System and Method for Terminal Location

• US 20120220313A1
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Pengfei, Su, Shuai, Zhang, Yujie
• Granted Patent: US 8,731,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A terminal positioning system and terminal positioning method are provided. The system includes: a first distance acquiring module acquiring a first distance between a first base station and a terminal located in an overlapped coverage area of the first base station and a second base station according to first time offset information of the terminal; a second distance acquiring module acquiring a second distance between the second base station and the terminal according to second time offset information; an angle acquiring module acquiring a first signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the first base station and a second signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the second base station; a first positioning module obtaining an initial location of the terminal according to the first and second signal arrival angles, and a second positioning module determining the accurate location of the terminal.

Claims

1. A terminal positioning system, comprising:

a first base station, a second base station and a terminal to be positioned which is located in an overlapped coverage area of the first base station and the second base station, and the system further comprises;

a first distance acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a first distance between the first base station and the terminal according to first time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the first time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the first base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the first base station;

a second distance acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a second distance between the second base station and the terminal according to second time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the second time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the second base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the second base station;

an angle acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a first signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the first base station and a second signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the second base station according to the first distance, the second distance and a third distance between the first base station and the second base station;

a first positioning module, which is configured to obtain an initial location of the terminal according to the first signal arrival angle and the second signal arrival angle; and

a second positioning module, which is configured to calibrate the initial location of the terminal to determine an accurate location of the terminal.

2. The terminal positioning system according to claim 1, wherein, the second positioning module comprises:

a beam directing module, which is configured to control an antenna array of the first base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the first signal arrival angle, or control an antenna array of the second base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the second signal arrival angle;

a comparing module, which is configured to compare signal quality parameters reported by the terminal before and after the directed beam is emitted, and obtain a comparison result; and

a determining module, which is configured to calibrate the initial location of the terminal according to the comparison result to determine the accurate location of the terminal.

3. The terminal positioning system according to claim 2, wherein, the directed beam is:

4. The terminal positioning system according to claim 1, wherein,

the first distance is calculated using the following formula:

D₁=[(τ

₁/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

the second distance is calculated using the following formula;

D₂=[(τ

₂/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

wherein, D₁ is the first distance, D₂ is the second distance, τ

₁ is the first time offset information, τ

₂ is the second time offset information, Bandwidth is a transmission bandwidth of the system, which is quantified to be a point number of Fast Fourier transform (FFT), and Velocity is a transmission velocity of the signal.

5. The terminal positioning system according to claim 1, wherein,

the first signal arrival angle is calculated using the following formula:

15. The terminal positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

the first signal arrival angle is calculated using the following formula:

6. A terminal positioning method applied in a terminal positioning system, and the terminal positioning system comprises:

a first base station, a second base station and a terminal to be positioned which is located in an overlapped coverage area of the first base station and the second base station;

the terminal positioning method comprises the following steps;

the terminal positioning system acquiring a first distance between the first base station and the terminal according to first time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the first time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the first base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the first base station;

the terminal positioning system acquiring a second distance between the second base station and the terminal according to second time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the second time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the second base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the second base station;

the terminal positioning system acquiring a first signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the first base station and a second signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the second base station according to the first distance, the second distance and a third distance between the first base station and the second base station;

the terminal positioning system obtaining an initial location of the terminal according to the first signal arrival angle and the second signal arrival angle; and

the terminal positioning system calibrating the initial location of the terminal to determine an accurate location of the terminal.

7. The terminal positioning method according to claim 6, wherein, the step of the terminal positioning system calibrating the initial location of the terminal to determine an accurate location of the terminal comprises:

the terminal positioning system controlling an antenna array of the first base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the first signal arrival angle, or controlling an antenna array of the second base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the second signal arrival angle;

the terminal positioning system comparing signal quality parameters reported by the terminal before and after the directed beam is emitted, and obtaining a comparison result; and

the terminal positioning system calibrating the initial location of the terminal according to the comparison result to determine the accurate location of the terminal.

8. The terminal positioning method according to claim 7, wherein, the directed beam is:

9. The terminal positioning method according to claim 6, wherein,

the first distance is calculated using the following formula:

D₁=[(τ

₁/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

the second distance is calculated using the following formula;

D₂=[(τ

₂/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

wherein, D₁ is the first distance, D₂ is the second distance, τ

₁ is the first time offset information, τ

₂ is the second time offset information, Bandwidth is a transmission bandwidth of the system, which is quantified to be a point number of Fast Fourier transform (FFT), and Velocity is a transmission velocity of the signal.

10. The terminal positioning method according to claim 6, wherein,

the first signal arrival angle is calculated using the following formula:

11. A terminal positioning apparatus, applied to position a terminal located in an overlapped coverage area of a first base station and a second base station, wherein, the terminal positioning apparatus comprises:

a first distance acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a first distance between the first base station and the terminal according to first time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the first time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the first base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the first base station;

a second distance acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a second distance between the second base station and the terminal according to second time offset information of the terminal, wherein, the second time offset information is time offset information, obtained in a process of the second base station ranging for the terminal, of the terminal relative to the second base station;

an angle acquiring module, which is configured to acquire a first signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the first base station and a second signal arrival angle of the terminal relative to the second base station according to the first distance, the second distance and a third distance between the first base station and the second base station;

a first positioning module, which is configured to obtain an initial location of the terminal according to the first signal arrival angle and the second signal arrival angle; and

a second positioning module, which is configured to calibrate the initial location of the terminal to determine an accurate location of the terminal.

12. The terminal positioning apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, the second positioning module comprises:

a beam directing module, which is configured to control an antenna array of the first base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the first signal arrival angle, or control an antenna array of the second base station to emit to the terminal a directed beam oriented to the second signal arrival angle;

a comparing module, which is configured to compare signal quality parameters reported by the terminal before and after the directed beam is emitted, and obtain a comparison result; and

a determining module, which is configured to calibrate the initial location of the terminal according to the comparison result to determine the accurate location of the terminal.

13. The terminal positioning apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, the directed beam is:

14. The terminal positioning apparatus according to claim 11, wherein,

the first distance is calculated using the following formula:

D₁=[(τ

₁/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

the second distance is calculated using the following formula;

D₂=[(τ

₂/Bandwidth)*Velocity]/2

wherein, D₁ is the first distance, D₂ is the second distance, τ

₁ is the first time offset information, τ

₂ is the second time offset information, Bandwidth is a transmission bandwidth of the system, which is quantified to be a point number of Fast Fourier transform (FFT), and Velocity is a transmission velocity of the signal.