NETWORK ASSISTED POSITIONING

• US 20100060514A1
• Filed: 09/04/2009
• Published: 03/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Sang G., YI, Byung K., MIN, Jungwon, Wang, Shu, SUN, Li-Hsiang
• Granted Patent: US 8,223,069 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.430
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for acquiring positioning information includes receiving downlink data in a plurality of downlink slot frames, and receiving at a mobile terminal within one of the downlink slot frames, broadcasted global positioning system (GPS) orbital description data. The GPS orbital description data information relates to a first group of orbiting satellites within operable range of the base station (BS) providing the broadcasting of the GPS orbital description data. The method further includes performing GPS-based positioning for the mobile terminal based upon signaling received from a second group of a plurality of orbiting satellites in conjunction with the GPS orbital description data, such that at least one of the second group of the plurality of orbiting satellites is the same as some or all of the orbiting satellites of the first group.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring positioning information, the method comprising:

receiving downlink data in a plurality of downlink slot frames;

receiving at a mobile terminal within one of the downlink slot frames, broadcasted global positioning system (GPS) orbital description data, wherein the GPS orbital description data information relates to a first group of orbiting satellites within operable range of the base station (BS) providing the broadcasting of the GPS orbital description data; and

performing GPS-based positioning for the mobile terminal based upon signaling received from a second group of a plurality of orbiting satellites in conjunction with the GPS orbital description data, wherein at least one of the second group of the plurality of orbiting satellites is the same as some or all of the orbiting satellites of the first group.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the GPS orbital description data comprises almanac and ephemeris data relating to each of the first group of orbiting satellites.

3. A method for according to claim 1, wherein the broadcasted global positioning system (GPS) orbital description data is broadcasted without a request by the mobile terminal.

4. A method for acquiring data to facilitate positioning, the method comprising:

receiving downlink data in a plurality of downlink slot frames;

receiving at a mobile terminal within a portion of at least one slot frame of the downlink slot frames, a pilot signal broadcast from each of a plurality of base stations, wherein each of the pilot signals is received at a particular frequency and time within the portion of the at least one slot frame; and

performing positioning for the mobile terminal based on the received pilot signals.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the pilot signals as frequency division multiplexed pilot signals over substantially different frequencies and during a substantially same time period.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the pilot signals as time division multiplexed pilot signals over a substantially same frequency and during substantially different time periods.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the pilot signals as both frequency division multiplexed pilot signals and time division multiplexed pilot signals, wherein a first plurality of the pilot signals are received during a first substantially same time period and over a first substantially different frequency relative to one another, and a second plurality of the pilot signals are received during a second substantially same time period over a second substantially different frequency relative to one another, wherein the first time period and the second time period are substantially different time periods occurring during a portion of at least one slot frame, and the first frequency is different than the second frequency.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of downlink slot frame are consecutive slot frames occurring over a contiguous time period, and wherein the pilot signal broadcast from each of the plurality of base stations is received within only one slot frame of the plurality of downlink slot frames.