Beacon Anchored Reverse Geocoding for Indoor Location Context
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current reverse geocoding systems are inadequate for determining specific indoor locations such as building floors, rooms, or moving vehicles, as they rely on latitude and longitude and fail to provide context about changing or dynamic physical spaces.
Innovation Solution
The Beacon Anchored Reverse Geocoding Extension (BARGE) system uses wireless beacons to provide detailed locative and descriptive information by associating place attributes with beacon identifiers, allowing for the determination of contextual attributes like floor, room, or vehicle sections based on received signal strength and clustering algorithms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional reverse geocoding systems use latitude and longitude to determine location information, then they can provide civic address information, but they fail to provide specific indoor location details such as building floors, rooms, or contextual attributes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces wireless beacons as intermediary devices deployed throughout indoor environments. These beacons serve as mediators between the user's device and the physical space, carrying contextual information about their location (floor, room, building) and transmitting it to mobile devices. The beacons enable precise indoor location determination without requiring direct satellite signal access, resolving the contradiction between providing civic address information and capturing specific indoor contextual attributes.
2Loss of information
If the Cricket Indoor Location System uses arbitrary character strings encoded in beacons, then it can encode location and context information, but the system requires non-standard hardware and communications protocols that increase complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs standard Wi-Fi beacons (access points) that perform multiple functions: they provide wireless network connectivity, transmit location information, and carry contextual attributes about the environment. By making the beacons universal devices that serve multiple purposes, the system eliminates the need for specialized Cricket hardware and complex custom protocols. The standard Wi-Fi infrastructure is leveraged to achieve both communication and location services, reducing device complexity while maintaining contextual information capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional reverse geocoding relies on latitude and longitude coordinates, then it can determine outdoor location information, but it cannot determine information about places that change in time or physical space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic location determination system where contextual attributes associated with beacons can change over time and physical space. The system allows attributes such as room names, building identifiers, and location descriptions to be updated dynamically without requiring system redesign. This enables the system to adapt to changing environments (such as renovated spaces or time-dependent location information) while maintaining precise spatial accuracy through continuous beacon-based tracking and attribute updates.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
BARGE enhances reverse geocoding by providing accurate and contextually relevant information about indoor and outdoor locations, including specific areas within buildings or moving vehicles, beyond traditional civic address information, enabling more precise navigation and location-based services.
Implementation Method 1
receiving information identifying at least one wireless beacon in range of the wireless-enabled device and determining a received signal strength indication of the at least one wireless beacon
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for providing contextual information about a place within a range of a wireless signal beacon are provided. A reference database of wireless beacons stores attributes associated with wireless beacons. Wireless-enabled devices and/or server systems receive information identifying wireless beacons in range of the wireless-enabled devices and determine a received signal strength indication of the wireless beacons. The wireless-enabled devices and/or server systems then retrieve from the reference database extended attributes that are associated with the wireless beacons and determine at least one associated contextual attribute about the place within range of the wireless beacons.