Identifying starting time for making time of arrival measurements
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of using a time of arrival measurement apparatus to measure the time of arrival of a radio signal transmitted by a mobile communication station operating in a wireless mobile communication network, comprising:
- providing the time of arrival measurement apparatus with information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted, said information including a starting frame number associated with the radio signal; and
using the time of arrival measurement apparatus to monitor for arrival of the radio signal only during a period of time after said predetermined point in time.
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Abstract
A time of arrival measurement apparatus is used to measure the time of arrival of a radio signal transmitted by a mobile communication station operating in a wireless mobile communication network. The apparatus is provided with information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted. The time of arrival measurement apparatus monitors for arrival of the radio signal only during a period of time after the predetermined point in time.
44 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method of using a time of arrival measurement apparatus to measure the time of arrival of a radio signal transmitted by a mobile communication station operating in a wireless mobile communication network, comprising:
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providing the time of arrival measurement apparatus with information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted, said information including a starting frame number associated with the radio signal; and
using the time of arrival measurement apparatus to monitor for arrival of the radio signal only during a period of time after said predetermined point in time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
providing the time of arrival measurement apparatus with localized frame structure timing.
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18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
providing the time of arrival measurement apparatus with time slot number information associated with the radio signal.
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19. An apparatus for use in locating a mobile station in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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a plurality of time of arrival monitors, each said time of arrival monitor for monitoring an air interface to determine when a radio signal transmitted by the mobile station has arrived at said time of arrival monitor;
each said time of arrival monitor including an input for receiving first information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the mobile station is to transmit the radio signal, wherein said first information received at each time of arrival monitor expresses said predetermined point in time with respect to a local time base associated with that particular time of arrival monitor; and
each said time of arrival monitor including an output for providing second information indicative of a time of arrival of the radio signal at that time of arrival monitor. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for use in locating a mobile station in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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an input for receiving a request to locate the mobile station;
an output for indicating that a radio signal is to be transmitted from the mobile station for use in locating the mobile station; and
an output for providing to a plurality of time of arrival measurement devices first information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted by the mobile station, said first information including a starting frame number associated with the radio signal, said plurality of time of arrival measurement devices monitoring for arrival of the radio signal only during a period of time after said predetermined point in time. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
an input for receiving the starting frame number associated with the radio signal.
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36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the starting frame number associated with the radio signal is provided by a base station controller.
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37. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:
an output for providing the plurality of time of arrival measurement devices with time slot number information associated with the radio signal.
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38. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:
an output for providing the plurality of time of arrival measurement devices with localized frame structure timing.
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39. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said apparatus comprises a mobile location center.
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40. The apparatus of claim 29, where in said second information comprises a frame structure timing.
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41. A method of determining a time base difference between time of arrival measurement units used in locating a mobile station in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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using a stationary reference mobile station to determine a first relationship between time bases of a pair of stationary transceivers in the network;
using a first time of arrival measurement unit to determine a second relationship between the time base of one of the stationary transceivers and a time base of the first time of arrival measurement unit, and using a second time of arrival measurement unit to determine a third relationship between the time base of the other of the stationary transceivers and a time base of the second time of arrival measurement unit; and
determining a time base difference between the first and second time of arrival measurement units in response to the first, second and third relationships. - View Dependent Claims (42)
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43. A method of locating the position of a mobile communication station in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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the mobile communication station transmitting an uplink radio signal, obtaining from the wireless communication network information from which an informational content of the radio signal can be determined but which information does not itself reveal the informational content of the radio signal, the information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted;
monitoring for arrival of the radio signal only during a time after said predetermined point in time, determining the informational content of the radio signal in response to the information; and
using the informational content of the radio signal to measure the time of arrival of the radio signal at a plurality of predetermined locations. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. An apparatus for use in locating the position of a mobile communication station in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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a plurality of time of arrival monitors, each said time of arrival monitor for monitoring an air interface to determine when a radio signal transmitted by the mobile communication station has arrived at said time of arrival monitor, each said time of arrival monitor including an input for receiving information from which an informational content of the radio signal can be determined but which information does not itself reveal the informational content of the radio signal, the information indicative of a predetermined point in time at which the radio signal is to be transmitted, each of said time of arrival monitor monitoring for arrival of the radio signal only during a time after said predetermined point in time; and
each said time of arrival monitor responsive to said information for determining the informational content of the radio signal and using the informational content to measure the time of arrival of the radio signal at that time of arrival monitor. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. An apparatus for facilitating the use of at least one time of arrival measurement device to measure the time of arrival of a radio signal transmitted by a mobile station operating in a wireless network, said apparatus comprising:
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a first input for receiving starting time information associated with the radio signal, the starting time information including at least one of a starting frame number and a time slot number;
a window determiner for determining a monitoring window indicating a time period for monitoring the radio signal for the at least one time of arrival measurement device using the starting time information; and
a first output for providing a measurement command, including the monitoring window, to the at least one time of arrival measurement device, the at least one time of arrival measurement device monitoring for arrival of the radio signal during the time period indicated by the monitoring window. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
a translator for receiving frame structure timing information associated with a fixed-site transceiver serving the mobile station, and determining localized frame structure timing information from the frame structure timing information; and
a second output for providing the localized frame structure timing information to the at least one time of arrival measurement device.
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58. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein the starting time information is provided to the first input by a base station controller.
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59. The apparatus of claim 55, the apparatus further comprising:
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a second input for receiving frequency hopping sequence information from a base station controller; and
a second output for providing the frequency hopping sequence information to the at least one time of arrival measurement device.
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60. The apparatus of claim 55, the apparatus further comprising:
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a position locator for receiving time of arrival information from a plurality of at least one time of arrival measurement devices, and determining position information associated with the mobile station; and
a second output for transmitting the position information.
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Specification