E911 Locating By Nearby Proxy Device Location

• US 20170030994A1
• Filed: 07/31/2015
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Hilliard, Brandon B., Cottrill, William
• Granted Patent: US 10,012,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0231 Emergency, distress or locator beacons
• 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 4/90 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

A method for determining the location of a mobile device that has placed an emergency call includes determining that an emergency call has been made by a mobile device having a wireless radio and receiving, from the mobile device, an identifier of a first device detected by the wireless radio. If the first device is not fixed, the method includes sending a first location request to the first device to determine a first location of the first device. The method also includes determining a location of the mobile device based upon the first location and providing the mobile device location to a recipient of the emergency call.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that an emergency call has been made by a mobile device having a wireless radio;

receiving, from the mobile device, an identifier of a first device detected by the wireless radio;

if the first device is not fixed, sending a first location request to the first device to determine a first location of the first device;

determining a location of the mobile device based upon the first location; and

providing the mobile device location to a recipient of the emergency call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is one of a plurality of detected devices and further comprising:

for each of the plurality of detected devices, receiving, from the mobile device, a second identifier; and

sending a second location request to each of the plurality of detected devices that is not fixed to determine a second location;

wherein determining the location of the mobile device is further based upon the second location.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining an accuracy of the mobile device location based upon at least one of a number of the plurality of detected devices, a type of the wireless radio used to detect the plurality of detected devices, and a signal strength associated with each of the plurality of detected devices; and

providing the accuracy of the mobile device location to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the location of the mobile device further includes identifying a centroid of the plurality of devices as the location of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the mobile device includes identifying the first location as the mobile device location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless radio is at least one of a Wi-Fi radio and a Bluetooth®

radio.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the first device is fixed, looking up the identifier in a database of device locations.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first device is unable to determine its location based upon a GPS signal;

receiving, from the first device, a second identifier of a second device detected by the first device;

if the second device is not fixed, sending a second location request to the second device to determine a second location of the second device; and

determining the first location of the first device based upon the second location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is at least one of a beacon and a wireless access point.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

determining that an emergency call has been made by a mobile device having a wireless radio;

receiving, from the mobile device, an identifier of a first device detected by the wireless radio;

if the first device is not fixed, sending a first location request to the first device to determine a first location of the first device;

determining a location of the mobile device based upon the first location; and

providing the mobile device location to a recipient of the emergency call.

11. A method comprising:

determining a mobile device located in a sector has made an emergency call;

sending, to at least a first device other than the mobile device, the first device located in the sector, a command to determine whether the first device can detect the mobile device;

receiving, from the first device, an indication that the first device detects the mobile device;

determining a first location associated with the first device;

determining a location of the mobile device based upon the first location; and

providing the mobile device location to a recipient of the emergency call.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying all of a plurality of devices located in the sector,

wherein the sending further includes sending the command to each of the plurality of devices.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the first device is fixed, determining the first location includes querying a database of device locations; and

if the first device is not fixed, determining the first location includes sending a first location request to the first device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the command includes an identifier of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first device is one of a plurality of devices that detect the mobile device, the method further comprising:

receiving an indicator from a second device of a second location of the second device,

wherein the second device is one of the plurality of devices and determining the location of the mobile device is further based upon the second location.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining an accuracy of the mobile device location based upon at least one of a number of the plurality of devices, a type of a wireless radio associated with the first device that was used to detect the mobile device, and a signal strength associated with each of the plurality of devices; and

providing the accuracy of the mobile device location to the recipient.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the type of wireless radio is at least one of a Bluetooth®

and a Wi-Fi radio.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the sector further includes determining a second sector in which the mobile device is located and wherein the sending further includes sending the command to each of the plurality of devices that are located in both the sector and the second sector.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the sector further includes determining a second sector in which the mobile device is located and wherein the sending further includes sending the command to each of the plurality of devices that are located in any of the sector and the second sector.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the location of the mobile device includes identifying the first location as the mobile device location.