1. A flexible printed circuit comprising a substrate layer portion and an electrically-conductive layer portion, the electrically-conductive layer portion being superimposed over the substrate layer portion;
wherein the substrate layer portion has an opening formed therein and part of the electrically-conductive layer portion is positioned over the opening to form a partially detachable tab, the tab being for use in initiating separation of one portion of the flexible printed circuit from another portion of the flexible printed circuit.
2. The flexible printed circuit of claim 1, wherein the electrically-conductive layer portion comprises a groove, the groove being configured in use to guide the separation of said one portion from said other portion.
3. The flexible printed circuit of claim 2, wherein the groove of the electrically-conductive layer portion is additionally configured in use to guide partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically-conductive layer portion.
4. The flexible printed circuit of claim 1, wherein the flexible printed circuit further comprises a cover layer portion, the cover layer portion being superimposed over the electrically-conductive layer portion, the electrically-conductive layer portion being positioned in-between the cover layer portion and the substrate layer portion.
5. The flexible printed circuit of claim 4, wherein the cover layer portion comprises a groove, the groove being configured in use to guide the separation of said one portion from said other portion.
6. The flexible printed circuit of claim 5, wherein the groove of the cover layer portion is additionally configured in use to guide partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically conductive layer portion.
7. The flexible printed circuit of claim 1, wherein the electrically-conductive layer portion comprises a notch adjacent to the opening of the substrate layer portion, the notch being for use in initiating partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically-conductive layer portion.
8. The flexible printed circuit of claim 1, wherein said one portion and said other portion are adjacent strips of flexible printed circuit joined together along their respective length portions, wherein the tab is positioned at a first end portion of said one portion.
9. The flexible printed circuit of claim 8, wherein a second tab is positioned at a second end portion of said one portion, the first and second end portions being at opposite ends of said one portion.
10. A flexible printed circuit comprising a substrate layer portion and an electrically-conductive layer portion, the electrically-conductive layer portion being superimposed over the substrate layer portion;
wherein the substrate layer portion has a plurality of openings formed therein and a different part of the electrically-conductive layer portion is positioned over each opening to form a plurality of partially detachable tabs, each tab being for use in initiating separation of two portions of the flexible printed circuit from each other.
11. A method of fabricating a flexible printed circuit, the method comprising:
forming an electrically-conductive layer portion over a substrate layer portion; and
forming an opening in the substrate layer portion such that a part of the electrically-conductive layer portion is positioned over the opening to form a partially detachable tab, the tab being for use in initiating separation of one portion of the flexible printed circuit from another portion of the flexible printed circuit.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising forming a groove in the electrically-conductive layer portion, the groove being configured in use to guide the separation of said one portion from said other portion.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the groove of the electrically-conductive layer portion is additionally configured in use to guide partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically conductive layer portion.
14. The method of claim 11, further comprising forming a cover layer portion over the electrically-conductive layer portion so that the electrically-conductive layer portion is positioned in-between the cover layer portion and the substrate layer portion.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising forming a groove in the cover layer portion, the groove being configured in use to guide the separation of said one portion from said other portion.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the groove of the cover layer portion is additionally configured in use to guide partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically conductive layer portion.
17. The method of claim 11, further comprising forming a notch in the electrically-conductive layer portion adjacent to the opening of the substrate layer portion, the notch being for use in initiating partial detachment of the tab from an adjacent part of the electrically-conductive layer portion.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein said one portion and said other portion are formed as adjacent strips of flexible printed circuit joined together along their respective length portions, and wherein the tab is formed at a first end portion of said one portion.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming a second tab at a second end portion of said one portion, the first and second end portions being at opposite ends of said one portion.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method comprising steps of:
connecting, via a computing device, to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying a beacon emitted from said first BLE unit and an identifier of the first BLE unit;
determining, via the computing device, a signal strength associated with the first BLE unit from said beacon;
emitting, via the computing device, a first signal, said first signal having a first timestamp associated with said emission and a second timestamp associated with reception by said first BLE unit;
receiving, at the computing device, second signal emitted from the first BLE unit, said second signal having a third timestamp associated with the emission from the first BLE unit and a fourth timestamp associated with said reception of the second signal;
determining, via the computing device, a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance based upon an aggregated distance based on the first, second, third and fourth timestamps; and
storing, via the computing device, said distance in a storage, said distance stored in association with said signal strength and the identifier of the first BLE unit.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said distance determination further comprises:
calculating the aggregated distance by determining a first time delay between the first timestamp and the second timestamp and a second time delay between the third timestamp and fourth timestamp, said aggregated distance equaling an aggregation of the first and second time delay;
multiplying the aggregated distance by the speed of sound in a current condition at said location; and
dividing the multiplied distance by 2, wherein a result of said division equals said distance.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said speed of sound equals:
(331.3+0.606*v) ms, wherein v is said current condition representing a current temperature at said location.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining whether other BLE units are present at said location; and
when other BLE units are present, repeating said steps for all other BLE units.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said second timestamp and said third timestamp are recorded by the first BLE unit, wherein said computing device receives said second timestamp and said third timestamp in a communication from the first BLE unit.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said aggregated distance represents a first distance from a speaker of the computing device to a microphone of the first BLE unit, and a second distance from a speaker of the first BLE unit to a microphone of the computing device.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing device is a mobile device.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining a position of said computing device based on said distance;
searching an advertisement database for an advertisement based on said position, said advertisement associated with an entity at said location, said entity associated with the first BLE unit; and
selecting said advertisement, wherein said advertisement is to be displayed on a display of said computing device.
9. A method comprising steps of:
connecting, via a computing device, to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying an identifier of the first BLE unit;
transmitting, via the computing device, a command for said first BLE unit to emit a signal, said signal being an acoustic signal, said command associated with a first timestamp;
receiving, at the computing device, said signal from the first BLE unit, said reception associated with a second timestamp;
determining, via the computing device, a time delay between said first timestamp and said second timestamp;
determining, via the computing device, a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance determination comprising multiplying said time delay by the speed of sound in a current temperature at said location; and
storing, via the computing device, said distance in a storage, said distance stored in association with the identifier of the first BLE unit.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
determining whether other BLE units are present at said location; and
when other BLE units are present, repeating said steps for all other BLE units.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein said connection is a Bluetooth connection.
12. A method comprising steps of:
connecting, via a computing device, to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying an identifier of the first BLE unit, wherein said BLE unit records and processes transmitted audio signals;
transmitting, via the computing device, a first audio signal, said first audio signal associated with a first timestamp;
receiving, via the computing device, a response from said first BLE unit, said response associated with a second timestamp corresponding to said reception by the computing device, wherein said response is based upon the first BLE unit receiving the first audio signal and communicating said response back to said computing device;
determining, via the computing device, a time delay between the first timestamp and the second timestamp;
determining, via the computing device, a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance determination comprising multiplying said time delay by the speed of sound in a current temperature at said location; and
storing, via the computing device, said distance in a storage, said distance stored in association with the identifier of the first BLE unit.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
determining whether other BLE units are present at said location; and
when other BLE units are present, repeating said steps for all other BLE units.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first BLE unit records and processes audio signals based on a command from said computing device.
15. A method comprising:
connecting, via a computing device, to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying a beacon emitted from said first BLE unit and an identifier of the first BLE unit;
determining, via the computing device, an observed signal strength associated with the first BLE unit from said beacon;
searching, via the computing device, a storage associated with said location based on the observed signal strength and the identifier of the first BLE unit, said storage storing, for each BLE unit at said location, a BLE identifier, signal strength and a measured distance;
determining, via the computing device, a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance corresponding to a measured distance for the first BLE unit in said storage; and
receiving, at the computing device, said distance.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
identifying the stored signal strength in the storage associated with the first BLE unit identifier; and
identifying the measured distance based on the stored signal strength.
17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
determining, based on said searching, that the storage contains no entry for the measured signal strength associated with the first BLE unit identifier and observed signal strength;
identifying a next smaller and next larger signal strength in the storage from that of the observed signal strength for the first BLE unit; and
calculating a distance based on the identified next smaller and next larger signal strengths through linear interpolation.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor associated with a computing device, performs a method comprising:
connecting to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying a beacon emitted from said first BLE unit and an identifier of the first BLE unit;
determining a signal strength associated with the first BLE unit from said beacon;
emitting a first signal, said first signal having a first timestamp associated with said emission and a second timestamp associated with reception by said first BLE unit;
receiving second signal emitted from the first BLE unit, said second signal having a third timestamp associated with the emission from the first BLE unit and a fourth timestamp associated with said reception of the second signal;
determining a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance based upon an aggregated distance based on the first, second, third and fourth timestamps; and
storing said distance in a storage, said distance stored in association with said signal strength and the identifier of the first BLE unit.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein said distance determination further comprises:
calculating the aggregated distance by determining a first time delay between the first timestamp and the second timestamp and a second time delay between the third timestamp and fourth timestamp, said aggregated distance equaling an aggregation of first and second time delay;
multiplying the aggregated distance by the speed of sound in a current condition at said location; and
dividing the multiplied distance by 2, wherein a result of said division equals said distance.
20. A system comprising:
a computing device comprising:
memory storing computer-executable instructions; and
one or more processors for executing said computer-executable instructions for:
connecting to a first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) unit at a location, said connection comprising identifying a beacon emitted from said first BLE unit and an identifier of the first BLE unit;
determining a signal strength associated with the first BLE unit from said beacon;
emitting a first signal, said first signal having a first timestamp associated with said emission and a second timestamp associated with reception by said first BLE unit;
receiving second signal emitted from the first BLE unit, said second signal having a third timestamp associated with the emission from the first BLE unit and a fourth timestamp associated with said reception of the second signal;
determining a distance between the computing device and the first BLE unit, said distance based upon an aggregated distance based on the first, second, third and fourth timestamps; and
storing said distance in a storage, said distance stored in association with said signal strength and the identifier of the first BLE unit.