DETERMINING LOCATION OF MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20140329539A1
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atreus Labs LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Li, Tian, Rui Xiong, Xue, Wei, Zhao, Yi Xin
• Granted Patent: US 9,265,024 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for determining the location of a mobile device. Specifically, the method comprises: receiving the location message from a neighboring mobile device, the location message comprising the location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time which is obtained by the neighboring mobile device through calculation utilizing signals received from satellites; and estimating the location of the mobile device at the current time based on stored locations of the mobile device at historical time, stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at the historical time, and the received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time.

Claims

1. A method for determining a location of a mobile device, comprising:

calculating a location of a neighboring mobile device at a current time by utilizing a signal received from a satellite;

receiving a location message from the neighboring mobile device, wherein the location message comprises the location of the neighboring mobile device; and

estimating a location of the mobile device at a current time based on the following;

(i) stored locations of the mobile device at a historical time, (ii) stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at a historical time, and (iii) the received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating the location of the mobile device at the current time comprises:

obtaining a relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at the current time; and

calculating the location of the mobile device at the current time as a sum of the received location message of the neighboring mobile device at the current time and the relative displacement at the current time.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein obtaining the location of the mobile device at the current time comprises:

calculating the relative displacement at the current time as a relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at a same historical time based on the stored locations of the mobile device at the historical time and the stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at the historical time.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein obtaining the location of the mobile device at the current time comprises:

calculating a plurality of relative displacements between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at a plurality of same historical times based on a plurality of stored locations of the mobile device at the plurality of same historical times and a plurality of the stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at the plurality of historical times; and

calculating the relative displacement at the current time as an average value of the plurality of relative displacements at the plurality of same historical times.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein obtaining the location of the mobile device at the current time comprises:

calculating the relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at a same historical time based on a plurality of stored locations of the mobile device at the historical time and based on a plurality of stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at the same historical time;

calculating a product of a relative velocity between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device and a difference between the current time and the same historical time; and

calculating the relative displacement at the current time as the sum of the relative displacement at the same historical time and the product.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the same historical time is a latest time when the neighboring mobile device obtained the location from calculating the location of a neighboring mobile device at the current time by utilizing the signal received from the satellite.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the relative velocity is calculated based on the following:

calculating a plurality of velocities of the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device based on a displacement of the mobile device between a plurality of locations of the mobile device at a plurality of historical times and based on a displacement of the neighboring mobile device between the locations of the neighboring mobile device at the plurality of historical times and a plurality of time differences between the historical times of the neighboring mobile device; and

calculating the relative velocity as a difference between a velocity of the mobile device and a velocity of the neighboring mobile device.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

calculating the location of the mobile device at the current time, wherein the location of the mobile device at the current time comprises a weighted sum of the following;

a location of the mobile device at the current time;

a location obtained by the mobile device at a latest time which is, calculated utilizing the signals received from the satellite; and

a product of a velocity of the mobile device; and

a difference between the location of the mobile device at the current time and the location of the mobile device at the latest time which is calculated utilizing the signal received from the satellite.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining an actual location calculation interval based on the following;

(i) a shortest location calculation interval, (ii) a total number of neighboring mobile devices, and (iii) an adjusting factor, wherein the location calculation interval indicates an interval between times which are calculated utilizing signals received from the satellite.

10. The method according to claim 9,

wherein the location message further comprises a unique identification of the neighboring mobile device;

and

wherein determining total number of the neighboring mobile devices is comprises;

sending a plurality of finding messages to the neighboring mobile devices; and

counting from the neighboring mobile devices in response to the plurality of finding messages, wherein the plurality of replies is counted as the total number of the neighboring mobile devices.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

storing in an association comprising the received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time, (ii) the current time, (iii) and the unique identification of the neighboring mobile device.

12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of signals from the satellite;

calculating the location of the mobile device at the current time, in response to a change of the total number of the neighboring mobile devices; and

sending the location of the mobile device at the current time to the neighboring mobile devices.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving the signal from the satellite and calculating the location at a random time between time 0 and the actual location calculation interval; and

sending the location to the plurality of neighboring mobile devices.

14. An apparatus for determining a location of a mobile device, comprising:

calculating means configured to calculate a location of a neighboring mobile device at a current time by utilizing a signal received from a satellite;

location message receiving means configured to receive the location message from the neighboring mobile device, wherein the location message comprises the location of the neighboring mobile device at a current time; and

location estimating means configured to estimate a location of the mobile device at the current time based on the following;

(i) stored location of the mobile device at a historical time, (ii) a stored location of the neighboring mobile device at the historical time, and (iii) the received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the location estimating means comprises:

relative displacement obtaining means configured to obtain a relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at the current time; and

location calculating means configured to calculate the location of the mobile device at the current time as a sum, wherein the sum comprises the received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time and the relative displacement at the current time.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the relative displacement obtaining means comprises:

means for calculating the relative displacement at the current time as a relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at a same historical time, wherein the relative displacement comprises the stored location of the mobile device at the historical time and the stored location of the neighboring mobile device at the historical time.

17. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the relative displacement obtaining means comprises:

means for calculating a plurality of relative displacements between the mobile device and a plurality of neighboring mobile devices at a plurality of same historical times based on a plurality of stored locations of the mobile device at a plurality of historical times and the plurality of stored locations of the neighboring mobile device at the plurality of same historical times; and

means for calculating the relative displacement at the current time as an average value of the plurality of relative displacements at the plurality of same historical times.

18. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the relative displacement obtaining means comprises:

means for calculating a relative displacement between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device at a same historical time based on the stored location of the mobile device at a plurality of historical times and based on the stored location of the neighboring mobile device at the same historical time;

means for calculating a product of a relative velocity between the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device;

means for calculating a difference between the current time and the same historical time; and

means for calculating the relative displacement at the current time as a sum of the relative displacement at the same historical time and the product.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the same historical time is the latest time when the neighboring mobile device obtained a location which is calculated utilizing the signal received from the satellite.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising means for determining the relative velocity based on the following:

calculating a plurality of respective velocities of the mobile device and the neighboring mobile device which is based on the displacement of the mobile device between a plurality of locations of the mobile device at a plurality of historical times and the displacement of the neighboring mobile device between the plurality of locations of the neighboring mobile devices at the plurality of historical times and a plurality of time differences between the historical times; and

calculating a plurality of relative velocities as a difference between the velocity of the mobile device and the velocity of the neighboring mobile device.

21. The apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

means for calculating the location of the mobile device at the current time as the following;

a weighted sum of the location of the mobile device at the current time and the following two;

a location obtained by the mobile device at the latest time which is calculated utilizing the signal received from the satellite;

a product of the velocity of the mobile device; and

a difference between the current time and the latest time when the mobile device obtained the location which is calculated utilizing the signal received from the satellite.

22. The apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

means for determining an actual location calculation interval based the following (i) a shortest location calculation interval, (ii) a total number of a plurality of neighboring mobile devices, (iii) and an adjusting factor, wherein the location calculation interval indicates an interval between a plurality of times which are calculated utilizing signals received from the satellite.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the location message further comprises unique identification of the neighboring mobile device;

and

wherein determining the total number of the plurality of neighboring mobile devices comprises;

sending a plurality of finding messages to the plurality of neighboring mobile devices; and

counting replies from the plurality of neighboring mobile devices in response to the finding messages as the total number of the neighboring mobile devices.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising:

storing means configured to store in an association the following;

(i) a received location of the neighboring mobile device at the current time, (ii) the current time, (iii) the unique identification of the neighboring mobile device.

25. The apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising

means for receiving a signal from the satellite;

and

means for calculating the location of the mobile device at the current time, in response to a change of the total number of the neighboring mobile devices; and

means for sending the location of the mobile device at the current time to the of neighboring mobile devices.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising:

means for receiving the signal from the satellite;

means for calculating the location at a random time between time 0 and the actual location calculation interval; and

means for sending the location to the plurality of neighboring mobile devices.