System and method for reference data processing in network assisted position determination

• US 7,522,588 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2002
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Moeglein, Mark, McGloin, Justin, Biacs, Zoltan
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson; Robert W
• Application Number:
  US10/318,448
• Publication Number:
  US 20030210656A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,321 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/209, 701/213, 701/214, 701/215, 342/450, 34235701-35715, 455/456.1, 455/517, 370/401, 370/389, 370/316, 370/313
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

A system and method of preprocessing reference data in a reference assisted location technology are disclosed. A plurality of reference stations each provides reference data over a network to a preprocessing. The preprocessor analyzes the data from the multiple reference stations and eliminates multiples sets of redundant data. In addition, the preprocessor can perform quality assurance checks on the data as well as the status of the reference stations themselves. Non-redundant data may also be preprocessed to perform differential GPS calculations. The preprocessed data is transmitted to one or more position servers for additional processing and position determination.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing reference data for wireless assisted positioning using data received from a plurality of reference data sources for subsequent processing by a position determining processor (PDP), comprising:

a communication controller to control communication with the reference data sources and to receive the reference data therefrom;

a first reference data processor communicatively coupled to the communication controller to receive the reference data therefrom; and

a second reference data processor to process the reference data from the plurality of reference data sources,

wherein the plurality of reference data sources are associated with a first network and the PDP is associated with a second network, with the first reference data processor being associated with the first network and the second reference data processor being associated with the second network, the first reference data processor functioning in a pass through mode to forward the reference data to the second reference data processor, and

wherein the second reference data processor processes the reference data from the reference data sources by comparing raw data from at least two of the plurality of reference data sources to remove redundant reference data and thereby generate processed data, the second reference data processor communicating the processed data to the PDP.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second reference data processor receives the reference data from the first network via a communication link coupling the first and second networks.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the PDP is implemented as a part of a computer system, the second reference data processor being a portion of the PDP computer system.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second networks are coup1ed together by a wide area network (WAN).

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second reference data processor further analyzes the reference data to remove unreliable reference data received from the plurality of reference data sources, the processed data comprising data determined to be reliable.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the second reference data processor further analyzes the performance of the plurality of reference data sources based on reliability of reference data from the respective reference data sources.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference data comprises a sequence of data packets received by the communication controller, the second reference data processor analyzing the data packet sequence from at least a portion of the plurality of reference data sources to generate statistical data regarding the performance of the portion of reference data sources.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the statistical performance data is based at least in part on data related to out of sequence data packets, missing data packets, and missing data portions within the data packets.

9. An apparatus for processing reference data for wireless assisted positioning using data received from a plurality of reference data sources, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of reference data processors to receive said reference data from a plurality of position location reference stations, said plurality of reference data processors collectively generating processed data from the received reference data, in part, by decoding raw data from the plurality of position location reference stations and comparing raw data from at least two of the plurality of position location reference stations by comparing a time tag and data content of the received reference data to determine a presence of redundant raw data and inhibiting transmission of redundant data;

said plurality of reference data processors being implemented in a distributed architecture to perform preprocessing of said reference data, workload being divided among said plurality of reference data processors; and

a position determining processor (PDP) coupled to receive said processed data and configured to generate aiding information including at least one of ephemeris data or almanac data and forward the aiding information to a position determining entity.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of reference data sources are associated with a first network and the PDP is associated with a second network, the plurality of reference data processors being associated with the second network.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the plurality of reference data processors receive the reference data from the first network via a communication link coupling the first and second networks, the plurality of reference data processors communicating the processed data to the PDP via the second network.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of reference data sources are associated with a first network and the PDP is associated with a second network, the first and second networks being coupled together by a wide area network (WAN).

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a communication controller to control communication with the plurality of reference data sources and to receive the reference data therefrom, and configured to provide the reference data to the plurality of reference data processors.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the reference data comprises a sequence of data packets received by the communication controller, the plurality of reference data processors analyzing the data packet sequence from at least a portion of the plurality of reference data sources to generate statistical data regarding the performance of the portion of reference data sources.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the statistical performance data is based at least in part on data related to out of sequence data packets, missing data packets, and missing data portions within the data packets.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of reference data processors further analyze the reference data to remove unreliable reference data received from the plurality of reference data sources, the processed data comprising data determined to be reliable.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the plurality of reference data processors further analyze performance of the plurality of reference data sources based on reliability of reference data from the respective reference data sources.