Positioning apparatus, positioning server apparatus, and positioning system

• US 20060158373A1
• Filed: 05/18/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Kamei, Katsuyuki
• Application Number:
  US11/131,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20060158373A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.410
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/072 Ionosphere corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

A mobile station (1) is provided having a GPS positioning unit (11) that receives electric waves from GPS satellites and computes the coordinates of an approximate location of a point to be positioned, performs interferometric positioning on the point to be positioned using correction data used for making a correction to the point to be positioned, which are transmitted from a positioning server apparatus (30), so as to compute the coordinates in the world geodetic system of the point to be positioned, and a transformation unit (12) that transforms the coordinates in the world geodetic system of the point to be positioned into those in the existing geodetic system using transformation parameters transmitted from the positioning server apparatus (30) when the coordinates in the world geodetic system of the point to be positioned are located in the interior of a graphic region transmitted from the positioning server apparatus (30).

Claims

1. A positioning apparatus comprising:

a GPS positioning means for computing coordinates of an approximate location of a point to be positioned by receiving electric waves from GPS satellites, for performing interferometric positioning on said point to be positioned using received correction data used for making a correction to said point to be positioned so as to compute coordinates in a world geodetic system of said point to be positioned;

a communications means for transmitting the coordinates of the approximate location of the point to be positioned computed by said GPS positioning means, and for receiving said correction data, transformation parameters used for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into coordinates in an existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned, and a graphic region including the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned; and

a transformation means for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in said existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using the transformation parameters received from said communications means when the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned, which are computed by said GPS positioning means, are located in an interior of the graphic region received from said communications means.

2. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transformation means transforms the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using transformation parameters used for carrying out linear interpolation.

3. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transformation means transforms the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using transformation parameters used for carrying out affine transformation.

4. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transformation means transforms the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using transformation parameters which are a rotation component, a strain component, and a parallel translation component of a strain field in a vicinity of the point to be positioned.

5. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communications means receives a triangular region as the graphic region.

6. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communications means receives a circular region having a center having the coordinates of the approximate location of the point to be positioned, and having a predetermined radius, as the graphic region.

7. A positioning server apparatus comprising:

a storage means for storing information on reference points, the information including both coordinates in a world geodetic system of each of the reference points and coordinates in an existing geodetic system of each of the reference points;

a graphic region setting means for setting a graphic region including coordinates of an approximate location of a point to be positioned using the information on reference points which is stored in said storage means;

a transformation parameter setting means for setting transformation parameters used for transforming coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using the information on reference points which is stored in said storage means; and

a communications means for receiving the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned, and for transmitting the graphic region set by said graphic region setting means and the transformation parameters set by said transformation parameter setting means to said point to be positioned.

8. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said transformation parameter setting means sets transformation parameters used for carrying out linear interpolation of a difference between the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned and the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

9. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said transformation parameter setting means sets transformation parameters used for carrying out affine transformation of the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

10. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said transformation parameter setting means defines a rotation component, a strain component, and a parallel translation component of a strain field in a vicinity of said point to be positioned as transformation parameters used for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

11. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said graphic region setting means defines a triangular region whose vertices are reference points as the graphic region.

12. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said graphic region setting means defines a circular region having a center having the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned and having a predetermined radius as the graphic region.

13. The positioning server apparatus according to Claim 7, further comprising a correction data generation means for generating correction data used for performing interferometric positioning on said point to be positioned based on observation data about two or more reference points from GPS satellites so as to compute the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned, wherein said communications means receives both the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned and the observation data about said two or more reference points from the GPS satellites, and transmits the correction data set by said correction data generation means, the graphic region set by said graphic region setting means, and the transformation parameters set by said transformation parameter setting means to said point to be positioned.

14. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transformation parameter setting means sets transformation parameters used for carrying out linear interpolation of a difference between the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned and the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

15. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transformation parameter setting means sets transformation parameters used for carrying out affine transformation of the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

16. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transformation parameter setting means defines a rotation component, a strain component, and a parallel translation component of a strain field in a vicinity of said point to be positioned as transformation parameters used for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned.

17. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said graphic region setting means defines a triangular region whose vertices are reference points as the graphic region.

18. The positioning server apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said graphic region setting means defines a circular region having a center having the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned and having a predetermined radius as the graphic region.

19. A positioning system provided with a positioning apparatus that computes a location of a point to be positioned with coordinates in an existing geodetic system, and a positioning server apparatus,

said positioning apparatus comprising:

a GPS positioning means for computing coordinates of an approximate location of a point to be positioned by receiving electric waves from GPS satellites, for performing interferometric positioning on said point to be positioned using correction data transmitted from said positioning server apparatus and used for making a correction to said point to be positioned, and for computing coordinates in a world geodetic system of said point to be positioned;

a communications means for transmitting the coordinates of the approximate location of the point to be positioned computed by said GPS positioning means to said positioning server apparatus, and for receiving said correction data, transformation parameters used for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into coordinates in an existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned, and a graphic region including the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned from said positioning server apparatus; and

a transformation means for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in said existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using the transformation parameters received from said communications means when the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned, which are computed by said GPS positioning means, are located in an interior of the graphic region received from said communications means, and

said positioning server apparatus comprising;

a storage means for storing information on reference points, the information including both coordinates in a world geodetic system of each of the reference points and coordinates in an existing geodetic system of each of the reference points;

a correction data generation means for generating correction data used for performing interferometric positioning on said point to be positioned based on observation data about two or more reference points from GPS satellites so as to compute the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned;

a graphic region setting means for setting the graphic region including the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned using the information on reference points which is stored in said storage means;

a transformation parameter setting means for setting the transformation parameters used for transforming the coordinates in the world geodetic system of said point to be positioned into the coordinates in the existing geodetic system of said point to be positioned using the information on reference points which is stored in said storage means; and

a communications means for receiving both the coordinates of the approximate location of said point to be positioned and the observation data about said two or more reference points from the GPS satellites, and for transmitting the correction data set by said correction data generation means, the graphic region set by said graphic region setting means, and the transformation parameters set by said transformation parameter setting means to said positioning apparatus.