{"schema_version":"1.0","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9686649","patent":{"patent_number":"US-9686649","title":"Determination of device location in crowded indoor environments","assignee":null,"inventors":[],"filing_date":"2015-03-13T00:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2017-06-20T00:00:00.000Z","cpc_codes":["H04W","G01S","G01S","G01S","H04W","H04W","G01S"],"num_claims":21,"abstract":"Methods and apparatus for determining device location in crowded indoor environments. A mobile device is configured to determine its location using a Wi-Fi Time of Flight (ToF)-based location scheme. Once the device determines it location, it may broadcast its location to nearby devices using a low energy location sharing mechanism that employs low energy broadcast signals identifying the location of the device. The low energy broadcast signals may be used by other devices having a similar configuration, as well as devices that don't use the ToF-based location scheme to determine their locations using RSSI measurements and multi-lateration and/or have such capabilities disabled. The location of a device may be updated by fusing location data derived from the ToF-based location scheme with location data received from nearby devices that are broadcasting their locations using the low energy location sharing mechanism. The sharing mechanism reduces the number of ToF sessions, while also reducing power consumption by using the lower energy broadcasts to share location data."},"analysis":{"summary":null,"layman_explanation":null,"technical_analysis":null,"business_analysis":null,"faqs":null,"topics":[],"tech_cluster":null},"seo":{"title":"Determination of device location in crowded indoor environments","description":"Methods and apparatus for determining device location in crowded indoor environments. A mobile device is configured to determine its location using a Wi-Fi Time of Flight (ToF)-based location scheme. ","keywords":[]},"attribution":{"source":"Patentable","source_url":"https://patentable.app","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9686649","license":"CC-BY-4.0-like","license_terms":"AI-generated analysis on this page (summary, layman_explanation, technical_analysis, business_analysis, faqs) may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL above. Patent abstracts, claims, and bibliographic data are USPTO public domain.","required_link":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9686649","citation_suggestion":"Patentable. \"Determination of device location in crowded indoor environments\" (US-9686649). https://patentable.app/patents/US-9686649","copyright_holder":"Nomic Interactive Technology LLC"},"links":{"html":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9686649","json":"https://patentable.app/api/llm-context/US-9686649","site":"https://patentable.app","llms_txt":"https://patentable.app/llms.txt"},"generated_at":"2026-06-06T12:35:48.707Z"}