TRANSMITTING LOCATION DATA IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20170064668A1
• Filed: 11/10/2016
• Published: 03/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Wu, Deyun, Kuehnel, Thomas W., Hassan, Amer A., Lu, Yi, Shen, Hui, Subramani, Sundar P., Swamy, Vinod K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

A wireless access point in a wireless network that may be adapted to transmit location data indicating its location to other devices within range, including other wireless access points and client devices. In some embodiments of the invention, the location data may be embedded in a control message or announcement transmission transmitted by the wireless access point, or other message conventionally used to broadcast network characteristics necessary for a client device to establish a connection to the wireless access point. In terms of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layered model of a network, layer 2 control messages, including beacons, probe responses, or other suitable transmissions may be used for control messages or announcement transmissions. The other wireless access points and client devices may receive the location data broadcast by the wireless access point without establishing a connection to the client device. Devices receiving the location data may use the received location data to determine their own locations, and may provide the determined locations to consumers of location data.

Claims

1. A method performed on a computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computing device from a plurality of wireless network computing devices, a plurality of beacons, where each beacon was provided by a corresponding one of the wireless network computing devices and comprises location information for the corresponding one of the wireless network computing devices, and where the each beacon is configured for being received by and providing its location information to devices that include;

a. devices that are connection to the corresponding one of the wireless network computing devices,

b. devices that are establishing a connection to the corresponding one of the wireless network computing devices, and

c. devices that are not connected to the corresponding one of the wireless network computing devices; and

determining, by the computing device based on the location information comprised by the received plurality of beacons, a location of the computing device.