Wireless Beacon Filtering for Position Determination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing location-based services face challenges in determining the position of cellular devices, especially when GPS is unavailable or the device lacks GPS functionality, leading to inaccuracies or failures in providing location-based functionality.
Innovation Solution
A system that collects and filters observation data from devices, using trusted position data and wireless beacon signals to maintain or drop data, preventing untrusted or non-stationary beacon-derived data from being used, and utilizing a local cache to provide approximate positions, thereby enhancing position determination efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If observation data from wireless beacons is collected to determine device position, then position determination capability is improved, but data reliability deteriorates due to non-stationary beacons
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by collecting observation data from multiple devices and identifying non-stationary beacons before using the data for position determination. The service proactively filters out data from non-stationary beacons by comparing beacon positions across multiple device reports, ensuring that only reliable data from stationary beacons is used for location services.
2Measurement precision
If GPS functionality is used for position determination, then position accuracy is improved, but device compatibility worsens for devices without GPS
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces wireless beacons as an intermediary for position determination. Instead of relying directly on GPS, the system uses beacons as intermediate reference points that devices can detect to infer their position. This intermediary approach allows devices without GPS to determine their location while maintaining compatibility with GPS-capable devices.
3Adaptability or versatility
If all observation data is maintained for position determination, then position determination coverage is improved, but processing efficiency worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes unreliable data from the observation dataset by identifying and filtering out data from non-stationary beacons. By taking out the harmful portion (non-stationary beacon data) from the whole dataset, the system maintains comprehensive coverage from stationary beacons while improving processing efficiency through reduced data volume and eliminated noise.
Data Source
AI summary
A determination is made, at a device, as to whether data identifying signals detected at the device include data from a non-stationary wireless beacon. If the data includes data from a non-stationary wireless beacon then observation data including both the data and an associated trusted position of the device is maintained in an observation buffer; otherwise, the observation data is dropped by the device. The observation data from the observation buffer is provided to a service, which determines whether the observation data conforms to one or more patterns, the one or more patterns having been identified based on one or more criteria used by the device in providing the observation data to the service. If the observation data conforms to the one or more patterns then the observation data is maintained by the service; otherwise, the observation data is dropped by the service.