SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE LOCATION OF A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20100123622A1
• Filed: 11/17/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Andrew LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dawson, Martin, Harper, Neil
• Granted Patent: US 8,125,377 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.460
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/246 involving long acquisition integration times, extended snapshots of signals or methods specifically directed towards weak signal acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/256 relating to timing, e.g. time of week, code phase, timing offset
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system and method for determining the location of a mobile device. A first set of signals from a plurality of radio frequency (“RF”) sources may be received at a mobile device and then downconverted into a second set of signals. The mobile device may then time stamp the second set of signals and transmit the time stamped signals to a location determining system. The location of the mobile device may be determined at the location determining system as a function of the time stamped signals.

Claims

1. A method for determining the location of a mobile device comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a mobile device a first set of signals from a plurality of radio frequency (“

RF”

) sources;

(b) downconverting at the mobile device the first set of signals into a second set of signals;

(c) time stamping at the mobile device the second set of signals;

(d) transmitting the time stamped signals from the mobile device to a location determining system; and

(e) determining the location of the mobile device at the location determining system as a function of the time stamped signals.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the location determining system is a mobile location center (“

MLC”

) or a location information server (“

LIS”

).

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting from the location determining system to the mobile device at least one of a location request, a predetermined frequency range, a predetermined sampling duration, a predetermined sampling rate and a predetermined sampling resolution to receive the first set of signals, a time synchronization, a sampling interval, a sampling duration, a sampling rate, a sampling resolution, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second set of signals is in an intermediate frequency range.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the location of the device is determined also as a function of information from a wide area reference network (“

WARN”

).

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the information is at least one of ephemeris information, ionosphere model information, UTC model information, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the RF source is selected from the group consisting of:

a cellular network, a Global Navigation Satellite System (“

GNSS”

), a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

), Galileo system, GLONASS system, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (“

QZSS”

), Compass system, Bediou system, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (“

SBAS”

), Wide Area Augmentation System (“

WAAS”

), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (“

EGNOS”

), digital television network, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of:

cellular device, text messaging device, computer, portable computer, vehicle locating device, vehicle security device, communication device, and wireless transceiver.

9. A method for determining the location of a mobile device comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting at least one of a location request, a first frequency range, a first sampling duration, a first sampling rate, a first sampling resolution, and a time synchronization from a location determining system to a mobile device;

(b) receiving at the mobile device a plurality of signals from a plurality of radio frequency (“

RF”

) sources;

(c) time stamping the plural signals at the mobile device;

(d) transmitting the time stamped signals from the mobile device to the location determining system; and

(e) determining the location of the mobile device at the location determining system as a function of the time stamped signals.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the location determining system is a mobile location center (“

MLC”

) or a location information server (“

LIS”

).

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of downconverting at the mobile device the received plural signals into a plurality of intermediate frequency signals.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of transmitting at least one of a second frequency range, second sampling duration, second sampling rate, and second sampling resolution from the location determining system to the mobile device if the sampling duration provided an insufficient number of plural signals or if plural signals from another RF source is required.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising iteratively repeating steps (a)-(d).

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the location of the device is determined also as a function of information from a wide area reference network (“

WARN”

).

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the information is at least one of ephemeris information, ionosphere model information, UTC model information, and combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the RF source is selected from the group consisting of:

a cellular network, a Global Navigation Satellite System (“

GNSS”

), a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

), Galileo system, GLONASS system, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (“

QZSS”

), Compass system, Bediou system, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (“

SBAS”

), Wide Area Augmentation System (“

WAAS”

), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (“

EGNOS”

), digital television network, and combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of:

cellular device, text messaging device, computer, portable computer, vehicle locating device, vehicle security device, communication device, and wireless transceiver.

18. A method for determining the location of a mobile device comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting a location request from a mobile device to a location determining system;

(b) transmitting at least one of a first frequency range, a first sampling duration, a first sampling rate, a first sampling resolution, and a time synchronization from the location determining system to the mobile device in response to the location request;

(c) receiving at a mobile device a plurality of signals from a plurality of radio frequency (“

RF”

) sources;

(d) time stamping at the mobile device the plural signals;

(e) transmitting the time stamped signals from the mobile device to the location determining system; and

(f) determining the location of the mobile device at the location determining system as a function of the time stamped signals.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of downconverting at the mobile device the received plural signals into a plurality of intermediate frequency signals.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the location determining system is a mobile location center (“

MLC”

) or a location information server (“

LIS”

).

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of transmitting at least one of a second frequency range, second sampling duration, second sampling rate, and second sampling resolution from the location determining system to the mobile device if the sampling duration provided an insufficient number of plural signals or if plural signals from another RF source is required.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the location of the device is determined also as a function of information from a wide area reference network (“

WARN”

).

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the information is at least one of ephemeris information, ionosphere model information, UTC model information, and combinations thereof.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the RF source is selected from the group consisting of:

a cellular network, a Global Navigation Satellite System (“

GNSS”

), a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

), Galileo system, GLONASS system, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (“

QZSS”

), Compass system, Bediou system, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (“

SBAS”

), Wide Area Augmentation System (“

WAAS”

), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (“

EGNOS”

), digital television network, and combinations thereof.

25. The method of claim 18 wherein the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of cellular device, text messaging device, computer, portable computer, vehicle locating device, vehicle security device, communication device, and wireless transceiver.

26. A system for determining the location of a mobile device from signals received from a plurality of radio frequency (“

RF”

) sources comprising;

(a) a mobile device having;

(i) a receiver for receiving signals from the plural RF sources,

(ii) circuitry for downconverting the received signals,

(iii) circuitry for time stamping the downconverted signals, and

(iv) a transmitter for transmitting the time stamped signals; and

(b) a location determining system having;

(i) a receiver for receiving signals transmitted from the mobile device, and

(ii) circuitry for determining the location of the mobile device as a function of the received signals from the device.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the RF source is selected from the group consisting of:

a cellular network, a Global Navigation Satellite System (“

GNSS”

), a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

), Galileo system, GLONASS system, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (“

QZSS”

), Compass system, Bediou system, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (“

SBAS”

), Wide Area Augmentation System (“

WAAS”

), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (“

EGNOS”

), digital television network, and combinations thereof.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of:

cellular device, text messaging device, computer, portable computer, vehicle locating device, vehicle security device, communication device, and wireless transceiver.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the location determining system further includes a database having information from a wide area reference network (“

WARN”

).

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the information is at least one of ephemeris information, ionosphere model information, UTC model information, and combinations thereof.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein the location determining system further includes a transmitter for transmitting to the mobile device at least one of a location request, a predetermined frequency range, a predetermined sampling period, a predetermined sampling rate, a predetermined sampling resolution to receive signals from the plural RF sources, and a time synchronization.

32. The system of claim 26 wherein the location determining system is a mobile location center (“

MLC”

) or a location information server (“

LIS”

).