LOCATION ESTIMATION METHOD AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR PERFORMING THE SAME

• US 20170223658A1
• Filed: 02/03/2017
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Seong Jae, Choi, Jai Young, Kim, Young Kyoo, Kim, Jin Woo
• Granted Patent: US 10,057,877 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

An electronic device includes a memory, a communication circuit, and a processor configured to operatively connect with the memory and the communication circuit. The processor is configured to send identification information of a base station attached to the electronic device via the communication circuit to a server, receive first base station information about base stations included in a first area on the base station from the server, store the first base station information in the memory, and estimate a location of the electronic device based on properties of a signal received from at least one of the base stations included in the first area or the first base station information.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a memory;

a communication circuit; and

a processor configured to operatively connect with the memory and the communication circuit,

wherein the processor is configured to;

send identification information of a base station attached to the electronic device via the communication circuit to a server;

receive first base station information about base stations included in a first area on the base station from the server;

store the first base station information in the memory; and

estimate a location of the electronic device based on properties of a signal received from at least one of the base stations included in the first area or the first base station information.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first base station information comprises at least one of location information of each of the base stations included in the first area or coverage information of the base stations included in the first area.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the coverage information comprises location information in which one or more of signals transmitted from the base stations included in the first area are detected.

4. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to:

select the base station to apply triangulation among at least one base station based on the properties of the signal received from the at least one of the base stations; and

estimate the location of the electronic device by applying the triangulation to location information of the selected base station.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to:

identify identification information of at least one base station from the properties of the signal received from the at least one of the base stations; and

estimate the location of the electronic device with reference to the coverage information using the identified identification information as a key.

6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to correct the location estimated based on the triangulation using the location information estimated based on the coverage information.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive second base station information about the base stations included in a second area neighboring to the first area from the server, if the estimated location reaches a boundary of the first area.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the second area is determined in a size based on a speed of the electronic device.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the speed of the electronic device is derived from the estimated location and time information at the estimated location.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

send identification information of another base station to the server, if the base station attached to the electronic device is handed over to the other base station; and

receive third base station information about base stations included in a third area on the other base station from the server.

11. A method for estimating a location of an electronic device, the method comprising:

sending identification information of a base station attached to the electronic device to a server;

receiving first base station information about base stations included in a first area on the base station from the server;

storing the first base station information in a memory; and

estimating a location of the electronic device based on properties of a signal received from at least one of the base stations included in the first area or the first base station information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first base station information comprises at least one of location information of each of the base stations included in the first area or coverage information of the base stations included in the first area.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

selecting the base station to apply triangulation among at least one base station based on the properties of the signal received from the at least one of the base stations; and

estimating the location of the electronic device by applying the triangulation to location information of the selected base station.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying identification information of at least one base station from the properties of the signal received from the at least one of the base stations; and

estimating the location of the electronic device with reference to the coverage information using the identified identification information as a key.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving second base station information about the base stations included in a second area neighboring to the first area from the server, if the estimated location reaches a boundary of the first area.

16. An electronic device, comprising:

a memory configured to store base station information corresponding to at least one base station;

a communication circuit; and

a processor,

wherein the processor is configured to;

verify status information associated with the electronic device;

send the status information to an external electronic device using the communication circuit;

receive updated base station information for at least part of the base station information, dynamically determined based at least on the status information or information of other base stations from the external electronic device; and

provide location information of the electronic device based at least on the updated base station information or the information of the other base stations.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive at least part of the updated base station information or the information of other base stations as first base station information if the status information is satisfied with a first condition; and

receive at least part of the updated base station information or the information of other base stations as second base station information if the status information is satisfied with a second condition.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive information corresponding to the at least one base station or a first base station set among the other base stations as at least part of the first base station information; and

receive information corresponding to the at least one base station or a second base station set among the other base stations as at least part of the second base station information.

19. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to:

verify base station density information corresponding to the at least one base station or the other base stations based at least on the updated base station information or the information of the other base stations; and

delete at least one part of the updated base station information or the other base station information from the memory based on the verified base station density information.

20. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to verify the status information using at least one of location information of the electronic device, a movement speed of the electronic device, a size of the memory, or a combination thereof.