Method and apparatus for improved location determination in a private radio network using a public network system

• US 20040192335A1
• Filed: 09/17/2002
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Korneluk, Jose E., Larson, Brian K., Wong, Chin Pan, Monks, Deborah, Jackson, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 6,816,734 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

Location information is acquired through a public network system (102, 106) and transferred over to a private network system (104, 108) in order to improve location accuracy and reduce search time for a two-way radio (104).

Claims

1. A location tracking communication system, including:

a public network system;

a private network system; and

wherein location assist data is generated through the public network to facilitate location tracking within the private network.

2. A location tracking communication system, comprising:

a satellite navigational system;

a two-way radio operating within a private network;

a dispatch station operating within the private network;

a wearable communication device coupled to the two-way radio, the wearable communication device operating within a public network;

a server for relaying location information between the portable two-way radio through the private network to the dispatch station; and

the constellation providing location information to the communication device operating within the public network, the communication device relaying the location information to the portable two-way radio, the portable two-way radio forwarding the information location to the server, the server forwarding the location information to the dispatch station.

3. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the wearable communication device comprises a radio frequency (RF) receiver.

4. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the wearable communication device comprises a cellular telephone having GPS capability.

5. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the location information includes GPS assist data.

6. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the wearable communication device comprises a cellular telephone having GPS capability within the public network and remote speaker microphone capability within the private network.

7. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the coupling between the cell phone and the portable two-way radio is wired.

8. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the coupling between the wearable communication device and the portable two-way radio is wireless.

9. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the wearable communication device and portable two-way radio are formed as part of a unitary device.

10. A method of tracking location information in a communication system, comprising:

acquiring location information through a public system to a communication unit; and

transferring the location information to a portable two-way radio operating within a private system; and

relaying the location information through the private system to a dispatch station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of acquiring information is facilitated by receiving GPS assist data from the public network.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the GPS assist data includes location, frequency, and time.

13. A method of location tracking in a communication system, including:

receiving a broadcast from a public network system at a public network device;

decoding location specific assist data from the broadcast;

deriving relevant information from the specific assist data;

calculating a location fix from the relevant information;

sending the calculated location fix to a private network unit;

receiving the calculated location fix at the private network unit;

sending the calculated location fix to a server via a private network system; and

sending the calculated location fix to a dispatch center.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the server comprises a Personnel Location server.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the server comprises an Automotive Vehicular Location (AVL) and Personnel Location server.