HYBRID MOBILE PHONE GEOPOSITIONING

• US 20110294515A1
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ofek, Eyal, Chen, Billy
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A hybrid positioning system for continuously and accurately determining a location of a mobile device is provided. Samples of GPS locations from a pool of mobile devices and accompanying cell tower data, WLAN data, or other comparable network signals are used to construct a dynamic map of particular regions. The dynamic map(s) may be sent to and stored on individual mobile devices such that the mobile device can compare its less accurate, but more readily available, data like cell tower signals to recorded ones and estimate its position more accurately and continuously. The position data may be sent to a server for user in location based services.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for determining accurate location of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving mobile location data associated with a plurality of mobile devices;

creating a dynamic map of mobile device locations within a cellular network region, wherein the map includes one or more distinct signal types for each location;

transmitting the map to a mobile device; and

enabling accurate estimation of the mobile device'"'"'s location by comparison of at least one of the distinct signal types to a current signal received by the mobile device at its current location employing the data in the map.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving estimated location data from the mobile device; and

providing a location based service to a user of the mobile device based on the estimated location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the dynamic map includes:

creating a database of mobile location data comparing distinct signal types for each location.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the distinct signal types include Global Positioning System (GPS) data, cell tower triangulation data, and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) location data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the plurality of mobile devices to transmit their mobile location data automatically.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

dynamically updating the map; and

transmitting dynamic updates to the mobile device such that a location of the mobile device is continuously determined.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimation of the mobile device'"'"'s location includes comparison of a cell tower signal strength received at the mobile device to a recorded cell tower signal strength and a corresponding location on the map.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the estimation of the mobile device'"'"'s location further includes comparison of a WLAN location data received at the mobile device to a recorded WLAN location data and a corresponding location on the map.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compressing the map for optimized transmission to the mobile device and optimized storage at the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning identifiers to each of the plurality of mobile devices; and

accepting mobile location data from a select group of mobile devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the select group of mobile devices includes mobile devices with a trusted history of providing reliable information.

12. A system for determining accurate location of a mobile device, the system comprising:

a first server configured to;

receive mobile location data based on Global Positioning System (GPS) and at least one of a cell tower triangulation signal and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) signal from a plurality of mobile devices;

create a dynamic database of mobile location data that includes GPS based locations and corresponding one of the cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals;

create a plurality of dynamic maps for distinct regions based on the dynamic database;

in response to receiving a GPS based location from a mobile device, transmit a map corresponding to the mobile device'"'"'s location; and

enable continuous estimation of the mobile device'"'"'s location by comparison of one of the cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals to corresponding data points on the map at the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a second server configured to;

receive the estimated location of the mobile device; and

provide a location based service based on the estimated location.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein cell tower triangulation signals are used when WLAN signals are unavailable.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the first server is further configured to:

create the map by extrapolating additional data points based on value pairs of GPS locations and one of cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals received from the plurality of mobile devices.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the additional data points are extrapolated using Radial Based Functions.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is one of:

a cellular phone, a smart phone, a handheld computer, and a vehicle mount computer.

18. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon for determining accurate location of a mobile device, the instructions comprising:

enabling a plurality of mobile devices to collect mobile location data based on Global Positioning System (GPS) and at least one of a cell tower triangulation signal and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN);

receiving the mobile location data from the plurality of mobile devices;

creating a plurality of dynamic maps of mobile location data, wherein the maps include data points of received GPS based locations and corresponding one of the cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals;

extrapolating additional data points based on value pairs of GPS locations and one of cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals received from the plurality of mobile devices;

compressing the map;

transmitting the compressed map to a mobile device; and

enabling continuous estimation of the mobile device'"'"'s location by comparison of one of the cell tower triangulation and WLAN signals to corresponding data points on the map at the mobile device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

assigning an identifier to each of the plurality of mobile devices for tracking an origination of sample points of mobile location data.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the identifiers are assigned in an anonymous manner such that a privacy of mobile device users is protected.