Portable telephone, positioning selecting method therefor and program thereof

• US 20040092270A1
• Filed: 11/05/2003
• Published: 05/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Banno, Satoshi
• Application Number:
  US10/700,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20040092270A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

To provide a portable telephone capable of reducing power consumption and shortening positioning time.

A control portion stores latitude and longitude information inputted from an input portion in a storage portion, and starts positioning of a location of a portable telephone. On first positioning, the control portion performs GPS positioning, receives GPS data from a GPS antenna, and has the latitude and longitude information of the portable telephone calculated by a GPS portion so as to store it in the storage portion. A distance calculation portion calculates a distance between the location of the telephone and an objective point based on the latitude and longitude information of the objective point registered at the start and the latitude and longitude information of the telephone, and stores it in the storage portion. A positioning method determination portion selects a positioning method to be implemented on a next positioning based on the calculated distance.

Claims

1. A portable telephone capable of determining the location of the telephone with a global positioning system, wherein the telephone has calculation means for calculating a distance between an objective point and the location of the telephone, determination means for determining an existence area where the telephone is located according to the calculated distance, and selection means for selecting one positioning method from positioning methods of different positioning accuracies according to the determination results.

2. The portable telephone according to claim 1, wherein said selection means selects the positioning method for performing detailed positioning when said existence area is an area near said objective point, selects the positioning method for performing rough positioning when said existence area is an area far from said objective point, and selects one of the two positioning methods when said existence area is an intermediate area to said objective point.

3. The portable telephone according to claim 2, wherein, when said existence area is the intermediate area, said selection means selects one of the two positioning methods according to a reception level of a signal received from a base station.

4. The portable telephone according to claim 3, wherein, when selecting one of the two positioning methods according to the reception level, said selection means determines a threshold level to be compared to the reception level according to the calculated distance.

5. The portable telephone according to claim 2, wherein the positioning method for performing the detailed positioning is a positioning method using said global positioning system.

6. The portable telephone according to claim 2, wherein the positioning method for performing the rough positioning is a positioning method of determining the location of the telephone based on location information of a base station.

7. A positioning selecting method of a portable telephone capable of determining the location of the telephone with a global positioning system, wherein the method has a calculation step of calculating a distance between an objective point and the location of the telephone, a determination step of determining an existence area where the telephone is located according to the calculated distance, and a selection step of selecting one positioning method from positioning methods of different positioning accuracies according to the determination results.

8. The positioning selecting method according to claim 7, wherein said selection step selects the positioning method for performing detailed positioning when said existence area is an area near said objective point, selects the positioning method for performing rough positioning when said existence area is an area far from said objective point, and selects one of the two positioning methods when said existence area is an intermediate area to said objective point.

9. The positioning selecting method according to claim 8, wherein, when said existence area is the intermediate area, said selection step selects one of the two positioning methods according to a reception level of a signal received from a base station.

10. The positioning selecting method according to claim 9, wherein, when selecting one of the two positioning methods according to the reception level, said selection step determines a threshold level to be compared to the reception level according to the calculated distance.

11. The positioning selecting method according to claim 8, wherein the positioning method for performing the detailed positioning is a positioning method using said global positioning system.

12. The positioning selecting method according to claim 8, wherein the positioning method for performing the rough positioning is a positioning method of determining the location of the telephone based on location information of a base station.

13. A program of a positioning selecting method of a portable telephone capable of determining the location of the telephone with a global positioning system, wherein said program causes a computer to execute a process of calculating a distance between an objective point and the location of the telephone, a process of determining an area where the telephone is located according to the calculated distance, and a process of selecting one positioning method from positioning methods of different positioning accuracies according to the determination results.