METHOD FOR LOCATING A MOBILE UNIT

• US 20080299991A1
• Filed: 06/04/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Yang, Hong, Newbury, Mark E.
• Application Number:
  US11/757,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20080299991A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/24 Acquisition or tracking or demodulation of signals transmitted by the system synchronisation aspects of direct sequence spread spectrum modulation H04B1/7073
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of locating a mobile unit. The method may include storing, at a location outside of a mobile unit, information indicative of a last known location of the mobile unit and the associated time stamp. The method may also include transmitting, from a mobile unit, information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit. The last known location is determined using global positioning system satellite signals.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing, at a location outside of a mobile unit, information indicative of a last known location of the mobile unit, the last known location being determined using global positioning system satellite signals.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit, said at least one location being determined by the mobile unit using global positioning system satellite signals received by the mobile unit.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises receiving the information in response to the mobile unit determining that it can no longer determine its location to within a selected accuracy using the global positioning system satellite signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises receiving the information in response to the mobile unit determining that the global positioning system satellite signals have been obscured.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises receiving the information in response to the mobile unit placing an emergency call.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises storing information indicating the time that the last known location was determined.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising providing, to a dispatcher, the stored information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit in response to a request from the dispatcher.

8. A method, comprising:

transmitting, from a mobile unit, information indicative of a last known location of the mobile unit determined using global positioning system satellite signals.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising determining, at the mobile unit, the last known location of the mobile unit based upon global positioning system satellite signals received by the mobile unit.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising determining that the mobile unit can no longer be located using global positioning system satellite signals.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the mobile unit can no longer be located using global positioning system satellite signals comprises determining that the mobile unit can no longer determine its location to within a selected accuracy using the global positioning system satellite signals.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the mobile unit can no longer determine its location to within the selected accuracy comprises determining that the global positioning system satellite signals have been obscured from the mobile unit.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises transmitting the information in response to determining that the mobile unit can no longer be located using global positioning system satellite signals.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises transmitting the information in response to the mobile unit placing an emergency call.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the information indicative of the last known location of the mobile unit comprises transmitting information indicative of a time that the last known location was determined.