Location determination in a wireless communication network

• US 20040002343A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Crosswy, William Caldwell, Burke, Sean, Ganthier, James J., Brauel, Eric S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A wireless network permits wireless devices to determine their own location and receive location-based services. The network includes a communication server coupled to a plurality of access points and at least one mobile wireless device that wirelessly communicates through the access points. Each wireless device includes a location table through which the wireless device can determine its physical location. The location table includes the physical location of the various access points indexed by their network addresses. When the wireless device communicates with an access point, the access point provides the wireless device its address. The wireless device uses the address of the access point as an index into the location table to determine its own location based on the location of the access point. Once the wireless device has determined its own physical location, it requests location-based services from or through the communication server.

Claims

1. A mobile wireless communication device which wirelessly communicates with one of a plurality of access points, each of said access points coupled to a communication server, comprising:

a CPU;

a transceiver coupled to said CPU; and

a memory device coupled to said CPU;

wherein said CPU determines the physical location of the mobile wireless communication device based on the physical location of the access point to which the mobile wireless communication device is currently communicating.

2. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1 further including a location table stored in said memory, said location table providing the physical location and address of the access points.

3. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2 wherein said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

4. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2 wherein during initialization said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

5. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2 wherein at predefined time intervals said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

6. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2 wherein said mobile wireless communication device receives the address of the access point to which the wireless communication device communicates and uses the address to look up the location in the location table corresponding to the address received from the access point.

7. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1 wherein said CPU requests services from the communication server based on the mobile wireless communication device'"'"'s physical location as determined by said CPU.

8. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 7 further including a location services table stored in said memory and containing a service corresponding to each of a plurality of locations, said CPU uses said location services table to request services from the communication server.

9. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 8 wherein said location services table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

10. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 7 further including preferences stored in said memory by a user of said mobile wireless communication device and said CPU requests services from the communication server based on the mobile wireless communication device'"'"'s physical location as determined by said CPU and based on said preferences.

11. A wireless communication network, comprising:

a communication server;

a plurality of access points coupled to said communication server;

a wireless communication device that wirelessly couples to an access point, said wireless communication device determines its physical location based on the physical location of the access point to which the mobile wireless communication device is currently communicating.

12. The wireless communication network of claim 11 further including a location table stored in said wireless communication device, said location table providing the physical location and address of the access points.

13. The wireless communication network of claim 12 wherein said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

14. The wireless communication network of claim 12 wherein during initialization said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

15. The wireless communication network of claim 12 wherein at predefined time intervals said location table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

16. The wireless communication network of claim 12 wherein said mobile wireless communication device receives the address of the access point to which the wireless communication device communicates and uses the address to look up the location in the location table corresponding to the address received from the access point.

17. The wireless communication network of claim 11 wherein said wireless communication device requests services from the communication server based on the mobile wireless communication device'"'"'s physical location as determined by said CPU.

18. The wireless communication network of claim 17 further including a location services table stored in said wireless communication device and containing a service corresponding to each of a plurality of locations, said wireless communication device uses said location services table to request services from the communication server.

19. The wireless communication network of claim 18 wherein said location services table is downloaded to the mobile wireless communication device by the communication server.

20. The wireless communication network of claim 12 wherein said wireless communication device comprises a CPU, a transceiver coupled to said CPU and a memory device coupled to said CPU, said location table stored in said memory device.

21. The wireless communication network of claim 17 further including preferences stored in said wireless communication device by a user of said mobile wireless communication device and said wireless communication device requests services from the communication server based on the mobile wireless communication device'"'"'s physical location and based on said preferences.

22. A method of determining the location of a wireless device that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of access points included as part of a wireless network, said access points couple to a communication server, comprising:

(a) receiving an address from the access point to which the wireless device is currently communicating;

(b) using the address as an index into a look up table to find the physical location of the access point; and

(c) determining the physical location of the wireless device based on the physical location of the access point.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein (c) includes determining the physical location of the wireless device to be the physical location of the access point.

24. The method of claim 22 further including requesting services from the communication server based on the physical location of the wireless device.

25. The method of claim 22 further including requesting services from the communication server based on the physical location of the wireless device and preferences associated with the user of the wireless device.