Positioning system, positioning method, and positioning program

• US 20110102256A1
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), Polaris Wireless Incorporated
• Inventors: Shen, Jiyun, Oda, Yasuhiro
• Application Number:
  US12/898,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20110102256A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.31
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• 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 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view

Abstract

It is possible to obtain the highly accurate positioning result even when positioning by a GPS is unsuccessful. A positioning server 10 includes a GVM database 12 storing information indicating a relationship between a position and whether or not signal reception from a GPS satellite 40 is possible in the position for each GPS satellite 40, a GPS information acquisition component 13 for acquiring reception GPS information indicating GPS satellites 40 from which the cellular terminal 20 has received signals, a candidate estimation component 14 for estimating candidates for the position of the cellular terminal 20 from the reception GPS information on the basis of the information stored in the GVM database 12, a reception state information acquisition component 15 for acquiring reception state information indicating a reception state of a radio wave from a cellular base station 30 in the cellular terminal 20, and a base station positioning calculation component 17 for estimating the position of the cellular terminal 20 from the candidates for the position of the cellular terminal 20 estimated by the candidate estimation component 14 and the reception state information.

Claims

1. A positioning system for estimating a position of a receiver having a wireless communication function and a function of receiving signals to be used for GPS positioning, comprising:

a database storing information indicating a relationship between a position and whether or not signal reception from a GPS satellite is possible in the position for each GPS satellite;

a reception GPS information acquisition unit for acquiring reception GPS information indicating GPS satellites from which the receiver has received signals;

a candidate estimation unit for estimating candidates for the position of the receiver from the reception GPS information acquired by the reception GPS information acquisition unit on the basis of the information stored in the database;

a reception state information acquisition unit for acquiring reception state information indicating a reception state of a radio wave by the wireless communication function in the receiver; and

a position estimation unit for estimating the position of the receiver from the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation unit and the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition unit.

2. The positioning system according to claim 1,

wherein the database stores information indicating a relationship between a position and whether or not signal reception from a GPS satellite is possible in the position for each GPS satellite at each time,

wherein the reception GPS information acquisition unit acquires the reception GPS information and time information indicating a time when the signals have been received, and

wherein the candidate estimation unit estimates the candidates for the position of the receiver from the reception GPS information acquired by the reception GPS information acquisition unit on the basis of information stored in the database and corresponding to the time indicated by the time information acquired by the reception GPS information acquisition unit.

3. The positioning system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an indoor/outdoor determination unit for determining whether the receiver is located indoors or outdoors on the basis of the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition unit,

wherein the position estimation unit estimates the position of the receiver from the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation unit and the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition unit depending on the determination result by the indoor/outdoor determination unit.

4. The positioning system according to claim 1,

wherein the position estimation unit estimates the position of the receiver by the GPS positioning based on the signals received by the receiver and used for the GPS positioning, and estimates the position of the receiver from the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation unit and the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition unit when the position of the receiver has not been estimated by the GPS positioning.

5. The positioning system according to claim 1,

wherein the candidate estimation unit decides the GPS satellites related to the reception GPS information to be used for estimating the candidates for the position of the receiver on the basis of the quality of reception of the signals from the GPS satellite.

6. The positioning system according to claim 1,

wherein the reception state information acquisition unit acquires strength information indicating reception strength corresponding to a transmission source of the radio wave as the reception state information, and

wherein the position estimation unit pre-stores information indicating a relationship between the reception strength of the radio wave corresponding to the transmission source of the radio wave and the position, compares the information pre-stored to the strength information acquired by the reception state information acquisition unit, and estimates the position of the receiver from the comparison result and the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation unit.

7. The positioning system according to claim 1,

wherein the position estimation unit calculates a distance between the transmission source of the radio wave and the receiver on the basis of the reception state information, and estimates the position of the receiver from the distance and the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation unit.

8. A positioning method for use in a positioning system for estimating a position of a receiver having a wireless communication function and a function of receiving signals to be used for GPS positioning, wherein the positioning system has a database storing information indicating a relationship between a position and whether or not signal reception from a GPS satellite is possible in the position for each GPS satellite, the positioning method comprising;

a reception GPS information acquisition step of acquiring reception GPS information indicating GPS satellites from which the receiver has received signals;

a candidate estimation step of estimating candidates for the position of the receiver from the reception GPS information acquired in the reception GPS information acquisition step on the basis of the information stored in the database;

a reception state information acquisition step of acquiring reception state information indicating a reception state of a radio wave by the wireless communication function in the receiver; and

a position estimation step of estimating the position of the receiver from the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated in the candidate estimation step and the reception state information acquired in the reception state information acquisition step.

9. A positioning program for causing a computer to estimate a position of a receiver having a wireless communication function and a function of receiving signals to be used for GPS positioning, the positioning program causing the computer to execute:

a database function of storing information indicating a relationship between a position and whether or not signal reception from a GPS satellite is possible in the position for each GPS satellite;

a reception GPS information acquisition function of acquiring reception GPS information indicating GPS satellites from which the receiver has received signals;

a candidate estimation function of estimating candidates for the position of the receiver from the reception GPS information acquired by the reception GPS information acquisition function on the basis of the information stored in the database;

a reception state information acquisition function of acquiring reception state information indicating a reception state of a radio wave by the wireless communication function in the receiver; and

a position estimation function of estimating the position of the receiver from the candidates for the position of the receiver estimated by the candidate estimation function and the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition function.