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US-12625273-B2 - Method for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server

US12625273B2US 12625273 B2US12625273 B2US 12625273B2US-12625273-B2

Abstract

A method for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server includes receiving by the server from the terminal devices, each allocated to one of predetermined one or more clusters, first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information according to predetermined transmission patterns of the terminal devices, and second GNSS information at random. The method includes collecting context related data from one or more context sources, and updating, by the server, the set of predetermined clusters based on a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information and a predetermined criteria of cluster's level of accuracy. The method further includes determining, by the server, based on the first and the second GNSS information and on the updated clusters, respective positions of the clusters and individual positions of the terminal devices according to the respective positions of the clusters.

Inventors

  • Davide Lenzarini
  • Hamed Siasi

Assignees

  • U-BLOX AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20230926
Priority Date
20220930

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server, the method comprising: receiving, by the server, from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices wherein each terminal device is allocated to one of predetermined one or more clusters, first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information according to predetermined transmission patterns of the plurality of terminal devices, and from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices second GNSS information at random; collecting, by the server, context related data from one or more context sources that are different from the plurality of terminal devices; updating, by the server, the set of predetermined one or more clusters by allocating each terminal device to a respective cluster based on at least a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information and a predetermined criteria of cluster's accuracy; determining, by the server, based on the first and the second GNSS information and on the updated one or more clusters of the plurality of terminal devices, respective positions of the one or more clusters; and obtaining, by the server, individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices according to the respective positions of the one or more clusters.
  2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: updating, by the server, based on at least a part of the context related data and the updated one or more clusters, the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices for transmitting the first GNSS information; and providing, by the server, the respective updated transmission patterns to each of the at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.
  3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein updating the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices comprises: receiving, by the server, in addition to the first or the second GNSS information, battery levels of at least one of the plurality of terminal devices; and updating, by the server, based on at least a part of the context related data, on the updated one or more clusters and on the battery levels, the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.
  4. 4 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising: receiving, by the server, third GNSS information, from the plurality of terminal devices; and predetermining, by the server, the predetermined one or more clusters and the predetermined transmission patterns of the plurality of terminal devices based on at least a part of the context related data and the third GNSS information.
  5. 5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the context related data include data of at least one of: GNSS assistance, GNSS augmentation, maps, weather, news, social rules, threats or owner instructions, from the one or more context sources including at least one of: content providers in the Internet, end users, global navigation satellite systems.
  6. 6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein updating the one or more clusters of the plurality of terminal devices comprises: identifying, by the server, a correlation between at least a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information using at least one of a machine learning algorithm or an analytical algorithm.
  7. 7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein updating the set of predetermined one or more clusters comprises: determining, by the server, respective validity durations for at least one of the updated one or more clusters; associating, by the server, the respective validity durations with the transmission patterns of the terminal devices of the at least one of the one or more clusters; and providing, by the server, in addition to the transmission patterns, associated validity durations to the terminal devices of the at least one of the one or more clusters.
  8. 8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission pattern of each of the plurality of terminal devices includes at least a transmission interval for transmitting the first GNSS information.
  9. 9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the criteria of cluster's accuracy is a target of the accuracy of the determined individual position set by an end user.
  10. 10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein obtaining, by the server, individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices according to the positions of the one or more clusters comprises at least one of the following: storing, by the server, the individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices; publishing the individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices to an external server; or providing the individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices to an end user on demand.
  11. 11 . A computing apparatus, comprising: a processing unit and a communication unit for communicating with a plurality of terminal devices, wherein the communication unit is configured to: receive from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices wherein each terminal device is allocated to one of predetermined one or more clusters, first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information according to predetermined transmission patterns of the plurality of terminal devices, and receive from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices second GNSS information at random; collect context related data from one or more context sources that are different from the plurality of terminal devices; and wherein the processing unit is configured to: update the set of predetermined one or more clusters by allocating each terminal device to a respective cluster based on at least a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information and a predetermined criteria of cluster's accuracy; determine, based on the first and the second GNSS information and on the updated one or more clusters of the plurality of terminal devices, respective positions of the one or more clusters; and obtain individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices according to the respective positions of the one or more clusters.
  12. 12 . The computing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to: update based on at least a part of the context related data and the updated one or more clusters, the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices for transmitting the first GNSS information; and the communication unit is further configured to: provide the respective updated transmission patterns to each of the at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.
  13. 13 . A system comprising a computing apparatus according to claim 11 , and a plurality of terminal devices, each configured to: receive a respective transmission pattern; collect GNSS information; and transmit the collected GNSS information according to the transmission pattern and at random.
  14. 14 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the computing apparatus and the terminal devices are operable to communicate with each other in at least one of: Bluetooth networks, WiFi networks, Thread networks, LoRaWAN networks, 3GPP-compliant mobile networks, or satellite networks.
  15. 15 . An apparatus comprising one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: collecting context related data from one or more context sources that are different from a plurality of terminal devices, wherein the collecting occurs in response to receiving, from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices wherein each terminal device is allocated to one of predetermined one or more clusters, first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) information according to predetermined transmission patterns of the plurality of terminal devices, and from at least one of the plurality of terminal devices second GNSS information at random; updating the set of predetermined one or more clusters by allocating each terminal device to a respective cluster based on at least a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information and a predetermined criteria of cluster's accuracy; determining based on the first and the second GNSS information and on the updated one or more clusters of the plurality of terminal devices, respective positions of the one or more clusters; and obtaining individual positions of the plurality of terminal devices according to the respective positions of the one or more clusters.
  16. 16 . The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the operations further comprise: updating based on at least a part of the context related data and the updated one or more clusters, the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices for transmitting the first GNSS information; and providing the respective updated transmission patterns to each of the at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.
  17. 17 . The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein updating the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices comprises: receiving in addition to the first or the second GNSS information, battery levels of at least one of the plurality of terminal devices; and updating based on at least a part of the context related data, on the updated one or more clusters and on the battery levels, the respective predetermined transmission patterns for at least one of the plurality of terminal devices.
  18. 18 . The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the instructions further comprise: receiving third GNSS information, from the plurality of terminal devices; and predetermining the predetermined one or more clusters and the predetermined transmission patterns of the plurality of terminal devices based on at least a part of the context related data and the third GNSS information.
  19. 19 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the context related data include data of at least one of: GNSS assistance, GNSS augmentation, maps, weather, news, social rules, threats or owner instructions, from the one or more context sources including at least one of: content providers in the Internet, end users, global navigation satellite systems.
  20. 20 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein updating the one or more clusters of the plurality of terminal devices comprises: identifying a correlation between at least a part of the context related data and the first and the second GNSS information using at least one of a machine learning algorithm or an analytical algorithm.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) This application claims priority to European Application No. 22199123.5, filed on Sep. 30, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to a method for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server. The disclosure further relates to a server and a plurality of terminal devices. BACKGROUND ART In many applications, terminal devices are able to receive positioning information, such as global navigation satellite system, GNSS, information. For example, sensors of Internet of Things, IoT, are equipped with GNSS receiving capability to obtain GNSS positions of themselves. Such sensors can be attached with moving objects to track the positions of the moving objects. For example, the sensors are attached to livestock or wild animals to track their positions. In such applications, a server communicates with the sensors to obtain the positions or raw GNSS satellite measurements (such as the ones used for the Radio Resource Location services Protocol, RRLP), to allow the position determination by the server, of the animals for further use. For example, the positions are read by an end user who supervises the animals, or sent to further application servers. As the animals move, the amount of position data transmitted to the server can be substantial. As the terminal devices such as the sensors attached to the animals are typically operated with batteries, constant transmission of position data can quickly drain out the batteries and the replacement of batteries is frequently required. Therefore, in such conventional applications, the operation and maintenance cost of such applications is relatively high. SUMMARY OF INVENTION An object to be achieved is to provide an improved concept for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server with satisfactory accuracy and low operation cost. This object is achieved with the subject-matter of the independent claims. Embodiments and developments derive from the dependent claims. According to the present disclosure, a server communicates with a plurality of terminal devices which are capable of collecting GNSS information. The terminal devices are allocated to predetermined clusters and assigned with predetermined transmission patterns for at least a part of the collected GNSS information. The server receives GNSS information transmitted according to the transmission patterns of the terminal devices and GNSS information transmitted from the terminal devices at random. Based on these GNSS information, and based on some context related data, such as social rules, maps, time of the day and weather data, the server updates the clusters to target at a predetermined level of accuracy, and determines respective positions of the clusters and individual positions of the terminal devices according to the respective positions of the clusters. The improved concept for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server is based on the idea that the clusters are determined and updated to best represent the individual positions of the terminal devices with a satisfactory accuracy. For example, a plurality of terminal devices are attached to livestock or wild animals which share common social behavior and are likely to move in common manners. GNSS information of the terminal devices are likely to show correlations or similarities among the terminal devices. Transmitting the GNSS information of all the terminal devices is redundant, if the accuracy of the positions of the individual terminal devices has a tolerance range. Considering the tolerance range of the accuracy, clusters are determined among the terminal devices and each terminal device is allocated in a cluster. The positions of the terminal devices in a same cluster is represented by the position of the cluster, e.g., a central position of the cluster. Not all terminal devices need to transmit their individual GNSS information, or do not need to transmit their individual GNSS information constantly. As the positions of the terminal devices may change dynamically with the animals' movements, the accuracy of the represented positions is verified by comparing the individual GNSS information sent randomly from the terminal devices and the positions of their clusters. If the accuracy exceeds the tolerance range, the clusters are updated to reflect changed positions of the terminal devices. By means of the improved concept for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server, redundant transmission of GNSS information from terminal devices is avoided, thus the operation and maintenance cost is reduced significantly, while a satisfactory accuracy of the positions of individual terminal devices is ensured. According to the present disclosure, the method for determining positions of a plurality of terminal devices by a server comprises that each