Terminal device, positioning method, and recording medium

• US 8,022,865 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2010
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kurata, Tomoyuki, Hayashi, Akifumi, Imafuku, Shigeru, Mizuochi, Shunichi, Nagahara, Mikio
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Nga X
• Application Number:
  US12/695,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20100141524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 34235701-35778
• US Class Current: 342/357.25
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/23 Testing, monitoring, correcting or calibrating of receiver elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/29 carrier including Doppler, related G01S19/246 takes precedence

Abstract

A terminal device includes a plurality of search channel sections which search for a positioning satellite, a candidate reception frequency calculation section which calculates a candidate reception frequency of a first acquisition target satellite by causing the search channel sections to perform the correlation accumulation process for a first accumulation time, a candidate frequency confirmation section which confirms reliability of the candidate reception frequency by causing the search channel sections to perform the correlation accumulation process for a second accumulation time longer than the first accumulation time, a final frequency calculation section which calculates a final frequency by causing the search channel sections to perform the correlation accumulation process for a third accumulation time longer than the second accumulation time, and a first difference calculation section which calculates a difference between an estimated synchronization frequency corresponding to each first acquisition target satellite and the final frequency.

Claims

1. A position calculation method that is implemented by a position calculation device that includes a search channel section that searches a positioning satellite, the method comprising:

calculating a frequency by using an SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) that is equal to or greater than a first threshold value as a candidate reception frequency of an acquisition target satellite by causing the search channel section to perform a correlation accumulation process for a first accumulation period within a first search range;

determining whether or not the SNR is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is larger than the first threshold value by causing the search channel section to perform the correlation accumulation process corresponding to the candidate reception frequency for a second accumulation period that is longer than the first accumulation period;

calculating a final frequency when it has been determined that the SNR is equal to or greater than the second threshold value by causing the search channel section to perform the correlation accumulation process for a third accumulation period that is longer than the second accumulation period within a second search range that includes the candidate reception frequency and is narrower than the first search range;

correcting a search frequency using a difference between an estimated synchronization frequency of the acquisition target satellite and the final frequency; and

acquiring the positioning satellite using the search frequency, and calculating a position.

2. A terminal device comprising:

a search channel section that searches a positioning satellite;

a candidate reception frequency calculation section that calculates a frequency by using an SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) that is equal to or greater than a first threshold value as a candidate reception frequency of an acquisition target satellite by causing the search channel section to perform a correlation accumulation process for a first accumulation period within a first search range;

a determination section that determines whether or not the SNR is equal to or greater than a second threshold value that is larger than the first threshold value by causing the search channel section to perform the correlation accumulation process corresponding to the candidate reception frequency for a second accumulation period being longer than the first accumulation period;

a final frequency calculation section that calculates a final frequency when the determination section has determined that the SNR is equal to or greater than the second threshold value by causing the search channel section to perform the correlation accumulation process for a third accumulation period that is longer than the second accumulation period within a second search range that includes the candidate reception frequency and is narrower than the first search range;

a positioning section that corrects a search frequency using a difference between an estimated synchronization frequency of the acquisition target satellite and the final frequency, acquires the positioning satellite using the search frequency, and calculates a position.

3. The terminal device as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

a candidate reception frequency recalculation section that recalculates a frequency with an SNR that is equal to or greater than the first threshold value as the candidate reception frequency of the acquisition target satellite when the determination section has determined that the SNR is not equal to or greater than the second threshold value by causing the search channel section to perform the correlation accumulation process for a fourth accumulation period that is longer than the first accumulation period within the first search range.

4. The terminal device as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

a continuous execution section that causes the search channel section to continuously perform the correlation accumulation process corresponding to the candidate reception frequency until the SNR reaches the second threshold value when the determination section has determined that the SNR is not equal to or greater than the second threshold value.

5. The terminal device as defined in claim 2,

the positioning section requiring at least two acquired positioning satellites in order to calculate the position.