METHODS AND APPARATUS TO DETERMINE A BASE STATION LOCATION

• US 20160234646A1
• Filed: 04/18/2016
• Published: 08/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Ngai, Dominic, Sonnaila, Sreenivas
• Granted Patent: US 9,591,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to determine a base station location are disclosed herein and include aggregating retrieved base-station signal records based on signal identifiers and geographic locations, and differentiating the aggregated signal records and prevent errors caused by base-station signal reuse by assigning a first reuse identifier to a first one of the base-station signal records and a second reuse identifier to a second one of the base-station signal records when (1) the first and second ones of the base-station signal records exhibit a same signal identifier and (2) a distance between a first location associated with the first one of the base-station signal records and a second location associated with the second one of the base-station signal records satisfies a threshold.

Claims

1. A method to associate base-station signal records with base stations, the method comprising:

aggregating, by executing a first instruction with a processor, retrieved base-station signal records based on signal identifiers and geographic locations; and

differentiating, by executing a second instruction with the processor, the aggregated signal records to prevent errors caused by base-station signal reuse by assigning a first reuse identifier to a first one of the base-station signal records and a second reuse identifier to a second one of the base-station signal records when (1) the first and second ones of the base-station signal records exhibit a same signal identifier and (2) a distance between a first location associated with the first one of the base-station signal records and a second location associated with the second one of the base-station signal records satisfies a threshold.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further including updating a reuse region table with at least one of the first reuse identifier or the second reuse identifier, the reuse region table associating locations with corresponding reuse identifiers.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, further including combining the base-station signal records exhibiting the same signal identifier and a same reuse identifier.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, further including correlating the base-station signal records based on at least one of time or location.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, wherein the threshold is a first threshold and the distance is a first distance, and further including:

determining a third location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a highest relative signal quality;

determining a fourth location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a next highest relative signal quality; and

associating a base station with corresponding ones of the correlated base-station signal records when a second distance between the third location and the fourth location satisfies a second threshold.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the first distance satisfies the first threshold when the first distance is greater than the first threshold.

7. The method as defined in claim 5, wherein the second distance satisfies the second threshold when the second distance is less that the second threshold.

8. An apparatus to associate base-station signal records with base stations, the apparatus comprising:

a signal record aggregator to aggregate retrieved base-station signal records based on signal identifiers and geographic locations; and

a reuse identifier assigner to differentiate the aggregated signal records and prevent errors caused by base-station signal reuse by assigning a first reuse identifier to a first one of the base-station signal records and a second reuse identifier to a second one of the base-station signal records when (1) the first and second ones of the base-station signal records exhibit a same signal identifier and (2) a distance between a first location associated with the first one of the base-station signal records and a second location associated with the second one of the base-station signal records satisfies a threshold.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including a signal differentiator to update a reuse region table with at least one of the first reuse identifier or the second reuse identifier, the reuse region table to associate locations with corresponding reuse identifiers.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including a signal correlator to correlate the base-station signal records based on at least one of time or location.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the threshold is a first threshold and the distance is a first distance, and further including a signal analyzer to:

determine a third location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a highest relative signal quality;

determine a fourth location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a next highest relative signal quality; and

associate a base station with corresponding ones of the correlated base-station signal records when a second distance between the third location and the fourth location satisfies a second threshold.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 8, further including a signal record differentiator to combine the base-station signal records exhibiting the same signal identifier and a same reuse identifier.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the first distance satisfies the first threshold when the first distance is greater than the first threshold.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the second distance satisfies the second threshold when the second distance is less that the second threshold.

15. A tangible computer readable storage medium to associate base-station signal records with base stations comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

aggregate retrieved base-station signal records based on signal identifiers and geographic locations; and

differentiate the aggregated signal records and prevent errors caused by base-station signal reuse by assigning a first reuse identifier to a first one of the base-station signal records and a second reuse identifier to a second one of the base-station signal records when (1) the first and second ones of the base-station signal records exhibit a same signal identifier and (2) a distance between a first location associated with the first one of the base-station signal records and a second location associated with the second one of the base-station signal records satisfies a threshold.

16. The storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to update a reuse region table with at least one of the first reuse identifier or the second reuse identifier, the reuse region table associating locations with corresponding reuse identifiers.

17. The storage medium as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to correlate the base-station signal records based on at least one of time or location.

18. The storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to:

determine a third location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a highest relative signal quality;

determine a fourth location from which the correlated base-station signal records exhibit a next highest relative signal quality; and

associate a base station with corresponding ones of the correlated base-station signal records when a distance between the third location and the fourth location satisfies a second threshold distance.

19. The storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to combine the base-station signal records exhibiting the same signal identifier and a same reuse identifier.

20. The storage medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the first distance satisfies the first threshold when the first distance is greater than the first threshold, and the second distance satisfies the second threshold when the second distance is less that the second threshold.