Method for providing position associated information and electronic device supporting the same

• US 10,433,102 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2018
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Hye Jeong, Lim, Chae Man, Cho, Sung Rae, Park, Yun Sang, Bae, Moon Gyo
• Primary Examiner(s): Dean, Jr., Joseph E
• Application Number:
  US15/871,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20180206067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A position associated information providing method, implemented by an electronic device supporting the same, includes identifying a condition of position information set to an application running or execution-requested, obtaining position information corresponding to the identified condition of the position information, and providing the obtained position information to the application.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a cellular communication circuit configured to communicate with at least one cellular base station;

a memory; and

a controller operatively connected with the cellular communication circuit and the memory,

wherein the controller is configured to;

download a position information database including a plurality of cell identifications corresponding to the at least one cellular base station and position information of the at least one cellular base station from a server,

store the downloaded position information database in the memory,

obtain a current cell identification through the cellular communication circuit, and

calculate a current position based on the current cell identification, the plurality of cell identifications corresponding to the at least one cellular base station included in the position information database, and the position information of the at least one cellular base station included in the position information database,

determine whether the electronic device is disposed in a specific Geo-fence area using the calculated current position based on the current cell identification,

when the electronic device is determined as being not disposed in the specific Geo-fence area, determine whether an accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is greater than or equal to a threshold, and

when the accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is greater than or equal to the threshold, recalculate the current position based on the current cell identification according to a positioning period.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

update the position information database corresponding to a movement of the electronic device when the electronic device is moved.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the position information database further includes GPS information including at least one latitude/longitude tile having a certain area.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the controller is further configured to obtain and store a center position of at least one Geo-fence area that is a predefined set of boundaries, a radius information of the at least one Geo-fence area, and at least one of cell information associated with the at least one Geo-fence area to a server, and

each of the at least one Geo-fence area is smaller than one serving cell area.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, further comprises at least one of a GPS (Global Positioning System) module and a Wi-Fi communication circuit to communicate with at least one access point,

wherein the controller is further configured to:

when the accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is less than the threshold, calculate a new current position using the GPS module or the Wi-Fi communication circuit.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to calculate a new current position based on the cellular communication circuit when the electronic device gets out the specific Geo-fence area.

7. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine the current position is in a first Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

output an alarm corresponding to the current position when the current position is in the first Geo-fence area.

8. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine the current position is in a first Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

automatically execute a first function associated with the first Geo-fence area when the current position is in the first Geo-fence area.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine the current position is in a second Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

automatically execute, when the current position is in a second Geo-fence area, a second function, which is different from the first function, associated with the second Geo-fence area.

10. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to:

when a number of cells associated with the specific Geo-fence area is smaller than a predetermined required count, obtain at least one of cell information from among cells not belonging to the at least one Geo-fence area.

11. A method for providing position information of an electronic device including a cellular communication circuit, the method comprising:

downloading a position information database including a plurality of cell identifications corresponding to at least one cellular base station and position information of the at least one cellular base station from a server;

storing the downloaded position information database in a memory;

obtaining a current cell identification through the cellular communication circuit; and

calculating a current position based on the current cell identification, the plurality of cell identifications corresponding to the at least one cellular base station included in the position information database, and the position information of the at least one cellular base station included in the position information database,

determining whether the electronic device is disposed in a specific Geo-fence area using the calculated current position based on the current cell identification;

when the electronic device is determined as being not disposed in the specific Geo-fence area, determining whether an accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is greater than or equal to a threshold; and

when the accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is greater than or equal to the threshold, recalculating the current position based on the current cell identification according to a positioning period.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprises:

updating the position information database corresponding to a movement of the electronic device when the electronic device is moved.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the position information database further includes GPS information including at least one latitude/longitude tile having a certain area.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprises:

obtaining and storing a center position of at least one Geo-fence area that is a predefined set of boundaries, a radius information of the at least one Geo-fence area, and at least one of cell information associated with the at least one Geo-fence area to a server, wherein each of the at least one Geo-fence area is smaller than one serving cell area.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprises:

when the accuracy of the calculated current position based on the current cell identification is less than the threshold, recalculating a new current position using a GPS (Global Positioning System) module or at least one access point information associated with a Wi-Fi communication circuit.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprises:

calculating a new current position based on the cellular communication circuit when the electronic device gets out the specific Geo-fence area.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprises:

determining the current position is in a first Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

outputting an alarm corresponding to the current position when the current position is in the first Geo-fence area.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprises:

determining the current position is in a first Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

automatically executing a first function associated with the first Geo-fence area when the current position is in the first Geo-fence area.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprises:

determining the current position is in a second Geo-fence area when the electronic device enters the specific Geo-fence area; and

automatically executing, when the current position is in a second Geo-fence area, a second function, which is different from the first function, associated with the second Geo-fence area.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprises:

when a number of cells associated with the specific Geo-fence area is smaller than a predetermined required count, obtaining at least one of cell information from among cells not belonging to the at least one Geo-fence area.