POSITIONING SYSTEM USING SOUND WAVES

摘要

Disclosed is a positioning system using sound waves. The system provides the current location of a user carrying a dedicated terminal or any portable equipment possessing a microphone and a speaker in real time by using sound waves propagating in slow speed in various indoor spaces such as shopping malls, museums, and art galleries where GPS signals are not received.

主权项

1. A positioning system using sound waves, comprising:
a plurality of node signal generators installed at fixed locations in an indoor space, respectively, to transmit a non-audible sound wave signal that carries an identification number, absolute location information, relative location information, and the time of signal generation of the node signal generators; and a portable terminal to receive sound waves transmitted from node signal generators, to calculate distances from node signal generators by using the difference between the time of signal generation and the time of signal reception, to calculate a current location of the portable terminal by combining the calculated distances and the absolute location information, and to display the current location of the portable terminal on a display unit, wherein each node signal generator comprises: a node memory to record the identification number, the absolute location information of the node signal generator; a node timer to provide the time of signal generation; a node sound wave generator to generate the sound wave that carries the identification number and the absolute location information provided from the node memory, and the time of signal generation provided from the node timer; and a node speaker to transmit the sound wave generated from the node sound wave generator.