Indoor locating mobile terminals in a mobile cellular telecommunication network

• US 10,136,264 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emergent Mobile LLC
• Original Assignee: Sisvel Technology S.r.l. (Fineur International S.A.)
• Inventors: Scarafia, Simone, Striuli, Alessandro
• Primary Examiner(s): Lafontant, Gary
• Application Number:
  US13/984,503
• Publication Number:
  US 20130316740A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,462 Days
• Field of Search: 4554565, 455 412, 455315, 4554563, 455417, 370315
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A process for indoor location of a mobile cellular terminal (3) equipped with a transceiver apparatus capable of communicating with a mobile cellular telecommunication network (2), through a system including at least one transmitter apparatus (5a-5g), present inside an indoor environment (6;A-G), and at least one of the mobile terminals (3) equipped with at least one receiver apparatus (4), capable of receiving data transmitted by at least one of the transmitter apparatuses (5a-5g) present inside the indoor environment (6;A-G) and of relaying them to a locating station (7) through the transceiver apparatus over the mobile cellular telecommunication network (2), including the following steps, wherein: at least one of the transmitter apparatuses (5a-5g) present in the indoor environment (6;A-G) transmits at least one identifier (ID;<A>-<G>) of the indoor environment (6;A-G) where the transmitter apparatus (5a-5g) is situated; the receiver apparatus (4) of the mobile terminal (3) receives the identifier (ID;<A>-<G>) transmitted by at least one of the transmitter apparatuses (5a-5g); the transceiver apparatus of the mobile terminal (3) relays the identifier (ID;<A>-<G>) or data associated therewith to the locating station (7) through the mobile cellular telecommunication network (2); and the locating station (7) locates the mobile terminal (3) depending on the identifier (ID;<A>-<G>) or the data associated therewith received from the mobile terminal (3) through the mobile cellular telecommunication network (2), by associating the identifier (ID;<A>-<G>) with the position of the indoor environment (6;A-G) after consulting an existing database (9) accessible to the locating station (7), the database (9) including information associating the identifier (ID; <A>-<G>) with data relating to the position of the indoor environment (6;A-G) where the transmitter (5a-5g) that transmitted it is situated, and wherein the identifier (ID) is associated with at least one fixed communication terminal (8) present inside the indoor environment (6), and wherein the data relating to the position of the indoor environment includes a geographic address (LOCATION) of the fixed communication terminal (8).

Claims

1. A process for determining a geographic address of a mobile terminal located in an indoor environment, through a system comprising at least one Wi-Fi access point, present inside the indoor environment, wherein said at least one Wi-Fi access point is provided with an identifier of a landline terminal of a common fixed telephone network that is present in said indoor environment, wherein the mobile terminal is equipped with both a Wi-Fi receiver apparatus capable of receiving data transmitted by at least one of said Wi-Fi access points and a transceiver apparatus capable of communicating with a cellular mobile telecommunication network, wherein the identifier of the landline terminal includes at least one of an IP address or a telephone line number, the identifier individuating univocally said landline terminal in said common fixed telephone network, the process comprising:

a) transmitting, by at least one of said Wi-Fi access points present in said indoor environment, said identifier of said landline terminal;

b) receiving, by said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus of said mobile terminal, the transmitted by at least one of said Wi-Fi access points;

c) relaying, by said transceiver apparatus of said mobile terminal, the identifier to a locating station that is external to said indoor environment and that is unaware of the geographic address of the indoor environment through said cellular mobile telecommunication network, wherein the locating station determines a geographical address of said indoor environment based on the identifier of the landline terminal by consulting a database accessible to said locating station and maintained by an operator of the common fixed telephone network to which said landline terminal pertains, said database comprising associations between the identifier of the landline terminal and the geographical address of said indoor environment, wherein said database is external to said indoor environment and wherein said database is configured to determine geographic addresses of multiple indoor environments,

d) returning the geographical address of the indoor environment to the locating station and determining that a geographical address of said mobile terminal is the geographical address of said indoor environment associated with the identifier in said existing database.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein step b) further comprises:

receiving a plurality of different identifiers from said Wi-Fi access points, wherein at least some of said Wi-Fi access points are associated with different landline terminals; and

selecting said the at least one of said identifiers to be transmitted to said locating station from among said plurality of different identifiers, said selected identifier being the one estimated as being transmitted by the Wi-Fi access point nearest to said mobile terminal,

wherein step d) further comprises associating said selected identifier of said nearest Wi-Fi access point with a geographic address thereof through said database.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the at least one of said identifiers includes at least one telephone number of one of said landline terminals present inside said indoor environment, and wherein said database contains at least information associating the telephone number with its own geographic address.

4. A process according to claim 1, wherein:

said Wi-Fi access points are WLAN access points and said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus associated with said mobile terminal is a WLAN client,

said at least one of said identifiers comprises at least one IP address, and

said database contains at least information associating with said IP address its own geographic address.

5. A system for determining a geographic address of a mobile terminal located in an indoor environment, wherein said indoor environment includes a landline terminal of a common fixed telephone network, the mobile terminal being equipped with a transceiver apparatus capable of communication with a cellular mobile telecommunication network, the system comprising:

Wi-Fi access points placed inside the indoor environment, wherein said Wi-Fi access points are provided with identifiers of the landline terminal of the common fixed telephone network and are adapted to transmit, to said mobile terminal, the identifiers of the landline terminal, said identifiers including an IP address or a telephone line number, the identifiers individuating univocally said landline terminal in said common fixed telephone network, wherein at least one of said Wi-Fi access points transmits at least one of said identifiers of said landline terminal, a Wi-Fi receiver apparatus, wherein said mobile terminal is equipped with both said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus capable of receiving data transmitted by said Wi-Fi access points present inside said indoor environment and the transceiver apparatus capable of communicating with the cellular mobile telecommunication network, wherein said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus is capable of receiving at least one of said identifiers of said landline terminal from said Wi-Fi access points and said transceiver apparatus is adapted to relay the at least one of said identifiers to a locating station that is external to said indoor environment and that is unaware of the geographic address of the indoor environment through said cellular mobile telecommunication network;

said locating station being adapted to determine a geographical address of said indoor environment based on said at least one of said identifiers received from said transceiver apparatus, wherein said locating station consults at least one database accessible to said locating station and maintained by an operator of the common fixed telephone network to which said landline terminal pertains, said database comprising information associating said at least one of said identifiers of said landline terminal with data relating to the geographical address of said indoor environment where the Wi-Fi transmitter that transmitted the at least one of said identifiers is situated, wherein the geographic address of said landline terminal in said indoor environment is determined as a geographical address of said mobile terminal, wherein said at least one database is external to said indoor environment and wherein said at least one database is configured to determine geographic addresses of multiple indoor environments.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein said Wi-Fi access points are WLAN access points and said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus associated with said mobile terminal is a WLAN client.

7. A mobile terminal for communicating with a cellular mobile telecommunication network through which it is possible to transmit identifiers to a locating station, said mobile terminal comprising:

a Wi-Fi receiver apparatus capable of receiving identifiers transmitted by Wi-Fi access points present inside an indoor environment, wherein the Wi-Fi access points are provided with identifiers of at least one landline terminal of a common fixed telephone network present within said indoor environment, wherein the identifiers include at least one of an IP address or a telephone line number, the identifiers individuating univocally said at least one landline terminal in said common fixed telephone network where said Wi-Fi access points and said at least one landline terminal are situated;

a transceiver apparatus configured to transmit at least one of said identifiers received by said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus and associated with the at least one landline terminal to said locating station through said cellular mobile telecommunication network,

wherein said locating station is maintained by an operator of the common fixed telephone network to which said at least one landline terminal pertains, wherein said locating station is external to said indoor environment and is unaware of a geographic address of the indoor environment,

wherein said locating station is used to determine the geographical address of said at least one landline terminal based on said at least one of said identifiers relayed by said mobile terminal through said cellular mobile telecommunication network, wherein said locating station comprises at least one database accessible to said locating station, said database comprising information associating said at least one of said identifiers with the geographical address of said indoor environment, wherein the geographic address of said at least one landline terminal is determined as a geographical address of said mobile terminal, wherein said at least one database is external to said indoor environment and wherein said at least one database is configured to determine geographic addresses of multiple indoor environments.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the Wi-Fi receiver apparatus is cyclically activated only for limited time intervals separated by longer idle periods.

9. The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein:

the mobile terminal includes a GNSS locating device and a memory, wherein a position of at least one indoor environment is stored into said memory, and

said Wi-Fi receiver apparatus is activated when the GNSS locating device detects that a distance of the mobile terminal from said position is shorter than a preset value.

10. The mobile terminal according to claim 7, wherein the at least one of said identifiers associated therewith is automatically relayed to the locating station when a predetermined event occurs.

11. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein:

said predetermined event comprises the mobile terminal making a call or sending an SMS message to a preset telephone user, and

the at least one of said identifiers is entered into a data flow emitted by the mobile terminal in order to make said call or send said SMS message.