Certain cellular communication systems may use beamforming to create distinct signal beams in different radial directions relative to a base station. Upon receiving a request for the location of a mobile device, a position calculation function is used to calculate the location of the mobile device based on multiple types of location-related data. The location-related data may indicate the direction of the directional signal beam that is currently being used for communications between the mobile device and a base station. The direction may be used in conjunction with other location-related data, such as distance information, to estimate the location of the mobile device.

An object orientation system, an object orientation method and an electronic apparatus are provided. A signal transmitter includes a directional antenna and emits a first wireless signal. A plurality of signal receivers are respectively disposed in a plurality of orientations. The signal receivers receive the first wireless signal and measure a plurality of first received signal strength indicators of the first wireless signal. The electronic apparatus is coupled to the signal receivers, estimates a plurality of strength variation data of the first received signal strength indicators measured by the signal receivers, and obtains orientation information of the signal transmitter according to the strength variation data corresponding to the signal receivers.

An object orientation system, an object orientation method and an electronic apparatus are provided. A signal transmitter includes a directional antenna and emits a first wireless signal. A plurality of signal receivers are respectively disposed in a plurality of orientations. The signal receivers receive the first wireless signal and measure a plurality of first received signal strength indicators of the first wireless signal. The electronic apparatus is coupled to the signal receivers, estimates a plurality of strength variation data of the first received signal strength indicators measured by the signal receivers, and obtains orientation information of the signal transmitter according to the strength variation data corresponding to the signal receivers.

A positioning system (10) for determining location information of/for a mobile radio transmitter (1) comprises an antenna system (2) which includes a plurality of antennas (21) aimed at different directions and arranged on one common antenna carrier (20). The positioning system (10) comprises a receiver system (3) electrically connected to the antennas (21) and configured to receive via each of the antennas (21) a radio signal (7) transmitted by the mobile radio transmitter (1). The positioning system (10) further comprises a processing circuit (4) electrically connected to the receiver system (3) and configured to calculate the location information of/for the mobile radio transmitter (1) based on the radio signal received at each of the antennas (21). The location information includes at least angular direction of the mobile radio transmitter (1) with respect to the antenna system (2).

A positioning system (10) for determining location information of/for a mobile radio transmitter (1) comprises an antenna system (2) which includes a plurality of antennas (21) aimed at different directions and arranged on one common antenna carrier (20). The positioning system (10) comprises a receiver system (3) electrically connected to the antennas (21) and configured to receive via each of the antennas (21) a radio signal (7) transmitted by the mobile radio transmitter (1). The positioning system (10) further comprises a processing circuit (4) electrically connected to the receiver system (3) and configured to calculate the location information of/for the mobile radio transmitter (1) based on the radio signal received at each of the antennas (21). The location information includes at least angular direction of the mobile radio transmitter (1) with respect to the antenna system (2).

This disclosure describes novel schemes and utilities that promote sustainable usage of smartphones. It describes apparatus and methods to prevent phone loss, prevent overheating problems, decrease energy waste of the battery, prevent overcharging, decrease packaging waste, and encourage sustainable behavior among users to increase the life of the electronic product. In addition, this application characterize mechanism for localization of people and objects. The apparatus and methods may be applied to promote sustainable usage of other electronic devices such as tablets, laptops, pocket PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), e-readers, wearable devices, and etc. In addition, a framework has been presented which can be applied to promote sustainable behavior for any consumer electronics products including smartphones. In addition, novel localization apparatus and methods is presented in this application that can be applied for general localization/tracking purposes.

A method, a system, and a computer program product for determining a location of a communication device. Data corresponding to a detected transmission of a data packet between a tag device and one or more communication devices is received on one or more communication channels. At least one of a channel state information and a signal strength associated with the detected transmission for each frequency band in a plurality of frequency bands are determined. Based on the determined channel state information, one or more lengths of signal paths corresponding to the detected transmission of the data packet are determined. A shortest length in across one or more communication devices is selected to determine a location of the tag device.

A system comprising: a transmitting device configured to transmit, in at least one plane, a plurality of directional signals each covering an angular sector, wherein every adjacent pair of said angular sectors overlaps partially to create a logical sector, and wherein each of said plurality of directional signals encodes at least an indication regarding each said logical sector associated therewith; and a client device comprising program instructions executable by at least one hardware processor to: cause the client device to receive at least some of said plurality of directional signals, calculate a signal strength level (RSL) value for each of said received directional signals, and determine that said client device is located within a said logical sector, when two highest said RSL values (i) are related to two said directional signals associated with said logical sector, and (ii) are within a specified value range of each other.

Methods and apparatus for determining a direction of interest based upon polar coordinates derived from wireless communication between wireless transceivers. A smart device assembly is operative to communicate via multiple antennas with a reference point transceiver. A set of polar coordinates is generated indicating a relative position and angle of the wireless transceiver in relation to the reference position transceiver. A query may be made based upon the relative position and angle of the wireless transceiver in relation to the reference position transceiver. A response to the query may include a human readable interface indicating one or more of: direction of travel, a virtual image based upon location and location and direction, and annotative and pictorial information.

An apparatus and a method for simultaneous localization of multiple targets in 3-D cooperative wireless sensor networks (WSNs), utilizing combined measurements of received signal strength (RSS) and angle of arrival (AoA) are disclosed herein. By exploiting the convenient nature of spherical representation of the considered problem, the measurement models are linearized and a sub-optimal estimator is formulated. The method disclosed herein has a straightforward adaptation to the case where the target's transmit power is also not known. A representative set of simulations and experiments verify the potential performance improvement realized with embodiments of the method for RSS/AoA network localization in 3-D space.