WIRELESS CLIENT POSITION ESTIMATING SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A method for determining an estimated position of mobile wireless client device in a communications environment served by a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
- identifying a plurality of locations in the communications environment;
employing one or more access points to serve the communications environment, wherein each access point is positioned at a location in the plurality of locations;
building a model of the communications environment comprising attenuation factors that approximate an attenuation effect on propagation of communications signals in the communications environment between the location of the one or more access points and a second location in the plurality of locations;
measuring a received signal strength at the one or more access points of a signal transmitted from a first mobile wireless client device; and
determining the estimated position of the first mobile wireless client device based on the received signal strength, an identification of transmitted signal strength and the model.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention comprises a system and method for determining an estimated position of a wireless mobile client device operating in a communications environment covered by a wireless local area network. The received signal strength of the wireless mobile client device is measured by one or more access points serving devices in the communications environment. In a preferred embodiment, the error between the received signal strength measured by the access points and the expected received signal strength at a plurality of locations in the communications environment is calculated. The location of the device is determined from the error.
37 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for determining an estimated position of mobile wireless client device in a communications environment served by a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of locations in the communications environment; employing one or more access points to serve the communications environment, wherein each access point is positioned at a location in the plurality of locations; building a model of the communications environment comprising attenuation factors that approximate an attenuation effect on propagation of communications signals in the communications environment between the location of the one or more access points and a second location in the plurality of locations; measuring a received signal strength at the one or more access points of a signal transmitted from a first mobile wireless client device; and determining the estimated position of the first mobile wireless client device based on the received signal strength, an identification of transmitted signal strength and the model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for determining an estimated position of a wireless client device, comprising:
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a processor coupled to a memory; and program code stored on a media, that, when executed by the processor, generates an executable program in the memory that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising; identifying a plurality of locations in a communications environment; designating a location in the plurality of locations for an access point serving the communications environment; building a model of the communications environment comprising attenuation factors that approximate an attenuation effect on propagation of communications signals in the communications environment between a first location of the access point and a second location in the plurality of locations; measuring received signal strength at the access point of a signal transmitted from a first mobile wireless client device; and determining the estimated position of the first mobile wireless client device based on a received signal strength, an identification of transmitted signal strength and the model. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A method for determining an estimated position of mobile wireless client device in a communications environment served by a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of locations in the communications environment; employing one or more access points to serve the communications environment, wherein each access point is positioned at a location in the plurality of locations; building a model of the communications environment comprising attenuation factors that approximate an attenuation effect on propagation of communications signals in the communications environment between the location of the one or more access points and a second location in the plurality of locations; measuring a received signal strength at the one or more access points of a signal transmitted from a first mobile wireless client device; calculating an error between an expected received signal strength and the received signal strength at each location; and selecting a predicted location representing the estimated position of the first mobile wireless client device based on statistical differences in the error.
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Specification