PERFORMANCE-EFFICIENT USER TRACKING

Abstract

A mobile device tracking approach is implemented. In response to detecting, using a transceiver of a vehicle, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, a designated UWB anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors of the vehicle is enabled to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device. In response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, the plurality of UWB anchors are enabled to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device.Based on the position, a subset of the vehicle's UWB anchors are used to continuously perform trilateration, and a rest of the UWB anchors except the subset of UWB anchors are blocked to save power.

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGYAspects of the disclosure relate to power saving techniques for detecting the proximity of a mobile device to a vehicle.BACKGROUNDSome vehicles may be unlocked or started with a digital key. A digital key, sometimes implemented with a smartphone (e.g., phone-as-key), relies on communication between a mobile device, such as a smartphone, and the vehicle. When an application on the mobile device is powered on and the mobile device is maintained at a specific location relative to the vehicle, such as adjacent the door handle, the vehicle unlocks the doors. A digital key may communicate with the vehicle using Bluetooth® near field communication (NFC), and / or ultra-wideband (UWB).SUMMARYIn one or more illustrative examples, a method of implementing an improved tracking approach for mobile devices is performed. In response to detecting, using a transceiver of a vehicle, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, a designated UWB anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors of the vehicle is activated to perform time of flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device. In response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, the plurality of UWB anchors are activated to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device. Based on the position, a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle are used to continue to perform trilateration, and a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors are disabled to save power. A component of the vehicle is actuated based on a result of the trilateration.In one or more illustrative examples, a system for implementing an enhanced mobile device tracking approach includes a transceiver; a plurality of UWB anchors; and one or more computing devices. The one or more computing devices are configured to, responsive to detecting, using the transceiver, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, turn on a designated ultra wideband (UWB) anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; responsive to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, turn on the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle based on the position to continue to perform the trilateration and disabling a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.In one or more illustrative embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium includes instructions for implementing an improved mobile device tracking approach that, when executed by one or more computing devices of a vehicle having a transceiver and a plurality of UWB anchors, causes the vehicle to perform operations including: responsive to detecting, using the transceiver, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, activating a designated ultra wideband (UWB) anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle based on the position to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 illustrates an example system including a vehicle implementing an improved tracking approach to selectively power down different ones of the UWB anchors to preserve energy of the vehicle; FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the vehicle turning on the designated UWB anchor in response to the location of the mobile device reaching the first distance; FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the vehicle turning on all of the UWB anchors in response to the location of the mobile device reaching the second distance; FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the vehicle triangulating the mobile device as the user moves; FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the vehicle continuing to triangulate the mobile device as the user moves; FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the vehicle adjusting the activated UWB anchors based on the continued triangulation of the mobile device; FIG. 7 illustrates an example data flow for operation of the controller of the vehicle in implementing the improved tracking approach; FIG. 8 illustrates an example of operation of a quadrant-based implementation of the improved tracking approach; and FIG. 9 illustrates an example computing device for implementing the improved tracking approach to selectively power down various ones of the UWB anchors to preserve vehicle power.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONAs required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be greatly exaggerated or minimized to show details of specific components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.Features of the vehicle may rely on the relative location of a mobile device, e.g., digital key, remote parking assist, smart tool, etc., relative to the location of the vehicle. This may be performed using the UWB anchors in communication with the mobile device, which may also be equipped with a UWB transceiver. The controller uses the UWB anchors to determine distance data that may include distances between the mobile device and the respective UWB anchors, e.g., based on TOF data between the mobile device and the UWB anchors. The trilateration may be performed using at least three TOF distances. Once the location of the mobile device is determined, the controller may actuate a vehicle component according to one of the features, e.g., unlocking the doors for the digital key or operating the vehicle for the remote parking assist. Nevertheless, such an approach may consume energy through the vehicle as well as energy of the mobile device being tracked.An improved tracking approach may be implemented that reduces vehicle power consumption. In the improved approach, the user wearing the mobile device may initially walk towards the vehicle. A transceiver may be used to track the mobile device when the user is still relatively far from the vehicle (e.g., in one example, greater than 20 meters). This monitoring of user distance may be performed using a Bluetooth received signal strength indicator (RSSI) that requires less power than UWB anchors, in one example. In response to the user reaching a first distance to the vehicle (10 meters in one example), the controller may activate a single designated one of a plurality of UWB anchors of the vehicle. This designated UWB anchor may be a central one of the UWB anchors in one example. Or in another example, the designated UWB anchor may be circular-tuned or randomly selected from the available UWB anchors, e.g., by switching to the next UWB anchor every N milliseconds (e.g., every 100 milliseconds as one possibility). As the user continues to approach the vehicle within the first distance threshold, the designated UWB device exchanges TOF messages and monitors the distance to the mobile device. Once the distance reaches a second, shorter distance (e.g., 6 meters), the controller also turns on the remaining UWB anchors. As user position continues to be tracked, control shuts down unnecessary UWB anchors so that only a minimal subset of the UWB anchors (e.g., those closest to the user) remain on. Accordingly, the controller may continue to track the user's position in a power efficient manner. Other aspects of the disclosure are discussed in detail herein.FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 including a vehicle 102 implementing an improved tracking approach to selectively power down various ones of the UWB anchors 104 to preserve energy of the vehicle 102. As shown, the vehicle 102 includes a plurality of UWB anchors 104, a transceiver 106, and a controller 108. The system 100 may be used to track the location of mobile devices 110. These mobile devices 110 may include smart phones, smart tools, and / or other devices of interest.With particular reference to FIG. 1, the vehicle 102 may be any passenger or commercial vehicle, such as a car, truck, sport utility vehicle, crossover vehicle, van, minivan, taxi, bus, etc. The vehicle 102 may include various types of automobiles, crossover utility vehicle (CUV), sport utility vehicle (SUV), trucks, recreational vehicles, motor cycles, boats, airplanes, or other mobile machines for transporting persons or goods. Such vehicles 102 may be driven by humans or may be autonomous. In many cases, the vehicle 102 may be powered by an internal combustion engine. As another possibility, the vehicle 102 may be a battery electric vehicle powered by one or more electric motors. As another possibility, the vehicle 102 may be a hybrid electric vehicle powered by both an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors, such as a series hybrid electric vehicle, a parallel hybrid electric vehicle, or a parallel / series hybrid electric vehicle.The UWB anchors 104 wirelessly communicate with the mobile device 110 using radio waves. The UWB anchors 104 use an ultra-wideband signal, e.g., a low energy level signal, that is spread over a wide range of the radio spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission and the International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunication Sector define ultra-wideband as an antenna transmission in which the bandwidth of the emitted signal exceeds the lower of 500 MHz or 20% of the arithmetic center frequency. The UWB anchors 104 may use any suitable modulation method, such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), phase-shift keying (PSK), pulse-position modulation (PPM), etc.The UWB anchors 104 may be mounted to the body of the vehicle 102. The amount of UWB anchors 104 may be at least four. In the illustrated example, seven UWB anchors 104 are shown. As illustrated, these include a first UWB anchor 104 a, a second UWB anchor 104 b, a third UWB anchor 104 c, a fourth UWB anchor 104 d, a fifth UWB anchor 104 e, a sixth UWB anchor 104 f, and a seventh UWB anchor 104 g. The UWB anchors 104 are spaced apart, e.g., spread across the vehicle 102, to increase the ability to distinguish location when used for trilateration. For example, four of the UWB anchors 104 may be located at respective corners of the vehicle 102 to maximize the horizontal distribution of the UWB anchors 104, and the remaining three UWB anchors 104 may be located in a footprint of the vehicle 102 at different heights than the corner-mounted UWB anchors 104 to provide vertical propagation. To perform trilateration, the calculation of the intersection of three or more circles or spheres may provide the location of the detected device.The transceiver 106 may be configured to wirelessly transmit signals through a different communication protocol than that used by the UWB anchors 104, such as cellular, Bluetooth® Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), WiFi, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) standard 802.11a / b / g / p, Cellular-V2X (CV2X), Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), etc. The transceiver 106 is configured to communicate using a protocol also used by the mobile device 110. In particular, transceiver 106 may use BLE. The transceiver 106 may be a device or may include a separate transmitter and receiver.The controller 108 may be a microprocessor-based computing device, e.g., a generic computing device including a processor and memory, an electronic controller, or the like, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a combination of the foregoing, etc. Typically, a hardware description language such as a very high speed integrated circuit (VHDL (VHSIC) hardware description language) is used in electronic design automation to describe digital and mixed signal systems such as FPGA and ASIC. For example, an ASIC is manufactured based on VHDL programming provided prior to manufacture, whereas logical components within an FPGA may be configured based on VHDL programming stored, e.g., in a memory electrically connected to the FPGA circuit. The controller 108 may thus include a processor, a memory, etc. The memory of the controller 108 may include media for storing instructions executable by the processor as well as for electronically storing data and / or databases, and / or the controller 108 may include structures such as the above provided by the programming. The controller 108 may be comprised of a plurality of computers coupled together.The controller 108 may transmit and receive data over a communication network, such as a controller area network (CAN) bus, Ethernet, WLAN, local interconnect network (LIN), onboard diagnostics connector (OBD-II), and / or via any other wired or wireless communication network. The controller 108 may be communicatively coupled to the UWB anchors 104, a transceiver 106, and other components via the communication network.The UWB anchors 104 and the transceiver 106 may communicate with at least one mobile device 110. The mobile devices 110 may include portable computing devices such as smart keys; cellular phones, e.g., smart phones; wearable devices, e.g., smart watches, headsets, etc.; tablets; smart tools, etc. The mobile devices 110 are computing devices that include respective processors and respective memories. The mobile devices 110 may be owned and carried by respective persons who may be vehicle drivers and / or owners of the vehicle 102.The UWB anchors 104 may continuously monitor user movement. Nevertheless, this may consume energy through the vehicle 102 as well as energy of the user's mobile device 110 being tracked. Thus, an improved tracking approach may be implemented.In the improved approach, the user wearing the mobile device 110 may walk towards the vehicle 102. The transceiver 106 may be used to track the mobile device 110 when the user is still relatively far from the vehicle 102 (e.g., in one example, greater than 20 meters). This monitoring of user distance may be performed based on Bluetooth RSSI, in one example. In response to the user reaching a first distance (R 1) to the vehicle 102 (10 meters in one example), the controller 108 may activate a single designated one of the UWB anchors 104 (e.g., UWB anchor 104 f, as shown in FIG. 2 ). This designated UWB anchor 104 may be a central one of the UWB anchors 104, in one example. Or in another example, the designated UWB anchor 104 may be circular-tuned or randomly selected from the available UWB anchors 104, e.g., by switching to the next UWB anchor 104 every N milliseconds (e.g., every 100 milliseconds as one possibility). The vehicle 102 may begin tracking the user's position using the one UWB anchor 104, provided the user remains within the first distance surrounding the vehicle 102 rather than using more than one UWB device 104, as only one distance measure is required in that distance, no complete triangulation.As the user continues to approach the vehicle 102 within R 1, the UWB anchor 104 f exchanges TOF messages and monitors the distance to the mobile device 110. Once the distance reaches a second, smaller radial distance (e.g., 6 meters, continuing with the example), the controller 108 also activates the remaining UWB anchors 104 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3 ).The controller 108 may locate the position of the mobile device 110 using trilateration based on the distance information collected between each of the UWB anchors 104 and the mobile device 110. As the user moves toward the vehicle 102, the controller 108 may selectively shut down redundant or otherwise unnecessary UWB anchors 104 (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4-6 ). With this approach, the vehicle 102 may shut down unnecessary UWB anchors 104 that are not required to track the position of the mobile device 110, which may save device performance and life. For example, the vehicle 102 may identify and use a set of the three or four UWB anchors 104 closest to the mobile device 110 to complete the trilateration.FIG. 2 illustrates an example 200 of the vehicle 102 turning on the designated UWB anchor 104 in response to the location of the mobile device 110 reaching the first distance R 1. In this example, the designated UWB anchor 104 fis the central UWB anchor 104, but this is just one example, and in other cases, another anchor or rotation between the UWB anchors 104 may be used. As shown, the user accesses the vehicle 102 with the mobile device 110. The vehicle 102 may monitor the mobile device 110 using the transceiver 106, e.g., using RSSI. The transceiver 106 may identify and begin tracking the user on the order of 20 meters from the vehicle 102. The transceiver 106 may continue monitoring the distance of the mobile device 110 via RSSI. In response to the mobile device 110 reaching R 1, the controller 108 turns on the designated UWB anchor 104 f. Because the mobile device 110 is still relatively far from the vehicle 102, triangulation of the user's location need not be performed. Thus, the location services of a single UWB anchor 104 are sufficient to track the easy distance. The UWB devices 104 and / or the powered transceivers 106 are shown in the figures as being pattern-filled, while the non-powered UWB devices 104 and / or powered transceivers 106 are shown without pattern filling.FIG. 3 illustrates an example 300 of the vehicle 102 turning on all of the UWB anchors 104 in response to the location of the mobile device 110 reaching the second distance R 2. Because the mobile device 110 is now closer to the vehicle 102, triangulation beyond the single distance measurement may be desirable. For example, it may be desirable for the vehicle 102 to actuate a vehicle component according to one of the features, e.g., unlocking the doors for the digital key or operating the vehicle 102 for the remote parking assist. Thus, as shown, each of the UWB anchors 104 is powered on to perform positioning of the mobile device 110. This may result in identifying the location of the user at a first location, shown here as P 1.FIG. 4 illustrates an example 400 of the vehicle 102 triangulating the mobile device 110 as the user moves. As shown, the user has moved from position P1 to updated position P2. In an example, the controller 108 may continue to periodically (e.g., every 100 milliseconds) detect the position of the mobile device 110 using trilateration based on the distance information received from the UWB anchors 104.A heading and path of the user (e.g., shown as PATH) may be determined by the controller 108 based on the positions P 1, P 2 (and / or based on other positions of the mobile device 110 periodically determined by the controller 108). For example, the controller 108 may use various techniques to extrapolate a path using a sequence of a plurality of the determined positions of the mobile device 110 (e.g., by finding the change and / or rate of change of X, Y, and / or Z in the sequence of positions and using that change and / or rate of change to estimate future positions). Based on the positions and / or the PATH, the controller 108 may selectively disable those of the UWB anchors 104 that are less useful in positioning the mobile device 110.As shown, the controller 108 has the UWB armatures 104 c, 104 d, 104 e, and 104 gselected to remain on while shutting off the UWB armatures 104 a, 104 b, and 104 f. In a non-limiting example, the controller 108 may select the nearest N of the UWB anchors 104, where N is a predefined set, such as three or four. In a non-limiting example, the controller 108 may choose to include, in the nearest UWB anchors 104, at least one of the UWB anchors 104 located at respective corners of the vehicle 102 and at least one of the UWB anchors 104 located at different heights than the corner-mounted UWB anchors 104 to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset. The presence of vertical propagation for the UWB anchors 104 in addition to length and width may allow the controller 108 to create zones in and around the vehicle 102 that identify whether the located mobile device 110 is above or below the vehicle 102.FIG. 5 illustrates an example 500 of the vehicle 102 continuing to triangulate the mobile device 110 as the user moves. As shown, the user has moved from position P2 to updated position P3. Based on the updated position, the controller 108 has maintained the same set of UWB anchors 104 for use in locating the mobile device 110.FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 of the vehicle 102 adjusting the activated UWB anchors 104 based on the continued triangulation of the mobile device 110. As shown, the user has moved from position P 3 to updated position P 4. Additionally, at P 4, the controller 108 determines that the set of powered-on UWB anchors 104 should be changed to better reflect the UWB anchors 104 closest to the new position of the mobile device 110. As shown, the controller 108 has alternated the first UWB armature 104 awhile shutting off the third UWB armature 104 c. Thus, the controller 108 may continuously determine and dynamically adjust the subset of UWB anchors 104, thereby maintaining accuracy and energy efficiency.FIG. 7 illustrates an example data flow 700 for operation of the controller 108 of the vehicle 102 in implementing the improved tracking approach. In an example, the data flow 700 may be performed by the vehicle 102 within the framework of the system 100.At index (A), the controller 108 uses the transceiver 106 to detect the presence of the mobile device 110. In an example, the transceiver 106 may be used to track the mobile device 110 when the user is still relatively far from the vehicle 102 (e.g., in one example, greater than 20 meters). This monitoring of the user distance may be performed based on Bluetooth RSSI. Thus, the controller 108 may use the transceiver 106 to detect and track the mobile device 110 while not powering the UWB anchors 104.At index (B), the controller 108 activates the designated UWB anchor 104 in response to detection of the mobile device 110. In an example, the controller 108 may activate a single designated one of the UWB anchors 104 in response to the user reaching the first distance (R 1) to the vehicle 102, as determined using the transceiver 106 (10 meters in one example). In a non-limiting example, the UWB anchor 104 closest to the center of the vehicle 102 (e.g., the UWB anchor 104 f) may be powered to operate to track the distance of the mobile device 110 from the vehicle 102 more accurately than may be possible using the transceiver 106. It should be noted that the designated UWB anchor 104 fmay require more power than operation using the transceiver 106. Or in another example, the designated UWB anchor 104 may be circular-tuned or randomly selected from the available UWB anchors 104 or subset of the UWB anchors 104, e.g., by switching to the next UWB anchor 104 every N milliseconds (e.g., every 100 milliseconds as one possibility). It should be noted that in such an example, this switching may occur during continued operation of the indices (C)-(D).At index (C), the controller 108 monitors the location of the mobile device 110. As the user continues to approach the vehicle 102 within R 1, the designated UWB device 104 exchanges TOF messages and monitors the distance to the mobile device 110. The controller 108 may monitor TOF signals between the designated UWB anchor 104 and the mobile device 110 to determine whether the location of the mobile device 110 comes within the second radial distance (R 2).In response to the user reaching an R 2 to the vehicle 102 (10 meters in one example), the controller 108 may turn on all of the UWB anchors 104 at index (D). This activation may be performed to enable the controller 108 to determine the position and / or path of the mobile device 110. This position and / or path information may allow the controller 108 to selectively disable those of the UWB anchors 104 that are less useful in positioning the mobile device 110.At index (E), the controller 108 uses the subset of the UWB anchors 104 to triangulate the location of the mobile device 110. This subset may be determined to be the closest N of the UWB anchors 104 or the N of the UWB anchors 104 having the highest signal strength, where N is a predefined set, such as three or four. In a non-limiting example, the controller 108 may choose to include, in the nearest UWB anchors 104, at least one of the UWB anchors 104 located at respective corners of the vehicle 102 and at least one of the UWB anchors 104 located at different heights than the corner-mounted UWB anchors 104 to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.The controller 108 may continue tracking the mobile device 110 using the subset of the UWB anchors 104. This tracking may be used to enable various features of the vehicle 102. For example, the controller 108 may only unlock the door or doors closest to the mobile device 110. Or, the controller 108 may turn on mosquito lights on the side of the vehicle 102 that the user is approaching.It should be noted that the subset of the UWB anchors 104 may be periodically adjusted to triangulate the location of the mobile device 110. For example, the location of the mobile device 110 may be determined periodically by the controller 108 and the subset of the UWB anchors 104 may be updated in response to these periodic determinations to allow the subset of the UWB anchors 104 to continue to be the best set of the UWB anchors 104 for monitoring the mobile device 110 as the user moves around the vehicle 102.FIG. 8 illustrates an example 800 of operation of a quadrant-based implementation of the improved tracking approach. As shown, the area surrounding the vehicle 102 is divided into four quadrants: (X 1, Y 1), (X 1, Y 2, (X 2, Y 1), and (X 2, Y 2).In example 800, controller 108 analyzes Bluetooth signals from transceiver 106 to identify initial user authentication of mobile device 110 to trigger a UWB network wake-up signal and, after preliminary measurements (e.g., for 300 ms), observe that the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of preliminary mobile device 110 (which includes both BLE and UWB capabilities and is worn by the user) increases as the user approaches vehicle 102.In response to the RSSI increasing beyond a predefined energy threshold T o the controller 108 proceeds to send universal interface (UCI) commands to the UWB anchors 104 to begin ranging the mobile device 110 to the vehicle 102.As the user wearing mobile device 110 as the initiating UWB device approaches vehicle 102, controller 108 detects the incrementally decreased distance between the user and UWB anchors 104. The controller 108 also detects an incremental increase in received signal power between respective UWB anchors 104 and the mobile device 110 as an inducer (e.g., after a plurality of ranging operations performed within a certain number of milliseconds).The controller 108 may then proceed to send new appropriate UCI commands to disable ranging for all UWB anchors 104 (e.g., disable certain of the UWB anchors 104), except for only one or two UWB anchors 104 with the strongest received signal power and / or the shortest rangings.In response to the detected distance between the user (e.g., mobile device 110 acting as an inducer) and any of the connected UWB anchors 104 decreasing below a predefined distance threshold D o (indicating proximity to vehicle 102 for certain feature operations and functionalities of vehicle 102), controller 108 may activate one or more of the nearest UWB anchors 104 by sending this new targeted / suitable UCI commands. Similar operations (but in reverse order) may be applied when the user begins to move away from the vehicle 102.A similar process for saving power may be applied as the user moves around the vehicle 102. More specifically, the controller 108 may perform trilateration using two or more received rangings of the UWB anchors 104, wherein in response to the controller 108 determining that the calculated user location coordinates (X, Y) or (X, Y, Z) are in one of the four possible regions around the vehicle 102 (e.g., front right, front left, rear left, rear right), the controller 108 may proceed to turn off the UWB anchors 104 that make rangings for regions other than the one in which the mobile device 110 is located, and not wake them up until the user approaches or is about to leave the edge of the current region.The coordinates of the UWB anchor 104 (relative to the vehicle 102) and the dimensions of the vehicle 102 (length, width, height) may be known in advance and may be embedded (or hard-coded) in the localization mechanism / algorithm of the controller 108. Thus, once the location of a mobile device 110 is determined, the controller 108 may conclude in which zone or location the mobile device 110 is located, including whether the mobile device 110 is located in, around, or under the vehicle 102.FIG. 9 illustrates an example computing device 902 for implementing the improved tracking approach to selectively power down various ones of the UWB anchors 104 to preserve energy of the vehicle 102. Referring to FIG. 9 and referring to FIGS. 1-8, the vehicle 102, the UWB anchors 104, the transceiver 106, the controller 108, and the mobile device 110 may be examples of such computing devices 902. Computing devices 902 generally include computer-executable instructions, where the instructions may be executable by one or more computing devices 902. Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and / or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™ C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, Python, JavaScript, Perl, etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., and executes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer readable media.As shown, computing device 902 may include a processor 904 operatively connected to a data store 906, a network device 908, an output device 910, and an input device 912. Note that this is merely an example and computing devices 902 with more, fewer, or other components may be used.The processor 904 may include one or more integrated circuits that implement central processing unit (CPU) and / or graphics processing unit (GPU) functionality. In some examples, the processors 904 are a system on a chip (SoC) in which the functionality of the CPU and the GPU are integrated. The SoC may optionally include other components, such as the memory 906 and the network device 908, in a single integrated device. In other examples, the CPU and the GPU are interconnected via a peripheral connection device, such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express or other suitable peripheral data connection. In one example, the CPU is a commercially available central processing device that implements an instruction set, such as one of the x86, ARM, or power instruction set family or an instruction set family for microprocessors without interconnected pipeline stages (MIPS).Regardless of the details, during operation, processor 904 executes stored program instructions that are retrieved from memory 906. The stored program instructions accordingly include software that controls the operation of the processors 904 to perform the operations described herein. The memory 906 may include both non-volatile and volatile memory devices. The non-volatile memory includes solid state memory, such as Not AND (NAND) flash memory, magnetic and optical storage media, or any other suitable data storage device that retains data when the system is powered down or power is interrupted. The volatile memory includes static and dynamic random access memory (RAM) that stores program instructions and data during operation of the system 100.The GPU may include hardware and software for displaying at least two-dimensional (2D) and optionally three-dimensional (3D) graphics on the output device 910. The output device 910 may include a graphical or visual display device, such as an electronic display screen, a projector, a printer, or any other suitable device that renders a graphical display. As another example, the output device 910 may include an audio device, such as a speaker or earphone. As yet another example, the output device 910 may include a tactile device, such as a mechanically elevatable device, which in one example may be configured to display blind text or other physical output that may be touched to provide information to a user.The input device 912 may include any of various devices that enable the computing device 902 to receive control inputs from users. Examples of suitable input devices 912 that receive human input via an interface may include keyboards, mice, trackballs, touch screens, microphones, graphics tablets, and the like.The network devices 908 may each include any of various devices that enable the described components to transmit and / or receive data from external devices over networks. Examples of suitable network devices 908 include an Ethernet interface, a Wi-Fi transceiver, a cellular transceiver, a BLUETOOTH or BLE transceiver, or another network adapter or peripheral connection device that receives data from another computer or external data storage device, which may be efficiently useful for receiving large sets of data.With respect to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order that varies from the order described herein. Further, it should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, other steps added, or certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments and should not be construed as limiting the claims.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. From reading the foregoing description, many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided will be apparent. The scope should be determined, not with reference to the foregoing description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood and intended that there will be future developments in the art discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods are incorporated into such future embodiments. Overall, it is understood that the application may be modified and varied.All terms used in the claims are intended to be accorded their broadest comprehensible constructions and their general meanings as known to those skilled in the art having the techniques described herein, unless expressly stated to the contrary herein. In particular, the use of the singular articles such as "a", "an", "the", "the", etc. should be construed to mean one or more of the listed elements unless a claim expressly indicates a limitation to the contrary.The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to enable the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the proviso that it is not used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, it will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description that various features have been incorporated in various embodiments for the purpose of simplifying the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, the subject matter of the invention lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the disclosure. The terms used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosure.According to the present invention, a method of implementing an improved mobile device tracking approach includes: responsive to detecting, using a transceiver of a vehicle, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, activating a designated ultra wideband (UWB) anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors of the vehicle to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle based on the position to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.According to an embodiment, the invention is further characterized by: periodically identifying updated positions of the mobile device using the subset of the UWB anchors; and based on the identified updated position, updating the subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle used to perform the trilateration, and disabling a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset to save power.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes the N of the UWB anchors closest to the mobile device, where N is at least three.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes at least one of the UWB anchors located at a corner of the vehicle and at least one of the UWB anchors located at a different height than the corner-mounted UWB anchors to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.According to one embodiment, the designated UWB anchor is one of the plurality of UWB anchors that is located most centrally within the vehicle.According to an embodiment, the designated UWB anchor is periodically round trip and / or randomly selected from the plurality of UWB anchors.According to one embodiment, actuating the component of the vehicle includes unlocking doors of the vehicle or operating a remote parking assist feature of the vehicle.According to one embodiment, performing the trilateration includes identifying a quadrant surrounding the vehicle in which the mobile device is located, and wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes actuating a component within the identified quadrant.According to the present invention, there is provided a system for implementing an improved tracking approach for mobile devices, comprising: a transceiver; a plurality of UWB anchors; and one or more computing devices configured to: responsive to detecting, using the transceiver, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, turn on a designated ultra wideband (UWB) anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle based on the position to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.According to an embodiment, the one or more computing devices are further configured to: periodically identify updated positions of the mobile device using the subset of the UWB anchors; and based on the identified updated position, update the subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle used to perform the trilateration, and disable a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset to save power.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes the N of the UWB anchors that are closest to the mobile device.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors N includes the UWB anchors that show the closest distances to the mobile device.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes at least one of the UWB anchors located at a corner of the vehicle and at least one of the UWB anchors located at a different height than the corner-mounted UWB anchors to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.According to one embodiment, actuating the component of the vehicle includes unlocking doors of the vehicle or operating a remote parking assist feature of the vehicle.According to one embodiment, performing the trilateration includes identifying a quadrant surrounding the vehicle in which the mobile device is located, wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes actuating a component within the identified quadrant.According to the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions for implementing an improved mobile device tracking approach that, when executed by one or more computing devices of a vehicle having a transceiver and a plurality of UWB anchors, causes the vehicle to perform operations including: responsive to detecting, using the transceiver, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, activating a designated Ultra Wideband (UWB) anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to perform time-of-flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle based on the position to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.According to one embodiment, the invention is further characterized by instructions that, when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the vehicle to perform operations comprising: periodically identifying updated positions of the mobile device using the subset of the UWB anchors; and based on the identified updated position, updating the subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle used to perform the trilateration, and disabling a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset to save power.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes one or more of the UWB anchors closest to the mobile device or the UWB anchors that show the closest distances to the mobile device.According to an embodiment, the subset of the UWB anchors includes at least one of the UWB anchors located at a corner of the vehicle and at least one of the UWB anchors located at a different height than the corner-mounted UWB anchors to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.According to one embodiment, performing the trilateration includes identifying a quadrant surrounding the vehicle in which the mobile device is located, wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes actuating a component within the identified quadrant.

Claims

A method for implementing an improved tracking approach for mobile devices, comprising: responsive to detecting, using a transceiver of a vehicle, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, activating a designated ultra wide band (UWB) anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors of the vehicle to perform time of flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; based on the position, utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.The method of claim 1, further comprising: periodically identifying updated positions of the mobile device using the subset of the UWB anchors; and based on the identified updated position, updating the subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle used to perform the trilateration, and disabling a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset to save power.The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of the UWB anchors includes the N of the UWB anchors closest to the mobile device, where N is at least three.The method of claim 3, wherein the subset of the UWB anchors includes at least one of the UWB anchors located at a corner of the vehicle and at least one of the UWB anchors located at a different height than the corner-mounted UWB anchors to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.The method of claim 1, wherein the designated UWB anchor is one of the plurality of UWB anchors that is most centrally located within the vehicle.The method of claim 1, wherein the designated UWB anchor is periodically round trip and / or randomly selected from the plurality of UWB anchors.The method of claim 1, wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes unlocking doors of the vehicle or operating a remote parking assist feature of the vehicle.The method of claim 1, wherein performing the trilateration includes identifying a quadrant surrounding the vehicle in which the mobile device is located, and wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes actuating a component within the identified quadrant.A system for implementing an improved tracking approach for mobile devices, comprising: a transceiver; a plurality of UWB anchors; and one or more computing devices configured to: responsive to detecting, using the transceiver, that a mobile device reaches a first distance from the vehicle, turn on a designated ultra wideband (UWB) anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to perform time of flight (TOF) distance measurements between the vehicle and the mobile device; in response to the TOF distance measurements between the mobile device and the designated UWB anchor indicating that the mobile device has reached a closer, second distance from the vehicle, activating the plurality of UWB anchors to perform trilateration between the vehicle and the mobile device to identify a position of the mobile device; based on the position, utilizing a subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle to continue performing the trilateration and locking a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset of the UWB anchors to save power; and actuating a component of the vehicle based on a result of the trilateration.The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to: periodically identify updated positions of the mobile device using the subset of the UWB anchors; and based on the identified updated position, update the subset of the UWB anchors of the vehicle used to perform the trilateration, and lock a remainder of the UWB anchors other than the subset to save power.The system of claim 9, wherein the subset of the UWB anchors includes the N of the UWB anchors that are closest to the mobile device.The system of claim 9, wherein the subset of the UWB anchors N includes the UWB anchors that are closest to the mobile device.The system of claim 12, wherein the subset of the UWB anchors includes at least one of the UWB anchors located at a corner of the vehicle and at least one of the UWB anchors located at a different height than the corner-mounted UWB anchors to provide vertical propagation to the particular subset.The system of claim 9, wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes unlocking doors of the vehicle or operating a remote parking assist feature of the vehicle.The system of claim 9, wherein performing the trilateration includes identifying a quadrant surrounding the vehicle in which the mobile device is located, wherein actuating the component of the vehicle includes actuating a component within the identified quadrant.

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