Position determination system that uses A cellular communication system

• US 7,877,100 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Amerga, Messay, Stein, Jeremy M., Fernandez-Corbaton, Ivan, Rick, Roland R., Ristic, Borislav, Bhatia, Ashok
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, HUY Q
• Application Number:
  US12/482,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20090305726A1
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/404.2, 455/403, 455/422.1, 455/550.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A position determination system and apparatus for utilizing a network of cellular base stations to determine position of a mobile station includes taking a plurality of statistically independent data measurements of the pilot signals from the base stations. Each of the data measurements includes an earliest time of arrival, providing multiple independent measurements for each of the pilot signals. For each cellular base station, a representative measurement is calculated responsive to the independent measurements, which is used to determine position of the mobile station using an AFLT algorithm and/or in conjunction with a GPS algorithm. In some embodiments, the data measurements for each pilot signal further include an RMSE estimate and time of measurement for each time of arrival, and an energy measurement for all resolvable paths. If the mobile station comprises a cell phone, a cell search list and a GPS search list may be provided by a cell base station.

Claims

1. A method for determining a position of a mobile station using at least one cellular base station emitting a pilot signal, the method comprising:

taking first data measurements for resolvable signal paths for a pilot signal from a first base station, the first data measurements including a first earliest time of arrival estimate for the resolvable signal paths and a first time of measurement;

taking second data measurements for resolvable signal paths of the pilot signal, the second data measurements substantially statistically independent of the first data measurements, and the second data measurements including a second earliest time of arrival estimate and a second time of measurement;

determining representative data measurements for the first base station based on the first data measurements and the second data measurements, including decreasing weightings of the first and second earliest time of arrival estimates dependent upon the first and second times of measurement; and

determining the position of the mobile station based in part on the representative data measurement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data measurements comprise an RMSE estimate of a path providing the earliest time of arrival estimate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data measurements comprise an energy estimate for all resolvable paths of the pilot signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second time of measurement differs from the first time of measurement by a time difference sufficient to assume the first data measurements are substantially statistically independent of the second data measurements.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the time difference is greater than about 20 milliseconds.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the time difference is in the range of 100 milliseconds to 2 seconds.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the time difference is about 0.5 seconds.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data measurements and the second data measurements are made from signals received at two different locations in space.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the two different locations in space comprise two antennas having a separation of greater than half of a wavelength of a carrier frequency of the pilot signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data measurements and the second data measurements are made from signals received at two different frequencies.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the two different frequencies differ by greater than 1 MegaHertz.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining representative data measurements for the first base station comprises:

determining whether each of the first data measurements and the second data measurements meet a predetermined criteria; and

determining the representative data measurement based on data measurements meeting the predetermined criteria.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises a window of time for estimated earliest time of arrival.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and second data measurements comprise a respective first and second RMSE estimate of a path providing the earliest time of arrival estimate, and wherein the predetermined criteria comprises a maximum RMSE value.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining representative data measurements for the first base station comprises weighting each of the first and second RMSE estimate based on the respective first and second time of measurement, including decreasing the weighting of any of the first or second RMSE estimates whose time of measurement exceeds a threshold age.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining representative data measurements for the first base station comprises averaging the first and second earliest time of arrival estimates.

17. A mobile station that utilizes a cellular network that includes a plurality of cellular base stations each emitting a unique pilot signal, the mobile station comprising:

a cellular communication system for communicating with said cellular base stations and for receiving pilot signals from each of the plurality of cellular base stations;

a database that stores a plurality of data measurements based on resolvable pilot signals received from a first of the plurality of cellular base stations and a plurality of data measurements based on resolvable pilot signals received from a second of the plurality of cellular base stations, each of the data measurements including data substantially statistically independent of other data measurements for a respective base station, wherein each of the data measurements includes an earliest time of arrival estimate for resolvable pilot signals and a time of measurement;

a representative measurement calculation system configured to receive the data measurements from said database, and responsive thereto to provide a representative measurement of the time of arrival for each pilot signal, wherein the representative measurement calculation system is configured to decrease weightings of the earliest time of arrival estimates of the data measurements dependent upon the times of measurement; and

a position calculation and control system configured to receive said representative measurements for each pilot signal and responsive thereto, to determine the position of the mobile station.

18. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein said database includes memory that stores an RMSE estimate for each earliest time of arrival estimate, and said representative measurement calculation system further comprises means for calculating a representative measurement for the RMSE estimate for each pilot signal.

19. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein said database includes memory that stores a total energy value for each of the pilot signals received from each of the plurality of cellular base stations.

20. The mobile station of claim 17, further comprising:

a GPS communication system; and

wherein said position calculation and control system is configured to receive GPS data measurements and determine the position of the mobile station based on the GPS data measurements and the representative measurements for each pilot signal.

21. A mobile station that utilizes a cellular network that includes a plurality of cellular base stations each emitting a unique pilot signal, the mobile station comprising:

means for taking first data measurements for resolvable signal paths for a pilot signal from a first base station, the first data measurements including a first earliest time of arrival estimate for the resolvable signal paths and a first time of measurement;

means for taking second data measurements for resolvable signal paths of the pilot signal the second data measurements substantially statistically independent of the first data measurements, and the second data measurements including a second earliest time of arrival estimate and a second time of measurement;

means for determining representative data measurements for the first base station based on the first data measurements and the second data measurements, including means for decreasing weightings of the first and second earliest time of arrival estimates dependent upon the first and second times of measurement; and

means for determining the position of the mobile station based in part on the representative data measurement.