Method and locating device for locating at least one mobile radio subscriber

• US 8,326,320 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2009
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NSRS Comms Ireland Ltd. (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Tektronix Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Gaenger, Karsten, Plogsties, Jens, Kreher, Ralf, Klopfer, Armin
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): COSME, NATASHA W
• Application Number:
  US12/548,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20100056179A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/06 using intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for locating at least one mobile radio subscriber in a mobile radio network, wherein to each transmitting station a value correlated with the receive field strength of a signal from this transmitting station is allocated; including the following steps: a) from the information determined upon connection setup, a table is created per cell, in which at least one distance parameter to the transmitting station of the cell is allocated to the respective receive field strengths; b) for at least one value correlated with the receive field strength and transmitted in the measurement report, the allocated distance parameter to the transmitting station of the respective cell is read out from the table created in step a); and c) determining at least one point satisfying the distance parameter(s) read-out in step b).

Claims

1. A method for locating at least one mobile radio subscriber in a mobile radio network, wherein the mobile radio network includes at least the following characteristics:

the smallest addressable unit is a cell, wherein a transmitting station is associated with each cell;

at least upon connection setup, information about the receive field strength and a parameter correlated with the distance of the mobile radio subscriber to the transmitting station of the active cell is determined;

with and/or without active mobile radio link, a mobile radio subscriber transmits at least once a measurement report, wherein an itemization is provided in the measurement report, which includes at least two transmitting stations, wherein to each transmitting station a value correlated with the receive field strength of a signal from this transmitting station is allocated;

the method comprising;

creating a table per cell based at least in part upon the determined information and in which at least one distance parameter to the transmitting station of the cell is allocated to the respective receive field strengths;

for at least one value correlated with the receive field strength and transmitted in the measurement report, reading out, from the table, the allocated distance parameter to the transmitting station of the respective cell;

determining at least one point satisfying the distance parameter(s), wherein after a connection abort, based on distance parameters determined from a last transmitted measurement report, the allocated distance parameters to at least two transmitting stations are determined for the time (t_CA) of the connection abort by extrapolation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one point includes taking into account at least one opening angle of a transmitting station of a cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one point includes reading out distance parameters to at least two transmitting stations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

between the times at which measurement reports are transmitted, determining, by interpolation, for at least one further time (t_E) and at least one transmitting station, the receive field strength and/or the distance parameter to the at least one transmitting station.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the measurement report every 100 ms to 10 s, or related to an event including a change of the transmitting station received with the greatest receive field strength.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the distance parameter is determined from the Timing Advance Parameter of a G2 mobile radio network or from the Propagation Delay Parameter of a G3 network or corresponds thereto.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the table is created for different mobile radio apparatuses and the reading-out and the determining are effected specifically to a given mobile radio apparatus.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the table is obtained with test drives.

9. A locating device for locating at least one mobile radio subscriber in a mobile radio network, in which the smallest addressable unit is a cell, wherein a transmitting station is associated with each cell;

in which at least upon connection setup, information about the receive field strength and a parameter correlated with the distance of the mobile radio subscriber to the transmitting station of the active cell is determined;

in which with and/or without active mobile radio link, a mobile radio subscriber transmits at least once a measurement report, wherein an itemization is provided in the measurement report, which includes at least two transmitting stations, wherein to each transmitting station a value correlated with the receive field strength of a signal from this transmitting station is allocated;

the locating device being configured to;

create a table per cell from the information determined upon connection setup, in which at least one distance parameter to the transmitting station of the cell is allocated to the respective receive field strengths;

for at least one value correlated with the receive field strength and transmitted in the measurement report, to read out the allocated distance parameter to the transmitting station of the respective cell from the table; and

determine at least one point satisfying the distance parameter(s) wherein after a connection abort, based on distance parameters determined from a last transmitted measurement report, the allocated distance parameters to at least two transmitting stations are determined for the time (t_CA) of the connection abort by extrapolation.

10. The locating device of claim 9, further comprising:

at least one storage device for creating the table.

11. The locating device of claim 9, further comprising:

a display device, wherein the locating device is configured to display the local coordinates of the determined point.

12. The locating device of claim 11, further configured to display a map with the determined point and the receivable transmitting stations.