Systems and Methods for Determining Location Using Cellular Transition Patterns

• US 20090005972A1
• Filed: 06/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Octaview Technologies B.V.
• Original Assignee: Octaview Technologies B.V.
• Inventors: de Koning, Wilhelmus G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,188 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Location may be determined based on a map that includes a plurality of transition patterns for a geographic feature. Each such transition pattern is different from the others.

Claims

1. A location determination system comprising:

a map comprising a plurality of transition patterns for a geographic feature, each transition pattern being different from the other transition patterns; and

a device capable of detecting radio network identification codes for generating a measured transition pattern.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for generating an approximate physical location based on the measured transition pattern and the map.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic feature comprises a road.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the map is stored on the device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a phone.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a server on which the map is stored and with which the device is capable of communicating.

7. A method for determining a location of a device, the method comprising:

providing a map comprising a plurality of transition patterns for a geographic feature, each transition pattern being different from the other transition patterns;

detecting a transition pattern for a device; and

querying the map with the detected transition pattern to determine the location of the device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising outputting the location on the device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the device comprises the map.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the map comprises providing a connection between the device and a map server comprising the map.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein querying the map comprises matching at least a portion of the detected transition pattern with at least a portion of one of the transition patterns in the map.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein querying the map determines a direction of travel of the device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending the location and the direction of travel to a server.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving travel information from the server.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving toll information from the server.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the server stores each detected location chronologically in a database.

17. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending the location of the device to a navigation system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the navigation system is a GPS-enabled system.

19. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating with a second device capable of detecting radio network identification codes to generate a transition pattern.

20. A method of forming a cellular transition map, the method comprising:

a) measuring data corresponding to a geographic feature, the data comprising a plurality of cellular transitions and geographic location information;

b) storing the data in a database; and

c) repeating steps a) and b).

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of cellular transitions and geographic location information are measured separately and cross-referenced as a function of time.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising measuring signal-strength data and storing it in the database.