Signal power pattern-based location detection and cell placement

• US 10,299,241 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2018
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramamurthy, Suryanarayanan
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Joshua L
• Application Number:
  US16/051,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20190053189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 293 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Systems and methods determine the location of user equipment (UE) in a radio access network (RAN). A network device collects UE location indications and corresponding received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to cooperating UE devices at the indicated locations. Each UE location indication and corresponding received signal strength measurements provide a data point. The network device assigns signature areas having the same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations; identifies multiple clusters of data points in the signature areas; assigns a location value, which represents a geographic area, to each cluster of the multiple clusters; and determines an estimated location of another UE device, wherein the estimated location includes the location value of one of the multiple clusters based on concurrently visible wireless access stations and corresponding received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more network devices, the method comprising:

collecting user equipment (UE) location indications and corresponding received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to cooperating UE devices at the indicated locations, wherein each UE location indication and corresponding received signal strength measurements provide a data point;

assigning signature areas having a same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identifying multiple clusters of data points in the signature areas;

assigning a location value, which represents a geographic area, to each cluster of the multiple clusters; and

determining an estimated location of another UE device, wherein the estimated location includes the location value of one of the multiple clusters based on concurrently visible wireless access stations and corresponding received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received signal strength measurements for the wireless access stations concurrently visible to cooperating UE devices include reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the multiple clusters of data points includes applying machine-learning algorithms to all data points in one of the signature areas for a certain time window to identify a geographic grouping.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the signature areas indicates a geographic space where a unique group of wireless access stations can be concurrently detected by the UE devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the estimated location includes:

matching the concurrently visible wireless access stations reported by the other UE device with one of the signature areas having the same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations, and

identifying a best match for the received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device to one of the clusters of the multiple clusters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a location value to each of the clusters includes:

averaging positions of data points within each of the clusters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a location value to each of the clusters includes:

identifying centers of areas that covers all data points for each of the clusters.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE location indications include data from satellite-based positioning or cellular-based positioning services.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, for each of the signature areas, the received signal strength measurements from each data point associated with the location value for a corresponding cluster of the multiple clusters.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the location value to each cluster of the multiple clusters further comprises:

assigning location values to cover an entirety of each of the signature areas.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting includes:

receiving, from the cooperating UE devices, batch files with reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements and the location indications.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assembling, based on the location estimate for the UE device and other location estimates for other UE devices, a heat map of concurrent users.

13. A network device, comprising:

an interface that communicates with a network;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the interface and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to;

collect user equipment (UE) location indications and corresponding received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to cooperating UE devices at the indicated locations, wherein each UE location indication and corresponding received signal strength measurements provide a data point;

assign signature areas having a same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identify multiple clusters of data points in the signature areas;

assign a location value, which represents a geographic area, to each cluster of the multiple clusters; and

determine an estimated location of another UE device, wherein the estimated location includes the location value of one of the multiple clusters based on concurrently visible wireless access stations and corresponding received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device.

14. The network device of claim 13, wherein, when collecting UE location indications and corresponding received signal strength measurements, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:

receive, from the cooperating UE devices, batch files with reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements and the location indications.

15. The network device of claim 13, wherein, when assigning the location value to each cluster of the multiple clusters, the processor is further configured to:

assign location values to cover an entirety of one or more of the signature areas.

16. The network device of claim 13, wherein, when determining the estimated location, the processor is further configured to:

match the concurrently visible wireless access stations reported by the other UE device with one of the signature areas having the same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations, and

identify a best match for the received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device to one of the clusters of the multiple clusters.

17. The network device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to

store, for each of the signature areas, the received signal strength measurements, of each data point, associated with the location value for a corresponding cluster of the multiple clusters.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by a computational device to:

collect user equipment (UE) location indications and corresponding received signal strength measurements for wireless access stations concurrently visible to cooperating UE devices at the indicated locations, wherein each UE location indication and corresponding received signal strength measurements provide a data point;

assign signature areas having a same combination of the concurrently visible wireless access stations;

identify multiple clusters of data points in the signature areas;

assign a location value, which represents a geographic area, to each cluster of the multiple clusters; and

determine an estimated location of another UE device, wherein the estimated location includes the location value of one of the multiple clusters based on concurrently visible wireless access stations and corresponding received signal strength measurements reported by the other UE device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further storing instructions to:

store, for each of the signature areas, the received signal strength measurements from each data point associated with the location value for a corresponding cluster of the multiple clusters.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions to identify multiple clusters of data points in the signature areas include:

identify the multiple clusters to cover an entirety of each of the signature areas.