Systems, devices and methods for location determination

• US 20090047979A1
• Filed: 08/16/2007
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Helio LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Helio LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyewon, Oh, Seung June, Koh, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method and system for location determination of a multi-mode device using a plurality of GPS fixation processes, each fixation process using a different mode (e.g. Cell-ID, MS-Assist, and MS-based) of the device is provided. The invention relates to methods for quickly obtaining and displaying geographic location of a mobile device on its display. These methods can be performed by applying successive fixation steps as outline herein.

Claims

1. A method of generating a plurality of location datasets for a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of

obtaining a first set of location data from a first source, the first set of location data having a first level of granularity;

obtaining a second set of location data from a second source, the second set of location data having a second level of granularity;

obtaining a third set of location data from at least one of the second source and a third source, the third set of location data having the second level of granularity; and

displaying location information to a user generated in response to at least one of the first, second and third sets of location data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level of granularity is coarser than the second level of granularity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first level of granularity is cell tower location based information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second level of granularity is global positioning satellite based information.

5. A method of determining the location of a mobile device, the mobile device adapted to communicate with a location service network using a plurality of modes for generating location data, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a plurality of requests for location data to the location service network; and

sequentially receiving a plurality of responses containing location data from the location service network, each response generated in response to each of the plurality of requests,

wherein each of the responses from the location data provider is generated using a different mode of the plurality of modes.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the location service network further comprises the Global Positioning System and a cellular network.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein one of the plurality of modes is a Cell ID mode.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein one of the plurality of modes is a MS-based mode.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein one of the plurality of modes is a MS-Assist mode.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the location data is selected from the group consisting of latitude data, longitude data and altitude data.

11. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of relaying the location data to an application on the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of displaying the location data from each of the plurality of responses sequentially in the order that the corresponding response is received.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the location data from each of the plurality of responses corresponds to a different zoom level on a map displaying the location of the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein one of the modes is adapted to provide continuous tracking of the mobile device.

15. A method of determining the location of a mobile device, the mobile device having a plurality of modes for obtaining location data, at least two of the modes having a different response time, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a ranking of the plurality of modes based on their response times; and

sequentially obtaining location data using each of the plurality of modes in the order of the ranking.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein at least one of the plurality of modes uses GPS data for obtaining location data.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein at least one of the plurality of modes uses cellular network data.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein one of the plurality of modes is selected from the group consisting of a Cell ID mode, a MS-based mode, and a MS-Assist mode.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the location data is selected from the group consisting of latitude data, longitude data and altitude data.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of generating a ranking is performed using a Java application resident on the mobile device.

21. A method of determining the location of a mobile device, the mobile device having a plurality of modes for obtaining location data, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a first set of location data using a first mode of the plurality of modes, the first set of location data representing a first estimate of the location of the mobile device; and

subsequently obtaining a second set of location data using a second mode of the plurality of modes, the second set of location data representing a second estimate of the location of the mobile device,

wherein the first estimate includes a larger geographic region relative to the second estimate,

wherein the first set of location data requires less time to obtain than the second set of location data.