Method and apparatus for determining location of a mobile station based on locations of multiple nearby mobile stations

• US 8,417,264 B1
• Filed: 05/14/2009
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Whitney, Jason K., Delker, Jason R., Everson, John M., Lundy, Michael T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US12/465,846
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.6
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/08 using synchronised clocks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining the location of a mobile station based on the locations of a group of nearby mobile stations. A mobile station implementing the method will engage in short-range wireless communication with nearby mobile stations to determine the location of the nearby mobile stations and the distances between it and each nearby mobile station. The mobile station will then apply triangulation or another algorithm to compute its own location based on the determined locations and distances of the nearby mobile stations. Further, a serving radio access network can assist by providing a trust-signal to the nearby mobile stations, with the nearby mobile stations then reporting their locations conditional upon their receipt of both the location query and the trust-signal.

Claims

1. A method for a given cellular telephone to determine its own location, the method comprising:

wirelessly transmitting via at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone a location query for receipt by each of a plurality of nearby cellular telephones, wherein the given cellular telephone is served by a radio access network (RAN) and wherein the location query passes from the given cellular telephone, respectively, to each nearby cellular telephone without passing through the RAN along the way from the given cellular telephone to the nearby cellular telephone;

wirelessly receiving via the at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone, respectively from each of the nearby cellular telephones, a report of location of the nearby cellular telephone, wherein the report is provided by the nearby cellular telephone in response to at least the location query from the given cellular telephone;

wirelessly transmitting to the RAN, via the at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone, a request that includes a key, wherein the request causes the RAN to (a) select the plurality of nearby cellular telephones based on the nearby cellular telephones having been in communication with a location server and (b) provide each of the selected nearby cellular telephones with a trust-signal that includes the key, wherein each of the nearby cellular telephones conditions reporting of its respective location on (i) receiving the location query from the given cellular telephone and (ii) receiving the trust-signal from the RAN;

the given cellular telephone determining a distance, respectively, between the given cellular telephone and each nearby cellular telephone of the plurality; and

the given cellular telephone triangulating to determine the location of the given cellular telephone based on the reported locations of the nearby cellular telephones and the determined distances between the given cellular telephone and the nearby cellular telephones.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encountering at the given cellular telephone a trigger for determining its own location,

wherein wirelessly transmitting the location query and wirelessly transmitting the request both occur in response to the encountering of the trigger.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the distance, respectively, between the given cellular telephone and each nearby cellular telephone of the plurality comprises determining the distance based on signal delay between the cellular telephone and the nearby cellular telephone.

4. A method of determining location of a given mobile station based on locations of nearby mobile stations, wherein the given mobile station is served by a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising:

the given mobile station (i) wirelessly signaling to the RAN a request to cause the RAN to (a) select the nearby mobile stations based on the nearby mobile stations having been in communication with a location server and (b) wirelessly output a trust-signal for receipt by the selected nearby mobile stations and (ii) wirelessly outputting a location query for receipt by the nearby mobile stations, wherein each of the nearby mobile stations receives both the trust-signal from the RAN and the location query from the given mobile station and, responsive to and conditional upon receiving both the trust-signal and the location query, wirelessly outputs an indication of its own location, and wherein the request includes a key and the trust-signal includes the key;

receiving into the given mobile station, from each nearby mobile station, the wirelessly-output indication of the location of the nearby mobile station;

determining at the given mobile station, respectively for each nearby mobile station, a distance between the given mobile station and the nearby mobile station; and

determining at the given mobile station the location of the given mobile station based on the received indications of locations of the nearby mobile stations and the determined distances between the given mobile station and each nearby mobile station.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

encountering at the given mobile station a trigger for determining location,

wherein signaling to the RAN and wirelessly outputting the location query occurs in response to the encountering of the trigger.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the nearby mobile stations further outputs information that allows the given mobile station to determine the distance between the given mobile station and the nearby mobile station, the method further comprising:

receiving into the given mobile station, from each nearby mobile station, the information,

wherein determining at the given mobile station, respectively for each nearby mobile station, a distance between the given mobile station and the nearby mobile station comprises the given mobile station using the information received from the nearby mobile station to determine the distance.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information comprises a timestamp specifying transmit time from the nearby mobile station, and wherein using the information to determine the distance comprises:

determining a receive time at the given mobile station;

determining a transmission delay between the nearby mobile station and the given mobile station as a difference between the transmit time and the receive time; and

translating the determined delay into the distance.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the location of the given mobile station based on the received indications of locations of the nearby mobile stations and the determined distances between the given mobile station and each nearby mobile station comprises:

triangulating to determine the location of the given mobile station based on the received indications of locations of the nearby mobile stations and the determined distances between the given mobile station and each nearby mobile station.

9. The method of claim 5,

wherein signaling to the RAN to cause the RAN to wirelessly output a trust-signal for receipt by the nearby mobile stations comprises sending a signal to the RAN via a macro network air interface protocol, and

wherein outputting the location query for receipt by the nearby mobile stations comprises broadcasting the location query via a private network air interface protocol with the location query not passing through the RAN on the way from the given mobile station to each nearby mobile station.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the given mobile station comprises a cellular telephone, and wherein each of the nearby mobile stations comprises a cellular telephone.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving into the given mobile station from each nearby mobile station the key exchanged between the given mobile station and the RAN.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

using the key as a basis to associate communications related to determination of the given mobile station'"'"'s location.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the nearby mobile stations further outputs an accuracy measure of the location of the nearby mobile station, the method further comprising:

receiving into the given mobile station, from each nearby mobile station, the accuracy measure.

14. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining location of at least one of the nearby mobile stations through at least the method of claim 5,

wherein the indication of location of the one nearby mobile station that is output by the one nearby mobile station comprises the determined location of the one nearby mobile station.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the given mobile station lacks Global Positioning System (GPS) coverage, but each nearby mobile station has GPS coverage, wherein the location of each nearby mobile station is determined based on GPS signals.

16. A mobile wireless communication device (mobile station) comprising:

at least one wireless transceiver;

a processor;

data storage; and

a user interface,

wherein the mobile station is served by a radio access network (RAN), and wherein the mobile station is arranged to determine its own location by carrying out functions comprising;

(a) wirelessly signaling to the RAN a request to cause the RAN to (i) select the nearby mobile stations based on the nearby mobile stations having been in communication with a location server and (ii) wirelessly output a trust-signal for receipt by the selected nearby mobile stations, wherein the request includes a key and the trust-signal includes the key,

(b) wirelessly outputting a location query for receipt by the nearby mobile stations, wherein each of the nearby mobile stations receives both the trust-signal and the location query and, responsive to and conditional upon receiving both the trust-signal and the location query, wirelessly outputs an indication of location of the nearby mobile station,

(c) receiving from each nearby mobile station the wirelessly-output indication of the location of the nearby mobile station,

(d) determining, respectively for each nearby mobile station, a distance between the given mobile station and the nearby mobile station, and

(e) determining the location of the given mobile station based on the received indications of locations of the nearby mobile stations and the determined distances between the given mobile station and each nearby mobile station.

17. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the at least one wireless transceiver comprises a first wireless transceiver through which the mobile station communicates wirelessly with the RAN, and a second wireless transceiver through which the mobile station communicates wirelessly with each nearby mobile station.

18. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the given mobile station provides the location query to the nearby mobile stations without the location query passing through the RAN along the way from the given mobile station to each nearby mobile station.

19. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the mobile station is arranged to automatically start the functions in response to encountering a location-determination trigger.

20. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein determining the distance, respectively, between the mobile station and each nearby mobile station comprises determining the distance based on signal delay between the mobile station and the nearby mobile station.