Network overlay location system and method for air interface with frequency stopping
First Claim
1. A method for generating an estimate of the geo-location of a frequency hopping mobile appliance operating within a wireless communication system with a plurality of base stations and having a network overlay geo-location system with a plurality of wireless location sensors, comprising the steps of:
- monitoring at the wireless location sensors a signal on a forward channel between one of the plurality of base stations and the mobile appliance;
retrieving at said wireless location sensors synchronization information from the forward channel;
synchronizing said wireless location sensors with a reverse channel between the mobile appliance and the base station as a function of the synchronization information from the forward channel to thereby receive at said wireless location sensors a signal on the reverse channel;
measuring at said wireless location sensors an attribute of the reverse channel signal; and
, generating an estimate of the geo-location of the mobile appliance based in part upon the measured attribute.
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Abstract
Embodiments of a system and method are disclosed that enable geo-location of a mobile appliance (20) communicating over a frequency hopping air interface for a network overlay geolocation system having plural wireless location sensors (30). The wireless location sensors (30) include a radio receiver channel capable of receiving the forward channels of the air interface transmitted from the base station (10) to the mobile appliance (20). The network overlay geo-location system of the present disclosure monitors these forward channels and measures parameters that allow the geolocation system to synchronize with the hopping of the air interface on the reverse channel. The plurality of sensors measure an attribute of a signal on the reverse channel to thereby enable geo-location. Synchronization can also be reference to a stable system clock and the plurality of sensors may be tuned in reference to the system clock to enable measurement of the frequency hopping reverse channel.
98 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for generating an estimate of the geo-location of a frequency hopping mobile appliance operating within a wireless communication system with a plurality of base stations and having a network overlay geo-location system with a plurality of wireless location sensors, comprising the steps of:
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monitoring at the wireless location sensors a signal on a forward channel between one of the plurality of base stations and the mobile appliance;
retrieving at said wireless location sensors synchronization information from the forward channel;
synchronizing said wireless location sensors with a reverse channel between the mobile appliance and the base station as a function of the synchronization information from the forward channel to thereby receive at said wireless location sensors a signal on the reverse channel;
measuring at said wireless location sensors an attribute of the reverse channel signal; and
, generating an estimate of the geo-location of the mobile appliance based in part upon the measured attribute. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27)
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9. In a method for geo-locating a mobile appliance comprising the steps of retrieving channel assignment information from a geolocation control system, monitoring a reverse channel at a plurality of sensors for a signal from the mobile appliance, measuring an attribute of the reverse channel signal at the plurality of sensors, and determining the location of the wireless appliance from the measured reverse channel signal attributes, the improvement comprising the steps of:
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monitoring a signal in the forward channel to the mobile appliance;
retrieving synchronization information from the forward channel signal;
determining synchronization information for the reverse channel from the synchronization information retrieved from the forward channel;
monitoring the reverse channel as a function of the determined synchronization information; and
,measuring an attribute of a signal in the reverse channel from the mobile appliance to thereby geo-locate the mobile appliance. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for generating an estimate of the geo-location of a frequency hopping mobile appliance operating within a wireless communication system with a plurality of base stations and having a network overlay geo-location system, comprising:
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plural wireless location sensors for;
monitoring a signal on a forward channel between one of said plurality of base stations and the mobile appliance;
retrieving synchronization information from said forward channel;
synchronizing with a reverse channel between the mobile appliance and the base station as a function of the synchronization information from the forward channel to thereby receive a signal on the reverse channel; and
measuring an attribute of the reverse channel signal;
a geolocation control system operably connected to each of said plural wireless location sensors for generating an estimate of the geo-location of the mobile appliance based in part upon the measured attribute from said plural wireless location sensors. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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- 23. In a wireless communication system with plural base stations and a network overlay geo-location system with a plurality of sensors wherein at least one of the plural base stations communicates with a wireless appliance over a forward channel and the wireless appliance communicates with the one of the plural base stations over a reverse channel the reverse channel being a frequency hopping channel, and wherein the forward channel and contains information to synchronize the base station with a hopping sequence of the mobile appliance over the reverse channel, a method of geo-location of the wireless appliance comprising the steps of monitoring the forward channel for synchronization information and tuning the plurality of sensors to the reverse channel with the synchronization information.
Specification