Transponder subsystem for supporing location awareness in wireless networks

• US 20060105785A1
• Filed: 08/06/2003
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hirt, Walter, Gfeller, Fritz
• Granted Patent: US 7,289,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.500
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The present invention is related to an apparatus and method for determining the location of a communication device within a wireless network in order to provide a geolocation functionality to the communication device participating under an access protocol of a wireless local-area network (WLAN) infrastructure such as IEEE 0.802.11 or Hiperlan. The apparatus comprises at least two transponder units for communicating with the communication device when the communication device is situated in a coverage area of the wireless network and a processing unit for deriving the location of the communication device within the coverage area in dependence on information received from the transponder units.

Claims

1. An apparatus for determining the location of a communication device within a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

at least two transponder units with a reduced medium access control stack unit, for communicating with the communication device when the communication device is situated in a coverage area of the wireless network; and

a processing unit for deriving the location of the communication device within the coverage area in dependence on information received from the transponder units.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit is integral to the communication device.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication device is a tag with a reduced tag medium access control stack unit.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an access point unit coupled to the transponder units, wherein the access point unit receives information from the transponder units and forwards the information to the processing unit.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the access point unit is coupled to the transponder units via the communication device receives information from the transponder units via the communication device.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least two transponder units, the communication device, and the access point unit form a basic service set.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising three transponder units within the coverage area.

8. A network comprising an apparatus as claimed in claim 1.

9. A method for determining the location of a communication device within a wireless network, the method comprising the steps of:

arranging at least two transponder units with a reduced medium access control stack unit, for communicating with the communication device when the communication device is situated in a coverage area of the wireless network;

receiving information from the transponder units; and

deriving the location of the communication device within the coverage area in dependence on the received information.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the step of deriving the location of the communication device comprises a triangulation method or a signature method.