Market Context — Why This Technology, Why Now

The global push towards advanced automation and IoT integration is creating immense pressure for highly reliable positioning solutions. Industries from logistics to urban planning require centimeter-level accuracy in environments where traditional GNSS signals are compromised. Regulatory bodies are also increasing safety standards for autonomous systems, making robust NLOS detection and mitigation paramount. This technology provides a competitive edge by enabling superior performance and safety in these challenging operational landscapes.

Key Competitive Advantages
01

Significantly reduces NLOS misjudgments by using radio wave reception quality indicators, avoiding obstacle misrecognition and boosting positioning reliability.

02

Enhances operational efficiency by eliminating the need for orientation adjustments, significantly reducing installation and deployment time.

03

Stabilizes positioning accuracy by estimating radio wave quality from multiple base stations, ensuring high-precision even in challenging environments.

Market Opportunity
Autonomous Driving & ADAS
$300M–$500M globally (AI est.)
By integrating with high-precision maps and improving the safety and reliability of autonomous driving in urban areas, significant market expansion is anticipated.
Tier 1 automotive suppliers Autonomous vehicle developers High-definition mapping companies
Drone Logistics & Inspection
$150M–$250M globally (AI est.)
Enhancing positioning accuracy for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights enables safe and efficient drone operations, creating new service demands.
Drone manufacturers and integrators Logistics and delivery service providers Infrastructure inspection companies
Smart City & IoT
$200M–$300M globally (AI est.)
Managing high-precision location data for numerous devices and optimizing urban infrastructure will accelerate smart city development.
Smart city solution providers IoT platform developers Urban infrastructure management firms
IP Defensibility — Why Competitors Can't Replicate This
What This Patent Covers

This patent protects a positioning system, server, and method for accurately determining location by estimating radio wave reception quality from multiple base stations to avoid NLOS misjudgments. The claims are robust and comprehensive, covering various aspects of the technology and demonstrating strong differentiation from prior art.

Competitive White Space

This patent primarily covers server-side processing for NLOS detection. White space exists in developing novel hardware for base stations, integrating advanced sensor fusion beyond GNSS signals, or creating new secure communication protocols for positioning data.

Economic Impact
~$350K/year estimated operational cost savings and accuracy improvement per facility (est.).
estimated ROI · USD · AI analysis
ROI Calculation Logic

For autonomous vehicles and drone operations requiring high-precision positioning, this technology could reduce annual implementation and adjustment costs of conventional image-recognition NLOS systems (estimated ~$150K/site (AI est.)) and re-work/lost costs due to misjudgments (estimated ~$200K/year (AI est.)). This could result in an estimated annual economic benefit of ~$350K (AI est.).

Speed to Market
6× faster than in-house development
This technology has demonstrated implementation success, with its core algorithms already established. This eliminates the need for licensees to develop from scratch. The radio wave reception quality estimation logic and multi-base station observation data processing methods are proven, enabling rapid integration into existing positioning systems. This significantly shortens time-to-market and accelerates business deployment.
Competitive Positioning

X: Positioning Reliability & Accuracy
Y: Operational Efficiency & Ease of Integration

Business Models & Applications
🤝 Technology Licensing
License this technology to positioning system developers, supporting their creation of high-precision modules and solutions for broad market penetration.
💡 Solution Provision
Offer a high-precision positioning platform, integrated with this technology, as a SaaS solution for autonomous driving and drone operators, establishing a recurring revenue model.
📊 Data Service
Provide high-precision location data, collected and analyzed by this technology, to urban planning and infrastructure management firms, creating new value streams.
Adjacent Application Opportunities
🚜 Smart Agriculture
Enhance Autonomous Agricultural Vehicle Precision
This technology could resolve GNSS signal instability in agricultural fields, enabling highly precise seeding, fertilization, and harvesting by autonomous tractors and drones. This has the potential to boost operational efficiency by 25% and optimize resource use, leading to increased yields and reduced costs.
🏗️ Construction & Surveying
Automated Control for Construction Equipment
This technology could enable automated control of construction machinery in challenging environments like high-rise urban areas or underground sites where GNSS signals are weak. Ensuring precise positioning could improve project timelines by 15% and significantly enhance worker safety and operational efficiency.
🚚 Logistics & Warehouse Management
High-Precision Indoor/Outdoor Asset Tracking
This technology could provide real-time, high-precision tracking for forklifts, autonomous robots, and containers within large logistics warehouses and port facilities. This has the potential to optimize inventory management and improve operational efficiency by up to 30% across complex supply chains.
Integration Roadmap — Estimated 12-Month Deployment
Technology Verification & Prototype Development
Duration: 3 months
Design for integrating the core functions of this technology into existing systems and develop a small-scale prototype.
System Integration & Field Test
Duration: 6 months
Fully integrate the developed prototype into existing positioning systems and conduct extensive field tests in real environments.
Production Deployment & Service Rollout
Duration: 3 months
Perform final adjustments based on field test data, then proceed with production system deployment and market service rollout.
Technical Feasibility
This technology is designed to receive satellite radio wave observation data from multiple base stations and estimate reception quality indicators on a server, facilitating software integration into existing GNSS receivers and communication infrastructure. The patent claims clearly define server functions, suggesting implementation through feature additions and algorithm deployment within existing systems rather than extensive new hardware. Proven implementation further underscores its high technical feasibility.
Success Scenario
Implementing this technology could dramatically improve mobile object positioning accuracy, even in challenging environments like urban canyons or mountainous areas where conventional GNSS struggles. This could enable optimized routing for autonomous vehicles and precise infrastructure inspection by drones, potentially boosting operational efficiency by 20% and reducing labor costs by 15%. Furthermore, reduced misjudgment risks would enhance service safety, reliability, and customer satisfaction.
Patent Record
APPLICATION NO.
特願2022-032365
REGISTRATION NO.
7467518
FILING DATE
2022/03/03
GRANT DATE
2024/04/05
EXPIRATION DATE
2042/03/03
PATENT HOLDER
ソフトバンク株式会社
Examination History
2023年02月07日
出願審査請求書
2023年09月22日
拒絶理由通知書
2023年11月17日
手続補正書（自発・内容）
2023年11月17日
意見書
2024年01月05日
拒絶理由通知書
2024年03月04日
意見書
2024年03月04日
手続補正書（自発・内容）
2024年03月15日
特許査定