Method and apparatus for supporting multiple wireless carrier mobile station location requirements with a common network overlay location system
First Claim
1. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;
- the geolocation system comprising;
a plurality of local measurement units (“
LMUs”
);
at least one mobile positioning center (“
MPC”
); and
,a geolocation controller (“
GCS”
);
wherein the first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station further comprising a monitoring unit configured to obtain call set up information from one of the first or second wireless communication systems and configured to provide the call set up information to the GCS.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method supports multiple wireless carrier mobile station location requirements with a common network overlay location system. The common network overlay location system shares geolocation assets such as location measurement units (LMU), geo-location control system (GCS), and, optionally, mobile positioning centers (MPC). The shared location assets are configured to operate with each of the sharing carrier systems. The number of sharing carriers in the same market is not limited. LMUs are configurable and switchable to measure attributes of the transmitted signal from mobile stations belonging to any of the wireless carriers which are used by the common location system to estimate the location of the mobile station using time of arrival, time difference of arrival, angle of arrival, signal power, and combinations of the same. The location of the LMUs are configured to provide an acceptable level of accuracy while minimizing a function such as the need for additional LMUs and cost.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;
- the geolocation system comprising;
a plurality of local measurement units (“
LMUs”
);at least one mobile positioning center (“
MPC”
); and
,a geolocation controller (“
GCS”
);wherein the first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station further comprising a monitoring unit configured to obtain call set up information from one of the first or second wireless communication systems and configured to provide the call set up information to the GCS. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
- the geolocation system comprising;
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4. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;
- the geolocation system comprising;
a plurality of local measurement units (“
LMUs”
);at least one mobile positioning center (“
MPC”
); and
,a geolocation controller (“
GCS”
);wherein the first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station wherein the plurality of LMUs are configured to obtain attribute measurements from both the first and second mobile stations. - View Dependent Claims (5)
- the geolocation system comprising;
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6. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;
- the geolocation system comprising;
a plurality of local measurement units (“
LMUs”
);at least one mobile positioning center (“
MPC”
); and
,a geolocation controller (“
GCS”
);wherein thc first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station further comprising a first antenna array located at one of the plural base stations of the first wireless communication system and configured to communicate with the second mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
- the geolocation system comprising;
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9. A network overlay geolocation system capable of geolocating a first and a second mobile station operating in a geographic area serviced by a first and a second wireless communication system, respectively, where each communication system includes plural base stations, a base station controller, and a mobile switching center;
- the geolocation system comprising;
a plurality of local measurement units (“
LMUs”
);at least one mobile positioning center (“
MPC”
); and
,a geolocation controller (“
GCS”
);wherein the first mobile station is configured to communicate over the first wireless communication system and the second mobile station is configured to communicate over the second wireless communication system and wherein the mobile positioning center is configured to task the GCS to locate the first or second mobile station wherein the geolocation system is further configured to locate a third mobile station served by a third wireless communication system in said geographic area.
- the geolocation system comprising;
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10. A method for geolocating a target mobile station in a geographic area serviced by a plurality of wireless communication systems each having plural base stations for communicating with a plurality of mobile stations where the plural wireless communication systems are operably connected to a network overlay geolocation system having a plurality of LMUs and a GCS, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a signal from the target mobile station to one of the plurality of wireless communication systems to thereby place a call from the target mobile station; tasking the GCS to locate the target mobile; configuring the LMUs to measure an attribute of the signal transmitted by the target mobile station based on call set up information for the call from the target mobile station and an attribute of the serving wireless communication system; and
,locating the target mobile based in part on the measured attribute. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for selecting a set of LMUs locations from a plurality of possible LMUs locations in a geographic area serviced by a plurality of wireless communication systems, comprising the steps of:
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modeling a coverage plan for each of the plural wireless communication systems over the geographic area; selecting LMUs from the plurality of LMUs to thereby provide plural candidate LMU sets; simulating the operational performance of each of the candidate LMU sets over the geographic area for each of the plural wireless communication systems;
comparing the simulated operational performances of the candidate LMU sets to thereby determine the candidate LMU set with an optimal simulated operational performance; andselecting the candidate LMU set with the optimal simulated operational performance. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. In a network overlay geolocation system for determining the geolocation of mobile stations associated with a first wireless communication system having a first plurality of base stations where the geolocation system includes LMUs located at ones of the first plurality of base stations, a method for determining the geolocation of a mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system having a second plurality of base stations, comprising the steps of:
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(a) modeling a coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs to thereby obtain a simulated geolocation performance parameter; (b) evaluating the simulated parameter and if the evaluation is unacceptable, modeling the coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs and at least one additional LMU located at a base station associated with the second wireless communication system to thereby obtain a simulated geolocation performance parameter; (c) repeating step (b) until the evaluation is acceptable; and (d) locating said at least one additional LMU at the base station associated with the second wireless communication system according to the remodeled coverage plan so as to determine the geolocation of a mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. In a network overlay geolocation system for determining the geolocation, within a predetermined accuracy, of mobile stations associated with a first wireless communication system having a first plurality of base stations where the geolocation system includes LMUs located at ones of the first plurality of base stations, a method for determining the need for an additional LMU so as to determine the geolocation, within the predetermined accuracy, of a mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system having a second plurality of base stations, comprising the steps of:
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(a) modeling a coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs to thereby simulate the accuracy of a geolocation determination of a mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system; (b) evaluating the simulated accuracy against the predetermined accuracy and if the evaluation is unacceptable, modeling the coverage plan for the second wireless communication system using said LMUs and at least one additional LMU located at a base station associated with the second wireless communication system to thereby simulate the accuracy of the geolocation determination of the mobile station associated with the second wireless communication system; and (c) repeating step (b) until the evaluation is acceptable to thereby determine the need for an additional LMU.
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37. A network overlay geolocation system for locating a first mobile station associated with a first wireless communication system covering a geographic area, where the overlay system includes a GCS configured for tasking by a mobile positioning center (“
- MIPC”
) to locate the first mobile station, and further includes a plurality of LMUs for measuring an attribute of a signal emitted by the first mobile station, and where the geolocation of the first mobile station is estimated based in part on the measured attribute, the improvement comprising wherein the geolocation system is configured to locate a second mobile station associated with a second wireless communication system covering at least a portion of the geographic area. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
- MIPC”
Specification