Location Estimation of a Mobile Device in a UMTS Network

• US 20120052883A1
• Filed: 08/27/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Austin, Mark, Fix, Jeremy, Puthenpura, Sarat, Meredith, Sheldon, Meempat, Gopal
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,328 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0063 of measured values, i.e. measurement on base station and position calculation on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0249 Determining position using measurements made by a non-stationary device other than the device whose position is being determined
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308

Abstract

The present disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods to utilize relative timing offset information reported by one or more mobile devices. When coupled with AGPS information reported by one or more mobile devices, the offset information is be used to calibrate calculations and subsequently to locate all 3G mobiles with GPS-like accuracy, whether or not a GPS receiver is available on said mobile device being located. A determination of a propagation delay between one or more cell sites and a mobile device is reported to a network and used to calibrate unknown information such as a timing offset, to improve the accuracy of a detected location. The relative timing offset can be applied to determine a location for all other mobile devices within the area served by the known base station. The present disclosure utilizes this method in conjunction with information crowd-sourced from a plurality of mobile devices.

Claims

1. A method for determining a location of mobile devices served by a base station pair, the method comprising:

receiving a first timing difference of the base station pair from a first mobile device on the network, the first timing difference including a propagation delay determined from a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite in communication with the first mobile device;

determining a timing offset of the base station pair based in part upon the timing different, and in part upon a known location of the base station pair;

receiving a second timing difference of the base station pair from a second mobile device on the network, wherein the second mobile device is unable to communicate with a GPS satellite;

transmitting a timing offset of the base station pair to the second mobile device; and

triangulating a plurality of signals from at least the base station pair and another base station to determine a location of the second mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising triggering the first mobile device to transmit the first timing difference and the propagation delay.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station pair is operated by a network operator that serves the first and second mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station pair is operated by a third party network operator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the measured timing difference on a database on the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the received timing offset on a database on the second mobile device in conjunction with the known location of the base station pair.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the Newton-Raphson method to yield a least mean squared error estimate for a geographical locations of the cell site pair.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a plurality of timing difference reports from a plurality of mobile devices.

20. The device of claim 1, wherein the received timing offset is stored on a database on the second mobile device in conjunction with the known location of the base station pair.

9. A system for intelligent selection of a Wi-Fi access point from a mobile device, the system comprising:

a first mobile device in communication with a GPS satellite;

a second mobile device that is unable to communicate with a GPS satellite;

a pair of base stations that provide access to a mobile network for both first and second mobile devices;

a server on the mobile network, the server including logic to;

receive a first timing difference of the base station pair from the first mobile device, the first timing difference including a propagation delay determined from the GPS satellite;

determine a timing offset of the base station pair based in part upon the timing difference, and in part upon a known location of the base station pair;

receive a second timing difference of the base station pair from the second mobile device; and

transmit a timing offset of the base station pair to the second mobile device,

wherein the second mobile device uses the received timing offset and triangulates a plurality of signals from at least the base station pair and another base station to determine a location for the second mobile device

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a database on the server that includes a plurality of known locations for a plurality of base stations pairs operated by a network operator.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the server triggers the first mobile device to transmit the first timing difference and the propagation delay.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the base station pair is operated by a third party network operator.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the first mobile device stores the measured timing difference on a database on the first mobile device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the second mobile device stores the received timing offset on a database on the second mobile device in conjunction with the known location of the base station pair.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the base station pair includes any combination of a base transceiver station or a nodeB.

16. A device for assisting in determining a location of a plurality of mobile devices on a network, the device comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a network interface coupled to the processor;

a GPS transceiver coupled to the processor; and

logic on the memory to measure a first timing difference of the base station pair and a propagation delay determined from a GPS satellite, transmit the first timing difference and the propagation delay to along with a location of the device to a server on the network,

wherein the server computes a timing offset of the base station pair based in part upon the timing difference, and in part upon a known location of the base station pair, and

wherein a second mobile device receives the timing offset, and uses the timing offset with a second timing difference measured at the second mobile device to determine a location of the second mobile device.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the second mobile device uses the received timing offset and triangulates a plurality of signals from at least the base station pair and another base station to determine the location for the second mobile device.

18. The device of claim 16, further comprising a user interface enabling a user to determine a location of the mobile device, and transmit the location along with the measured timing difference and propagation delay to the server.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the measured timing difference is stored on a database on the memory.