TECHNIQUES FOR WIRELESS POSITION DETERMINATION UTILIZING A COLLABORATIVE DATABASE

• US 20160337801A1
• Filed: 07/25/2016
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyhook Holding, Inc. (Liberty Broadband Corp.)
• Original Assignee: TruePosition Incorporated
• Inventors: Houri, Cyril
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,697 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• 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 4/023 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

In one embodiment, a technique is provided for wireless position determination wherein a wireless computing device both consumes and provides geographic locations for Wi-Fi access points to a collaborative database. The wireless computing device receives signals from one or more first Wi-Fi access points. Using the collaborative database, a geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points is determined and a position of the wireless computing device is estimated. The wireless computing device may receive signals from one or more second Wi-Fi access points. A Wi-Fi access point of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points may be determined to be a new Wi-Fi access point whose geographic location is not contained in the collaborative database and the wireless computing device may update the collaborative database based, at least in part, on one or more positions of the wireless computing device.

Claims

1. A method of wireless position determination utilizing a collaborative database comprising:

receiving, by a receiver unit of a wireless computing device, signals from one or more first Wi-Fi access points in reception range of the wireless computing device and determining therefrom a unique or semi-unique identification of each first Wi-Fi access point;

determining from the collaborative database a geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points based on the unique or semi-unique identification of each first Wi-Fi access point;

estimating, by a wireless positioning system, a position of the wireless computing device based on the geographic location of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points;

receiving, by the receiver unit of the wireless computing device, signals from one or more second Wi-Fi access points in reception range of the wireless computing device, and determining therefrom a unique or semi-unique identification of each second Wi-Fi access point;

determining that a Wi-Fi access point of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points is a new Wi-Fi access point whose geographic location is not contained in the collaborative database; and

updating the collaborative database to include the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point based, at least in part, on one or more positions of the wireless computing device, such that the wireless computing device both consumes and provides geographic locations for Wi-Fi access points to the collaborative database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaborative database is maintained by a central facility and the updating comprises:

uploading the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point as part of a periodic contribution of positional information to the central facility.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the uploading occurs automatically without involvement of a user of the wireless computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining from the collaborative database the geographic location further comprises:

downloading positional information from the collaborative database to the wireless computing device; and

using the positional information to determine the geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points based on the unique or semi-unique identification of each first Wi-Fi access point.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the downloading occurs automatically without involvement of a user of the wireless computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating the collaborative database to include the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access further comprises:

determining the one or more positions of the mobile device based on global positioning system (GPS) signals received from GPS devices; and

determining the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point by applying a calculation algorithm to the one or more positions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the calculation algorithm includes a centroid calculating algorithm or a triangulation algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving signals further comprises determining a signal strength, and the estimating the position of the wireless computing device is based on the geographic location and the signal strength of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the estimating the position of the wireless computing device further comprises:

applying a calculation algorithm to the geographic location and the signal strength of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points, wherein the calculation algorithm includes a centroid calculating algorithm or a triangulation algorithm.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless computing device is a cell phone.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique or semi-unique identification is a media access control (MAC) address.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points and the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point each include a latitude value and a longitude value.

13. A wireless computing device comprising:

a receiver unit configured to receive signals from Wi-Fi access points in reception range of the wireless computing device;

a processor configured to execute software; and

software of a wireless positioning system that when executed on the processor is configured to;

determine from a collaborative database a geographic location of each of one or more first Wi-Fi access points whose signals were received,

estimate a position of the wireless computing device based on the geographic location of the one or more first Wi-Fi access point,

determine that a second Wi-Fi access point whose signals were received is a new Wi-Fi access point whose geographic location is not contained in the collaborative database, and

update the collaborative database to include the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point based, at least in part, on one or more positions of the wireless computing device, such that wireless computing device both consumes and provides geographic locations for Wi-Fi access points to the collaborative database.

14. The wireless computing device of claim 13, wherein the collaborative database is maintained by a central facility and the software configured to update is further configured to upload the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point as part of a periodic contribution of positional information to the central facility.

15. The wireless computing device of claim 13, the software configured to determine from the collaborative database the geographic location is further configured to download positional information from the collaborative database to the wireless computing device and use the positional information to determine the geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points.

16. The wireless computing device of claim 13, the software is further configure to determine the one or more positions of the mobile device based on global positioning system (GPS) signals received from GPS devices, and determine the geographic location of the new Wi-Fi access point by applying a calculation algorithm to the one or more positions.

17. A non-transitory computing device readable medium having software stored thereon, the software when executed operable to:

in response to received signals from one or more first Wi-Fi access points in reception range of a wireless computing device, determine a unique or semi-unique identification of each first Wi-Fi access point;

determine from a collaborative database a geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points based on the unique or semi-unique identification of each first Wi-Fi access point;

estimate a position of the wireless computing device based on the geographic location of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points;

in response to received signals from one or more second Wi-Fi access points in reception range of the wireless computing device, determine a unique or semi-unique identification of each second Wi-Fi access point;

determine a geographic location of a Wi-Fi access point of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points based, at least in part, on one or more positions of the wireless computing device; and

update the collaborative database to include the geographic location of the Wi-Fi access point of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points.

18. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 17, wherein the collaborative database is maintained by a central facility and the software is further operable to upload the geographic location of the Wi-Fi access point of the one or more second Wi-Fi access points as part of a periodic contribution of positional information to the central facility.

19. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 17, wherein the software is further operable to download positional information from the collaborative database to the wireless computing device and use the positional information to determine the geographic location of each of the one or more first Wi-Fi access points.

20. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 17, wherein the wireless computing device is a cell phone.