Method and system for adjusting processing duration in a position-determining system

• US 8,055,272 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2007
• Issued: 11/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Wilson, Scott B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zewdu; Meless N
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US11/786,823
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/404, 455/433, 455/457, 455/9, 455/423, 455/426, 455/440, 455/456.1, 379/45
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for helping to improve processing duration and successful position determination in a position-determining system. The position-determining system receives a request to determine position of a mobile station, such as a cellular wireless communication device, and the request includes a timer value indicative of the maximum allowed time for responding to the request. The position-determining system then dynamically determines how long to spend attempting a primary location-determination process, based on the indicated timer value and an expected time necessary to employ a fallback, or secondary, location-determination process. If the position-determining system fails to determine the position within the time allocated to the primary process, it resorts to application of the secondary position-determination process. If either the primary or the secondary tier of location determination determines a position, that position is returned to the requesting entity; otherwise, a default or error message is returned.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting processing duration in a position-determining system, wherein the position-determining system applies a primary mechanism to determine a position and, if the primary mechanism fails to determine the position, then applies a secondary mechanism to determine the position, the method comprising:

receiving into the position-determining system a request to determine the position, the request including a designation of total allowed processing duration for determining the position, wherein the request comprises a Geo Position Request (GPOSREQ) from a mobile positioning center (MPC);

responsively computing a primary allowed processing duration as a difference between (i) the designated total allowed processing duration and (ii) a predefined value representing an expected duration for successfully applying the secondary mechanism to determine the position;

detecting that the computed primary allowed processing duration has passed while applying the primary mechanism without yet successfully determining the position, and responsively transitioning to apply the secondary mechanism in an effort to determine the position; and

outputting to the MPC a GPOSREQ return result (gposreq_rr) that designates the position determined by the secondary mechanism.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a field of the GPOSREQ that carries delay guidance information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a PositionQualityofService (PQOS) field of the GPOSREQ.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a PQOS Response time portion of the PositionQualityofService field of the GPOSREQ.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPC receives the request from a location-based service (LBS) application, and wherein the MPC transmits an indication of the designated position to the location-based service application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary mechanism comprises Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS), and the secondary mechanism comprises a mechanism selected from the group consisting of (i) satellite-network hybrid, (ii) Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT), and (iii) cell/sector location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the position is a position of a cellular mobile station.

8. A position-determining system comprising:

a communication-interface;

a processor;

data storage; and

position-determining logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processor, upon receipt of a request to determine a position of a mobile station, to apply a primary mechanism to determine the position and, if the primary mechanism fails to determine the position, to then apply a secondary mechanism to determine the position,

wherein, the request includes a designation of total allowed processing duration for determining the position,

wherein the request comprises a Geo Position Request (GPOSREQ) from a mobile positioning center (MPC),

wherein the position-determining logic is executable, upon receipt of the request, to compute a primary allowed processing duration as a difference between (i) the designated total allowed processing duration and (ii) a predefined value representing an expected duration for successfully applying the secondary mechanism to determine the position,

wherein the position-determining logic is executable to detect that the computed primary allowed processing duration has passed while applying the primary mechanism without yet successfully determining the position, and to responsively transition to apply the secondary mechanism in an effort to determine the position,

wherein the position-determining logic is further executable to output for transmission to the MPC a GPOSREQ return result (gposreq_rr) that designates the position determined by the secondary mechanism.

9. The position-determining system of claim 8, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a field of the GPOSREQ that carries delay guidance information.

10. The position-determining system of claim 8, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a PositionQualityofService (PQOS) field of the GPOSREQ.

11. The position-determining system of claim 10, wherein the designated total allowed processing duration is included in a PQOS Response time portion of the PositionQualityofService field of the GPOSREQ.

12. The position-determining system of claim 8, wherein the primary mechanism comprises Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS), and the secondary mechanism comprises a mechanism selected from the group consisting of (i) satellite-network hybrid, (ii) Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT), and (iii) cell/sector location.

13. The position-determining system of claim 8, wherein the position is a position of a cellular mobile station.

14. A position-determining system comprising:

a communication-interface;

a processor;

data storage; and

position-determining logic stored in the data storage and executable by the processor, upon receipt of a request to determine a position of a mobile station, to apply a primary mechanism to determine the position and, if the primary mechanism fails to determine the position, to then apply a secondary mechanism to determine the position,

wherein, the request includes a designation of total allowed processing duration for determining the position,

wherein the request comprises a Geo Position Request (GPOSREQ) from a mobile positioning center (MPC), wherein the MPC receives the request from a location-based service (LBS) application,

wherein the position-determining logic is executable, upon receipt of the request, to compute a primary allowed processing duration as a difference between (i) the designated total allowed processing duration and (ii) a predefined value representing an expected duration for successfully applying the secondary mechanism to determine the position,

wherein the position-determining logic is executable to detect that the computed primary allowed processing duration has passed while applying the primary mechanism without yet successfully determining the position, and to responsively transition to apply the secondary mechanism in an effort to determine the position, and

wherein the position-determining logic is further executable to output for transmission to the MPC a GPOSREQ return result (gposreq_rr) that designates the position determined by the secondary mechanism, and wherein the MPC transmits an indication of the designated position to the location-based service application.