Crowdsourced Indoor Geolocation via Sensor Fusion and Visual Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current geolocation systems fail to accurately determine indoor user positions due to signal blockages and require known layouts, which limits their functionality and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A mobile-based crowdsourcing platform that uses user data from sensors and visual imaging systems to render interactive, augmented or virtual reality floor plans, allowing for accurate indoor geolocation without pre-defined layouts, and updates these plans in real-time through user input and data polling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS signals are used for geolocation, then outdoor location accuracy is improved, but indoor location accuracy deteriorates due to signal blockage by physical barriers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediate signal sources (WiFi access points, Bluetooth beacons, RFID tags, NFC readers) that act as mediators between the user's mobile device and the positioning system. These intermediaries transmit signals that can penetrate indoor environments where GPS signals are blocked, enabling the mobile device to determine its location through trilateration or fingerprinting methods using these intermediate signals.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the mobile device itself a multi-functional positioning unit by equipping it with multiple sensor types (GPS receiver, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, WiFi controller, Bluetooth controller). This universal device can perform both outdoor GPS-based positioning and indoor sensor-based positioning, eliminating the need for separate indoor positioning hardware.
2Measurement precision
If multiple signal sources and hardware devices are deployed for indoor geolocation, then indoor location accuracy is improved, but device complexity and hardware requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the mobile device into a universal positioning unit that integrates multiple sensor types (GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, barometers, WiFi controllers, Bluetooth controllers) into a single device. This eliminates the need for separate indoor positioning hardware while enabling both outdoor GPS-based positioning and indoor sensor-based positioning through software algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the mobile device to serve itself as a positioning unit by using its own built-in sensors and processors to collect data, perform calculations, and determine its location. The device autonomously fuses data from multiple sensors and applies algorithms (such as sensor fusion, trilateration, or fingerprinting) to calculate its position without requiring external positioning hardware.
3Measurement precision
If known layouts or floor plans are required for indoor geolocation, then positioning accuracy is improved, but adaptability to unknown environments deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary mapping actions by having mobile devices continuously collect environmental data (WiFi signal strengths, Bluetooth beacon signals, RFID tag readings, visual images from cameras, LiDAR point clouds) and use this data to build or update floor plans and maps of the environment. This preliminary mapping enables the system to subsequently provide accurate positioning in previously unknown environments without requiring pre-existing layout information.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides systems and methods for providing interactive visual images in a mobile-based crowdsourcing platform. More specifically, the system of the present invention includes a plurality of remote mobile devices and a visual imaging system configured to communicate and exchange data with a cloud-based service, such as a crowdsourcing platform. The crowdsourcing platform generally provides a geolocation service based on the crowdsourcing, or polling, of users of the mobile devices, in addition to visual data captured by the visual imaging system, so as to determine location and movement of the users within a specific environment. The system is further configured to automatically render an augmented or virtual reality floor plan or layout of a location based on the user data and visual data.