Method and apparatus for WLAN location services

• US 8,099,107 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2006
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomson, Allan, Stephenson, David Sheldon, Polk, James Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEHRA, INDER P
• Application Number:
  US11/409,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20070249366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/254, 370/352, 370/260, 370/328, 370/331, 370/339, 455/414.1, 455/456, 455/456.3, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 705/50, 705/65
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to providing location services in a wireless network. According to one implementation of the present invention, the wireless network infrastructure provides high-accuracy location information via location services to wireless clients. In one embodiment, during an advertisement phase, a location server provides a list of available location services to wireless clients via a central controller. In another embodiment, during a presentation phase, a driver of the wireless client presents the available location services to one or more applications of the wireless client. In another embodiment, during a request phase, the driver transmits a location service request to the central controller, which passes the location service request to the location server.

Claims

1. Logic for requesting one or more location services provided by a network infrastructure, the logic encoded in one or more non-transitory computer readable media for execution and when executed operable to:

access, at a wireless client station, one or more wireless advertisements transmitted by a wireless access point, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements identify one or more location services which an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive a location of the wireless client station;

populate a data structure maintained at the wireless client station and accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station with information relating to the one or more location services;

present one or more application programming interfaces to the one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station to allow for selection of one or more of the one or more location services; and

transmit, responsive to selection of one or more of the identified location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames.

2. The logic of claim 1 wherein at least one location service comprises an on-demand location service.

3. The logic of claim 1 wherein at least one location service comprises an update location service.

4. The logic of claim 1 wherein the one or more wireless advertisements further comprise one or more location service options comprising one or more of a format option, resolution option, and an encoding option.

5. The logic of claim 1 wherein the WLAN management frames are one or more of any of the following WLAN management frames including Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

6. In a wireless client, a method comprising:

accessing, at a wireless client station, one or more wireless advertisements transmitted by a wireless access point, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements identify one or more location services which an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive a location of the wireless client station;

populating a data structure maintained at the wireless client station and accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station with information relating to the one or more location services;

presenting one or more application programming interfaces to the one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station to allow for selection of one or more of the one or more location services; and

transmitting, responsive to selection of one or more of the identified location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein at least one location service comprises an on-demand location service.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein at least one location service comprises an update location service.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more wireless advertisements further comprise one or more location service options comprising one or more of a format option, resolution option, and an encoding option.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the WLAN management frames are one or more of any of the following WLAN management frames including Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

11. A wireless client comprising:

a wireless network interface;

a memory;

a processor; and

a data storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions operable, when executed to cause the processor and the wireless network interface to;

access one or more wireless advertisements transmitted by a wireless access point, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements identify one or more location services which an application hosted on the wireless client can access to receive a location of the wireless client station;

populate a data structure maintained in the memory and accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client with information relating to the one or more location services;

present one or more application programming interfaces to the one or more applications hosted on the wireless client to allow for selection of one or more of the one or more location services; and

transmit, responsive to selection of one or more of the identified location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services,

wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames.

12. Logic for providing one or more location services provided by a network infrastructure, the logic encoded in one or more non-transitory computer readable media for execution and when executed operable to:

transmit, to a wireless client station, wireless frames advertising one or more location services which an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive a location of the wireless client station, wherein the wireless frames are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames;

forward location service requests received from wireless clients to a location server; and

generate path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.

13. The logic of claim 12 wherein the logic is operable to collect location data for a wireless client if a received location service request is an on-demand request.

14. The logic of claim 12 wherein the WLAN management frames are one or more of any of the following WLAN management frames including Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

15. In a wireless network infrastructure node, a method comprising:

transmitting, to a wireless client station, wireless frames advertising one or more location services which an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive a location of the wireless client station, wherein the wireless frames are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the link-layer wireless network management frames;

forwarding location service requests received from wireless clients to a location server; and

generating path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

collecting location data for a wireless client if a received location service request is an on-demand request.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the WLAN management frames are one or more of any of the following WLAN management frames including Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting wireless frames advertising one or more location services, wherein the wireless frames are link-layer wireless network management frames, and wherein the one or more location services are contained in information elements appended to the wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames;

means for forwarding location service requests received from wireless clients to a location server; and

means for generating path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.