device (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225, 1000, 1200), comprising: Processor (1006); A memory (1008) storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (1006), cause the processor (1006) to perform the method (900) of any one of claims 13 to 23.

25. A computer program (1010) comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor (1006), cause the at least one processor (1006) to perform the method (800, 900) of any one of claims 1 to 11 and 13 to 23.

26. A carrier (1008) comprising a computer program (1010) according to claim 25, wherein The carrier (1008) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal or a computer-readable storage medium.

27. A system (10, 20) for locating a terminal device, the system (10, 20) comprising: One or more terminal devices (205, 215-1, 215-3, 225) according to claim 24; as well as The server (110) as claimed in claim 12.

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