OBTAINING PSEUDORANGE INFORMATION USING A CELLULAR DEVICE

• US 20140187193A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Rudow, Richard, Kasirajan, Venkateswaran, Wold, Robert, Janky, James M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,429,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/25 involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/41 Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The cellular device accesses a GPS/GNSS chipset embedded within the cellular device. The GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset. The cellular device extracts the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device, the method comprising;

accessing, performed by the cellular device, a GPS/GNSS chipset embedded within the cellular device, wherein the GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset; and

extracting, performed by the cellular device, the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset.

2. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the extracting further comprises:

extracting the pseudorange information with a improved accuracy SUPL client of the cellular device.

3. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein said extracting further comprises:

bridging the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset to a location manager portion of an operating system of the cellular device, wherein the location manager is external to the GPS/GNSS chipset.

4. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the cellular device is selected from a group consisting of a cell phone and a non-voice enabled cellular device.

5. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein an intended recipient of the pseudorange information is a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset and unintended recipient of the extracted pseudorange information is a portion of the cellular device that is outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset and wherein the method further comprises:

accessing the extracted pseudorange information at the unintended recipient.

6. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a location of the cellular device based on the pseudorange information.

7. The method as recited by claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the location of the cellular device on a display of the cellular device.

8. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

performing at a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset, GPS measurements to derive raw measurement data for a position of the cellular device.

9. The method as recited by claim 8, wherein the raw measurement data provides an instant location of the cellular device.

10. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining carrier phase and pseudorange signals from one or more satellites that are in view of a GPS/GNSS embedded receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset.

11. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining the pseudorange information from a processor of a GPS/GNSS receiver that is a part of the GPS/GNSS chipset using a command via a high precision Secure User Platform Location (SUPL).

12. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the pseudorange information;

and storing the pseudorange information continuously.

13. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange corrector that the pseudorange information is being stored.

14. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch to test to see if pseudorange corrections are in memory already.

15. The method as recited by claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the pseudorange corrections directly from a improvement source that is located outside of the cellular device.

16. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch that pseudorange corrections need to be fetched from a improvement source.

17. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information in a portion of the cellular device that is outside of a GPS/GNSS receiver that is part of the GPS/GNSS chipset to determine a position fix of the cellular device.

18. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information using one or more Application Programming Interface (API) function applications that reside in memory of the cellular device and are executed by a processor of the cellular device.

19. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the pseudorange information is observed pseudorange information and wherein method further comprises:

matching calculated pseudorange correction information from reference stations with the observed pseudorange information based on time tags.

20. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining additional information from one or more of a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and a source accessed via a WiFi or via a short range wireless communication protocol operating in the range of frequencies between 2402-2480 MHZ;

creating corrected data based on the obtained additional information; and

generating a location of the cellular device based on the corrected data.

21. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

communicating a location of the cellular device to another electronic device that is remotely located with respect to the cellular device.

22. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the pseudorange information is selected from a group consisting of uncorrected pseudorange information, differential GNSS corrections, high precision GNSS satellite orbital data, GNSS satellite broadcast ephemeris data, and ionospheric projections.

23. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the accessing, performed by the cellular device, of the GPS/GNSS chipset embedded within the cellular device further comprises:

using an operation that is a session started with a message selected from a group consisting of a improved accuracy Secure User Platform Location (SUPL) start message and a high precision SUPL INIT message.

24. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of position (QOP) metric from data obtained from a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset;

determining if the QOP position metric is less than a pre-determined QOP metric; and

in response to the QOP position metric being less than the pre-determined QOP metric, requesting pseudorange corrections from an improvement source.

25. The method as recited by claim 24, wherein the requested pseudorange corrections are selected from a group consisting of satellite orbital data, high precision ephemeris data, and DGPS/DGNSS corrections.

26. A cellular telephone comprising:

memory coupled with a bus;

a Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) embedded receiver coupled with the bus;

a communications system coupled with the bus; and

a processor coupled with the bus, wherein the processor is configured to obtain pseudoranges indirectly from a GPS/GNSS embedded receiver and to receive differential corrections via the communications system and provide a position fix of the cellular telephone based on processing of pseudoranges and the differential corrections.

27. The cellular telephone of claim 26, wherein the pseudoranges from the GPS/GNSS embedded receiver are obtained by a command from the processor to the GPS/GNSS embedded receiver via a thin Secure User Platform Location (SUPL).

28. The cellular telephone of claim 26, wherein the pseudoranges are obtained via a command emulating an initiated E-911 call, activating a E-911 transmission, in order to active and receive pseudorange delivery from a GNSS/GPS chipset that is part of the cellular telephone, and deactivating the E-911 transmission before the pseudoranges are transmitted.

29. The cellular telephone of claim 26, wherein the pseudoranges are obtained by a command supported by a Secure User Platform Location (SUPL).

30. The cellular telephone of claim 26, wherein the communications system is a cellular telephone system.

31. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed causes a processor of a cellular device, which is not a part of an embedded Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) receiver of the cellular device, to perform a method for obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device, the method comprising:

accessing, performed by the cellular device, a GPS/GNSS chipset embedded within the cellular device, wherein the GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset; and

extracting, performed by the cellular device, the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset.

32. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a location of the cellular device based on the pseudorange information.

33. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch to test to see if pseudorange corrections are in memory already.

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 33, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the pseudorange corrections directly from an improvement source that is located outside of the cellular device.

35. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 34, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information in a portion of the cellular device that is outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset to determine a position fix of the cellular device.

36. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 34, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information using one or more Application Programming Interface (API) function applications that reside in memory of the cellular device and are executed by the processor of the cellular device.

37. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining additional information from one or more of a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and a source accessed via a WiFi or via a short range wireless communication protocol operating in the range of frequencies between 2402-2480 MHZ;

creating corrected data based on the obtained additional information; and

generating a location of the cellular device based on the corrected data.

38. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 31, wherein the extracting of the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset further comprises:

extracting at least four pseudorange measurements.

39. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of position (QOP) metric from data obtained from a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset;

determining if the QOP position metric is less than a pre-determined QOP metric; and

in response to the QOP position metric being less than the pre-determined QOP metric, requesting pseudorange corrections from an improvement source.

40. A method for obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device, the method comprising:

initiating, performed by the cellular device, an operation intended for delivering the pseudorange information from a Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) embedded receiver of the cellular device to a recipient originally intended by the operation;

redirecting the pseudorange information to a different recipient that was not originally intended by the operation; and

preventing the pseudorange information from being delivered to the recipient originally intended.

41. The method as recited by claim 40, wherein:

the initiating, performed by the cellular device, of the operation intended for delivering the pseudorange information from a GPS/GNSS receiver of the cellular device to the recipient originally intended by the operation further comprises initiating, performed on the cellular device, a Secure User Platform Location (SUPL) operation intended for delivering the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS receiver of the cellular device to a recipient originally intended by the operation;

the redirecting of the pseudorange information to the different recipient that was not originally intended by the operation further comprises intercepting and redirecting the pseudorange information to the different recipient that was not originally intended by the operation, wherein the pseudorange information includes at least four pseudorange measurements; and

the preventing of the pseudorange information from being delivered to the recipient originally intended by the operation further comprises preventing the pseudorange information from being delivered to the originally intended recipient by terminating the SUPL operation before the pseudorange information is delivered to the originally intended recipient.