E911 Locating by nearby proxy device location

• US 10,436,876 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2018
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Hilliard, Brandon B., Cottrill, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Sharad
• Application Number:
  US15/991,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20180275244A1
• Time in Patent Office: 497 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0231 Emergency, distress or locator beacons
• 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 4/90 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

Abstract

A method for determining the location of a mobile device that has placed an emergency communication includes determining that an emergency communication has been made by a mobile device having a wireless radio and receiving, from the mobile device, an identifier of a first device detected by the wireless radio. If the first device is not fixed, the method includes sending a first location request to the first device to determine a first location of the first device. The method also includes determining a location of the mobile device based upon the first location and providing the mobile device location to a recipient of the emergency communication.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a mobile positioning center, that a mobile device placed an emergency communication to an emergency center, wherein the mobile positioning center is communicatively coupled to a location database and the emergency center;

determining, by the mobile positioning center, that the mobile device cannot provide a mobile device location;

receiving, at the mobile positioning center from the mobile device, an identifier of a detected device detected by a wireless radio of the mobile device;

locating, by the mobile positioning center, information in the location database associated with the identifier;

identifying, by the mobile positioning center, a location of the detected device based on the information;

determining, by the mobile positioning center, the mobile device location based upon the location;

determining an accuracy of the mobile device location based upon at least one of a type of the wireless radio of the detected device or a signal strength of the mobile device or the detected device; and

providing, by the mobile positioning center, the mobile device location and the accuracy of the mobile device location to the emergency center.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected device is one of a plurality of detected devices and further comprising:

for each of the plurality of detected devices, receiving, at the mobile positioning center, an additional identifier; and

locating, by the mobile positioning center, each of the plurality of detected devices to determine additional device locations,

wherein determining the mobile device location is further based upon the additional locations.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining the accuracy of the mobile device location based upon the plurality of detected devices.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the mobile device location further includes identifying a centroid of the additional locations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the mobile device includes identifying the detected device as the mobile device location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detected device is at least one of a beacon and a wireless access point.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing, by the mobile positioning center, the mobile device to enable a wireless radio in response to determining that the mobile device cannot provide its mobile device location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is one of a vehicle or a smart appliance.

9. A system comprising:

a mobile positioning center communicatively coupled to a location database and an emergency center, the mobile positioning center configured to;

determine that a mobile device placed an emergency communication to the emergency center;

determine that the mobile device cannot provide a mobile device location;

receive, from the mobile device, an identifier of a detected device detected by a wireless radio of the mobile device;

locate information in the location database associated with the identifier;

identify a location of the detected device based on the information;

determine the mobile device location of the mobile device based upon the location;

determine an accuracy of the mobile device location of the mobile device based upon at least one of a type of a wireless radio associated with the detected device and a signal strength associated with the detected device; and

provide the mobile device location and the accuracy of the mobile device location to the emergency center.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the type of wireless radio is at least one of a Bluetooth®

and a Wi-Fi radio.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein determining the location of the mobile device includes identifying the location as the location of the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the detected device is a nonconventional computing device.

13. The system of claim 9, the mobile positioning center further configured to:

cause the mobile device to enable a wireless radio.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing a location database and executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

determining, by a mobile positioning center, that a mobile device placed an emergency communication to an emergency center, wherein the mobile positioning center is communicatively coupled to a location database and the emergency center;

determining, by the mobile positioning center, that the mobile device cannot provide a mobile device location;

receiving, at the mobile positioning center from the mobile device, an identifier of a detected device detected by a wireless radio of the mobile device;

locating, by the mobile positioning center, information in the location database associated with the identifier;

identifying, by the mobile positioning center, a location of the detected device based on the information;

determining, by the mobile positioning center, the mobile device location of the mobile device based upon the location;

determining an accuracy of the mobile device location based upon at least one of a type of the wireless radio of the detected device and a signal strength associated with each of the plurality of detected devices; and

providing, by the mobile positioning center, the mobile device location and the accuracy of the mobile device location to the emergency center.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the detected device is one of a plurality of detected devices, and wherein the memory stores executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations further comprising:

for each of the plurality of detected devices, receiving, at the mobile positioning center, an additional identifier; and

locating, by the mobile positioning center, each of the plurality of detected devices to determine additional device locations,

wherein determining the mobile device location is further based upon the additional locations.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the memory stores executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations further comprising:

determining the accuracy of the mobile device location based upon a number of the plurality of detected devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein determining the mobile device location further includes identifying a centroid of the additional locations.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory stores executable instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations further comprising:

causing the mobile device to enable a wireless radio.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the detected device is a nonconventional computing device.