A system and method for determining the presence of an individual at a particular spot within a location preferably based on the strength of signals received from beacons assigned to the particular spot by a software application (“App”) running on an electronic device of the individual. In one embodiment, certain presence calculations are performed by the App. In another embodiment, the App forwards information regarding the received beacon signals to an electronic identification and location tracking system and the presence calculations are performed by the system.

In various embodiments, techniques are provided for determining and associating multiple locations with beacons, and estimating a location of an electronic device based on beacons having multiple associated locations. To determine multiple locations of a beacon, observations are grouped into observation clusters, a probability is calculated that each observation cluster accurately describes the beacon, multiple observation clusters are selected as representative of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, characteristics are derived for the beacon (including multiple locations) based on the selected multiple observation clusters, and at least the multiple locations for the beacon are stored in a reference database. To estimate a location of an electronic device, a list of detected beacons is created, one or more locations are accessed from a reference database for each of the beacons on the list of detected beacons with at least one of the beacons having multiple locations, the locations are grouped into location clusters, a probability each location cluster represents a location of the electronic device is calculated, an location cluster is selected to represent the location of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, and a location of the electronic device is estimated based on the selected location cluster.

A method for assisting in locating a position of a mobile wireless device includes: obtaining location information of an approximate location of the mobile wireless device; generating an almanac of base stations based at least in part on proximity of locations of the base stations to the approximate location of the mobile wireless device, the almanac of base stations comprising at least one cooperative terrestrial base station that can communicate with the mobile wireless device in at least one mode and at least one uncooperative terrestrial base station capable of bi-directional communications and configured to prevent data and voice communications with the mobile wireless device, the at least one uncooperative terrestrial base station being configured to acknowledge a message received from the mobile wireless device; and providing the almanac of base stations to the mobile wireless device.

An application running on a UE receives a command through a user interface or from a server to initiate the locating of a tracking device. The tracking device determines one or more hot spots it is close to. A server determines whether to instruct the tracking device to use its GNSS circuitry to determine its location based on a comparison of location information corresponding to the hot spot(s) and user selectable accuracy criteria. The UE may detect a beacon signal and determine an initial value corresponding to an initial signal strength of the beacon. The beacon may only broadcast for a predetermined period based on location scenario. The application produces a default initial indication, based on the initial signal strength and uses updated beacon signal strength values to adjust the indication relative to the default indication based on the updated signal strength value relative to the initial signal strength value

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for locating mobile devices using wireless signals in mixed mode. A disclosed method includes generating an access point signal matrix based on signal strength values based on first signal data collected at a mobile device corresponding to first signals received from a plurality of access points for a first period of time, and based on second signal data collected at the plurality of access points corresponding to second signals received from the mobile device and the plurality of access points for a second period of time, determining a first group of contour perimeters corresponding to first ones of the signal strength values in the access point signal matrix that satisfy a first threshold, the first group of contour perimeters including an obstructed contour perimeter corresponding to second ones of the signal strength values in the access point signal matrix that do not satisfy the first threshold, determining a second group of contour perimeters by replacing the obstructed contour perimeter with a corrected contour perimeter, and determining a location of the mobile device based on the second group of contour perimeters including the corrected contour perimeter.

An application running on a UE receives a command through a user interface or from a server to initiate the locating of a tracking device. The tracking device determines one or more hot spots it is close to. A server determines whether to instruct the tracking device to use its GNSS circuitry to determine its location based on a comparison of location information corresponding to the hot spot(s) and user selectable accuracy criteria. The UE may detect a beacon signal and determine an initial value corresponding to an initial signal strength of the beacon. The beacon may only broadcast for a predetermined period based on location scenario. The application produces a default initial indication, based on the initial signal strength and uses updated beacon signal strength values to adjust the indication relative to the default indication based on the updated signal strength value relative to the initial signal strength value.

Disclosed examples operate in a transmit mode during a first period of time to cause transmission of first signals, the first signals to be received by a plurality of access points; operate in a receive mode during a second period of time to receive second signals from the plurality of access points; log device identifiers of the plurality of access points in association with signal strengths of corresponding ones of the second signals; and cause transmission of the device identifiers and the signal strengths to a server, the device identifiers and the signal strengths to facilitate processes at the server to: (a) train a neural network, (b) generate a corrected contour map associated with the plurality of access points based on the neural network, and (c) determine a location of the programmable circuitry based on the corrected contour map.

In various embodiments, techniques are provided for determining and associating multiple locations with beacons, and estimating a location of an electronic device based on beacons having multiple associated locations. To determine multiple locations of a beacon, observations are grouped into observation clusters, a probability is calculated that each observation cluster accurately describes the beacon, multiple observation clusters are selected as representative of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, characteristics are derived for the beacon (including multiple locations) based on the selected multiple observation clusters, and at least the multiple locations for the beacon are stored in a reference database. To estimate a location of an electronic device, a list of detected beacons is created, one or more locations are accessed from a reference database for each of the beacons on the list of detected beacons with at least one of the beacons having multiple locations, the locations are grouped into location clusters, a probability each location cluster represents a location of the electronic device is calculated, an location cluster is selected to represent the location of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, and a location of the electronic device is estimated based on the selected location cluster.

An arrangement provides addressing for a plurality of equipment. Each piece of the equipment is non-varyingly logically linked to a corresponding transceiver having a unique identifier and a plurality of transceiver antennae with non-identically oriented antenna lobes. Each corresponding transceiver is configured to transmit a signal having the unique identifier associated with the transceiver via each of the transceiver antennae individually and to receive any signal of a neighboring transceiver attributing it to the actually receiving transceiver antennae in order to determine pattern information pairs. A central instance is configured to collect the pattern information pairs from the transceiver transceivers and to compare the pattern information pairs with a stored pattern of the equipment to identify each transceivers' position in the stored pattern.

The invention provide a system for locating an object in a volume of space, comprising: a communication device (CD) of the object disposed in the volume of space, wherein the communication device comprises a CD radio frequency (RF) receiver, a CD RF transmitter, and a CD infrared (IR) receiver; a first electrical device of a plurality of electrical devices disposed in the volume of space, wherein the first electrical device comprises at least one first sensor, a first RF receiver, a first IR transmitter, and a first RF transmitter, wherein the first RF transmitter broadcasts a first communication signal, wherein the first IR transmitter broadcasts a second communication signal, and wherein the first RF receiver receives, in response to the first communication signal received by the CD RF receiver and the second communication signal received by the CD IR receiver, a third communication signal broadcast by the CD RF transmitter of the communication device; and a controller communicably coupled to the plurality of electrical devices, wherein the controller receives a fourth communication signal sent by the first RF transmitter of the first electrical device, wherein the fourth communication signal comprises a first identification of the object and a second identification of the first electrical device, wherein the fourth communication signal is associated with a signal strength of the third communication signal received by the first RF receiver of the first electrical device.