Device and method for tracking location of mobile telephone in mobile telecommunication network

• US 6,526,283 B1
• Filed: 01/24/2000
• Issued: 02/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jang, Jae-Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thanh Cong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuan T.
• Application Number:
  US09/490,623
• Time in Patent Office: 1,128 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/457, 455/414, 455/440, 455/441, 455/561, 455/560
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A device and method for tracking the location of a mobile telephone in multipath fading and a non-line-of-sight environment. In the device for tracking the location of a mobile telephone, each of a plurality of base stations receives a predetermined signal from the mobile telephone and calculates the distance between the mobile telephone and the base station based on the time of arrival of the signal at the base station. A location data processor receives information about the distances from the base stations, draws circles with the radii being the distances and the coordinates of the base stations at the centers thereof around the base stations, and determines the location of the mobile telephone using location tracking curves connecting the intersection points of the circles.

Claims

1. A device for tracking a location of a mobile unit in a mobile telecommunication network, comprising:

a mobile telephone;

a plurality of base stations for receiving a predetermined signal from said mobile telephone, for calculating the distance between said mobile telephone and each said base station based on time of arrival (TOA) of said predetermined signal and for calculating variances of the TOAs of said predetermined signal at each base station; and

,

a location data processor for receiving information about the respective distances from each said base station to said mobile telephone, for drawing respective circles around respective said base stations having the respective distance as the respective radius, and for determining the location of said mobile telephone based on a plurality of location tracking curves drawn to connect the intersection points of said plurality of circles.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said location data processor selects one pair of circles among said plurality of circles, draws said location tracking curve connecting the intersection points between said selected pair of circles, and draws said location tracking curves for the other pairs of said plurality of circles.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein said location tracking curve derived from said selected pair of circles is drawn with respect to said base station having smaller variances of the TOA of said predetermined signals.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the center point of said location tracking curve intersects a line connecting the centers of said selected pair of circles.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said location data processor locates said mobile telephone using coordinates of the intersection locations among said location tracking curves for each said selected pair of circles.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein said location data processor locates said mobile telephone by averaging the coordinates of the intersection points among said location tracking curves for each said selected pair of circles.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the number of said plurality of base stations is at least three.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the distance between said mobile station and each said base station is determined based on the transmission time of said predetermined signal from said mobile station to said each base station multiplied by the transmission speed of said predetermined signal transmitted from said mobile telephone.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein each of said base station receives information about the transmission time of the predetermined signal from an upper layer base station controller.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein said location data processor is included in a base station controller.

11. A method of tracking the location of a mobile telephone, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a predetermined signal from the mobile telephone, determining the distance between the mobile telephone and a plurality of base station located close to the mobile telephone, and calculating variances of times of arrival (TOA) of the predetermined signal at the base station;

(b) drawing a circle around the base station with a radius being the determined distance between the mobile station and the base station;

(c) selecting one pair of a first and a second base stations among the base stations and drawing a plurality of location tracking curves connecting two intersection points between the circles corresponding to the first and the second base stations;

(d) selecting one of the location tracking curves based on variances of the predetermined signals from the mobile station to the first and the second base stations;

(e) repeating the steps (c) and (d) for the other pairs of the base stations;

(f) obtaining intersection points among the location tracking curves selected in step (d) and (e); and

,

(g) locating the mobile telephone using the coordinates of the intersection points obtained in step (f).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of location tracking curves is parts of circles with centers near the base station with the smaller variances between the first and the second base stations.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein circles formed by the location tracking curves have the centers thereof on a line connecting the coordinates of the first and the second base stations.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the step (d) comprises the step of comparing a larger variance between the first and the second base stations with the variance of predetermined signals and selecting one of the location tracking curves according to the comparison result.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the location coordinates of the mobile telephone are determined by averaging the coordinates of the intersection points obtained in step (f).

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the step (g) of determining the location of mobile station is represented by the following equation:

$x=\frac{x_1+x_2+\mathrm{\dots <br><br>}+x_i+\mathrm{\dots <br><br>}+x_N}{N},<br><br>y=\frac{y_1+y_2+\mathrm{\dots <br><br>}+y_i+\mathrm{\dots <br><br>}+y_N}{N},$

wherein the N represents the number of intersection points of the location tracking curves obtained in the step (f) and i represents the coordinates (x_i, y_i) obtained in the step (f) for the intersection point of the location tracking curves (x, y).

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the number of the base stations is at least three.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the distance between said mobile station and each said base station is determined based on the transmission time of said predetermined signal from said mobile station to said each base station multiplied by the transmission speed of said predetermined signal transmitted from said mobile telephone.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the base stations receives information about the transmission time of the predetermined signal from an upper layer base station controller.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of base stations are predetermined for locating the mobile telephone.