Determination of the positions of mobile communication terminals with the aid of navigation data of various origins

• US 20060276198A1
• Filed: 03/04/2004
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sound View Innovations, LLC (Sound View Innovation Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Michelon, Julien, Flament, Didier
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,381 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A telecommunications system comprises a terrestrial repeater (TR) telecommunication network, a satellite positioning network (CS) which delivers signals containing navigation data, and mobile communication terminals (UE) comprising reception and calculation means (DPS) which can determine the respective positions thereof from said signals, and the navigation data that they contain, in addition to communication means (RH) which can receive communication data frames from the telecommunication network. The communication network integrates additional navigation data in chose locations of some of the data frames in order to create increased data frames. The mobile terminals (UE) also comprises extraction means (ME) which are used to extract additional navigation data contained in the increased data frames received by the communication means (RH) and to send them to the reception and calculation means (DPS) so that they can determine the positions of the associated terminals (UE) from the navigation data and additional navigation data.

Claims

1. Mobile communication terminal (UE) for a telecommunication installation comprising at least one telecommunication network with terrestrial repeaters (RT) and at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, said mobile communication terminal (UE) comprising reception and calculation means (DPS) that determine its position from said signals and navigation data and communication means (RH) that receive communication data frames from said telecommunication network, which mobile communication terminal is characterized in that said receiving means receive from said telecommunication network frames known as augmented frames including complementary navigation data and communication data and in that it comprises extraction means (ME) that extract complementary navigation data from augmented frames received by said communication means (RH) and send them to said reception and calculation means (DPS) in order for them to determine said position from said navigation data and said complementary navigation data.

2. Terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that said extraction means (ME) extract from said received augmented frames complementary navigation data in the form of first navigation messages.

3. Terminal according to claim 2, characterized in that said first navigation messages are of the SBAS type.

4. Terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that said extraction means (ME) extract complementary navigation data in the form of second navigation messages from said received augmented frames.

5. Terminal according to claim 4, characterized in that said augmented frames including said second navigation messages come from said repeaters of said telecommunication network.

6. Terminal according to claim 2, characterized in that said extraction means (ME) extract complementary navigation data in the form of first and second navigation messages from said received augmented frames.

7. Terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) receive and process augmented frames sent in the form of signals frequency-modulated by the OFDM technique.

8. Terminal according to claim 7, characterized in that at least said second navigation messages are integrated into a cyclic frame preamble after conversion of the frequency of the communication data.

9. Terminal according to claim 1, characterized in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) receive and process augmented frames sent in the form of multiple access phase-modulated signals.

10. Terminal according to claim 9, characterized in that the multiple access phase modulation is effected by the W-CDMA technique.

11. Terminal according to claim 9, characterized in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) receive and process augmented frames sent after encoding the first and/or second navigation messages using a selected sequence of orthogonal pseudo-random codes.

12. Terminal according to claim 5, characterized in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) receive and process augmented frames including identification data for distinguishing said terrestrial repeaters (RT) from each other.

13. Terminal according to claim 11, characterized in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) receive and process augmented frames including identification data for distinguishing said terrestrial repeaters (RT) from each other, and further characterized in that said identification data consists of the pseudo-random codes used in a sequence.

14. Terminal according to claim 5, characterized in that said reception and calculation means (DPS) comprise signal reception means (CR) and calculation means (MC1) that conjointly determine pseudo-distances from said signals received and navigation data that they contain, and in that said communication means (RH) and said extraction means (ME) conjointly determine pseudo-distances from said received augmented frames and navigation data contained in said second messages that they contain, these pseudo-distances and those determined by said reception means (CR) and said calculation means (MC1) being then sent to said reception and calculation means (DPS) for them to determine said positions.

15. Terminal according to claim 2, characterized in that said reception and calculation means (DPS) comprise correction means (MC1) coupled to said extraction means (ME) that determine from received first navigation messages corrections to be applied to navigation data received from said positioning network (CS) before proceeding to determine said positions.

16. Terrestrial repeater (RT) for a telecommunication network of a telecommunication installation also comprising at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, a mobile communication terminal (UE) comprising reception and calculation means (DPS) that determine their position from said signals and navigation data and communication means (RH) that receive communication data frames from said telecommunication network, characterized in that it comprises integration means (MI) adapted to integrate complementary navigation data at selected locations in at least some of said communication data frames, to constitute augmented frames, and send/receive means (MER) adapted to transmit said augmented frames to said mobile terminals (UE).

17. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 16, characterized in that said send/receive means (MER) receive from said telecommunication network augmented frames including complementary navigation data in the form of first navigation messages and forward said received augmented frames to said communication terminals (UE).

18. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 17, characterized in that said first navigation messages are of the SBAS type.

19. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 16, characterized in that said integration means (MI) constitute augmented frames by integrating second navigation messages including complementary navigation data.

20. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 17, characterized in that said integration means (MI) constitute augmented frames by integrating second navigation messages including complementary navigation data, and further characterized in that said integration means (MI) integrate second navigation messages into augmented frames received from said telecommunication network and containing first navigation messages.

21. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 19, characterized in that said integration means (MI) constitute said augmented frames in the form of signals frequency-modulated by the OFDM technique.

22. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 21, characterized in that said integration means (MI) integrate at least said second navigation messages into a cyclic frame preamble after conversion of the frequency of the communication data to effect frequency synchronization with said extraction means (ME) of the mobile terminals (UE).

23. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 19, characterized in that said integration means (MI) send said augmented frames in the form of multiple access phase-modulated signals.

24. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 23, characterized in that the multiple access phase modulation is effected by the W-CDMA technique.

25. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 23, characterized in that said integration means (MI) effect their transmissions after encoding of the first and/or second navigation messages with the aid of a selected sequence of orthogonal pseudo-random codes.

26. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 19, characterized in that said integration means (MI) integrate identification data for distinguishing between them into said augmented frames.

27. Terrestrial repeater according to claim 25, characterized in that said integration means (MI) integrate identification data for distinguishing between them into said augmented frames, and further characterized in that said identification data consists of the pseudo-random codes used in a sequence.

28. Stream server (SF) for a telecommunication network with terrestrial repeaters (RT) of a telecommunication installation also comprising at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, a mobile communication terminal (UE) comprising communication terminals (UE) that include reception and calculation means (DPS) that determine their position from said signals and navigation data and communication means (RH) that receive communication data frames from said telecommunication network, which server is characterized in that it is supplied with communication data by a communication server (SC) and with complementary navigation data by a navigation server (SEN) and constitutes from said communication data and said complementary navigation data augmented frames to be sent at least to said terrestrial repeaters (RT) and said mobile terminals (UE).

29. Server according to claim 28, characterized in that it constitutes augmented frames including complementary navigation data in the form of first navigation messages.

30. Server according to claim 29, characterized in that said first navigation messages are of the SBAS type.

31. Server according to claim 28, characterized in that it integrates the same first navigation message into a selected number of successive augmented frames.

32. Telecommunication network of a telecommunication installation comprising at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, said mobile communication terminal (UE) comprising reception and calculation means (DPS) that determine their position from said signals and navigation data and communication means (RH) that receive communication data frames from said telecommunication network, said network, being characterized in that it comprises at least one terrestrial repeater (RT) comprising integration means (MI) adapted to integrate complementary navigation data at selected locations in at least some of said communication data frames, to constitute augmented frames, and send/receive means (MER) adapted to transmit said augmented frames to said mobile terminals (UE), said network further comprising at least one stream server (SF) according to claim 28.

33. Network according to claim 32, characterized in that it is selected from a group comprising at least radio broadcast networks, hybrid satellite broadcast networks, wide-band multimedia data broadcast networks and terrestrial mobile telephone radio networks.

34. Telecommunication installation, characterized in that it comprises at least one telecommunication network with terrestrial repeaters (RT) according to claim 32, at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, and at least one mobile communication terminal (UE) comprising reception and calculation means (DPS) that determine its position from said signals and navigation data and communication means (RH) that receive communication data frames from said telecommunication network, which mobile communication terminal is characterized in that said receiving means receive from said telecommunication network augmented frames including complementary navigation data and communication data and in that it comprises extraction means (ME) that extract complementary navigation data from augmented frames received by said communication means (RH) and send them to said reception and calculation means (DPS) in order for them to determine said position from said navigation data and said complementary navigation data.

35. Method of determining positions of mobile communication terminals (UE) within a telecommunication installation comprising at least one telecommunication network with terrestrial repeaters (RT) that sends communication data frames and at least one satellite positioning network (CS) that delivers signals containing navigation data, which method is characterized in that it consists in i) sending said mobile terminals (UE) signals containing navigation data with the aid of said positioning network (CS), ii) constituting augmented frames by integrating complementary navigation data at selected locations of communication data frames and then sending said augmented frames to said mobile terminals (UE), and iii) determining in said mobile terminals (UE) their respective positions from said navigation data received from said positioning network (CS) and said complementary navigation data contained in said augmented frames received from said telecommunication network.

36. Method according to claim 35, characterized in that some of said complementary navigation data comes from said positioning network (CS) and is integrated into said augmented frames, upstream of said terrestrial repeaters (RT), in the form of first navigation messages.

37. Method according to claim 36, characterized in that said first navigation messages are of the SBAS type.

38. Method according to claim 36, characterized in that the integration of the same first navigation message into successive augmented frames is repeated a selected number of times.

39. Method according to claim 35, characterized in that some of said complementary navigation data is integrated into said augmented frames in said terrestrial repeaters (RT) in the form of second navigation messages.

40. Method according to claim 36, characterized in that some of said complementary navigation data is integrated into said augmented frames in said terrestrial repeaters (RT) in the form of second navigation messages, and further characterized in that some of said complementary navigation data is integrated in the form of second navigation messages in said terrestrial repeaters (RT) into received augmented frames containing first navigation messages.

41. Method according to claim 39, characterized in that said augmented frames are sent by said terrestrial repeaters (RT) in the form of signals frequency-modulated by the OFDM technique.

42. Method according to claim 41, characterized in that at least said second navigation messages are integrated into a cyclic frame preamble after conversion of the frequency of the communication data to effect frequency synchronization in said mobile terminals (UE).

43. Method according to claim 39, characterized in that said augmented frames are sent by said terrestrial repeaters (RT) in the form of multiple access phase-modulated signals.

44. Method according to claim 43, characterized in that the multiple access phase modulation is effected by the W-CDMA technique.

45. Method according to claim 43, characterized in that said augmented frames are transmitted after encoding of the first and/or second navigation messages with the aid of a selected sequence of orthogonal pseudo-random codes.

46. Method according to claim 39, characterized in that identification data for distinguishing them from each other is integrated into said augmented frames in said terrestrial repeaters (RT).

47. Method according to claim 45, characterized in that identification data for distinguishing them from each other is integrated into said augmented frames in said terrestrial repeaters (RT), and further characterized in that said identification data consists of the pseudo-random codes used in a sequence.

48. Method according to claim 39, characterized in that pseudo-distances are determined in said mobile terminals (UE) firstly from said signals received and navigation data that they contain and secondly from augmented frames received and navigation data contained in said second messages that they contain, these pseudo-distances then being used to determine said positions.

49. Method according to claim 36, characterized in that corrections to be applied to the navigation data received from said positioning network (CS) are determined in said mobile terminals (UE) from the first navigation messages received, before proceeding to determine said positions.