TERMINAL POSITIONING METHOD, TERMINAL POSITIONING SYSTEM, POSITIONING SERVER, AND PROGRAM

• US 20090042585A1
• Filed: 03/16/2007
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Matsuda, Junichi
• Application Number:
  US12/293,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20090042585A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems

Abstract

[Subject] The present invention is directed to realize failure detection without directly detecting a failed positioning system.

[Solving Means] A terminal positioning system includes positioning systems 101 and 102 and a failure detector 104. When a failure occurs in one of the positioning systems 101 and 102, by monitoring a use state of the other positioning system, the failure in one of the positioning systems is detected. Priorities of positioning process on the positioning systems 101 and 102 may be determined so that the priority of positioning process on one of the positioning systems is higher than that on the other positioning system. The one of the positioning systems can perform positioning at higher precision than the other positioning system.

Claims

1. A terminal positioning method of specifying position of a terminal by using at least one of a plurality of positioning systems,

wherein a use state of one or more first positioning systems in the plurality of positioning systems is monitored by a failure detector, thereby detecting a failure of at least one second positioning system other than the one or plurality of first positioning systems.

2. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein priority of a positioning process is determined for each of the plurality of positioning systems, and the priority of the positioning process on the second positioning system is higher than that of the first positioning system.

3. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the second positioning system is a positioning system capable of performing positioning at precision higher than that of the first positioning system.

4. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the failure detection is performed by monitoring the number of positioning times in a predetermined period in a specific area, of the first positioning system and, when the number of positioning times exceeds a predetermined number of times, determining that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure in the area.

5. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the failure detection is performed by monitoring the number of positioning times in a specific area, monitoring the number of positioning times of the first positioning system in the area and, when the ratio of the number of positioning times of the first positioning system to the number of positioning times in the specific area exceeds a predetermined value, determining that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure in the area.

6. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the failure detection is performed by calculating an average value of positioning precisions in a specific area and,

in the case where the average value exceeds a predetermined value, determining that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure.

7. The terminal positioning method according to claim 4, wherein when it is determined by the failure detector that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure in the area, the failure detector specifies the area as a range in which a failure occurs.

8. The terminal positioning method according to claim 5, wherein when it is determined by the failure detector that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure in the area, the failure detector specifies the area as a range in which a failure occurs.

9. The terminal positioning method according to claim 6, wherein when it is determined by the failure detector that the second positioning system cannot be used due to a failure in the area, the failure detector specifies the area as a range in which a failure occurs.

10. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second positioning systems are positioning systems using different positioning principles to each other.

11. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the second positioning system is a positioning system for specifying position of the terminal by using a geographic position of a transmitter for transmitting unique information by infrared ray or electric wave.

12. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the first positioning system is a positioning system for specifying position of the terminal by using a geographic position of a wireless base station in a wireless network.

13. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the failure detection is executed each time the position of the terminal is detected.

14. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the failure detector has a positioning result storage unit for holding a result of specification of the position of the terminal, and

the failure detector executes detection of a failure at predetermined intervals with reference to the positioning result storage unit.

15. The terminal positioning method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second positioning systems are positioning systems using the same positioning principle.

16. A terminal positioning system including a plurality of positioning systems and specifying position of a terminal by using at least one of the plurality of positioning systems,

wherein a use state of one or a plurality of first positioning systems in the plurality of positioning systems is monitored by a failure detector, thereby detecting a failure in at least one second positioning system other than the one or plurality of first positioning systems.

17. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein priority of a positioning process is determined for each of the plurality of positioning systems, and the priority of the positioning process on the second positioning system is higher than that of the first positioning system.

18. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the second positioning system is a positioning system capable of performing positioning at precision higher than that of the first positioning system.

19. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the first and second positioning systems are positioning systems using different positioning principles to each other.

20. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the second positioning system is a positioning system for specifying position of the terminal by using a geographic position of a transmitter for transmitting unique information by infrared ray or electric wave.

21. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the first positioning system is a positioning system for specifying position of the terminal by using a geographic position of a wireless base station in a wireless network.

22. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the failure detector has a positioning result storage unit for holding a result of position specification of the terminal, and a positioning result analyzer for analyzing the result of the position specification and detecting a failure in at least one second positioning system, and

the positioning result analyzer executes detection of a failure at predetermined intervals with reference to the positioning result storage unit.

23. The terminal positioning system according to claim 16, wherein the first and second positioning systems are positioning systems using the same positioning principle.

24. A positioning server connected to, via a communication line, a base station that transmits first information for specifying position of a terminal and second information for specifying position of the terminal received from the terminal, the position server specifying the position of the terminal by using at least one of the first and second information, and comprising:

a position specifying unit for specifying position of the terminal with reference to data indicative of association between the first or second information stored in a storage unit and the position of the terminal by using the first or second information; and

a failure detector for detecting a failure in a transmitter for transmitting the second information to the terminal by monitoring the specification of the position of the terminal using the first information.

25. A program used by a computer for a positioning server connected to, via a communication line, a base station that transmits first information for specifying position of a terminal and second information for specifying position of the terminal received from the terminal, the position server specifying the position of the terminal by using at least one of the first and second information, wherein the program for making the computer execute:

a position specifying function of specifying position of the terminal with reference to data indicative of association between the first or second information stored in a storage unit and the position of the terminal by using the first or second information; and

a failure detecting function of detecting a failure in a transmitter for transmitting the second information to the terminal by monitoring the specification of the position of the terminal using the first information.