Radio system, apparatus, and method of operating the radio system

• US 7,072,671 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2003
• Issued: 07/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Leitch, Adam S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Wesley
• Application Number:
  US10/513,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20050162271A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/41.2, 455/66.1, 455/420, 455/502, 455/524, 455/500, 455/507, 455/525, 342/450, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

A method of determining the relative position of a secondary station (SS) in a radio system including at least one master station (MS) and a plurality of secondary stations (SS), comprises the master station establishing a master log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by active stations and their identities and active secondary stations (SS) establishing a log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by other stations and their respective measured received quality. One of the active secondary stations forwards its log to the master station and the master station correlates the time stamps in the received log with the time stamps in the master log in order to determine the identities of the transmitters and utilizes the measured signal quality indications in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station with respect to the locations of the transmitters identified.

Claims

1. A radio system comprising at least one master station and a plurality of secondary stations, the master station having means for establishing a master log of time stamps of signals transmitted by active ones of the secondary stations and the active stations'"'"' identities, at least one of the secondary stations having means for establishing a log of time stamps of signals received from the active stations together with the received signals'"'"' measured quality and means for forwarding at least a portion of the log to the master station, the master station further comprising means for correlating the time stamps in a log forwarded to it with the time stamps in its master log in order to identify the active stations originating the signals received by the forwarded log'"'"'s associated secondary station and for utilising the signal quality measurements in the forwarded log to determine the relative position of the associated secondary station, wherein the master log stores the relative locations of at least some of the active stations that are non-portable in the space being monitored and in that the position of a secondary station is indicated relative to at least one of the non-portable active stations.

2. A method of determining the relative position of a secondary station in a radio system including at least one master station and a plurality of secondary stations, the method comprising the master station establishing a master log of time stamps of signals transmitted by active ones of the secondary stations and the active stations'"'"' identities, active secondary stations establishing a log of time stamps of signals transmitted by other active stations and respective measured received quality of the transmitted signals, one of the active secondary stations forwarding its log to the master station and the master station correlating the time stamps in the received log with the time stamps in the master log in order to determine the identities of the active stations and utilising the measured signal quality indications in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station with respect to the locations of the active stations identified, wherein the master log stores the relative locations of at least some of the active stations that are non-portable in the space being monitored and in that the position of a secondary station is indicated relative to at least one of the non-portable active stations.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that the secondary stations measure the RSSI of a received signal.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that the position of a secondary station is indicated visually.

5. A master station for use in a radio system having a plurality of secondary stations, the master station comprising receiving means, means for establishing a master log of time stamps of signals transmitted by active ones of the secondary stations and the identities of the active stations, means for correlating time stamps of signals received by a secondary station from an active station in a log forwarded to the master station by the secondary station with the time stamps in the master log in order to identify the active stations originating the signals received by the secondary station and for utilising signal quality measurements in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station, wherein the master log stores the relative locations of at least some of the active stations that are non-portable in the space being monitored and in that the position of a secondary station is indicated relative to at least one of the non-portable active stations.