Facility for selecting a mobile device location determination technique

• US 8,311,557 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2009
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Annamalai, Magesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khan, Mehmood B
• Application Number:
  US12/467,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20100291947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 455/435.3, 455436-444, 4554561-457, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/385 of the core network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A facility for selecting a location determination technique from multiple available location determination techniques in order to determine the location of a mobile device in a cost or resource efficient manner. In order to select the location determination technique, the facility may consider various criteria such as the cost of employing the techniques, quality of service (QoS) criteria, the capabilities and/or resources of given mobile devices and/or networks, and/or the like. To select the location determination technique, the facility may rank the multiple location determination techniques according to weighted criteria and select the location determination technique according to the ranking. The criteria may be weighted according to the relative importance of each criterion to a requesting location-based service.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a location determination technique for determining a location of a mobile device, comprising:

detecting a request to determine the location of the mobile device;

determining a cost criterion, a resource criterion, and a quality of service (QoS) criterion that are associated with the detected request to determine the location of the mobile device;

determining two or more location determination techniques that are currently employable to determine the location of the mobile device;

assigning a weight to the cost criterion, a weight to the resource criterion, and a weight to the QoS criterion,

ranking the determined two or more location determination techniques according to the cost criterion, the resource criterion, and the QoS criterion,

wherein the ranking is performed utilizing the weighted cost criterion, the weighted resource criterion, and the weighted QoS criterion; and

selecting a location determination technique from the determined two or more location determination techniques according to the ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing the selected location determination technique to determine the location of the mobile device; and

providing the determined location of the mobile device to an originator of the request for the location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

disassociating the mobile device from a first network with which the mobile device was associated; and

associating the mobile device to a second network through which the selected location determination technique may be executed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the QoS criterion associated with the selected location determination technique is based on at least one of a horizontal accuracy, a vertical accuracy, a horizontal precision, a vertical precision, or a response time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multiple location determination techniques includes techniques based on a Time Difference on Arrival (TDOA) technique, a Global Positioning System (GPS), an Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS), an Emergency Intersystem Handoff (EISHO) technique, a Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement, an Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) technique, or triangulation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the multiple location determination techniques is employable to determine the location of the mobile device according to an identifier of at least one of a cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site;

wherein the at least one of the cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site is within communications range of the mobile device; and

wherein the identifier includes at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Cell Global Identity (CGI), an Enhanced Cell Global Identity (E-CGI), a Media Access Control (MAC) address, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), or a serial number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on one of a mobile device, base station, Node-B, Base Station Controller, Radio Network Controller, eNode-B, access point, Unlicensed Network Controller, Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC), Standalone Assisted Global Positioning System SMLC, Mobility Management Entity, IP Multimedia Subsystem, Secure User Plane Location system, switch, or Gateway Mobile Location Center.

8. A method of selecting a location determination technique for purposes of estimating a location of a mobile device, comprising:

determining an availability of a plurality of location determination techniques that may be used to estimate the location of a mobile device;

assigning a weight to a quality of service (QoS) criterion associated with a selected location determination technique;

assigning a weight to a cost criterion associated with employing the selected location determination technique, to a resource criterion associated with the selected location determination technique, or to both a cost criterion associated with employing the selected location determination technique and to a resource criterion associated with the selected location determination technique;

ranking the plurality of location determination techniques according to (a) the weighted QoS criterion, and (b) the weighted cost criterion, the weighted resource criterion, or both the weighted cost criterion and the weighted resource criterion; and

selecting an available location determination technique from the plurality of location determination techniques based at least in part on the ranking.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

implementing the selected location determination technique to determine the location of the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

associating the mobile device to a network according to the selected location determination technique; and

employing the associated network and the selected location determination technique to estimate the location of the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein a given location determination technique is determined to be available if the mobile device and at least one network that is accessible to the mobile device are capable of employing or facilitating the given location determination technique.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the availability of each of the multiple location determination techniques includes:

determining, for each of the plurality of location determination techniques, whether the mobile device is capable of employing or facilitating the location determination technique;

identifying networks currently accessible to the mobile device; and

determining, for each of the plurality of location determination techniques, whether at least one of the identified networks is capable of employing or facilitating the location determination technique.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one of the identified networks is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM) network, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, an Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) network, an Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) network, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, an Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) network, a Generic Access Network (GAN) network, an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) network, a VoIP network, a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled network, or an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) enabled network.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the resource criterion associated with employing the location determination technique relates to the use of a network resource or to the use of a mobile device resource.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting the available location determination technique is based on a requesting location-based service or an expected frequency of estimating the location of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the QoS criterion associated with the selected location determination technique is based on at least one of a horizontal accuracy, a vertical accuracy, a horizontal precision, a vertical precision, or a response time.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of location determination techniques includes techniques based on a Time Difference on Arrival (TDOA) technique, a Global Positioning System (GPS), an Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS), an Emergency Intersystem Handoff (EISHO) technique, a Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement, an Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) technique, or triangulation.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of location determination techniques is employable to estimate the location of the mobile device according to an identifier of at least one of a cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site;

wherein the at least one of the cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site is within communications range of the mobile device; and

wherein the identifier includes at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Cell Global Identity (CGI), an Enhanced Cell Global Identity (E-CGI), a Media Access Control (MAC) address, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), or a serial number.

19. A tangible processor-readable storage medium storing processor-readable instructions, which, when executed, cause a processing component to execute a method of selecting a location determination technique, the method comprising:

detecting a request to locate the mobile device;

determining a quality of service (QoS) criterion associated with the detected request;

determining at least one of a cost criterion associated with the detected request or a resource criterion associated with the detected request;

determining two or more location determination techniques that are currently employable to locate the mobile device;

assigning a weight to the QoS criterion;

assigning a weight to the cost criterion, to the resource criterion or to both the cost criterion and the resource criterion; and

ranking the determined two or more location determination techniques according to the determined criterion,

wherein ranking the determined two or more location determination techniques is performed utilizing (a) the weighted QoS criterion and (b) the weighted cost criterion, the weighted resource criterion or both the weighted cost criterion and the weighted resource criterion; and

selecting a location determination technique from the determined two or more location determination techniques according to the ranking.

20. The tangible processor-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

implementing the selected location determination technique to locate the mobile device; and

providing the location of the mobile device to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

21. The tangible processor-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the QoS criterion is based on at least one of a horizontal accuracy, a vertical accuracy, a horizontal precision, a vertical precision, or a response time.

22. A system for selecting a location determination technique capable of locating a mobile device, comprising:

means for determining whether each of multiple location determination techniques is available to estimate the location of the mobile device;

means for assigning weights to a quality of service (QoS) criterion associated with a selected location determination technique, and to a cost criterion associated with employing the selected location determination technique, to a resource criterion associated with the selected location determination technique, or to both a cost criterion associated with employing the selected location determination technique and a resource criterion associated with the selected location determination technique;

means for ranking the multiple location determination techniques according to (a) the weighted QoS criterion and to (b) the weighted cost criterion, the weighted resource criterion or both the weighted cost criterion and the weighted resource criterion; and

means for selecting the available location determination technique from the multiple location determination techniques based at least in part on the ranking.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for implementing the selected location determination technique; and

means for providing the location of the mobile device to the mobile device or to a requesting party.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein at least one of the multiple location determination techniques is employable to estimate the location of the mobile device according to an identifier of at least one of a cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site, wherein the at least one of the cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site is accessible to the mobile device, and wherein the identifier includes at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Cell Global Identity (CGI), an Enhanced Cell Global Identity (E-CGI), a Media Access Control (MAC) address, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), or a serial number.

25. A system for estimating a location of a mobile device located at a geographical location, comprising:

a first component configured to;

(a) determine an availability of each of multiple location determination techniques to estimate the location of the mobile device,

(b) assign weights to a quality of service (QoS) criterion associated with a selected location determination technique and a cost criterion associated with employing the selected location determination technique,

(c) rank the multiple location determination techniques according to the weighted QoS criterion and the weighted cost criterion, and

(d) select an available location determination technique from the multiple location determination techniques based at least in part on the ranking; and

a second component configured to implement the selected location determination technique to estimate the location of the mobile device.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first component is further configured to (a) assign a weight to a resource criterion associated with the selected location determination technique, (b) rank the multiple location determination techniques according to the weighted QoS criterion, the weighted cost criterion, and the weighted resource criterion, and (c) select the available location determination technique according to the ranking.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein first component includes at least one of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a switch, a femtocell access point, a picocell access point, a base station, a cell site, a Base Station Controller (BSC), a network controller, a Node-B, an eNode-B, a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC), a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC), or a Standalone Assisted Global Position System SMLC (SAS).

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the first and second components are within a Mobile Switching Center (MSC).

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the second component is the mobile device.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the first component is configured to operate as a network component in at least one of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM) network, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, an Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) network, an Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) network, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, an Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) network, a Generic Access Network (GAN) network, an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) network, a VoIP network, a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled network, or an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) enabled network.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein at least one of the multiple location determination techniques includes techniques based on a Time Difference on Arrival (TDOA) technique, a Global Positioning System (GPS), an Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS), an Emergency Intersystem Handoff (EISHO) technique, a Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement, an Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) technique, or triangulation;

or wherein at least one of the multiple location determination techniques is employable to determine the location of the mobile device according to an identifier of at least one of a cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site;

wherein the at least one of the cell, femtocell, picocell, access point, or cell site is accessible to the mobile device; and

wherein the identifier includes at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Cell Global Identity (CGI), an Enhanced Cell Global Identity (E-CGI), a Media Access Control (MAC) address, a Service Set Identifier (SSID), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), or a serial number.