Locating system and method

• US 8,195,200 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2006
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NorBelle LLC
• Original Assignee: NorBelle LLC
• Inventors: Mohi, Norman, Keegan, Richard G., Olivier, Robert, Hume, James, Scislowski, Mark, Judge, Kevin S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gu, Andy
• Application Number:
  US11/417,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20070037587A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,225 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.6
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/16 Anti-theft; Abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/25 involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• 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: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/54 using carrier phase measurements; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/006 for emergency situations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/008 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services

Abstract

A mobile rover has a navigation receiver receiving radio positioning data from radio positioning entities. The mobile rover can report its position to a mobile controller unit or another entity so that the location of the mobile unit can be tracked based on the radio positioning data received by the mobile rover. The radio positioning data can be processed by processing systems within the mobile rover, mobile controller, or other entities such as a position determination entity or a position determination entity proxy. The processing systems can also perform calculations to augment the radio positioning data to provide more accurate estimates of the position of the mobile controller and/or the mobile rover. The mobile controller and/or the mobile rover may be cellular telephones within a cellular network.

Claims

1. A method for determining navigation data for a location subject having at least one location data receiver using location measurement data provided by one or more location measurement data sources of a location technology source, the method comprising:

(a) establishing a location for the location subject

(b) calculating one or more theoretical ranges from the location subject to the one or more location measurement data sources based on the location of the location subject

(c) obtaining location measurement data via a location receiver of the location subject from the one or more location measurement data sources;

(d) calculating one or more augmented ranges from the one or more theoretical ranges and a percentage of a difference between the theoretical ranges and one or more range related parameters contained in the location measurement data;

(e) establishing an updated location of the location subject based on the augmented ranges; and

(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) while decreasing the percentage of the difference between the one or more theoretical ranges and the one or more range related parameters until a defined minimum percentage is reached,

wherein a range residual is calculated for each location measurement source providing location measurement data to the location subject and the method further comprises;

determining a mean range residual and a population standard deviation for range related parameters obtained from all location measurement data sources;

low pass filtering the population standard deviation;

identifying a location measurement data source having a largest difference between its range residual and the mean range residual; and

comparing the largest difference with a defined maximum threshold and eliminating location measurement data from the identified location measurement data source from calculations.

2. A method for determining navigation data for a location subject having at least one location data receiver using location measurement data provided by one or more location measurement data sources of a location technology source, the method comprising:

(a) establishing a location for the location subject

(b) calculating one or more theoretical ranges from the location subject to the one or more location measurement data sources based on the location of the location subject

(c) obtaining location measurement data via a location receiver of the location subject from the one or more location measurement data sources;

(d) calculating one or more augmented ranges from the one or more theoretical ranges and a percentage of a difference between the theoretical ranges and one or more range related parameters contained in the location measurement data;

(e) establishing an updated location of the location subject based on the augmented ranges; and

(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) while decreasing the percentage of the difference between the one or more theoretical ranges and the one or more range related parameters until a defined minimum percentage is reached,

wherein the at least one location subject comprises at least two location subjects, wherein one location subject is a controller and another location subject is a rover and the method further comprises;

determining an extent of commonality between location measurement data sources providing location measurement data to the controller and to the rover;

if the extent of commonality is greater than a specified value, calculating absolute navigation data for the controller and calculating relative navigation data for the rover relative to the controller; and

if the extent of commonality is less than a specified value, calculating absolute navigation data for the controller and calculating absolute navigation data for the rover.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the controller has a display and the method further comprises displaying a bearing line from the controller to the rover relative to the heading and position of the controller.

4. A method for calculating navigation data for one or more location subjects, the method comprising:

obtaining location measurement data at the one or more location subjects from a plurality of location measurement data sources of a location technology source;

generating augmented location measurements by one or more of the following three steps;

normalizing the location measurement data to maintain a consistent initial condition for a measurement set,

smoothing the location measurement data, and

eliminating any location measurement data outside specified limits;

time aligning all augmented location measurements;

determining expected position values based on time aligned location measurements;

filtering the expected position values and time aligned location measurements to provide calculated navigation data for the one or more location subjects,

wherein the one or more location subjects comprise a controller and at least one rover unit and the method further comprises;

determining an extent of commonality between location measurement data sources providing location measurement data to the controller and to the at least one rover;

if the extent of commonality is greater than a specified value, calculating absolute navigation data for the controller and calculating relative navigation data for the at least one rover relative to the controller; and

if the extent of commonality is less than a specified value, calculating absolute navigation data for the controller and calculating absolute navigation data for the at least one rover.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the controller has a display and the method further comprises displaying a bearing line from the controller to the at least one rover on the display relative to the heading and position of the controller.

6. A method for providing improved pseudorange values to a location subject using pseudorange data provided by a plurality of location measurement data sources of a location technology source, the method comprising steps of:

(a) obtaining pseudorange data at the location subject from each location measurement data source;

(b) establishing a position for the location subject;

(c) determining a theoretical range between the position of the location subject and each location measurement data source;

(c) calculating a plurality of range residuals, each range residual being calculated for each location measurement data source based on a difference between the theoretical range to the location measurement data source and the pseudorange data obtained from the location measurement data source;

(d) calculating a residual mean and a residual sigma for the plurality of range residuals;

(e) establish a threshold value based on the residual sigma;

(f) determine if a difference between the range residual for any one location measurement data source and the residual mean is greater than the threshold;

(g) if there is no difference greater than the threshold, calculate an improved pseudorange value for each location measurement data source by subtracting the residual mean from the pseudorange data obtained from that location measurement data source;

(h) if there is a difference greater than the threshold, determine if valid pseudorange data has been obtained from enough location measurement data sources to establish a position;

(i) if valid pseudorange data has been obtained from enough location measurement data sources, calculate an improved pseudorange value for each location measurement data source that has a difference less than or equal the threshold by subtracting the residual mean from the pseudorange data obtained from that location measurement data source; and

(j) if valid pseudorange data has not been obtained from enough location measurement data sources;

add a low pass filtered residual sigma to the residual sigma and repeat steps (a) through (j).

7. A tangible computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method according to claim 6.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the location subject comprises a cellular telephone communicating with a cellular network, whereby the method improves a determined location for the cellular telephone.