Method of and system for calibrating a repeater

• US 8,081,990 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Soliman, Samir S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cho, Un C
• Application Number:
  US11/937,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20080146247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,503 Days
• Field of Search: 455/7, 455/10, 455/13.1, 455/13.2, 455/18, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.5, 455/456.6
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0205 Details
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/21 for calibration; for correcting measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method of and system for calibrating a repeater in a wireless communications system are provided. The one or more calibration parameters for the repeater are derived from (a) time measurements derived from one or more signals relayed by the repeater and received at a plurality of different measurement positions, and (b) the positions of the measurement locations. In one application, the one or more parameters are used in determining the positions of subscriber stations in the wireless communications system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving information indicative of a time of arrival of a signal at a mobile unit;

determining that the signal is from a particular repeater;

accessing calibration information associated with the particular repeater, wherein the calibration information includes time information indicative of a forward link delay from an originating transmitter to the particular repeater and of a repeater self delay associated with the particular repeater, and position information indicative of the position of the repeater; and

determining a mobile unit position based at least in part on the time of arrival of the signal at the mobile unit and the calibration information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is a signal generated by the originating transmitter and relayed by the particular repeater, and wherein the calibration information further comprises information indicative of an offset between system time and time at the originating transmitter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the signal is from a particular repeater comprises generating a correlation output by correlating the signal with a generated pseudorandom noise (PN) code to produce a correlation output and determining that the signal is from the particular repeater based on the correlation output.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed at least partially by a position determination entity separate from the mobile unit and the particular repeater.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed at least partially by the mobile unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the calibration information associated with the particular repeater is performed at a first time, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving information indicative of a later time of arrival of another signal at the mobile unit;

determining that the another signal is from the particular repeater;

accessing updated calibration information associated with the particular repeater, wherein the updated calibration information includes at least some different information than the calibration information; and

determining a mobile unit position based at least in part on the later time of arrival of the another signal at the mobile unit and the updated calibration information.

7. A method of calibrating a repeater comprising:

receiving information indicative of a time of arrival of received signals at a plurality of measurement locations, wherein the received signals were generated by an originating transmitter and relayed by a particular repeater; and

determining time calibration information indicative of a forward link delay from the originating transmitter to the particular repeater and a repeater self delay associated with the particular repeater using the information indicative of the time of arrival of each of the received signals and using position information for each of the plurality of measurement locations.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining repeater position information indicative of a position of the particular repeater using the information indicative of the time of arrival of the signal at each of the plurality of measurement locations and using position information for each of the plurality of measurement locations.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the method is performed at least partially by a position determination entity located separate from each of the plurality of measurement locations.

10. A mobile unit comprising:

a receiver configured to receive signals from base stations and repeaters in a communication system;

a correlator to generate a correlation output using the received signals and using generated signals; and

control logic to;

access the correlation output;

determine that the correlation output indicates that a first received signal was relayed by a particular repeater;

access calibration information associated with the particular repeater, wherein the calibration information includes time information indicative of a forward link delay from an originating transmitter to the particular repeater and of a repeater self delay associated with the particular repeater, and position information indicative of the position of the particular repeater;

determine time of arrival information associated with the first received signal; and

determine the mobile unit position based at least in part on the time of arrival information associated with the first received signal and the calibration information.

11. The mobile unit of claim 10, wherein the mobile unit further includes a processor and a memory, and wherein the control logic is implemented at least partially in software instructions stored in the memory to be executed by the processor.

12. An apparatus to determine position information associated with a mobile unit comprising:

control logic configured to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising;

accessing information indicative of a time of arrival of a first received signal at the mobile unit;

accessing information indicative that the first received signal was relayed to the mobile unit by a particular repeater;

accessing calibration information associated with the particular repeater, wherein the calibration information includes time information indicative of a forward link delay from an originating transmitter to the particular repeater and of a repeater self delay associated with the particular repeater, and position information indicative of the position of the particular repeater; and

determining the position information associated with the mobile unit based at least in part on the time of arrival information associated with the first received signal and the calibration information associated with the particular repeater.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is included in a position determining entity, and wherein the accessing information indicative of the time of arrival of the first received signal at the mobile unit comprises receiving time measurement information from the mobile unit.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is included in a position determining entity, and wherein the accessing information indicative that the first received signal was relayed to the mobile unit by the particular repeater comprises receiving a correlation output from the mobile unit and determining that the first received signal was relayed to the mobile unit by the particular repeater using the correlation output.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is included in a mobile unit, wherein the mobile unit includes a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, and wherein the control logic is implemented at least partially in software stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus comprises a machine-readable medium, and wherein the control logic comprises software instructions stored in the medium and configured to cause one or more machines to perform the operations.

17. A system comprising:

means for receiving information indicative of a time of arrival of a signal at a mobile unit;

means for determining that the signal is from a particular repeater;

means for accessing calibration information associated with the particular repeater, wherein the calibration information includes time information indicative of a forward link delay from an originating transmitter to the particular repeater and of a repeater self delay, and position information indicative of the position of the repeater; and

means for determining a mobile unit position based at least in part on the time of arrival of the signal at the mobile unit and the calibration information.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the signal is a signal generated by the originating transmitter and relayed by the particular repeater, and wherein the calibration information further comprises information indicative of an offset between system time and time at the originating transmitter.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the means for determining that the signal is from a particular repeater comprises means for correlating the signal with a generated pseudorandom noise (PN) code to produce a correlation output and wherein the means for determining that the signal is from a particular repeater comprises a means for determining the signal is from a particular repeater based on the correlation output.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the system comprises at least a portion included in a position determination entity separate from the mobile unit and the particular repeater.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the system comprises at least a portion included in the mobile unit.