Apparatus and method for determining WLAN access point position

• US 8,589,532 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated Delaware Corporation (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Tenny, Nathan Edward, Khatibi, Farrokh
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOO, ANDREW M
• Application Number:
  US11/449,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20070002813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,722 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0242 Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning G01S5/0289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

Position of a WLAN access point (AP) is determined by reference to user equipment devices (UEs) in communication with the AP and with a radio network interworked with the WLAN. The AP position may be assumed to be the same as position of any UE in communication with the AP. UE positions may be averaged for a plurality of UEs, a plurality of positions of the same UE, or a combination of such UE positions. Round-trip time (RTT) may be measured between a plurality of UEs and the AP, and the AP position may be trilaterated from the RTT measurements and the UE positions. AP position may also be trilaterated from positions of the same UE in combination with RTTs between the AP and the UE, measured at different times. The computations of the AP position may be hosted at the WLAN or the radio network.

Claims

1. A method of estimating geographic position of an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

sending a plurality of requests for position information of a user equipment (UE) device of a cellular radio network, the UE device being in communication with the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests includes a first request for position information at a first time and a second request for position information at a second time;

receiving the position information in response to the requests;

assigning the position information to an estimate of the geographic position of the access point by averaging the position information of the UE device at the first time and the position information of the UE device at the second time, wherein, the steps of sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at either the access point or at the cellular radio network, wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information from either the cellular radio network or through a WLAN interface from the UE device; and

wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at the access point, and the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information from the cellular radio network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing from the access point telephone service to the UE via the WLAN.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of 100 meters or less.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of less than 1000 meters.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the cellular radio network has a cellular range at least twice as long as a range of the WLAN.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

operating the access point in accordance with an 802.11 standard;

wherein the cellular radio network is a Universal Mobile System (UMTS)-compliant system.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the steps of sending the request, receiving the position information, assigning the position information, and storing the position information are performed periodically.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at the access point, and the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information through a WLAN interface from the UE device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at the cellular radio network.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the estimate from the cellular radio network to the access point.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at the cellular radio network a request for the estimate;

wherein the step of sending is performed in response to receipt of the request for the estimate.

13. A method of estimating geographic position of an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

sending a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with a cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information;

computing an estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of the received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from either the access point or the cellular radio network to either the one or more UE devices or to the cellular radio network, wherein the steps of receiving are performed at the access point or at the cellular radio network; and

wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing telephone service to at least one UE device of the one or more UE devices via the WLAN from the access point.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of 100 meters or less.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of less than 1000 meters.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the cellular radio network has a cellular range at least twice as long as a range of the WLAN.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

operating the access point in accordance with an 802.11 standard;

wherein the cellular radio network is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the steps of sending, receiving, and computing are repeated periodically.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the access point to the one or more UE devices; and

the steps of receiving and computing are performed at the access point.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the access point to the cellular radio network; and

the step of receiving is performed at the access point.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein each request of the plurality of requests relates to position information of a different UE device.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein each request of the plurality of requests relates to position information of the same UE device.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality of requests comprises a first request relating to the first UE at a first time, a second request relating to a second UE, and a third request relating to the first UE at a second time, the second time being different from the first time, the second UE being different from the first UE.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the cellular radio network to the one or more UE devices; and

the steps of receiving and computing are performed at the cellular radio network.

26. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of received replies comprises a first received reply with first position information, a second received reply with second position information, and a third received reply with third position information, the method further comprising:

measuring a first round-trip time (RTT) between the access point and a first UE device associated with the first position information;

measuring a second RTT between the access point and a second UE device associated with the second position information; and

measuring a third RTT between the access point and a third UE device associated with the third position information;

wherein the step of computing comprises trilaterating the estimate of the geographic position of the access point from the first position information, the second position information, the third position information, the first RTT, the second RTT, and the third RTT.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the access point to the one or more UE devices; and

the step of receiving is performed at the access point.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the cellular radio network; and

the step of receiving is performed at the radio network.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the access point to the cellular radio network; and

the step of receiving is performed at the access point.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

providing from the access point telephone service to at least one UE device of the one or more UE devices via the WLAN.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of 100 meters or less.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the WLAN at the access point has a WLAN range of less than 1000 meters.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the cellular radio network has a cellular range at least twice as long as a range of the WLAN.

34. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

operating the access point in accordance with an 802.11 standard;

wherein the cellular radio network is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).

35. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of received replies comprises a first received reply with first position information of the first UE device at a first time, a second received reply with second position information of the first UE at a second time, and a third received reply with third position information of the first UE device at a third time, the method further comprising:

measuring a first round trip time (RTT) between the access point and the first UE device at the first time;

measuring a second RTT between the access point and the first UE device at the second time; and

measuring a third RTT between the access point and the first UE device at the third time;

wherein the step of computing comprises trilaterating the estimate of the geographic position of the access point from the first position information, the second position information, the third position information, the first RTT, the second RTT, and the third RTT.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the cellular radio network; and

the step of receiving is performed at the radio network.

37. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of received replies comprises a first received reply from the first UE device and a second received reply from the first UE device, the first reply containing position information associated with position of the first UE device at a first point in time, the second reply containing position information associated with position of the first UE device at a second point in time, the first and second points in time being diverse so that the position of the first UE device at the first point in time differs by at least 10 meters from the position of the first UE device at the second point in time.

38. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving at the access point from the radio network identification of said each UE device of the one or more UE devices in communication with the access point over the WLAN.

39. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the step of sending comprises transmitting the plurality of requests from the cellular radio network to the one or more UE devices;

the steps of receiving is performed at the cellular radio network; and

the step of computing is performed at a computational engine;

the method further comprising;

conveying the position information in the received replies over a communication network to a computational engine;

communicating the estimate over the communication network from the computational engine to a position database; and

storing the estimate at the database.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the plurality of received replies comprises a first received reply with first position information, a second received reply with second position information, and a third received reply with third position information, the method further comprising:

measuring a first round-trip time (RTT) between the access point and a first UE device associated with the first position information;

measuring a second RTT between the access point and a second UE device associated with the second position information; and

measuring a third RTT between the access point and a third UE device associated with the third position information;

wherein the step of computing comprises trilaterating the estimate of the geographic position of the access point from the first position information, the second position information, the third position information, the first RTT, the second RTT, and the third RTT.

41. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

operating the cellular radio network as a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS);

wherein the access point is operating under an 802.11 standard.

42. The method of claim 13, wherein no two of the received replies used in the step of computing originated from the same UE device.

43. A method of facilitating estimation of geographic position of an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

sending from a cellular radio network a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices of the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in communication with the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information;

transmitting average position information corresponding to the plurality of replies from the cellular radio network to the access point, the average position information being an average of the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein receiving the position information is received from either the cellular radio network or through a WLAN interface from the UE device; and

wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

operating the cellular radio network as a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS);

wherein the access point is operating under an 802.11 standard.

45. A method of provisioning an estimate of geographic position of an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

sending from a cellular radio network a plurality of requests for position information, each request for position information of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices of the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in communication with the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving, in response to the plurality of requests, a plurality of received replies with position information;

computing the estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time;

transmitting the estimate from the cellular radio network to the access point;

wherein receiving the position information is received from either the cellular radio network, at the cellular radio network, or through a WLAN interface from the UE device; and

wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

receiving at the cellular radio network from the access point a request for the estimate of the geographic location;

wherein the step of sending is performed in response to the receiving of the request for the estimate of the geographic location.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the plurality of received replies comprises a first received reply from a first UE device and a second received reply from the first UE device, the first reply containing position information associated with position of the first UE device at a first point in time, the second reply containing position information associated with position of the first UE device at a second point in time, the first and second points in time being diverse so that the position of the first UE device at the first point in time differs by at least 10 meters from the position of the first UE device at the second point in time.

48. A method of provisioning an estimate of geographic position of an access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

determining at a cellular radio network a plurality of UE device positions, each UE device position corresponding to position of at least one User Equipment (UE) device of the cellular radio network, the at least one UE device being in communication with the access point over the WLAN, wherein determining a plurality of UE device positions includes determining first position information at a first time for a first UE device of the at least one UE device and second position information at a second time for the first UE device;

computing the estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of UE device positions by averaging the first position information and the second position information;

transmitting the estimate from the cellular radio network to the access point; and

storing at the cellular radio network volatility information of the estimate.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of determining is performed by angular measurement and triangulation.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of determining is performed by round-trip time (RTT) measurement and trilateration.

51. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

operating the cellular radio network as a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS);

wherein the access point is operating under an 802.11 standard.

52. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

receiving at the radio network one or more identifications of the at least one UE device that is in communication with the access point over the WLAN.

53. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of determining is initiated by the cellular radio network autonomously.

54. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

receiving at the cellular radio network a request for the estimate sent by the access point after the step of determining;

wherein the step of transmitting is performed in response to the step of receiving of the request for the estimate.

55. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

repeating the steps of determining and computing to obtain a plurality of estimates of the geographic position of the access point; and

averaging the plurality of the estimates.

56. The method of claim 48, wherein:

the plurality of UE device positions comprises a first UE device position, a second UE device position, and a third UE device position;

the step of determining comprises;

receiving, from the access point, at the cellular radio network a first round-trip time (RTT) measurement corresponding to the first UE device position, a second RTT measurement corresponding to the second UE device position, and a third RTT measurement corresponding to the third UE device position, and

trilaterating the estimate of the geographic position of the access point from the first UE device position, the second UE device position, the third UE device position, the first RTT measurement, the second RTT measurement, and the third RTT measurement.

57. The method of claim 48, wherein:

the step of determining comprises a step for determining at the cellular radio network the plurality of UE device positions; and

the step of computing comprises a step for computing the estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of UE device positions.

58. An access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory storing program code; and

a processor coupled to the memory and to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to cause the access point to;

send a plurality of requests for position information of a user equipment (UE) device of a cellular radio network, the UE device being in communication with the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests includes a first request for position information at a first time and a second request for position information at a second time;

receive the position information in response to the requests; and

assign the position information to an estimate of the geographic position of the access point by averaging the position of the UE device at the first time and the position information of the UE device at the second time, wherein, the processor is configured to send the request and receive the position information at either the access point or at the cellular radio network, wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information from either the cellular radio network or through a WLAN interface from the UE device, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

59. The access point of claim 58, further comprising:

a second network interface;

wherein the processor configures the access point to provide telephone service to the UE device via the WLAN and the second network interface.

60. An access point of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), comprising:

a transceiver;

a connection to a second network interface connecting the access point to a cellular radio network;

a memory storing program code; and

a processor coupled to the memory and to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to cause the access point to;

send a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receive in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information; and

compute an estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of the received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein, the sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at either the access point or at the cellular radio network, wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information from either the cellular radio network or through a WLAN interface from the UE device, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

61. The access point of claim 60, wherein:

the plurality of replies comprises a first reply with first position information of the first UE device, a second reply with second position information of a second UE device, and third reply with third position information of a third UE device;

the processor is further configured to cause the access point to;

measure a first round-trip time (RTT) between the access point and the first UE device;

measure a second RTT between the access point and the second UE device;

measure a third RTT between the access point and the third UE device; and

trilaterate the estimate of the geographic position from the first position information, the second position information, the third position information, the first RTT, the second RTT, and the third RTT.

62. The access point of claim 60, wherein:

the plurality of replies comprises a first reply with first position information of the first UE device at a first time, a second reply with second position information of the first UE device at a second time, and third reply with third position information of the first UE device at a third time;

the processor is further configured to cause the access point to;

measure a first round-trip time (RTT) between the access point and the first UE device at about the first time;

measure a second RTT between the access point and the first UE device at about the second time;

measure a third RTT between the access point and the first UE device at about the third time; and

trilaterate the estimate of the geographic position from the first position information, the second position information, the third position information, the first RTT, the second RTT, and the third RTT.

63. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point cause the access point to perform operations comprising:

sending a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with a cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information; and

computing an estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of the received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein, the sending the request and receiving the position information are performed at either the access point or at the cellular radio network, wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving the position information from either the cellular radio network or through a WLAN interface from the UE device, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

64. A radio network controller in a cellular radio network, the radio network controller comprising:

a BTS interface to a base transceiver station;

a network interface for coupling the radio network controller to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) comprising an access point;

a memory storing program code; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the BTS interface, and the network interface;

wherein the processor is configured to cause the radio network controller to;

send a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receive in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information;

compute an estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of the received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time; and

transmit the estimate to the access point via the network interface, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

65. A radio network controller in a cellular radio network, the radio network controller comprising:

a BTS interface to a base transceiver station;

a network interface coupling the radio network controller to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) comprising an access point;

a memory storing program code; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the BTS interface, and the network interface;

wherein the processor is configured to cause the radio network controller to;

send a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of the access point over the WLAN, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receive in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of replies with position information; and

transmit average position information corresponding to the plurality of replies to the access point via the network interface, the average position information being an average of the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

66. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a radio network controller of a cellular radio network, cause the cellular radio network to perform operations comprising:

sending a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of received replies with position information;

computing an estimate of the geographic position of the access point based at least in part on the plurality of the received replies by averaging the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time; and

transmitting the estimate to the access point via the network interface, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.

67. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed by a processor of a radio network controller of a cellular radio network, cause the radio network controller to perform operations comprising:

sending a plurality of requests for position information, each request of the plurality of requests relating to position information of one or more User Equipment (UE) devices in communication with the cellular radio network, each UE device of the one or more UE devices being in a service area of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point, the plurality of requests including a first request for position information at a first time from a first UE device of the one or more UE devices and a second request for position information at a second time from the first UE device;

receiving in response to the plurality of requests a plurality of replies with position information; and

transmitting average position information corresponding to the replies to the access point via a network interface of the radio network controller, the average position information being an average of the position information of the first UE device at the first time and the position information of the first UE device at the second time, wherein the estimate of the geographic position is stored at the access point.