Selectively using beacon radio node location to determine user equipment location based on sensed movement of the beacon radio node

• US 10,158,972 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2015
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nord, Lars
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang-Hurst, Kathy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elnoubi, Said M
• Application Number:
  US14/640,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20160261986A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,383 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/024 of beacon transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/017 Detecting state or type of motion
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A method in a location service client node includes maintaining a database containing a listing of beacon radio node identifiers with their geographic locations. A received location request contains an identifier for a UE and an identifier for a beacon radio node. A geographic location of the UE is determined from the database using the geographic location of the identifier for the beacon radio nodes. A message is sent to a public safety system containing the identifier for the UE and the geographic location. Subsequent to sending the message to the public safety system, a received movement notification message contains the identifier for the beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved. Data in the database is set to prevent the geographic location of the beacon radio node from being subsequently used to determine the geographic location of a UE.

Claims

1. A method in a beacon radio node, the method comprising:

sensing movement of the beacon radio node, at the beacon radio node, based on a signal from a movement detector;

based on the sensing of the movement, generating, by the beacon radio node, a message containing an identifier for the beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved;

communicating, by the beacon radio node, the message from the beacon radio node to a location service client node;

determining whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement;

based on determining that the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was not terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is less than a threshold time, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is greater than the threshold time, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

generating the message to further include data indicating the elapsed time.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is less than a threshold time, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is greater than a threshold time, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

generating the message to further include data indicating whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the sensing of the movement, searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node; and

generating the message to further include data identifying any other beacon radio node identified by the searching.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying any other beacon radio node identified by the searching;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches any beacon radio node identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that no match between identities is found, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching to identify presence of another proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying the other beacon radio node identified by the searching and data identifying a received signal strength for a signal received from the other beacon radio node;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches the other beacon radio node identified by the stored data and, when a match is determined, identifying whether a received signal strength of a signal presently received from the other beacon radio node is within a defined threshold value of the received signal strength identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found and the received signal strengths are within the defined threshold value, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that a match between identities is not found or a match between identities is found but the received signal strengths are not within the defined threshold value, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching to identify presence of another proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying the other beacon radio node identified by the searching and data identifying a plurality of received signal strength measurements for signals received from the other beacon radio node through a corresponding plurality of different physical resource channels;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches the other beacon radio node identified by the stored data and, when a match is determined, identifying whether a plurality of received signal strength measurements for signals presently received from the other beacon radio node through the corresponding plurality of different physical resource channels are within one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found and the present received signal strengths are within the one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that a match between identities is not found or a match between identities is found but the present received signal strengths are not within the one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

10. A method in a beacon radio node, the method comprising:

sensing movement of the beacon radio node, at the beacon radio node, based on a signal from a movement detector;

based on the sensing of the movement, generating, by the beacon radio node, a message containing an identifier for the beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved;

communicating, by the beacon radio node, the message from the beacon radio node to a location service client node;

searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying any other beacon radio node identified by the searching;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches any beacon radio node identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that no match between identities is found, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is less than a threshold time, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is greater than the threshold time, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

generating the message to further include data indicating the elapsed time.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

based on determining that the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was not terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining an elapsed time during which the supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is less than a threshold time, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that the elapsed time is greater than a threshold time, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement; and

generating the message to further include data indicating whether supply of external power to the beacon radio node was terminated while the beacon radio node was experiencing movement.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

based on the sensing of the movement, searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node; and

generating the message to further include data identifying any other beacon radio node identified by the searching.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

searching to identify presence of another proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying the other beacon radio node identified by the searching and data identifying a received signal strength for a signal received from the other beacon radio node;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches the other beacon radio node identified by the stored data and, when a match is determined, identifying whether a received signal strength of a signal presently received from the other beacon radio node is within a defined threshold value of the received signal strength identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found and the received signal strengths are within the defined threshold value, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that a match between identities is not found or a match between identities is found but the received signal strengths are not within the defined threshold value, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

searching to identify presence of another proximately located other beacon radio node;

storing data identifying the other beacon radio node identified by the searching and data identifying a plurality of received signal strength measurements for signals received from the other beacon radio node through a corresponding plurality of different physical resource channels;

based on the sensing of the movement,

repeating the searching to identify presence of any proximately located other beacon radio node, and

determining whether an identity of any other beacon radio node identified by the repeated searching matches the other beacon radio node identified by the stored data and, when a match is determined, identifying whether a plurality of received signal strength measurements for signals presently received from the other beacon radio node through the corresponding plurality of different physical resource channels are within one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data;

based on determining that a match between identities is found and the present received signal strengths are within the one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data, not performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved; and

based on determining that a match between identities is not found or a match between identities is found but the present received signal strengths are not within the one or more threshold values of the corresponding received signal strengths identified by the stored data, performing the method of generating a message containing an identifier for beacon radio node and data indicating that the beacon radio node has been moved.