Automatic origin determination for faster route request initiation and resulting system response time

• US 8,532,920 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2010
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Coleman, Patrick James, Dagman, Gennady
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, LUAT T
• Application Number:
  US12/962,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• Field of Search: 701/410, 701/412, 701/414, 701/430, 455/517
• US Class Current: 701/410
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/252 Employing an initial estimate of location in generating assistance data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/45 by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096866 where the complete route is shown to the driver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

When a user enters, initializes, or otherwise starts using a navigation function, such as a navigation function on a mobile phone or a stand-alone device, a current location is automatically estimated, prior to or in the absence of a GPS fix, for use as an origin in route determination. The estimation of current location is performed using a database of GPS fixes that are mapped to cell tower identifiers. For example, the database can include one or more fixes associated with each cell tower that the mobile device has used. Thus, when navigation on the device is begun, one or more cell towers to which the device can communicate are identified. If any has a GPS fix in the database, then a location derived from such GPS fix(es) can be used as an origin for navigation functions. Such navigation functions can include estimating a time of arrival at a destination, producing a route to the destination, and checking for traffic updates.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor;

a satellite positioning receiver;

a wireless network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions for configuring the processor to perform a method comprising;

accepting an input to initiate a navigation application on the mobile device;

obtaining identifying information for a wireless network transceiver element with which the mobile device can communicate;

accessing, from a non-transitory computer readable medium, a position associated with the identifying information, and responsive to the input, initializing the navigation application, and if a current fix based on received satellite positioning signals is unavailable, using the position accessed from the non-transitory computer readable medium as a current position of the mobile device for producing a navigation output from the mobile device.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises producing the navigation output while attempting to obtain the current fix based on received satellite positioning signals.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the navigation output comprises an estimated arrival time at a destination.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the navigation output comprises traffic congestion information.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the navigation output comprises a route to a selected destination, using the current position as an origin.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the satellite positioning receiver is a GPS receiver.

7. A method for implementation on a mobile device, comprising:

accepting an input to initiate a navigation application on the mobile device;

obtaining identifying information for a wireless network transceiver element with which the mobile device can communicate;

accessing, from a non-transitory computer readable medium, a position associated with the identifying information,

responsive to the input, initializing the navigation application, and attempting to acquire a fix, based received satellite positioning signals, that is indicative of a current position of the mobile device; and

while attempting to acquire the fix, using the position accessed from the non-transitory computer readable medium as an origin for producing a navigation output.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating positions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium with fixes determined while communicating with each wireless network transceiver element.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the position is a fix associated with the identifying information on the non-transitory computer readable medium.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising caching fixes associated with identifying information for wireless transceiver elements received by the mobile device during operation of the navigation application.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing of identifiers of wireless network transceiver elements by updating on the non-transitory computer readable medium, on an interval, a corresponding fix for each wireless network transceiver element while the identifier for that wireless network transceiver element continues to be received by the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the storing further comprises saving the last fix for each wireless transceiver element identifier received by the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the storing further comprises saving a plurality of fixes for each wireless transceiver element identifier received by the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the navigation output comprises traffic congestion information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the navigation output comprises a route which was selected from the origin to a destination.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the destination is automatically selected based on a pre-defined association between the origin and another location.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for programming a processor to perform a method on a mobile device, comprising:

upon initialization of a navigation function, determining whether the navigation function has access to a current GPS fix for the mobile device;

accessing an identifier of a wireless infrastructure component with which the mobile device can communicate;

and if the navigation function does not have access to a current GPS fix, using a position associated with the identifier as a current position of the mobile device to produce a navigation output.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further storing a plurality of identifiers of wireless infrastructure components associated with respective GPS fixes obtained by the navigation function while the mobile device was communicating with those infrastructure components.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the navigation output comprises a route.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the navigation output comprises an estimated arrival time.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the navigation output comprises traffic congestion information.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the navigation output comprises a route which was selected based on the origin, a destination, and traffic congestion information.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the destination is automatically selected based on a pre-defined association between the origin and another location.

24. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor module;

a satellite signal positioning receiver;

a transceiver for wireless communication with wireless transceiver elements of a wireless network; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for programming the processor module to obtain a fix at the mobile device,

store the fix associated with an identifier of a wireless transceiver element received at the mobile device, and

provide a navigation function that, in the absence of a current fix, produces a navigation output using a stored fix associated with any wireless transceiver element for which the mobile device currently is receiving an identifier.

25. The mobile device of claim 24, wherein the identifiers of the wireless transceiver elements that are stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium comprise identifiers of cell towers.