Method and system for determining a navigating vehicle location

• US 6,745,124 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2001
• Issued: 06/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Aloi, Daniel N., Schwinke, Steven P., Stefan, Jeffrey M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan Q.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Dalena
• Application Number:
  US10/002,507
• Publication Number:
  US 20030105583A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/213, 701/211, 342/357.09, 342/357.17, 342/353, 342/357.01, 342/453, 342/462
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

The present invention provides a system, a method and a computer usable medium including a program for determining a position of a mobile vehicle. This may be accomplished by receiving a positioning request from the mobile vehicle, receiving positioning information from at least three vehicle clients sharing an antenna tower with the mobile vehicle and transmitting a signal to the three vehicles. It may also be accomplished by determining a distance between the mobile vehicle and each of the vehicle clients, receiving positioning information from each of the vehicle clients and determining mobile vehicle position based on the determined distances and the vehicle client positioning information.

Claims

1. A method for determining a position of a mobile vehicle comprising:

receiving a positioning request from the mobile vehicle;

receiving positioning information from at least three vehicle clients sharing an antenna tower with the mobile vehicle;

transmitting a signal to the at least three vehicles;

determining a distance between the mobile vehicle and each of the at least three vehicle clients;

receiving positioning information from each of the at least three vehicle clients; and

determining mobile vehicle position based on the determined distances and the positioning information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a positioning request comprises the mobile vehicle transmitting a RF signal through an antenna tower to the call center.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving position information comprises selecting at least three vehicles that respond to a paging of all vehicles that are in communication with the antenna tower.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a signal comprises sending the at least three vehicle clients the mobile vehicles GAPS time to each of the at least three vehicle clients.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the distance is computed at each vehicle client according to the formula:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the position coordinates are determined by using a Taylor expansion series technique and a least squares iterative method.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the positioning information includes GPS time, client vehicle two-dimension coordinates and the determined distance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile vehicle position is determined at the call center according to the formulas:

9. A computer usable medium including a program for determining a position of a mobile vehicle comprising:

computer readable program code that receives a positioning request from the mobile vehicle;

computer readable program code that receives positioning information from at least three vehicle clients sharing an antenna tower with the mobile vehicle;

computer readable program code that transmits a signal to the at least three vehicles;

computer readable program code that determines a distance between the mobile vehicle and each of the at least three vehicle clients;

computer readable program code that receives positioning information from each of the at least three vehicle clients; and

computer readable program code that determines mobile vehicle position based on the determined distances and the positioning information.

10. The computer usable medium of claim 9, wherein receiving a positioning request comprises the mobile vehicle transmitting a RF signal through an antenna tower to the call center.

11. The computer usable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

computer readable program code that selects at least three vehicles that respond to a paging of all vehicles that are in communication with the antenna tower.

12. The computer usable medium of claim 9, wherein transmitting a signal comprises sending the at least three vehicle clients the mobile vehicles GAPS time to each of the at least three vehicle clients.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for selecting at least three vehicles that respond to a paging of all vehicles that are in communication with the antenna tower.

14. The computer usable medium of claim 9, wherein the distance is computed at each vehicle client according to the formula:

15. The computer usable medium of claim 14, wherein the position coordinates are determined by using a Taylor expansion series technique and a least squares iterative method.

16. The computer usable medium of claim 9, wherein the positioning information includes GPS time, client vehicle two-dimension coordinates and the determined distance.

17. The computer usable medium of claim 9, wherein the mobile vehicle position is determined at the call center according to the formulas:

18. A system for determining a position of a mobile vehicle comprising:

means for receiving a positioning request from the mobile vehicle;

means for receiving positioning information from at least three vehicle clients sharing an antenna tower with the mobile vehicle;

means for transmitting a signal to the at least three vehicles;

means for determining a distance between the mobile vehicle and each of the at least three vehicle clients;

means for receiving positioning information from each of the at least three vehicle clients; and

means for determining mobile vehicle position based on the determined distances and the positioning information.