CN102075936A - Positioning method and terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a positioning method and a terminal, wherein the method includes: judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment; when the terminal is in the indoor environment, performing indoor height positioning on the terminal through a first positioning method and/or performing indoor height positioning on the terminal through a second positioning method Indoor horizontal positioning. The present invention uses a barometric altimeter or a barometer to locate the terminal's indoor height and/or combine the results of the height positioning to perform horizontal positioning on the terminal. The two positioning methods solve the problem of the accuracy of height and horizontal plane positioning in indoor navigation and positioning services. The positioning delay time requires different issues. While improving the positioning accuracy, the positioning delay time is reduced, and the user experience of indoor navigation and positioning is improved, thereby meeting the needs of various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning.

Description

Positioning method and terminal

technical field

The present invention relates to the technical field of positioning and navigation, in particular to a positioning method and a terminal.

Background technique

Radio positioning and navigation technology has been widely used in the commercial field, mainly including satellite positioning technology, such as Global Positioning System (Global Positioning System, GPS), base station positioning technology, such as in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, third generation partner) LCS (Location Service) and LPP (LTE Positioning Protocol) launched by the organization or LBS (Location-Based Service) launched by IEEE802.16e/m, based on wireless local area network or personal network wireless positioning technology, such as WIFI (Wireless Fidelity, wireless broadband ), Bluetooth, infrared positioning technology, etc., as well as radio frequency identification (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID) positioning technology. These positioning technologies have been widely used in people's daily life. The positioning technology is usually combined with navigation services, so it is also called navigation and positioning technology, and the system that provides corresponding services is called navigation and positioning system.

Generally, the positioning service has two system structures, one is that the user who needs the positioning service (the equipment used by it can be called user equipment) locates itself (the target terminal is the user equipment); the other is that the user equipment uses the service network Request the location of the target terminal. Usually, a terminal without base station communication capability can only use the former system structure, that is, it can only provide services for positioning itself; while a terminal with base station communication capability can not only provide positioning for itself, but also provide positioning services for other user terminals. Provide location services.

The wireless positioning system represented by the satellite positioning system and the base station positioning system uses radio waves for positioning, which can give the height of the target object and the position of the horizontal plane (for example, expressed in coordinates, a typical horizontal coordinate consists of longitude and latitude). The accuracy of height and horizontal plane positioning is limited by positioning technology. Generally speaking, using GPS satellite positioning technology, the positioning accuracy of outdoor objects is about 10 meters, and the positioning accuracy of outdoor objects using base station positioning technology is about 10 meters. 50 meters.

The radio wave signal will fade during propagation, and it will also be reflected and refracted when encountering obstacles. When radio waves propagate indoors, the wireless signal often encounters obstacles such as walls, and the penetrating signal will be significantly attenuated and refracted. When reflected by the wall, the path will change significantly. Therefore, when using wireless signals sent by satellites or base stations for positioning, due to the attenuation, reflection and refraction of wireless signals, the receiver (such as a mobile phone) will not be able to receive the signal normally, and the received signal may also take longer than the arrival time of the signal. It is later when there are no obstacles, that is to say, the signal is likely to reach the receiver through longer paths such as reflection and refraction, and the signal from the same transmitter may reach the receiver through multiple paths, which will cause The distance between them is difficult to be accurately estimated, resulting in a significant drop in positioning accuracy. Not only that, but indoor positioning requires much higher accuracy than outdoor positioning. Usually, outdoor positioning accuracy of about 10 meters can meet the needs of typical applications such as navigation. However, indoor positioning must locate specific floors (accuracy less than 3 meters), and then locate a specific room, in order to meet the needs of applications such as navigation. In fact, even if some more advanced positioning methods are used, such as the A-GPS (Assisted GPS, assisted GPS) method that combines GPS and base station positioning for joint positioning, the indoor positioning accuracy is only in the range of 20 to 50 meters. It is far from meeting the needs of indoor navigation and positioning.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a positioning method and terminal, aiming at improving the accuracy of indoor positioning.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a positioning method, including:

Determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, perform indoor height positioning of the terminal by using a first positioning manner and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning manner.

Preferably, the first positioning method includes height positioning using a barometric altimeter or a barometer; the second positioning method includes horizontal positioning with or without combining the results of the height positioning.

Preferably, before the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal through the first positioning method, the step further includes:

Calibrate the barometric altimeter or barometer.

Preferably, the method of calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer includes at least one of the following: calibrating according to user input, calibrating according to radio location technology, calibrating according to data of adjacent base stations, and performing calibration according to data of adjacent terminals Calibration; wherein, the radio positioning technology includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology and radio frequency identification technology.

Preferably, the first positioning method includes calculating the height of the terminal according to the measured value of the barometric altimeter or barometer and auxiliary calibration parameters; the auxiliary calibration parameters include at least one of the following: the height of the adjacent base station, the relative Barometric altimeter or barometer measurements at neighboring base stations, temperature at the target terminal, humidity at the target terminal, temperature at neighboring base stations, and humidity at neighboring base stations.

Preferably, the first positioning method also includes using radio positioning technology for altitude positioning.

Preferably, after the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal by the first positioning method and/or indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by the second positioning method, the step further includes:

The terminal acquires a local building map;

Combined with the local building map to display the positioning results.

Preferably, after the step of displaying the positioning result in combination with the local building map, the step further includes:

Correction/calibration is performed on the displayed positioning results.

Preferably, the method for the terminal to obtain the local building map includes: the terminal obtains the local building map through a nearby base station and/or core network; The terminal obtains the authority of the local building map for control.

Preferably, the base station is a home base station; the home base station and/or core network controls the permission of the terminal to obtain the local building map through an access control list.

Preferably, performing horizontal positioning in combination with the results of height positioning includes:

Screen and/or filter and/or weight the horizontal positioning data source according to the height positioning result; the horizontal positioning data source includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station positioning data, wireless local area network/personal network positioning data , radio frequency identification positioning data.

Preferably, before the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal through the first positioning method, the step further includes:

Starting the indoor positioning mode; the starting the indoor positioning mode includes manually starting the indoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the indoor positioning mode.

Preferably, after the step of judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment, the step further includes:

When the terminal is in an outdoor environment, start the outdoor positioning mode; the starting the outdoor positioning mode includes manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the outdoor positioning mode.

Preferably, the method further includes: performing indoor or outdoor positioning on the terminal according to the priorities of the first positioning mode and the second positioning mode.

The present invention also proposes a positioning terminal, including:

A judging module, configured to judge whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

An indoor positioning module, configured to perform indoor height positioning of the terminal through a first positioning method and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal through a second positioning method when the terminal is in an indoor environment; the first positioning The method includes using a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform height positioning; the second positioning method includes performing horizontal positioning with or without combining the result of the height positioning.

Preferably, the terminal further includes:

A calibration module is used for calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer.

Preferably, the terminal further includes:

The map acquisition module is used to acquire the local building map;

The map display module is used to display the positioning result in combination with the local building map.

Preferably, the terminal further includes:

The starting module is configured to start an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment; or start an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment.

A positioning method and a terminal proposed by the present invention use a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform indoor height positioning on the terminal and/or combine the results of the height positioning to perform horizontal positioning on the terminal, and solve the problem of indoor navigation and positioning services through two positioning methods. For the problem of different requirements for height and horizontal plane positioning accuracy and positioning delay time, while improving positioning accuracy, reducing positioning delay time, improving user experience of indoor navigation and positioning, thus meeting the needs of various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning need.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of an embodiment of the positioning method of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of another embodiment of the positioning method of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a positioning terminal according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a positioning terminal according to the present invention.

In order to make the technical solution of the present invention clearer and clearer, it will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Detailed ways

The solution of the embodiment of the present invention is mainly to use a barometric altimeter or a barometer to locate the terminal's indoor height and/or horizontally position the terminal based on the result of the height positioning, so as to improve the indoor positioning accuracy of the terminal.

With the wide popularization of navigation and positioning applications, people increasingly hope to use navigation and positioning services in various occasions in life. For example, people often encounter the situation that they cannot find their own car in the underground parking lot, cannot find the brand store they want to go to in the commercial building, and cannot find the department office they want to go to in the office building. Need to use indoor navigation positioning service. Existing terminals with navigation and positioning functions are generally based on satellite positioning technology or base station positioning technology. Since both positioning technologies use radio signals for positioning, the reflection and refraction of radio signals when encountering obstacles , Attenuation phenomenon will significantly reduce the accuracy of radio positioning. Therefore, the existing terminals with navigation and positioning functions usually can only provide navigation and positioning services outdoors, and when the user enters the room, the positioning accuracy is too low to meet the accuracy requirements of indoor navigation and positioning.

From the perspective of the accuracy requirements of indoor navigation and positioning services, indoor navigation and positioning services are different from outdoor navigation and positioning services. , usually a difference of 3 meters in height means a difference of 1 floor, and a difference of 1 floor means that the floor map displayed by the terminal is completely different, which will cause a decrease in user experience. In terms of horizontal positioning, even if the difference is 3 meters or even 10 meters , the user can roughly know his location through the map of the floor displayed on the terminal, so as not to affect the navigation service too much. In addition, in indoor navigation and positioning services, the response speed requirements for altitude positioning are also higher than those for horizontal plane positioning. Based on the above analysis, the embodiment of the present invention proposes a method of using two positioning methods for height positioning and horizontal plane positioning respectively, so as to solve the problem of different requirements for height and horizontal plane positioning accuracy and positioning delay time in indoor navigation and positioning services. While improving the positioning accuracy, the positioning delay time is reduced to improve the user experience of indoor navigation and positioning.

As shown in Figure 1, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a positioning method, including:

Step S101, judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The manner of judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment may be automatically selected by the terminal, such as an automatic mode, or manually selected by a user, such as a specified mode.

When the terminal is automatically selected, the terminal can judge whether the terminal carried by the user is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set conditions, for example: the terminal can judge whether the terminal is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the geographical location given by GPS positioning and the corresponding map; It can also be judged whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors according to the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal weakens to a predetermined condition, it can be considered that the terminal has arrived indoors.

When manually selected by the user, taking the mobile phone as an example, when the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the mobile phone can provide the user with a manual choice on whether to enter the room through the display screen, and the user can choose according to whether the environment is indoor or outdoor Enter the corresponding environment of the terminal.

Step S102, when the terminal is in an indoor environment, perform indoor height positioning of the terminal by using a first positioning method and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning method.

The first positioning method includes height positioning using a barometric altimeter or a barometer; the second positioning method includes horizontal positioning with or without combining the results of the height positioning.

The barometric altimeter is a device that uses the barometric principle to determine the altitude. In the prior art, the electronic altimeter or digital altimeter is usually an altimeter that uses the barometric principle. The barometric altimeter uses the rule that atmospheric pressure decreases with (altitude) rise, and according to the functional relationship between atmospheric pressure and altitude, the altitude or relative altitude can be deduced by measuring the air pressure.

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, the first positioning method for height positioning can be performed by a barometric altimeter or a barometer to measure the current height of the terminal (user), and the measured height can be represented by altitude or relative height; on the other hand, the user The map of the building where the terminal is located can be pre-stored in the terminal or obtained through a nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated, and finally the terminal displays a plan map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

In addition to performing altitude positioning on the terminal, the terminal may also perform indoor positioning on the terminal by using a second positioning method of performing horizontal positioning combined with the results of the altitude positioning. When performing horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform horizontal positioning through GPS and/or base station positioning methods or A-GPS. Since the time required for simple horizontal positioning is usually longer than the time for altitude positioning, the result of horizontal positioning is more accurate than that of altitude positioning. Therefore, horizontal positioning can be carried out in combination with the results of altitude positioning. For example, first measure the altitude of the terminal through a barometric altimeter, and first display the map of the floor on the terminal interface (that is, the height positioning is completed), and then use GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS performs horizontal positioning on the terminal, and displays a specific location (such as a certain room or a certain corridor) on the terminal interface on the floor where it is located.

In this embodiment, the barometric altimeter or barometer is used to locate the terminal's indoor height, and the result of combining the height positioning can be used to horizontally position the terminal. The two positioning methods solve the problem of positioning the height and the horizontal plane in the indoor navigation and positioning service. Different requirements for accuracy and positioning delay time improve the user experience of indoor navigation and positioning, thereby meeting the needs of various applications such as indoor navigation and positioning.

As shown in Figure 2, another embodiment of the present invention proposes a positioning method, including:

Step S201, judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment; if so, proceed to step S202; otherwise, proceed to step S208;

Step S202, start the indoor positioning mode;

In this embodiment, the terminal can set specific positioning modes, such as indoor positioning mode and outdoor positioning mode, and the terminal can also set the mode of selecting indoor positioning mode or outdoor positioning mode, such as automatic selection by the terminal or manual selection by the user, When the terminal enters the room from the outside or after entering the room, the user can manually choose to enable the indoor positioning mode/function. When the terminal is automatically selected, the terminal can detect the terminal through the radio positioning method, and judge whether the terminal is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set conditions. Indoor or outdoor environment; the terminal can also judge whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors according to the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal weakens to a predetermined condition, it can be considered that the terminal has arrived indoors.

Before starting the indoor positioning mode, the terminal may initialize the parameters of the positioning mode and/or its positioning results. When the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal can measure the height of the current terminal (user) through the barometric altimeter or barometer, or it can also use GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS to perform horizontal plane positioning or through the above-mentioned method and combined with the results of height positioning for horizontal positioning.

Step S203, calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer;

The barometric altimeter has the advantage of not being affected by complex environments, especially indoor complex environments. However, the function of barometric pressure and altitude is also affected by weather factors, such as temperature and humidity, which can cause errors in barometric altimeters. In addition, barometric altimeters are prone to cumulative errors. All of the above will bring errors to the fixed height of the barometric altimeter, thereby reducing its accuracy. Therefore, a barometric altimeter or barometer needs to be calibrated before it can be used to determine the altitude of the terminal.

Calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer includes at least one of the following: calibration based on user input, calibration based on radiolocation technology, calibration based on data from adjacent base stations, calibration based on data from adjacent terminals; among them, radio Positioning technology includes satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology, and radio frequency identification technology.

The error of the calibrated barometric altimeter can be no more than 2.5 meters, while the uncalibrated barometric altimeter may have an error of tens or even hundreds of meters.

Step S204, performing indoor height positioning of the terminal by the first positioning method and/or indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by the second positioning method;

A calibrated barometric altimeter can meet the requirements for height positioning in indoor positioning. After calculating the height of the terminal (including the height represented by the floor), the terminal can display the map of the floor on the display screen, so that the user can quickly find the map information of the floor.

When locating the altitude of the terminal, the first locating method of altitude locating by barometric altimeter or barometer can be selected to measure the altitude of the current terminal (user), and the measured altitude can be represented by altitude or relative altitude.

In addition to performing altitude positioning on the terminal, the terminal may also perform indoor positioning on the terminal by using a second positioning method of performing horizontal positioning combined with the results of the altitude positioning. When performing horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform horizontal positioning through GPS and/or base station positioning methods or A-GPS. Since the time required for simple horizontal positioning is usually longer than the time for altitude positioning, the result of horizontal positioning is more accurate than that of altitude positioning. Therefore, horizontal positioning can be carried out in combination with the results of altitude positioning. For example, first measure the altitude of the terminal through a barometric altimeter, and first display the map of the floor on the terminal interface (that is, the height positioning is completed), and then use GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS performs horizontal positioning on the terminal, and displays a specific location (such as a certain room or a certain corridor) on the terminal interface on the floor where it is located.

Wherein: performing horizontal positioning in combination with the results of height positioning includes: screening and/or filtering and/or weighting the data source of horizontal positioning according to the result of high positioning; the data source of horizontal positioning includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station Positioning data, wireless local area network/personal network positioning data, radio frequency identification positioning data.

Step S205, the terminal acquires a local building map;

Step S206, displaying the positioning result in combination with the local building map;

The user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building through a nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated, and finally the terminal displays a plan map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

Specifically, the method for the terminal to obtain the local building map includes: the terminal obtains the local building map through a nearby base station and/or core network; the base station and/or core network obtains the local building map for the terminal through the terminal identifier and/or user Control the permissions of object maps.

Further, the above-mentioned base station may be a home base station; the home base station and/or the core network control the permission of the terminal to obtain the local building map through an access control list.

Step S207, correcting/calibrating the displayed positioning result.

The user can further correct the results of altitude positioning or horizontal plane positioning, for example, the current position can be indicated through the touch screen. When the data of satellite positioning and base station positioning are mixed, the possible positioning method is to filter and filter the data of multiple data sources And/or weighted processing (such as using the Kalman filter Kalman Filter), and the processing algorithm (parameter) can be corrected and calibrated according to the correct position input by the user.

Step S208, start the outdoor positioning mode.

In this embodiment, starting the outdoor positioning mode includes manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, or automatically starting the outdoor positioning mode by the terminal.

Further, the above-mentioned first positioning method also includes calculating the altitude of the terminal according to the measured value of the barometric altimeter or the barometer and the auxiliary calibration parameters; the auxiliary calibration parameters include: the height of the adjacent base station, the barometric altimeter at the adjacent base station or The measured values of the barometer, the temperature at the target terminal, the humidity at the target terminal, the temperature at the adjacent base station, and the humidity at the adjacent base station.

Further, the first positioning method also includes using radio positioning technology for height positioning.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, indoor or outdoor positioning of the terminal may also be performed according to the priorities of the first positioning mode and the second positioning mode. At the same time, the height positioning and horizontal plane positioning can be alternately performed to realize the indoor or outdoor positioning of the terminal.

The indoor positioning method according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to specific examples.

Example 1. When performing indoor positioning, the terminal uses a barometric altimeter for altitude positioning (or fixed altitude, that is, calculates the height of the terminal). Since the barometric altimeter calculates the altitude from the air pressure based on the function between the air pressure and the altitude, and The air pressure is also affected by the atmospheric environment (such as temperature and humidity) where the terminal is located. In order to correct/calibrate the error of the barometric altimeter, the following methods can be used:

1) The method of manual correction/calibration is used, that is, the user himself calibrates the barometric altimeter according to the known altitude of a certain reference point before using the barometric altimeter to determine the altitude. For example, if the user has just turned on the positioning function in a certain building or building, the user can manually input the current floor (such as the first floor). Since the height determination result of the indoor positioning is finally reflected on the floor where the user is located, the calibration based on the current floor can meet the needs of the user (it is not necessary to use the altitude for calibration). When needed, the user's altitude can be calculated indirectly based on the current floor and the building map.

2) Use an automatic or semi-automatic correction/calibration method, for example, calibrate the barometric altimeter according to the altitude given by the GPS positioning system before using the barometric altimeter to determine the altitude. If the user has turned on the positioning and navigation function outdoors, when the user is about to enter the room from the outside, the barometric altimeter can be calibrated with the altitude given by the radio positioning system (such as GPS and/or base station positioning). However, the radio positioning technology has an error of more than 10 meters even when the altitude is determined in an outdoor environment. Therefore, this method can only perform rough calibration, and cannot meet the height accuracy requirements of indoor positioning. A better way is, when the user is at the entrance and exit of the building, use the horizontal position given by radiolocation combined with the building map to determine which entrance and exit the user is at, and further obtain the height of the entrance (such as a specific floor , usually the first floor), from which the barometric altimeter can be calibrated. If the terminal also has an electronic thermometer and/or hygrometer, the terminal can also combine the measured value of the thermometer and/or hygrometer with the air pressure value to jointly calculate the altitude of the terminal. However, there is a certain possibility of error in fully automatic calibration, so a better way is to combine automatic calibration with manual calibration. user experience.

The principle of the barometric altimeter enables it to respond sensitively to altitude changes, and has low power consumption and fast response time. Therefore, a calibrated barometric altimeter can meet the requirements for height positioning in indoor positioning. After calculating the height of the terminal (including the height represented by the floor), the terminal can display the map of the floor on the display screen, so that the user can quickly find the map information of the floor. On the other hand, the horizontal plane positioning may use the horizontal plane position obtained by GPS satellite positioning or base station positioning. In this way, after obtaining the horizontal plane positioning result, the terminal can display the approximate location of the user, so as to facilitate the user's navigation and positioning application. The user can further correct the horizontal plane positioning results, for example, indicate the current position through the touch screen, and the correction results can also be used to calibrate the horizontal positioning, for example, when the data of satellite positioning and base station positioning are mixed, the possible positioning methods are Filter, filter and/or weight the data from multiple data sources (for example, using the Kalman Filter), and the processing algorithm (parameter) can be corrected and calibrated according to the correct position entered by the user.

Example 2. The terminal has GPS capability and/or base station positioning capability (such as the LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standards organization), and also has the function of an electronic altimeter. When the terminal enters the room from the outside or after entering the room, the user can manually choose to open the indoor Positioning mode/function (the terminal can distinguish between outdoor positioning mode/function and indoor positioning mode/function for users to choose and use. In this case, in other words, the terminal has an outdoor positioning mode or an indoor positioning mode). After the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal measures the height of the current terminal (user) through the electronic altimeter, and this height may be represented by altitude or relative height. On the other hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building through a nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured altitude, the floor where the terminal or user is located is calculated. At this time, the terminal can display a plan map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

In addition to height positioning, the terminal also uses GPS and/or base station positioning methods or A-GPS to perform horizontal plane positioning. Since this method usually takes longer than the positioning time of the level altimeter, it is likely that the horizontal plane positioning results are more accurate than the height positioning. Late, that is to say, the terminal may first display the map of the floor on the interface (that is, the height positioning is completed), and then display the sign of a specific location (such as a certain room or a certain corridor) on the floor where the terminal is located.

The altitude positioning (altitude measurement/estimation) of the electronic altimeter is limited by its working principle, and the barometric electronic altimeter is affected by weather factors, such as temperature and humidity, which may affect the positioning accuracy of the altimeter. In consideration of this situation, the terminal can use the following methods to improve the height accuracy.

1) Obtain the weather parameters that affect the operation of the barometric altimeter at the location of the terminal (the building), such as temperature and/or humidity, and then combine these parameters with the air pressure measured by the electronic altimeter to calculate the precise altitude of the terminal, or use the parameters It is used to correct the original height obtained by the electronic altimeter, so as to obtain the precise height of the terminal. The acquisition methods include at least the following and combinations thereof: acquisition through nearby base stations (such as indoor base stations/home base stations or WIFI access points in buildings); acquisition through manual input by users; acquisition from other modules of the terminal (such as terminal band There are thermometers and/or hygrometers, temperature and humidity values can be obtained directly from these modules for altitude calculation or correction); from other terminals nearby (for example, through other terminals with thermometers and/or altimeters under the same serving base station ).

2) Obtain the altitude of a certain reference position, and then use this altitude to calibrate the estimated altitude of the terminal. For example, the user corrects the altitude through the manual mode: the user manually inputs the altitude of a reference location, such as 300 meters above sea level or the third floor of a shopping mall, and then the terminal uses the altitude value as the calibration reference value. There are many calibration methods. The following is an example for illustration. For example, the terminal first obtains that the terminal/user is currently located on the fifth floor of the shopping mall through the altimeter combined with the map (the terminal displays the result to the user, and the user can perform calibration on this basis), and the user knows that the data is incorrect. , and calibrate it to the 3rd floor, so the terminal knows that it should subtract 2 floors from the original estimation result to get the correct floor result. Therefore, when the terminal and the user move to the 1st floor, if the terminal gets The result is the 3rd floor, and the terminal follows the correction method of subtracting 2 floors from the 3rd floor, and finally gives the new location of the terminal as the 1st floor. There are many ways to obtain the calibration reference value, such as manual input, using GPS or the height given by outdoor base station positioning at a window or balcony with a good outdoor signal as the calibration height.

When positioning the terminal on the horizontal plane, the methods that can be used include: GPS, A-GPS and/or base station positioning methods. When using the base station positioning method or the A-GPS positioning method, the terminal can obtain the location of the adjacent base station through the network. For network topology information, when using the base station positioning method or the A-GPS positioning method, using adjacent base stations for positioning can also improve the positioning accuracy. For example, when the terminal is in a building, there may be WIFI access points and/or home base stations (femto Base Station, or Home NodeB, HNB, or Home evolved NodeB, HeNB) nearby, and the terminal measures these access points and/or home base stations Signals from the base stations, or having these access points and/or femtocells measure the signals of the terminal, allow for more precise positioning of the terminal (including horizontal plane positioning and altitude positioning, wherein the altitude positioning results can be combined with the altimeter measurement results).

When horizontally locating the terminal, if the altitude positioning information of the terminal has been obtained (for example, the accurate altitude information of the terminal has been obtained by the barometric electronic altimeter), then the known altitude information can be used during horizontal positioning (ie Altitude positioning is used to assist horizontal plane positioning). That is to say, the terminal performs more accurate horizontal positioning after the height positioning. For example, when selecting a base station for horizontal positioning for a terminal, you can select a base station that is closer to the terminal in height/floor, or give greater weight to a base station that is closer to the terminal in height/floor, or use the following formula Select the signal of the reference station closer to the terminal to improve the accuracy of horizontal positioning:

For the TOA method, (path length^2-height difference between the base station and the terminal^2)^n, (the value of n can be 1/2, 1, etc.), or (path propagation time^2-(base station and The altitude difference of the terminal/speed of light)^2)^n is used as the condition for selecting the base station signal, or as the weight parameter of the base station signal in the positioning calculation.

Example 3: The terminal has GPS capability or base station positioning capability (such as LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standard organization) or A-GPS capability, and also has the function of an electronic altimeter. The user may turn on the positioning function at any position (the terminal does not distinguish between outdoor positioning mode and indoor positioning mode, or the user selects the automatic mode), then first use the terminal's GPS positioning function, base station positioning function or A-GPS positioning function to obtain a rough location (with an accuracy of 10 meters to 50 meters), and combined with the map to determine whether the terminal is in an outdoor environment or an indoor environment. If it is determined that the terminal is in an indoor environment, the indoor positioning mode is started. The height measurement by the electronic altimeter is similar to example 1 or 2, the height measurement function can be corrected by a series of methods to obtain a more accurate height.

On the other hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building through a nearby base station. The base station and/or the core network may be based on a terminal identifier, for example, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (International Mobile Equipment Identifier, IMEI), or a medium access control layer (MAC) address) and/or a user identifier, for example, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity ( International Mobile Subscriber Identifier, IMSI), or Network Address Identifier (Network Address Identifier, NAI) to control the permissions of terminals/users. And if the nearby base station is a home base station, at this time, the home base station and/or the core network side can combine the access control list (Access Control List) or the closed subscriber group list (Closed Subscriber Group list) to control the authority of the terminal/user . After combining the map and the measured altitude, the floor where the terminal or user is located is calculated. At this time, the terminal can display a plan map of the floor where the user is located and its horizontal position for the user's reference. Wherein, the position of the horizontal plane can also be positioned using the method of Example 2 through adjacent base stations to improve the accuracy of positioning of the horizontal plane.

Example 4. The terminal has GPS capability or base station positioning capability (such as LCS capability specified by the 3GPP standard organization) or A-GPS capability, and also has the function of an electronic altimeter. The location requester (such as a government department) may request the location of the terminal through the network. Under the instruction of the network, the terminal starts the positioning function, and first uses the terminal's GPS positioning function, base station positioning function or A-GPS positioning function to obtain an approximate position (accuracy Between 10 meters and 50 meters), the positioning controller in the network judges whether the terminal is in an outdoor environment or an indoor environment in combination with a map. If it is judged that the terminal is in an indoor environment, start the indoor positioning mode, for example, instruct the terminal to start an electronic altimeter or a barometer to measure and report the measurement result (barometric pressure or altitude).

The altitude positioning (altitude measurement/estimation) of the electronic altimeter is limited by its working principle, and the barometric electronic altimeter is affected by weather factors, such as temperature, humidity, etc., which may affect the positioning accuracy of the altimeter. Considering this situation, the positioning controller or positioning server can obtain the local weather parameters, including temperature, humidity, etc., through nearby base stations (such as indoor base stations or WIFI access points in buildings), and then report these parameters to the terminal The electronic altimeter measurements are combined to calculate the exact height of the terminal.

On the other hand, the positioning controller or the positioning server combines the precise height of the terminal with the map of the building where the terminal is located, that is, calculates the floor where the terminal or the user is located. At this time, the positioning requester can display a plan map of the floor where the user is located and its horizontal position for the user's reference. Wherein, the position of the horizontal plane can also be positioned using the method of Example 2 through adjacent base stations to improve the accuracy of positioning of the horizontal plane.

Example 5. This example is based on the above examples 1 to 4 to illustrate the selection/switching method between the indoor positioning mode and other modes.

In order to carry out accurate altitude positioning in indoor and outdoor environments, the GPS terminal also has a barometric altimeter. Since the terminal may adopt different positioning technologies and/or adopt different setting parameters in outdoor and indoor environments, the terminal has two positioning modes, namely, an outdoor positioning mode and an indoor positioning mode. When the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the terminal can provide the user with the ability to manually select the positioning mode through the display screen. The user can select the corresponding positioning mode according to whether the environment is indoor or outdoor. The terminal can also use the display screen Provide users with the ability to select "automatic mode" or "specified mode" (and further divided into outdoor positioning mode or indoor positioning mode), or provide users with the ability to select "automatic mode" or outdoor positioning mode or indoor positioning mode through the display screen ability. If the user selects the automatic mode, the terminal judges whether the user and the terminal are in an indoor or outdoor environment according to certain conditions, and selects the corresponding positioning mode. Positioning mode; the terminal can also select an indoor positioning mode or an outdoor positioning mode according to the strength of the GPS signal. If the user selects the specified mode and further selects the indoor or outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the indoor positioning mode, the terminal can determine whether the user has changed the environment according to certain conditions, that is, From indoors to outdoors or from outdoors to indoors, the terminal can ask the user through the display screen whether he has changed the environment, or prompt the user to change the positioning mode through the display screen, and give a suggested new positioning mode (for example: suppose the user Originally selected the outdoor positioning mode, when the user enters the room from the outside, the terminal detects the change of the environment, then prompts the user to select the automatic mode or the indoor positioning mode, and the terminal can also provide the user with the detected environmental change and trigger mode change reasons, such as the GPS signal is too weak, or the terminal may have entered the indoor environment based on GPS positioning combined with the map), if the user accepts, the terminal will change to a new positioning mode, or change to a new positioning mode selected by the terminal, the new The positioning technology module (such as GPS module) that is no longer used in the positioning mode can enter the power saving state; if the user does not accept it, the terminal still uses the original positioning mode.

Example 6. This example is based on the above examples 1 to 4 to illustrate the selection/switching method between the indoor positioning mode and other modes.

In order to carry out accurate altitude positioning in indoor and outdoor environments, the GPS terminal also has a barometric altimeter. Since the terminal may adopt different positioning technologies in outdoor and indoor environments, the terminal has two positioning strategies, that is, GPS priority or altimeter priority. When the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the terminal can provide the user with the ability to manually set the positioning strategy through the display screen. The user can select the corresponding positioning strategy according to the environment. For example, when the user is in an indoor environment, the user selects Altimeter priority strategy, when the user is in an outdoor environment with poor GPS signals such as canyons and dense forests, the user selects the altimeter priority strategy (for example, during height measurement, the output result of the altimeter will be directly used as the final height measurement result); when the user is in ( Ordinary) outdoor environment and the altimeter has not been calibrated, the user selects the GPS priority positioning strategy (for example, the altimeter does not need to be turned on), when the user is in an outdoor environment but the altimeter has been calibrated, the user selects the altimeter priority positioning strategy (for example, at altitude When measuring, the output result of the altimeter has higher weight than the altitude value output by GPS when calculating the final altitude result).

The terminal can also provide the user with the ability to select "automatic setting strategy" or "specified strategy" (and further divided into altimeter priority positioning strategy or GPS priority positioning strategy) through the display screen, or provide the user with the ability to select "automatic setting strategy" through the display screen. Ability to determine strategy" or altimeter-preferred positioning strategy or GPS-preferred positioning strategy. If the user selects the automatic setting strategy, the terminal judges the advantages and disadvantages of the two positioning methods according to certain conditions, and selects the corresponding positioning strategy. The positioning mode; the terminal can also select the indoor positioning mode or the outdoor positioning mode according to the strength of the GPS signal. If the user selects the specified mode and further selects the indoor or outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the outdoor positioning mode, or directly selects the indoor positioning mode, the terminal can determine whether the user has changed the environment according to certain conditions, that is, From indoors to outdoors or from outdoors to indoors, the terminal can ask the user through the display screen whether he has changed the environment, or prompt the user to change the positioning mode through the display screen, and give a suggested new positioning mode (for example: suppose the user Originally selected the outdoor positioning mode, when the user enters the room from the outside, the terminal detects the change of the environment, then prompts the user to select the automatic mode or the indoor positioning mode, and the terminal can also provide the user with the detected environmental change and trigger mode change reasons, such as the GPS signal is too weak, or the terminal may have entered the indoor environment based on GPS positioning combined with the map), if the user accepts, the terminal will switch to a new positioning mode, or change to a new positioning mode selected by the terminal, if the user If not accepted, the terminal will still use the original positioning mode.

As shown in Figure 3, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a positioning terminal, including: a judgment module 301 and an indoor positioning module 302, wherein:

A judging module 301, configured to judge whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The indoor positioning module 302 is configured to, when the terminal is in an indoor environment, perform indoor height positioning of the terminal by a first positioning method and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by a second positioning method; the first positioning method includes using a barometric altimeter or The barometer performs altitude positioning; the second positioning manner includes combining the results of the altitude positioning to perform horizontal positioning.

In this embodiment, the manner in which the judging module 301 judges whether the terminal is in an indoor environment may be automatically selected by the terminal, such as an automatic mode, or manually selected by a user, such as a specified mode.

When the terminal is automatically selected, the terminal can judge whether the terminal carried by the user is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set conditions, for example: the terminal can judge whether the terminal is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the geographical location given by GPS positioning and the corresponding map; It can also be judged whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors according to the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal weakens to a predetermined condition, it can be considered that the terminal has arrived indoors.

When manually selected by the user, taking the mobile phone as an example, when the mobile phone is turned on or the positioning function of the mobile phone is turned on, the mobile phone can provide the user with a manual choice on whether to enter the room through the display screen, and the user can choose according to whether the environment is indoor or outdoor Enter the corresponding environment of the terminal.

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, the indoor positioning module 302 can measure the height of the current terminal (user) by using a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform height positioning, and the measured height can be represented by altitude or relative height; On the one hand, the user can pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or obtain the map of the building through a nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated, and finally the terminal displays a plan map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference.

In addition to performing altitude positioning on the terminal, the terminal may also perform indoor positioning on the terminal by using a second positioning method of performing horizontal positioning combined with the results of the altitude positioning. When performing horizontal positioning, the terminal can perform horizontal positioning through GPS and/or base station positioning methods or A-GPS. Since the time required for simple horizontal positioning is usually longer than the time for altitude positioning, the result of horizontal positioning is more accurate than that of altitude positioning. Therefore, horizontal positioning can be carried out in combination with the results of altitude positioning. For example, first measure the altitude of the terminal through a barometric altimeter, and first display the map of the floor on the terminal interface (that is, the height positioning is completed), and then use GPS and/or The base station positioning method or A-GPS performs horizontal positioning on the terminal, and displays a specific location (such as a certain room or a certain corridor) on the terminal interface on the floor where it is located.

As shown in FIG. 4, another embodiment of the present invention proposes a positioning terminal, including: a judgment module 401, a startup module 402, a calibration module 403, an indoor positioning module 404, a map acquisition module 405, and a map display module 406, wherein:

A judging module 401, configured to judge whether the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The starting module 402 is configured to start an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment; or start an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment;

A calibration module 403, configured to calibrate the barometric altimeter or barometer;

The indoor positioning module 404 is configured to perform indoor height positioning of the terminal by the first positioning method and/or indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by the second positioning method when the terminal is in an indoor environment;

The first positioning method includes using a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform height positioning; the second positioning method includes combining the results of the height positioning to perform horizontal positioning.

A map acquisition module 405, configured to acquire a local building map;

The map display module 406 is used to display the positioning result in combination with the local building map.

Wherein, the judging module 401 and the indoor positioning module 404 have the same functional structures as the judging module 301 and the indoor positioning module 30 in the above embodiment, and details are not repeated here.

In this embodiment, the terminal can set specific positioning modes, such as indoor positioning mode and outdoor positioning mode, and the terminal can also set the mode of selecting indoor positioning mode or outdoor positioning mode, such as automatic selection by the terminal or manual selection by the user, When the terminal enters the room from the outside or after entering the room, the user can manually choose to enable the indoor positioning mode/function. When the terminal is automatically selected, the terminal can detect the terminal through the radio positioning method, and judge whether the terminal is in an indoor or outdoor environment according to the set conditions. Indoor or outdoor environment; the terminal can also judge whether the terminal is indoors or outdoors according to the strength of the GPS signal. For example, when the GPS signal weakens to a predetermined condition, it can be considered that the terminal has arrived indoors.

When the terminal is in an indoor environment, the starting module 402 starts the indoor positioning mode. Before starting the indoor positioning mode, the terminal may initialize the parameters of the positioning mode and/or its positioning results. When the indoor positioning mode is turned on, the terminal can measure the height of the current terminal (user) through the barometric altimeter or barometer, or it can also use GPS and/or base station positioning method or A-GPS to perform horizontal plane positioning or through the above-mentioned method and combined with the results of height positioning for horizontal positioning.

The barometric altimeter has the advantage of not being affected by complex environments, especially indoor complex environments. However, the function of barometric pressure and altitude is also affected by weather factors, such as temperature and humidity, which can cause errors in barometric altimeters. In addition, barometric altimeters are prone to cumulative errors. All of the above will bring errors to the fixed height of the barometric altimeter, thereby reducing its accuracy. Therefore, in this embodiment, the barometric altimeter or the barometer is calibrated through the calibration module 403 before the terminal is positioned using the barometric altimeter or the barometer.

Calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer includes at least one of the following: calibration based on user input, calibration based on radiolocation technology, calibration based on data from adjacent base stations, calibration based on data from adjacent terminals; among them, radio Positioning technology includes satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology, and radio frequency identification technology.

After obtaining the terminal positioning result, the local building map can be obtained through the map obtaining module 405, and the positioning result can be displayed through the map display module 406 in combination with the local building map.

Specifically, the user may pre-store the map of the building in the terminal or acquire the map of the building through a nearby base station. After combining the map and the measured height, the floor where the terminal is located can be calculated, and finally the terminal displays a plan map of the floor where the user is located for the user's reference. Wherein, the method for the terminal to obtain the local building map includes: the terminal obtains the local building map through a nearby base station and/or core network; the base station and/or core network obtains the local building map for the terminal through the terminal identification and/or user identification Map permissions are controlled. The aforementioned base station may be a home base station; the home base station and/or the core network control the permission of the terminal to obtain the local building map through an access control list.

A positioning method and a terminal proposed by an embodiment of the present invention use a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform indoor height positioning on the terminal and/or perform horizontal positioning on the terminal based on the results of the height positioning, and solve indoor navigation positioning through two positioning methods In the service, there are different requirements for the accuracy of height and horizontal plane positioning and the positioning delay time. While improving the positioning accuracy, the positioning delay time is reduced, and the user experience of indoor navigation and positioning is improved, thus satisfying various requirements such as indoor navigation and positioning. application needs.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent structure or process transformation made by using the description of the present invention and the contents of the accompanying drawings, or directly or indirectly used in other related technical fields , are all included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention in the same way.

Claims (18)

1. A positioning method, characterized in that, comprising: Determine whether the terminal is in an indoor environment; When the terminal is in an indoor environment, perform indoor height positioning of the terminal by using a first positioning manner and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by using a second positioning manner. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first positioning method includes using a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform height positioning; the second positioning method includes combining or not combining the results of the height positioning to perform horizontal positioning. position. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that before the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal by the first positioning method, the step further comprises: Calibrate the barometric altimeter or barometer. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the method of calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer comprises at least one of the following: calibrating according to user input, calibrating according to radiolocation technology, and calibrating according to adjacent base stations The data is calibrated, and the calibration is performed according to the data of adjacent terminals; wherein, the radio positioning technology includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning technology, base station positioning technology, wireless local area network/personal network technology and radio frequency identification technology. 5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first positioning method includes calculating the height of the terminal according to the measured value of the barometric altimeter or the barometer and auxiliary calibration parameters; the auxiliary calibration parameters include At least one of the following: the altitude of the adjacent base station, the measurement of the barometric altimeter or barometer at the adjacent base station, the temperature at the target terminal, the humidity at the target terminal, the temperature at the adjacent base station, and the temperature at the adjacent base station. humidity. 6. The method according to any one of claims 2, characterized in that the first positioning method further comprises using radio positioning technology for altitude positioning. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal by the first positioning method and/or indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal by the second positioning method is followed by include: The terminal acquires a local building map; Combined with the local building map to display the positioning results. 8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: Correction/calibration is performed on the displayed positioning results. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the method for the terminal to obtain the local building map comprises: the terminal obtains the local building map through a nearby base station and/or core network; the base station and/or core network obtains the local building map; Or the core network controls the authority of the terminal to obtain the local building map through the terminal identifier and/or user identifier. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the base station is a home base station; the home base station and/or the core network controls the terminal's authority to obtain the local building map through an access control list. 11. The method according to claim 2, wherein performing horizontal positioning in combination with the result of height positioning comprises: Screen and/or filter and/or weight the horizontal positioning data source according to the height positioning result; the horizontal positioning data source includes at least one of the following: satellite positioning data, base station positioning data, wireless local area network/personal network positioning data , radio frequency identification positioning data. 12. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that before the step of indoor height positioning of the terminal through the first positioning method, the step further includes: Starting the indoor positioning mode; the starting the indoor positioning mode includes manually starting the indoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the indoor positioning mode. 13. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized in that after the step of judging whether the terminal is in an indoor environment, it further comprises: When the terminal is in an outdoor environment, start the outdoor positioning mode; the starting the outdoor positioning mode includes manually starting the outdoor positioning mode, and/or the terminal automatically starting the outdoor positioning mode. 14. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, further comprising: performing indoor or outdoor positioning on the terminal according to the priorities of the first positioning method and the second positioning method . 15. A positioning terminal, characterized in that it comprises: A judging module, configured to judge whether the terminal is in an indoor environment; An indoor positioning module, configured to perform indoor height positioning of the terminal through a first positioning method and/or perform indoor horizontal positioning of the terminal through a second positioning method when the terminal is in an indoor environment; the first positioning The method includes using a barometric altimeter or a barometer to perform height positioning; the second positioning method includes performing horizontal positioning with or without combining the result of the height positioning. 16. The terminal according to claim 15, further comprising: A calibration module is used for calibrating the barometric altimeter or barometer. 17. The terminal according to claim 15, further comprising: The map acquisition module is used to acquire the local building map; The map display module is used to display the positioning result in combination with the local building map. 18. The terminal according to claim 15, 16 or 17, wherein the terminal further comprises: The starting module is configured to start an indoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an indoor environment; or start an outdoor positioning mode when the terminal is in an outdoor environment.

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