Indoor Positioning System Using Beacon Intermediaries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing indoor positioning systems face challenges in accurately locating objects or people within enclosed structures due to GPS signal blocking and lack of effective methods for monitoring and managing personnel and asset movements, especially in retail and commercial environments.
Innovation Solution
An indoor positioning system that utilizes a dashboard platform with mobile device applications, position beacons, image sensors, and wireless transceivers to collect, analyze, and display data on user movement, incorporating visible light communication and short-range wireless protocols to provide accurate location tracking and analytics for enhanced navigation and customer engagement insights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS is used for positioning, then outdoor location accuracy is achieved, but GPS signals are blocked in enclosed structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces position beacons as intermediary objects that mediate between the mobile device and the positioning system. These beacons are placed throughout the enclosed structure and transmit position information to mobile devices, enabling accurate indoor positioning without direct GPS signal reception. The beacons act as local reference points that allow the system to determine location even when external satellite signals are blocked by building structures.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple systems are monitored and managed, then comprehensive control is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dashboard platform is designed as a universal system that can monitor and manage multiple different systems simultaneously through a single interface. It can track personnel locations, manage asset movements, control lighting systems, and analyze customer behavior all through one integrated platform. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a unified solution, reducing operational complexity despite the versatility provided.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple previously separate functions into a single integrated dashboard platform. Position tracking, asset management, lighting control, and analytics are merged into one system that processes and displays information from all these sources simultaneously. This consolidation allows comprehensive system management while presenting a simplified unified interface to users rather than requiring separate systems for each function.
3Measurement precision
If position beacons are deployed throughout the structure, then indoor positioning accuracy is improved, but device complexity and installation requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses position beacons with locally optimized characteristics suited to their specific deployment locations. Each beacon is configured to work effectively in its local environment within the structure, with position information tailored to its specific location. This local optimization allows accurate positioning throughout the entire structure without requiring a uniform complex system design, as each beacon independently provides precise local positioning data.
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
Enables precise tracking and analysis of user movements, providing insights into customer behavior and staff efficiency, improving navigation and enhancing the shopping experience while managing multiple systems like lighting and personnel within the structure.
Implementation Method 1
position beacons, image sensors, and wireless transceivers to collect, analyze, and display data on user movement, incorporating visible light communication and short-range wireless protocols
Implementation Method 2
image sensors, and wireless transceivers to collect, analyze, and display data on user movement
Implementation Method 3
incorporating visible light communication and short-range wireless protocols to provide accurate location tracking
Data Source
AI summary
An indoor positioning data system includes a mobile device having an indoor positioning system (IPS) mobile app, an enterprise server having a control processor, a datastore including a data metric analytic algorithm, and position beacons distributed throughout a volume of an indoor space to be monitored configured to broadcast their respective positions. The control processor configured to perform the data metric analytic algorithm, to collect position information from the mobile device and position information from the position beacons, to compare the collected position information to a predetermined distance threshold, if the collected position information is within the predetermined distance threshold, record the position of the mobile device in the data records, and display results of the data metric algorithm on a display of a client computing device. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable instructions is also disclosed.