METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CORRECTING LOCATION INFORMATION OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION TERMINAL

• US 20090184867A1
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Published: 07/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University-Industry Cooperation Foundation of Korea Aerospace University
• Original Assignee: University-Industry Cooperation Foundation of Korea Aerospace University
• Inventors: Lee, Hyung Keun
• Granted Patent: US 9,414,352 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.660
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A method and apparatus for correcting location information of mobile communication terminals is disclosed. The apparatus for correcting location information of mobile communication terminals, includes: a handler to collect location measurement information of the mobile communication terminals, and environment information containing locations of base stations and arrangements of roads or buildings from a network; a database to store the location measurement information and the environment information; an analysis unit to analyze the location measurement information and the environment information to generate correction maps; a correction map database to store the correction maps; and a service unit to refer to the correction maps and to provide a corrected location estimate service, a corrected location measurement service, or a correction-value broadcast service to mobile communication terminals which request location services.

Claims

1. An apparatus for correcting location information of mobile communication terminals, comprising:

a handler to automatically collect location measurement information of the mobile communication terminals, and environment information containing locations of base stations and arrangements of roads or buildings from a network;

a database to store the location measurement information and the environment information;

an analysis unit to analyze the location measurement information and the environment information to generate correction maps;

a correction map database to store the correction maps; and

a service unit to refer to the correction maps and to provide a corrected location estimate service, a corrected location measurement service, or a correction-value broadcast service to mobile communication terminals which request location services.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network is wired Internet, wireless Internet, broadcast network with fixed frequency, satellite or terrestrial DMB network, or any other wired or wireless network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is installed outside the network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the handler uses a temporary identifier to search the location information of the mobile communication terminal.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the temporary identifier is a temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) which is used in a mobile communication network.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analysis unit extracts location measurement information satisfying a predetermined condition from the measurement information database, sets the extracted location measurement information as feature measurements, and uses the feature measurements to generate a correction map.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analysis unit generates a feature map, such as a distorted distribution of mobile communication terminals, based on the measurement information stored in the measurement information database, compares the distorted distribution of mobile communication terminals and road and topography information stored in the environment information database to extract feature measurement information, and uses the feature measurement information to generate a correction map.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the service unit receives location measurement information (LM) of the mobile communication terminal and location request (LR) from the mobile communication terminal, calculates a distorted location estimate f(LM) from the location measurement information, transmits the location estimate f(LM) and the kind of a measurement to the correction map storage unit to request a correction value to the location measurement information, receives the correction value from the correction map storage unit, adds the correction value to the location measurement information to calculate a corrected location measurement information (CLM), and sends the corrected location measurement information to the mobile communication terminal.

9. A method for correcting location information of mobile communication terminals, comprising:

collecting location measurement information of the mobile communication terminals, and environment information containing locations of base stations and arrangements of roads or buildings from a network;

generating a correction map by analyzing the location measurement information and the environment information; and

providing a corrected location estimate service, a corrected location measurement service, or a correction-value broadcast service to mobile communication terminals by using the correction map.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network is wired Internet, wireless Internet, broadcast network with fixed frequency, satellite or terrestrial DMB network, or any other wired or wireless network.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving location measurement information of the mobile communication terminals and environment information comprises using a temporary identifier to search the location information of the mobile communication terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the temporary identifier is temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) which is used in a mobile communication network.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a correction map comprises extracting location measurement information satisfying a predetermined condition among the location measurement information, setting the extracted location measurement information as feature measurements, and using the feature measurements to generate a correction map.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a correction map comprises generating a feature map, such as a distorted distribution of mobile communication terminals, based on the measurement information, comparing the distorted distribution of mobile communication terminals and the environment information containing road and topography data to extract feature measurement information, and using the feature measurement information to generate a correction map.