Wireless communication apparatus

• US 7,013,111 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2002
• Issued: 03/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kuwahara, Mikio, Fujishima, Kenzaburo, Ogino, Atsushi, Mizugaki, Kenichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Sonny
• Assistant Examiner(s): DOAN, PHUOC HUU
• Application Number:
  US10/206,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20030162550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,324 Days
• Field of Search: 455/457, 455/456, 455/11.1, 455/423, 455/67.6, 455/18, 375/213, 370/241
• US Class Current: 455/11.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0205 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The disclosed invention provides a wireless communications terminal apparatus that calculates its accurate position, eliminating the influence of a repeater on the calculation without using complicated processing. The terminal apparatus receives signals transmitted from a plurality of radio stations and calculates its position, using the received signals. The terminal apparatus comprises repeater detection means for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from that radio station from among the received signals and position calculation means for calculating its position. When the repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, the position calculation means ignores the detected signal from the repeater and calculates the terminal position, using the received signals from other radio stations.

Claims

1. A wireless communications terminal apparatus which receives signals transmitted from a plurality of radio stations and calculates its position, using the received signals, comprising:

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means ignores the detected signal from the repeater and calculates the position of the terminal apparatus, using the received signals from other radio stations, and

wherein said repeater detection means compares a distance corresponding to signal reception delay timing of receiving a signal from one of said radio stations and timing of receiving a signal from another one of said radio stations and a distance of said one of said radio stations and said another one of said radio stations, and determines whether said one of said radio stations is said repeater, based on the result of the comparison.

2. A wireless communications terminal apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

said terminal apparatus is connected to a wireless communications network including storage facilities for storing information as to whether a repeater exists that is connected to each of said radio stations, and

said repeater detection means obtains repeater-related information stored in said storage facilities from said storage facilities via a wireless communications network, determines whether there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater, using the thus obtained information, and detects said repeater if there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater.

3. A wireless communications terminal apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

reception timing measuring means for receiving a signal transmitted from one of said radio stations and measuring its reception timing; and

reception timing sending means for sending the measured reception timing to a server apparatus connected to a wireless communications network via a wireless communication line so that the server apparatus will determine whether a repeater exists that is connected to the radio station that transmitted the signal received.

5. A wireless communications terminal apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when the terminal apparatus can observe signals only in a predetermined number of sectors from one of said radio stations, said repeater detection means determines that the one of said radio stations is a repeater.

6. A wireless communications terminal apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said repeater detection means determines whether a signal having the maximum power or amplitude among the received signals was received from a repeater.

7. A wireless communications terminal apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing information as to whether a repeater exists that is connected to each of said radio stations, wherein said repeater detection means determines whether there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater, using repeater-related information stored in said storage means, and detects said repeater if there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater.

4. A wireless communications terminal apparatus which receives signals transmitted from a plurality of radio stations and calculates its position, using the received signals, comprising:

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means determines the location of the repeater transmitting the detected signal as the position of the terminal apparatus.

8. A system for determining terminal position, comprising:

radio stations which transmit signals to a wireless communications terminal apparatus;

a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations; and

a wireless communications terminal apparatus which receives signals from a plurality of radio stations for calculating its position, using the received signals,

said system further comprising;

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from said repeater from among said received signals; and

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means ignores the detected signal from the repeater and calculates the position of the terminal apparatus, using the received signals from other radio stations, and

wherein said repeater detection means compares a distance corresponding to signal reception delay timing of receiving a signal from one of said radio stations and timing of receiving a signal from another one of said radio stations and a distance of said one of said radio stations and said another one of said radio stations, and determines whether said one of said radio stations is said repeater, based on the result of the comparison.

9. A system for determining terminal position as claimed in claim 8, further comprising storage facilities for storing information as to whether a repeater exists that is connected to each of said radio stations,

wherein said repeater detection means obtains repeater-related information stored in said storage facilities from said storage facilities via a wireless communications network, determines whether there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater, using the thus obtained information, and detects said repeater if there is a possibility of receiving signals from a repeater.

10. A system for determining terminal position as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

reception timing measuring means for receiving a signal transmitted from one of said radio stations and measuring its reception timing; and

reception timing sending means for sending the measured reception timing to a server apparatus connected to a wireless communications network via a wireless communication line so that the server apparatus will determine whether a repeater exists that is connected to the radio station that transmitted the signal received.

11. A system for determining terminal position, comprising:

radio stations which transmit signals to a wireless communications terminal apparatus;

a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations; and

a wireless communications terminal apparatus which receives signals from a plurality of radio stations for calculating its position, using the received signals,

said system further comprising;

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from said repeater from among said received signals; and

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means determines the location of the repeater transmitting the detected signal as the position of the terminal apparatus.

12. A position calculation method by which a wireless communications terminal apparatus receives signals transmitted from a plurality of radio stations and calculates its position, using the received signals, said position calculation method comprising:

a repeater detection step for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

a position calculation step for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when a signal from a repeater has been detected by said repeater detection step, the detected signal from the repeater is ignored and the position of the terminal apparatus is calculated by using the received signals from other radio stations in said position calculation step, and

wherein said repeater detection step compares a distance corresponding to signal reception delay timing of receiving a signal from one of said radio stations and timing of receiving a signal from another one of said radio stations and a distance of said one of said radio stations and said another one of said radio stations, and determines whether said one of said radio stations is said repeater, based on the result of the comparison.

13. A position calculation method as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when the terminal apparatus can observe signals only in a predetermined number of sectors from one of said radio stations, said repeater detection step determines that the one of said radio stations is a repeater.

14. A position calculation method by which a wireless communications terminal apparatus receives signals transmitted from a plurality of radio stations and calculates its position, using the received signals, said position calculation method comprising:

a repeater detection step for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

a position calculation step for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when a signal from a repeater has been detected by said repeater detection step, the location of the repeater transmitting the detected signal is determined as the position of the terminal apparatus in said position calculation step.

15. A server apparatus which calculates the position of a wireless communications terminal apparatus which received signals from a plurality of radio stations, said server apparatus comprising:

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus, based on timing when said wireless communications terminal apparatus received the signals; and

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals;

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means ignores the detected signal from the repeater and calculates the position of the terminal apparatus, using the received signals from other radio stations, and

wherein said repeater detection means compares a distance corresponding to signal reception delay timing of receiving a signal from one of said radio stations and timing of receiving a signal from another one of said radio stations and a distance of said one of said radio stations and said another one of said radio stations, and determines whether said one of said radio stations is said repeater, based on the result of the comparison.

16. A server apparatus which calculates the position of a wireless communications terminal apparatus which received signals from a plurality of radio stations, said server apparatus comprising:

position calculation means for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus, based on timing when said wireless communications terminal apparatus received the signals; and

repeater detection means for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals;

wherein, when said repeater detection means has detected a signal from a repeater, said position calculation means determines the location of the repeater transmitting the detected signal as the position of the terminal apparatus.

17. An apparatus fabricated with semiconductor integrated circuits having a memory into which a program can be stored and a CPU,

wherein a computer-executable program is stored into said memory and said CPU executes said program stored and retained in said memory, said program comprising:

a repeater detection step for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are based on signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

a position calculation step for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when a signal from a repeater has been detected by said repeater detection step, the detected signal from the repeater is ignored and the position of the terminal apparatus is calculated by using the received signals from other radio stations in said position calculation step, and

wherein said repeater detection step compares a distance corresponding to signal reception delay timing of receiving a signal from one of said radio stations and timing of receiving a signal from another one of said radio stations and a distance of said one of said radio stations and said another one of said radio stations, and determines whether said one of said radio stations is said repeater, based on the result of the comparison.

18. An apparatus fabricated with semiconductor integrated circuits having a memory into which a program can be stored and a CPU,

wherein a computer-executable program is stored into said memory and said CPU executes said program stored and retained in said memory, said program comprising:

a repeater detection step for detecting a signal from a repeater which transmits signals that are generated on the basis of signals transmitted from one of the radio stations and indistinguishable from the signals transmitted from the one of the radio stations from among said received signals; and

a position calculation step for calculating the position of the terminal apparatus,

wherein, when a signal from a repeater has been detected by said repeater detection step, the location of the repeater transmitting the detected signal is determined as the position of the terminal apparatus in said position calculation step.