System and Method for Dual-Mode Location Determination

• US 20130021200A1
• Filed: 08/27/2012
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James B. Kilfeather, Jay Brosius, Richard Burtner
• Original Assignee: James B. Kilfeather, Jay Brosius, Richard Burtner
• Inventors: Brosius, Jay, Kilfeather, James B., Burtner, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,841,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/256 relating to timing, e.g. time of week, code phase, timing offset
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/40 Correcting position, velocity or attitude
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

A geographic tracking system with minimal power and size required at the mobile terminal collects observation data at the mobile terminal, forwards the data to a processor, which calculates the position. The mobile terminal needs only to gather a few milliseconds of observation data, and to relay this observation data to the processor. In one embodiment, the observation data is communicated to the processor using either a satellite communication network or through a mobile telephone network.

Claims

1. A method comprising taking, by a mobile terminal, a plurality of observation measurements from a plurality of GPS signals received by a mobile terminal;

and

if the mobile terminal is in view of a cellular mobile telephone network, then transmitting, by said mobile terminal, said plurality of observation measurements, along with location area information received from said cellular mobile telephone network, to a cellular tower in said cellular mobile telephone network for delivery to a service operations center for determination of a location of the mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said observation measurements include code phase measurements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said observation measurements include carrier phase measurements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said observation measurements include doppler shift measurements.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said observation measurements include bit phase measurements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said location area information is based on a location area identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said location area information is based on a base station identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said location area information identifies an area of interest in which said mobile terminal is located, said area of interest being smaller than a convergence zone, wherein a size of said convergence zone is an area around a mobile terminal location in which an initial position point must lie to guarantee that an iterative position calculation starting with said initial position point will converge to said mobile terminal position.

9. A method, comprising

taking, by a mobile terminal, a plurality of observation measurements from a respective plurality of GPS signals received by said mobile terminal;

and

transmitting said plurality of observation measurements, along with information that is indicative of a location area, to a cellular tower in said cellular mobile telephone network for delivery to a service operations center for determination of a location of the mobile terminal, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on information received from said cellular mobile telephone network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said observation measurements include code phase measurements.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said observation measurements include carrier phase measurements.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said observation measurements include doppler shift measurements.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said observation measurements include bit phase measurements.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on a location area identifier included in a broadcast control channel.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on a base station identifier.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area identifies an area of interest in which said mobile terminal is located, said area of interest being smaller than a convergence zone, wherein a size of said convergence zone is an area around a mobile terminal location in which an initial position point must lie to guarantee that an iterative position calculation starting with said initial position point will converge to said mobile terminal position.

17. A method, comprising

transmitting a plurality of observation measurements that are taken, by a mobile terminal, from a respective plurality of GPS signals received by said mobile terminal, along with information that is indicative of a location area, to a cellular tower in said cellular mobile telephone network for delivery to a service operations center for determination of a location of the mobile terminal, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on information received from said cellular mobile telephone network.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on a location area identifier included in a broadcast control channel.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area is based on a base station identifier.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said information that is indicative of a location area identifies an area of interest in which said mobile terminal is located, said area of interest being smaller than a convergence zone, wherein a size of said convergence zone is an area around a mobile terminal location in which an initial position point must lie to guarantee that an iterative position calculation starting with said initial position point will converge to said mobile terminal position.