Method and apparatus for mobile telephone locatability
First Claim
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1. A method for determining a location of a Bluetooth enabled mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:
- broadcasting, from the Bluetooth enabled mobile device, a message to a plurality of mobile devices;
determining if a predetermined minimum number of responses to the broadcasted message are received from the plurality of mobile devices, and if so, synchronizing the Bluetooth enabled mobile device with at least three mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices responding to the message; and
calculating the location of the Bluetooth enabled mobile device as a function of the respective locations of the synchronized at least three mobile devices.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the current location of a mobile device. More particularly, Bluetooth® enabled mobile devices can be located precisely in an independent fashion, i.e., independent from any communications network associated with the particular mobile device or independent from a GPS or other dedicated system used for location identification purposes.
56 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for determining a location of a Bluetooth enabled mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:
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broadcasting, from the Bluetooth enabled mobile device, a message to a plurality of mobile devices;
determining if a predetermined minimum number of responses to the broadcasted message are received from the plurality of mobile devices, and if so, synchronizing the Bluetooth enabled mobile device with at least three mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices responding to the message; and
calculating the location of the Bluetooth enabled mobile device as a function of the respective locations of the synchronized at least three mobile devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A mobile communications apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
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a Bluetooth transceiver;
a memory storing a location application, the location application having at least a plurality of program instructions; and
a processor for executing the plurality of program instructions and for controlling the operation of the mobile communications apparatus in accordance with the functions defined by the plurality of program instructions, the plurality of program instructions defining the steps of;
(i) broadcasting, through the Bluetooth transceiver, a message to a plurality of mobile communications devices;
(ii) determining if at least three responses to the broadcasted message are received, by the Bluetooth transceiver, from the plurality of mobile communications devices, and if so, synchronizing, through the Bluetooth transceiver, the mobile communications apparatus with at least three mobile communications devices of the plurality of mobile communications devices responding to the message; and
(iii) calculating the location of the mobile communications apparatus as a function of a respective location of each of the synchronized mobile communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A Bluetooth transceiver comprising:
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means for broadcasting a message to a plurality of mobile communications devices;
means for determining if at least three responses to the broadcasted message are received from the plurality of mobile communications devices, and if so, means for synchronizing a particular Bluetooth enabled mobile communications device associated with the Bluetooth transceiver with at least three mobile communications devices of the plurality of mobile communications devices responding to the message; and
means for calculating the location of the particular Bluetooth enabled mobile device as a function of the respective locations of the synchronized at least three mobile communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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Specification