Sensing RF environment to determine geographic location of cellular base station

• US 20080085699A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: RadioFrame Networks, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tariq, Ahmed, Hirano, Mike, McMeekin, M. Sue
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Determining a geographic location of a cellular base station is disclosed. In some embodiments, a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of signals received at the base station a corresponding measurement data is determined. The set of measurement data is used to determine the geographic location of the base station. In some embodiments, a set of measurement data is received. The received measurement data includes for each of a plurality of location measurement units at which a signal transmitted by the base station is received a corresponding measurement data associated with the signal. The set of measurement data is used to determine the geographic location of the base station.

Claims

1. A method of determining a geographic location of a base station, comprising:

determining a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of signals received at the base station a corresponding measurement data; and

using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of measurement data comprises for each received signal a time of arrival.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of signals includes for each of a plurality of macrocellular base stations a corresponding signal burst.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station comprises performing E-OTD computations.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station comprises reporting the set of measurement data to a mobile network element.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the mobile network element comprises a serving mobile location center (SMLC).

7. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the mobile network element comprises a serving mobile location center (SMLC) configured to provide location services for one or more small scale base stations.

8. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the SMLC uses the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the base station uses the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the base station obtains from a serving mobile location center (SMLC) additional data that is used, along with the set of measurement data, to determine the geographic location of the base station.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining a set of measurement data comprises querying a serving mobile location center (SMLC) to determine a reference macro-BTS and a neighbor macro-BTS of the reference macro-BTS and wherein the plurality of signals comprises a first signal transmitted by the reference macro-BTS and a second signal transmitted by the neighbor macro-BTS.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of measurement data includes for each of a plurality of pairs of transmitting stations a difference between a first time of arrival of a first signal transmitted by a first transmitting station comprising the pair and a second time of arrival of a second signal transmitted by a second transmitting station comprising the pair.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the set of measurement data comprises noting a respective time of arrival of each of the plurality of signals received at the base station.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising comparing the determined geographic location to an authorized geographic location.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising taking responsive action if it is determined that the determined geographic location is different than the authorized geographic location.

16. A system for determining a geographic location of a base station, comprising:

a radio frequency receiver; and

a processor configured to;

determine a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of signals received at the radio frequency receiver a corresponding measurement data; and

use the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

17. A system as recited in claim 16, further comprising a communication interface coupled to the processor and wherein the processor is further configured to report to a core mobile network element via the communication interface the set of measurement data.

18. A system as recited in claim 17, wherein said communication interface comprises an IP network interface.

19. A system as recited in claim 16, wherein said radio frequency receiver and said processor are included in said base station.

20. A system for determining a geographic location of a base station, comprising:

a communication interface; and

a processor configured to;

receive via the communication interface a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of signals received at the base station a corresponding measurement data; and

use the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

21. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the communication interface and the processor comprise one or more of the following:

a base station controller, a mobile switching center, an SMLC, and an aggregating gateway.

22. A computer program product for determining a geographic location of a base station, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of signals received at the base station a corresponding measurement data; and

using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

23. A method of determining a geographic location of a base station, comprising:

receiving a set of measurement data that includes for each of a plurality of location measurement units at which a signal transmitted by the base station is received a corresponding measurement data associated with the signal; and

using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising prompting the base station to transmit the signal.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein using the set of measurement data to determine the geographic location of the base station comprises performing U-TDOA computations based on the set of measurement data.

26. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the U-TDOA computations are performed at a serving mobile location center (SMLC) configured to provide location services for one or more small scale base stations.

27. A method as recited in claim 23, wherein the base station comprises a mobile station functionality provided to enable location based services to be provided with respect to the mobile station.