PROVIDING LOCATION RELATED INFORMATION TO MOBILE STATIONS

• US 20130053066A1
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Khorashadi, Behrooz, Das, Saumitra M., Aggarwal, Alok
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

Techniques are provided which may be implemented using various methods and/or apparatuses to allow for location related information for a region of space within a structure to be divided into blocks and selectively provided in an efficient manner to a mobile station and/or a proxy device associated therewith. The mobile station may, for example, use the blocks of location related information to support signal-based position estimation and/or other like location based services.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

with at least one computing device;

obtaining one or more signals representing location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with a plurality of position points;

dividing said LRI into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, wherein each of said blocks is associated with each of said plurality of position points; and

in response to a determination that a remote device lacks at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device, transmitting said at least one of said at least two blocks to said remote device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

with said at least one computing device, obtaining an LRI request from said remote device.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein said LRI request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said remote device.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

with said at least one computing device, determining that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device based, at least in part on said indication.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein said indication comprises at least a first hash value associated with a first existing block available at said remote device;

and

wherein determining that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks comprises comparing said first hash value to a second hash value associated with a corresponding first block available from said at least one computing device.

6. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

with said at least one computing device, in response to said LRI request, transmitting a response to said remote device, said response comprising an indication that at least one of said at least two blocks is available from said at least one computing device.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said indication comprises a hash value associated with a corresponding one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device.

8. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein said LRI request indicates said determination that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said plurality of position points is arranged in an identifiable pattern.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said LRI comprises metadata.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said LRI is associated with a location based service associated with said structure.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said LRI is associated with a specific radio transmitter.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said LRI is operatively associated with at least one of:

said remote device, a class of remote devices, a user account associated with said remote device, or a class of user accounts.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said expected signal data information is associated with at least one of:

a signal strength, or a signal propagation time.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said remote device comprises at least one of:

a mobile station, or a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

18. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

with said at least one computing device;

in response to a determination that said at least one region of space comprises at least one transition feature associated with said structure, selectively predetermining at least one of said at least two blocks.

19. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein transmitting said at least one of said at least two blocks to said remote device further comprises selectively transmitting a preexisting version of at least one of said at least two blocks.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining said LRI comprises selectively predetermining at least one of said at least two blocks.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface; and

one or more processing units to;

obtain location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with a plurality of position points;

divide said LRI into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, wherein each of said blocks is associated with each of said plurality of position points; and

in response to a determination that a remote device lacks at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus, initiate transmission of said at least one of said at least two blocks to said remote device via said network interface.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, said one or more processing units to further obtain an LRI request from said remote device via said network interface.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 22, wherein said LRI request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said remote device, and said one or more processing units to further determine that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus based, at least in part on said indication.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, wherein said indication comprises at least a first hash value associated with a first existing block available at said remote device, and said one or more processing units to further compare said first hash value to a second hash value associated with a corresponding first block available from said apparatus.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 23, said one or more processing units to further, in response to said LRI request, initiate transmission of a response to said remote device via said network interface, said response comprising an indication that at least one of said at least two blocks is available from said apparatus.

26. The apparatus as recited in claim 25, wherein said indication comprises a hash value associated with a corresponding one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus.

27. The apparatus as recited in claim 22, wherein said LRI request indicates said determination that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus.

28. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

29. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information.

30. The apparatus as recited in claim 21, wherein said remote device comprises at least one of:

a mobile station, or a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

31. An apparatus comprising:

means for obtaining location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with a plurality of position points;

means for dividing said LRI into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, wherein each of said blocks is associated with each of said plurality of position points; and

means for transmitting at least one of said at least two blocks to a remote device, in response to a determination that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

means for obtaining an LRI request from said remote device.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein said LRI request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said remote device, and further comprising:

means for determining that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus based, at least in part on said indication.

34. The apparatus as recited in claim 33, wherein said indication comprises at least a first hash value associated with a first existing block available at said remote device, and further comprising:

means for comparing said first hash value to a second hash value associated with a corresponding first block available from said apparatus.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

means for transmitting a response to said remote device in response to said LRI request, said response comprising an indication that at least one of said at least two blocks is available from said apparatus.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein said indication comprises a hash value associated with a corresponding one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein said LRI request indicates said determination that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said apparatus.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information.

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said remote device comprises at least one of:

a mobile station, or a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

41. An article comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein computer-implementable instructions executable by one or more processing units in at least one computing device to;

obtain location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with a plurality of position points;

divide said LRI into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, wherein each of said blocks is associated with each of said plurality of position points; and

in response to a determination that a remote device lacks at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device, initiate transmission of said at least one of said at least two blocks to said remote device.

42. The article as recited in claim 41, said computer-implementable instructions being further executable by said one or more processing units to obtain an LRI request from said remote device.

43. The article as recited in claim 42, wherein said LRI request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said remote device, and said computer-implementable instructions are further executable by said one or more processing units to determine that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device based, at least in part on said indication.

44. The article as recited in claim 43, wherein said indication comprises at least a first hash value associated with a first existing block available at said remote device, and said computer-implementable instructions are further executable by said one or more processing units to compare said first hash value to a second hash value associated with a corresponding first block available from said at least one computing device.

45. The article as recited in claim 43, said computer-implementable instructions being further executable by said one or more processing units to, in response to said LRI request, initiate transmission of a response to said remote device, said response comprising an indication that at least one of said at least two blocks is available from said at least one computing device.

46. The article as recited in claim 45, wherein said indication comprises a hash value associated with a corresponding one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device.

47. The article as recited in claim 42, wherein said LRI request indicates said determination that said remote device lacks said at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device.

48. The article as recited in claim 41, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

49. The article as recited in claim 41, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information.

50. The article as recited in claim 41, wherein said remote device comprises at least one of:

a mobile station, or a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

51. A method comprising:

with a first device;

transmitting a request for location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure to at least one computing device, wherein said LRI is divided into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, and each of said blocks is associated with each of a plurality of position points within said at least one region of space, and said request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said first device;

obtaining a response from said at least one computing device, said response comprising at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device; and

storing said received at least one of said at least two blocks in an LRI cache.

52. The method as recited in claim 51, further comprising:

with said first device;

in response to a determination that said one or more existing blocks are stored in said LRI cache, generating a hash value for at least one of said one or more existing blocks, and wherein said indication comprises at least said hash value.

53. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein storing said received at least one of said at least two blocks in said LRI cache further comprises:

performing a block update by selectively replacing a corresponding one of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

54. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein storing said received at least one of said at least two blocks in said LRI cache further comprises:

performing an eviction by selectively replacing at least one non-corresponding block of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

55. The method as recited in claim 54, wherein said at least one non-corresponding block is determined based, at least in part, on at least one of:

an age, a frequency of use, a size, an associated region of space, or a determination that said at least one non-corresponding block is not associated with said at least one region of space which comprises at least one transition feature associated with said structure.

56. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

57. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein said LRI comprises metadata, or is associated with a location based service associated with said structure.

58. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information; and

, wherein said expected signal data information is associated with at least one of;

a signal strength, or a signal propagation time.

59. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein said first device comprises a mobile station, and further comprising:

copying or transferring at least a portion of at least one block stored in said LRI cache from said mobile station to a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

60. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein said first device comprises a proxy device associated with a mobile station, and further comprising:

copying or transferring at least a portion of at least one block stored in said LRI cache from said proxy device to said mobile station.

61. An apparatus comprising:

memory;

a network interface; and

one or more processing units to;

initiate transmission of a request for location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure to at least one computing device via said network interface, wherein said LRI is divided into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, each of said blocks is associated with each of a plurality of position points within said at least one region of space, and said request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said apparatus;

obtain a response from said at least one computing device via said network interface, said response comprising at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device; and

initiate storage of said received at least one of said at least two blocks in an LRI cache in said memory.

62. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, said one or more processing units to further:

in response to a determination that said one or more existing blocks are stored in said LRI cache, generate a hash value for at least one of said one or more existing blocks, and wherein said indication comprises at least said hash value.

63. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, said one or more processing units to further:

perform a block update by selectively initiating replacement of a corresponding one of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

64. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, said one or more processing units to further:

perform an eviction by selectively initiating replacement of at least one non-corresponding block of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

65. The apparatus as recited in claim 64, wherein said at least one non-corresponding block is determined by said one or more processing units based, at least in part, on at least one of:

an age, a frequency of use, a size, an associated region of space, or a determination that said at least one non-corresponding block is not associated with said at least one region of space which comprises at least one transition feature associated with said structure.

66. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, wherein said at least one region of space is associated with at least one of:

a tiled portion of a map associated with said structure, or a location context identifier (LCI).

67. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, wherein said LRI comprises metadata, or is associated with a location based service associated with said structure.

68. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, wherein said LRI in a first block of said at least two blocks comprises one of:

expected signal data information, connectivity graph information, routing graph information, or probability map information; and

, wherein said expected signal data information is associated with at least one of;

a signal strength, or a signal propagation time.

69. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, wherein said apparatus comprises a mobile station, and said one or more processing units to further:

initiate copying or transferring, via said network interface, of at least a portion of at least one block stored in said LRI cache from said mobile station to a proxy device associated with said mobile station.

70. The apparatus as recited in claim 61, wherein said apparatus comprises a proxy device associated with a mobile station, and said one or more processing units to further:

initiate copying or transferring, via said network interface, of at least a portion of at least one block stored in said LRI cache from said proxy device to said mobile station.

71. An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting a request for location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure to at least one computing device, wherein said LRI is divided into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, each of said blocks is associated with each of a plurality of position points within said at least one region of space, and said request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said apparatus;

means for obtaining a response from said at least one computing device, said response comprising at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device; and

means for storing said received at least one of said at least two blocks in an LRI cache.

72. The apparatus as recited in claim 71, further comprising:

means for determining whether said one or more existing blocks are stored in said LRI cache; and

means for generating a hash value for at least one of said one or more existing blocks in response to a determination that said one or more existing blocks are stored in said LRI cache, and wherein said indication comprises at least said hash value.

73. The apparatus as recited in claim 71, further comprising:

means for performing a block update by selectively replacing a corresponding one of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

74. The apparatus as recited in claim 71, further comprising:

means for performing an eviction by selectively replacing at least one non-corresponding block of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

75. The apparatus as recited in claim 74, wherein said at least one non-corresponding block is determined based, at least in part, on at least one of:

an age, a frequency of use, a size, an associated region of space, or a determination that said at least one non-corresponding block is not associated with said at least one region of space which comprises at least one transition feature associated with said structure.

76. An article comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein computer-implementable instructions executable by one or more processing units in a first device to;

initiate transmission of a request for location related information (LRI) associated with at least one region of space within a structure to at least one computing device, wherein said LRI is divided into at least two blocks based, at least in part, on two or more LRI types, each of said blocks is associated with each of a plurality of position points within said at least one region of space, and said request comprises an indication of one or more existing blocks at said first device;

obtain a response from said at least one computing device, said response comprising at least one of said at least two blocks available from said at least one computing device; and

store said received at least one of said at least two blocks in an LRI cache.

77. The article as recited in claim 76, said computer-implementable instructions being further executable by said one or more processing units to:

generate a hash value for at least one of said one or more existing blocks in response to a determination that said one or more existing blocks are stored in said LRI cache, and wherein said indication comprises at least said hash value.

78. The article as recited in claim 76, said computer-implementable instructions being further executable by said one or more processing units to:

perform a block update by selectively replacing a corresponding one of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

79. The article as recited in claim 76, said computer-implementable instructions being further executable by said one or more processing units to

perform an eviction by selectively replacing at least one non-corresponding block of said one or more existing blocks stored in said LRI cache with said received at least one of said at least two blocks.

80. The article as recited in claim 79, wherein said at least one non-corresponding block is determined based, at least in part, on at least one of:

an age, a frequency of use, a size, an associated region of space, or a determination that said at least one non-corresponding block is not associated with said at least one region of space which comprises at least one transition feature associated with said structure.