Methods and Apparatuses for Beacon Assisted Position Determination Systems
First Claim
1. A mobile station in a position determination system, the mobile station comprising:
- a control circuit;
an SPS (Satellite Positioning System) signal receiver coupled to the control circuit to generate SPS positioning information from SPS signals received at the mobile station;
a local area communication signal receiver coupled to the control circuit to extract identification data from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter which is in close proximity to the mobile station, the local area communication signals being in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; and
a cellular communication signal transceiver coupled to the control circuit to communicate with a remote server;
wherein the mobile station has no capability of transmitting local area communication signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for microcell beacon assisted position determination. In one embodiment, microcell beacons that are based on low cost, mass market electronics for wireless local area data communication (e.g., Bluetooth or WiFi) are used to broadcast to mobile stations location information and/or identification information, which can be used to look up for the location information, to improve the precision of position solutions in a wide area position determination system (e.g., a GPS system, an AFLT system, or a hybrid system). In one embodiment, the location information and/or the identification information are site specific; and, the distribution and the transmission strength of the microcell beacons are adjusted to prevent misidentification. In one embodiment, the microcell beacons have the transmission capability but not the receiving capability for wireless local area data communication; and, the mobile station has the receiving capability but not the transmission capability for wireless local area data communication.
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Citations
67 Claims
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1. A mobile station in a position determination system, the mobile station comprising:
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a control circuit; an SPS (Satellite Positioning System) signal receiver coupled to the control circuit to generate SPS positioning information from SPS signals received at the mobile station; a local area communication signal receiver coupled to the control circuit to extract identification data from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter which is in close proximity to the mobile station, the local area communication signals being in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; and a cellular communication signal transceiver coupled to the control circuit to communicate with a remote server; wherein the mobile station has no capability of transmitting local area communication signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A beacon station in a position determination system, the beacon station comprising:
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memory to store identification data; and a local area communication signal transmitter coupled with the memory to transmit local area communication signals modulated with the identification data in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; wherein the beacon station has no capability to receive local area communication signals. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method to operate a position determination system, the method comprising:
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placing one or more beacon stations within a site, the one or more beacon stations being configured to broadcast radio signals containing data identifying the site which has a known location; and adjusting transmission strength of the one or more beacon stations to adjust a coverage area of the radio signals transmitted from the one or more beacon stations. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method implemented on a mobile station to determine a position of the mobile station, the method comprising:
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determining SPS (Satellite Positioning System) positioning information from SPS signals received at the mobile station; and determining identification data from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter, the local area communication signals being in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; wherein both the SPS positioning information and the identification data are used to determine the position of the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method implemented on a server to serve a remote mobile station in a position determination system, the method comprising:
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receiving identification data from the remote mobile station through a cellular communication link, the identification data being extracted at the remote mobile station from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; and determining a position of the remote mobile station using the identification data. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to determine a position of a mobile station, the method comprising:
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determining SPS (Satellite Positioning System) positioning information from SPS signals received at the mobile station; and determining identification data from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter, the local area communication signals being in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; wherein both the SPS positioning information and the identification data are used to determine the position of the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to serve a remote mobile station in apposition determination system, the method comprising:
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receiving identification data from the remote mobile station through a cellular communication link, the identification data being extracted at the remote mobile station from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; and determining a position of the remote mobile station using the identification data. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A mobile station in a position determination system, the mobile station comprising:
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means for determining SPS (Satellite Positioning System) positioning information from SPS signals received at the mobile station; and means for determining identification data from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter, the local area communication signals being in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; wherein both the SPS positioning information and the identification data are used to determine a position of the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A server to serve a remote mobile station in a position determination system, the server comprising:
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means for receiving identification data from the remote mobile station through a cellular communication link, the identification data being extracted at the remote mobile station from local area communication signals transmitted from a local area communication signal transmitter in accordance with a standard for wireless local area data communication; and means for determining a position of the remote mobile station using the identification data. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification