HYBRID POSITIONING TECHNIQUES BASED ON RTT AND TOA/TDOA

• US 20160360362A1
• Filed: 06/05/2015
• Published: 12/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Do, Ju-Yong, Werner, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 9,578,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0257 Hybrid positioning by coordinating position lines of different shape G01S5/12
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/12 by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial
• 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 56/0045 compensating for timing error by altering transmission time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0065 using measurement of signal travel time

Abstract

Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support one or more operations or techniques for hybrid RTT and TOA positioning, such as for use in or with a mobile communication device, for example.

Claims

1. A method for location determination at a mobile device comprising:

determining a location of said mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a round-trip time (RTT) of a message exchange with one or more stationary transponder devices;

estimating a bias between a first clock maintained at said mobile device and a second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a difference between said determined location and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more first signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

computing a range to said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more first signals and on said estimated bias.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said time of flight-related measurement comprises at least one of the following:

a time of arrival (TOA) measurement;

a time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement;

or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

estimating an uncertainty in said estimated bias based, at least in part, on a time since a most recent estimate of said bias; and

in response to said estimated uncertainty exceeding a threshold;

estimating said location of said mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a subsequent RTT of a subsequent message exchange with said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

estimating said bias between said first clock and said second clock based, at least in part, on a difference between said estimated location and said locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more third signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices.

4. The method of claim 3, and further comprising updating said range to said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more third signals and said estimated bias.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said message exchange comprises a request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTSI) message exchange.

6. The method of claim 1, and further comprising performing a resource negotiation between said mobile device and said one or more stationary transponder devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said performing resource negotiation further comprises:

declaring one or more of a desired power budget and positioning accuracy for said mobile device; and

scheduling said measurement of said RTT and said time of flight-related measurement based, at least in part, on said one or more of said power budget and said positioning accuracy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said scheduling is further based, at least in part, on at least one of the following for said one or more stationary transponder devices:

availability;

operational capacity;

location;

or any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said scheduling comprises scheduling a time interval between at least one of the following:

two or more measurements of said RTT;

two or more time of flight-related measurements;

or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 6, and further comprising performing a resource re-negotiation between said mobile device and said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on an estimated level of position uncertainty of said mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

crowdsourcing time of flight-related measurements; and

making available said crowd sourced measurements as part of positioning assistance data.

12. The method of claim 11, and further comprising:

obtaining one or more additional estimates of a clock bias collected for synchronizing one or more of said one or more stationary transponder devices and said mobile device based, at least in part, on said crowd sourced time of flight-related measurements.

13. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

collecting estimates of said bias between said first clock maintained at said mobile device and said second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

communicating said estimates of said bias to a crowdsourcing server.

14. The method of claim 13, and further comprising obtaining a schedule for performing said measurement of said RTT and said time of flight-related measurement based, at least in part, on said communicated estimates of said bias.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said timing reference comprises at least one of the following:

a time of arrival (TOA)-related range;

a time difference of arrival (TDOA)-related range;

or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more stationary transponder devices comprises one or more wireless local access network (WLAN) Wi-Fi access points.

17. An apparatus for location determination comprising:

means for determining a location of a mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a round-trip time (RTT) of a message exchange with one or more stationary transponder devices;

means for estimating a bias between a first clock maintained at said mobile device and a second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a difference between said determined location and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more first signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

means for computing a range to said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more first signals and on said estimated bias.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, and further comprising:

means for estimating an uncertainty in said estimated bias based, at least in part, on a time since a most recent estimate of said bias; and

means for estimating, in response to said estimated uncertainty exceeding a threshold, said location of said mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a subsequent RTT of a subsequent message exchange with said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

means for estimating said bias between said first clock and said second clock based, at least in part, on a difference between said estimated location and said locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more third signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, and further comprising means for performing a resource negotiation or resource re-negotiation between said mobile device and said one or more stationary transponder devices.

20. An apparatus for location determination comprising:

a wireless transceiver to communicate with an electronic communications network; and

one or more processors coupled to a memory to;

determine a location of a mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a round-trip time (RTT) of a message exchange with one or more stationary transponder devices;

estimate a bias between a first clock maintained at said mobile device and a second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices to be based, at least in part, on a difference between said determined location and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more first signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

compute a range to said one or more stationary transponder devices to be based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more first signals and on said estimated bias.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said time of flight-related measurement to comprise at least one of the following:

a time of arrival (TOA) measurement;

a time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement;

or any combination thereof.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one or more processors further to:

estimate an uncertainty in said estimated bias to be based, at least in part, on a time since a most recent estimate of said bias; and

in response to said estimated uncertainty exceeding a threshold;

estimate said location of said mobile device to be based, at least in part, on a measurement of a subsequent RTT of a subsequent message exchange with said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

estimate said bias between said first clock and said second clock to be based, at least in part, on a difference between said estimated location and said locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more third signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said one or more processors further to update said range to said one or more stationary transponder devices to be based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more third signals and said estimated bias.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said message exchange to comprise a request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTS) message exchange.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one or more processors further to perform a resource negotiation between said mobile device and said one or more stationary transponder devices.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said one or more processors to said perform said resource negotiation further to:

declare one or more of a desired power budget and positioning accuracy for said mobile device; and

schedule said measurement of said RTT and said time of flight-related measurement to be based, at least in part, on said one or more of said power budget and said positioning accuracy.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein to said schedule is to be based, at least in part, on at least one of the following for said one or more stationary transponder devices:

availability;

operational capacity;

location;

or any combination thereof.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said one or more processors to said schedule said measurement of said RTT and said time of flight-related measurement to schedule a time interval between at least one of the following:

two or more measurements of said RTT;

two or more time of flight-related measurements;

or any combination thereof.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said one or more processors further to perform a resource re-negotiation between said mobile device and said one or more stationary transponder devices to be based, at least in part, on an estimated level of position uncertainty of said mobile device.

30. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one or more processors further to:

crowd source time of flight-related measurements; and

make available said crowd sourced measurements as part of positioning assistance data.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said one or more processors further to:

obtain additional estimates of a clock bias collected to synchronize one or more of said one or more stationary transponder devices and said mobile device to be based, at least in part, on said crowd sourced time of flight-related measurements.

32. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one or more processors further to:

collect estimates of said bias between said first clock maintained at said mobile device and said second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

communicate said estimates of said bias to a crowdsourcing server.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein said wireless transceiver further to obtain a schedule to perform said measurement of said RTT and said time of flight-related measurement to be based, at least in part, on said communicated estimates of said bias.

34. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said timing reference to comprise at least one of the following:

a time of arrival (TOA)-related range;

a time difference of arrival (TDOA)-related range;

or any combination thereof.

35. A non-transitory storage medium having instructions executable by a processor to:

determine a location of a mobile device based, at least in part, on a measurement of a round-trip time (RTT) of a message exchange with one or more stationary transponder devices;

estimate a bias between a first clock maintained at said mobile device and a second clock maintained at said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a difference between said determined location and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more first signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

compute a range to said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more first signals and on said estimated bias.

36. A method for location determination at a server device comprising:

collecting estimates of a bias between a first clock maintained at a first mobile device and a second clock maintained at one or more stationary transponder devices, said bias being determined based, at least in part, on a difference between a location of said first mobile device and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

making available said estimates of said bias as part of positioning assistance data for computing a range from said first mobile device or one or more other mobile devices to said one or more stationary transponder devices based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more signals and on said estimates of said bias.

37. The method of claim 36, and further comprising scheduling a message exchange and said time of flight-related measurement based, at least in part, on said collected estimates of said bias.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said scheduling is further based, at least in part, on at least one of the following:

availability of said one or more stationary transponder devices;

operational capacity of said one or more stationary transponder devices;

location of said one or more stationary transponder devices;

or any combination thereof.

39. An apparatus for location determination comprising:

a communication interface to communicate with an electronic communications network; and

one or more processors coupled to a memory to;

collect estimates of a bias between a first clock maintained at a first mobile device and a second clock maintained at one or more stationary transponder devices, said bias to be determined based, at least in part, on a difference between a location of said first mobile device and locations of said one or more stationary transponder devices, and a timing reference detected in one or more signals acquired from said one or more stationary transponder devices; and

make available said estimates of said bias as part of positioning assistance data for computing a range said first mobile device or one or more other mobile devices to said one or more stationary transponder devices to be based, at least in part, on a time of flight-related measurement acquired from said one or more signals and on said estimates of said bias.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein said one or more processors further to schedule a message exchange and said time of flight-related measurement to be based, at least in part, on said collected estimates of said bias.