Position determination using measurements from past and present epochs

• US 10,247,828 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2014
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Riley, Wyatt Thomas, Rowitch, Douglas Neal, Farmer, Dominic Gerard
• Primary Examiner(s): Karikari, Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US14/255,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20140225770A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 34235722
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/396 Determining accuracy or reliability of position or pseudorange measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to positioning systems and location determination using measurement stitching.

Claims

1. A method for determining and implementing a navigation solution for a mobile device comprising:

obtaining, by one or more processors of the mobile device, during a first epoch, a first set of data from one or more sources;

determining, by the one or more processors, based on the first set of data, a first portion of information, wherein the first portion of information includes non-pseudorange measurements for at least one of the one or more sources;

determining, based on one or more criteria, that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute a navigation solution;

responsive to determining that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute the navigation solution, monitoring for additional set of data to compute the navigation solution;

receiving, by the one or more processors, at a time subsequent to the first epoch, a second set of data from the one or more sources;

determining, by the one or more processors, a second portion of information, the second portion of information from the second set of data comprising position information for the at least one source of the one or more sources;

determining, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more criteria, that the non-pseudorange measurements and the second portion of information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution;

in response to determining that the first portion of the information and the second portion of the information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution, determining the navigation solution; and

outputting, with the mobile device, an indication of the navigation solution.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second portion of information comprises a base station almanac (BSA) associated with the at least one source of the one or more sources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second portion of information comprises ephemeris and time information of the at least one source of the one or more sources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first portion of information comprises pseudorange and pseudorange rate measurements.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first portion of information comprises pseudorange and carrier phase measurements.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first portion of information comprises pilot phases.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the first portion of information comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the first portion of information comprises an angle of arrival (AOA).

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the first portion of information comprises pseudorange rate measurements.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the first portion of information comprises carrier phase measurements.

11. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

computing pseudorange measurements based, at least in part, on the ephemeris and time information, and on the stored first portion; and

computing the navigation solution based, at least in part, on the computed pseudorange measurements and the non-pseudorange measurements.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of information comprises code phase detections.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sources comprise satellite vehicles.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigation solution comprises a position fix of a mobile receiver.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising

disabling pseudo-range processing for at least one of the one or more sources during the first epoch;

and

enabling the pseudo-range processing for the at least one of the one or more sources subsequent to the first epoch.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the second portion of information comprises position information of the one or more sources that are not in view, by the mobile device, during the first epoch.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting the indication of the navigation solution comprises:

causing a display of the mobile device to show the indication of the navigation solution,

outputting the indication of the navigation solution to a navigation process executed by the mobile device,

or any combination thereof.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of information comprise position fix information from the one or more sources;

wherein the second portion of information comprise satellite positioning system (SPS) measurements from the one or more sources; and

wherein the navigation solution is computed based on initializing a Kalman filter with the position fix information and processing the SPS measurements using the initialized Kalman filter.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the first portion of the information and the second portion of the information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution, comprises:

determining pseudorange measurements from the non-pseudorange measurements in the first portion of information based on the second portion of the information; and

determining whether the pseudorange measurements are sufficient to compute the navigation solution.

17. An apparatus comprising:

one or more receivers;

one or more processors coupled to the one or more receivers, the one or more processors configured to;

obtain, via the one or more receivers, during a first epoch, a first set of data from one or more sources;

determine, based on the first set of data, a first portion of information, wherein the first portion of information includes non-pseudorange measurements for at least one of the one or more sources;

determine, based on one or more criteria, that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute a navigation solution;

responsive to determining that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute the navigation solution, monitor for additional set of data to compute the navigation solution;

receive, at a time subsequent to the first epoch, a second set of data from the one or more sources;

determine a second portion of information from the second set of data, the second portion of information comprising position information for the at least one source of the one or more sources;

determine, based on the one or more criteria, that the non-pseudorange measurements and the second portion of information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution;

in response to determining that the first portion of the information and the second portion of the information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution, determine the navigation solution; and

output an indication of the navigation solution.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the obtaining the second set of data is in response to a changed signal environment and/or a changed view to the one or more sources.

19. An apparatus comprising:

means for obtaining, during a first epoch, a first set of wireless signals from one or more sources;

means for determining, based on the first set of wireless signals, a first portion of information, wherein the first portion of information includes non-pseudorange measurements for at least one of the one or more sources;

means for determining, based on one or more criteria, that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are insufficient to compute a navigation solution;

means for responsive to determining that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute the navigation solution, monitoring for additional set of signals to compute the navigation solution;

means for receiving, at a time subsequent to the first epoch, a second set of wireless signals from the one or more sources;

means for determining a second portion of information from the second set of wireless signals, the second portion of information comprising position information for the at least one source of the one or more sources;

means for determining, based on the one or more criteria, that the non-pseudorange measurements and the second portion of information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution;

means for, in response to determining that the first portion of the information and the second portion of the information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution, determining the navigation solution; and

means for outputting an indication of the navigation solution.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more processors to:

obtain, via the one or more receivers, during a first epoch, a first set of data from one or more sources;

determine, based on the first set of data, a first portion of information, wherein the first portion of information includes non-pseudorange measurements for at least one of the one or more sources;

determine, based on one or more criteria, that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute a navigation solution;

responsive to determining that the one or more non-pseudorange measurements are not sufficient to compute the navigation solution, monitor for additional set of data to compute the navigation solution;

receive, at a time subsequent to the first epoch, a second set of data from the one or more sources;

determine a second portion of information from the second set of data, the second portion of information comprising position information for the at least one source of the one or more sources;

determine, based on the one or more criteria, that the non-pseudorange measurements and the second portion of information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution;

in response to determining that the first portion of the information and the second portion of the information are sufficient to compute the navigation solution, determine the navigation solution; and

output an indication of the navigation solution.