System and method for enabling continuous geographic location estimation for wireless computing devices
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for enabling a wireless computing device to determine its location both when communicating with one or more satellites of a wireless positioning network and when unable to communicate with any satellites of the wireless positioning network, comprising:
- a wireless computing device; and
a wireless positioning system substantially collocated with said wireless computing device,said wireless positioning system having a first positioning mode in which it communicates with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network to enable the geographic location of said wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from only the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network and a second positioning mode in which it enables the geographic location of said wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from at least one non-satellite wireless beacon and analysis of the signals in light of positional information about wireless beacons contained in a database and said wireless positioning system being affanged to switch between said first and second positioning modes to obtain a determination of its geographic location depending on reception of signals from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network,when in said first positioning mode and communicating with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network, said wireless computing device being arranged toobtain its geographic location based on reception of signals only from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network and alsoobtain identification and signal strength information about non-satellite wireless beacons and alsoderive positional information about at least one of these wireless beacons, for which identification and signal strength information has been obtained but for which positional information is not present in said database, from both the obtained geographic location of said wireless computing device and the obtained identification and signal strength information about the non-satellite wireless beacons, the derived positional information then being included in said database, andwhen in said second positioning mode and unable to communicate with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network, said wireless computing device being arranged to determine its geographic location based on reception of signals from at least one non-satellite wireless beacon whose positional information is included in said database and analysis of the signals in light of positional information about wireless beacons contained in said database and from which signals have been received.
5 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
System and method for enabling a wireless computing device to continuously determine its position includes a wireless computing device and a wireless positioning system substantially collocated therewith. The wireless positioning system has a first positioning mode in which it communicates with a wireless positioning network to enable the geographic location of the computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from the positioning network and a second positioning mode in which it enables the geographic location of the wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from one or more of the wireless beacons and analysis of the signals in light of positional information about wireless beacons contained in a database. The wireless positioning system switches between the positioning modes depending on reception of signals from the wireless positioning network.
368 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A system for enabling a wireless computing device to determine its location both when communicating with one or more satellites of a wireless positioning network and when unable to communicate with any satellites of the wireless positioning network, comprising:
-
a wireless computing device; and a wireless positioning system substantially collocated with said wireless computing device, said wireless positioning system having a first positioning mode in which it communicates with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network to enable the geographic location of said wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from only the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network and a second positioning mode in which it enables the geographic location of said wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from at least one non-satellite wireless beacon and analysis of the signals in light of positional information about wireless beacons contained in a database and said wireless positioning system being affanged to switch between said first and second positioning modes to obtain a determination of its geographic location depending on reception of signals from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network, when in said first positioning mode and communicating with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network, said wireless computing device being arranged to obtain its geographic location based on reception of signals only from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network and also obtain identification and signal strength information about non-satellite wireless beacons and also derive positional information about at least one of these wireless beacons, for which identification and signal strength information has been obtained but for which positional information is not present in said database, from both the obtained geographic location of said wireless computing device and the obtained identification and signal strength information about the non-satellite wireless beacons, the derived positional information then being included in said database, and when in said second positioning mode and unable to communicate with the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network, said wireless computing device being arranged to determine its geographic location based on reception of signals from at least one non-satellite wireless beacon whose positional information is included in said database and analysis of the signals in light of positional information about wireless beacons contained in said database and from which signals have been received. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27)
-
-
12. A method for enabling a wireless computing device to determine its location both when communicating with one or more satellites of a wireless positioning network and when unable to communicate with any satellites of the wireless positioning network, comprising:
-
coupling the wireless computing device to the wireless positioning network; enabling the geographic location of the wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from only the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network; creating a database of identification and positional information about non-satellite wireless beacons; updating the database of identification and positional information about wireless beacons, when the wireless computing device obtains signals from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network and determines its geographic location based only on signals therefrom, by obtaining identification and signal strength information about non-satellite wireless beacons and deriving positional information about at least one of these wireless beacons, for which identification and signal strength information has been obtained but for which positional information is not present in the database, from the geographic location of the wireless computing device as determined by the wireless computing device and identification and signal strength information obtained b the wireless computing device; including the derived positional information about the at least one of the wireless beacons in the database; and when the wireless computing device does not receive usable signals from the one or more satellites of the wireless positioning network to enable it to determine its geographic location based thereon, determining the geographic location of the wireless computing device from reception of signals from at least one non-satellite wireless beacon whose derived positional information is included in the database and analysis of the received signals in light of the positional information about wireless beacons contained in the updated database and from which signals have been received. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 20, 24, 25)
-
-
15. A method for administering a database of wireless beacons, comprising:
-
maintaining a central database of wireless beacons; wirelessly coupling the central database to a plurality of wireless computing devices; enabling each wireless computing device to determine identification and positional information about wireless beacons not contained in the central database without communicating with the central database; periodically forwarding the identification and positional information about wireless beacons not contained in the central database from the wireless computing devices to the central database; updating the central database to include the forwarded identification and positional information; and periodically directing the updates of the central database to the plurality of wireless computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (16)
-
-
17. A system for enabling a wireless computing device to determine its position, comprising:
-
a central database containing identification and positional information about wireless beacons, said central database being arranged to receive identification and positional information about wireless beacons not previously contained therein and generate database updates based thereon; a wireless computing device including a local database containing positional information about wireless beacons, said wireless computing device being affanged to wirelessly communicate with said central database to receive said database updates and add said database updates to said local database, said wireless computing device being arranged to determine identification and positional information about wireless beacons, whose positional information is not contained in said central database or said local database, without communicating with said central database and to include the identification and positional information about such wireless beacons in said local database; and a wireless positioning system substantially collocated with said wireless computing device, said wireless positioning system being arranged to enable the geographic location of said wireless computing device to be determined upon reception of signals from at least one wireless beacon and analysis of the signals in light of the positional information about wireless beacons contained in said local database. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
Specification