Method and apparatus for enhanced autonomous GPS

• US 8,643,541 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2012
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Van Diggelen, Frank, Podshivalov, Sergei, Abraham, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao
• Application Number:
  US13/418,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20120229335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.21, 342/357.25, 342/357.42, 342/357.63, 342/357.71, 701/468, 701/469
• US Class Current: 342/357.42
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/05 providing aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/06 employing an initial estimate of the location of the receiver as aiding data or in generating aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/252 Employing an initial estimate of location in generating assistance data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/254 relating to Doppler shift of satellite signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/256 relating to timing, e.g. time of week, code phase, timing offset
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/27 creating, predicting or correcting ephemeris or almanac data within the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining a location of a remote receiver is described. The remote receiver receives satellite tracking data from a server, which it stores in memory. This satellite tracking data has a predetermined validity time period associated with it. When a connection cannot be established between the remote receiver and the server and the predetermine validity time period of the satellite tracking data has expired, the remote receiver calculates acquisition assistance data using the expired satellite tracking data for use with obtaining ephemeris data from a satellite. The remote receiver then calculates its position using the receiver ephemeris data.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory configured to store satellite tracking data received from a server, the satellite tracking data having a predetermined validity time period;

a satellite signal receiver configured to receive ephemeris data from a satellite positioning system (SPS) satellite; and

a processor configured to, when a connection between the apparatus and the server is unavailable and the predetermined validity time period has expired, calculate acquisition assistance data using the satellite tracking data and compute a position of the apparatus by decoding the ephemeris data received from the SPS satellite using the acquisition assistance data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, when the connection between the apparatus and the server is available and the predetermined validity time period has expired, acquire updated satellite tracking data from the server and compute the position of the apparatus based on the updated satellite tracking data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, when the predetermined validity time period has expired, compute the position of the apparatus based on the stored satellite tracking data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store the acquisition assistance data calculated by the processor, and

wherein the satellite signal receiver is configured to receive the ephemeris data from the SPS satellite using the stored acquisition assistance data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to compute the acquisition assistance data using a calculated time of day, a position estimate of the apparatus, and the stored satellite tracking data.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the memory is configured to store a table of positions corresponding to recent positions of the apparatus based on communications with other devices, and

wherein the position estimate of the apparatus is calculated based on the stored table of positions.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the stored acquisition assistance data was calculated based on the stored satellite tracking data whose predetermined validity time period had expired.

8. A method of determining a position of a remote device, comprising:

receiving satellite tracking data from a server, the satellite tracking data having a predetermined validity time period;

receiving ephemeris data from a satellite positioning system (SPS) satellite;

determining whether a connection between the remote device and the server is available;

determining whether the predetermined validity time period has expired; and

when the connection is unavailable and the predetermined validity time period has expired, calculating acquisition assistance data based on the satellite tracking data and computing a position of the remote device by decoding the ephemeris data received from the SPS satellite using the calculated acquisition assistance data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising when the connection is available and the predetermined validity time period has expired:

acquiring updated satellite tracking data from the server; and

computing the position of the remote device based on the updated satellite tracking data.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising when the predetermined validity time period has expired, computing the position of the remote device based on the stored satellite tracking data.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the acquisition assistance data,

wherein the ephemeris data is received from the SPS satellite using the computed acquisition assistance data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the acquisition assistance data is calculated using a calculated time of day, a position estimate of the remote device, and the stored satellite tracking data.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing a table of positions corresponding to recent positions of the remote device based on communications with other devices,

wherein the position estimate of the remote device is calculated based on the stored table of positions.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the calculating of the acquisition assistance data is based on the stored satellite tracking data whose predetermined validity time period has expired.

15. A method of determining a position of a remote device, comprising:

receiving satellite tracking data from a server;

receiving ephemeris data from a plurality of satellite positioning system (SPS) satellites;

determining whether a connection between the remote device and the server is available;

determining whether the received satellite tracking data is valid; and

calculating a position of the remote device based on the satellite tracking data or the ephemeris data depending on whether the connection between the remote device and the server is available and whether the received satellite tracking data is valid.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the position is calculated based on the satellite tracking data provided that the satellite tracking data is determined to be valid.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the position is calculated based on the ephemeris data provided that the satellite tracking data is determined to be invalid and the connection between the remote device and the server is determined to be unavailable.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

if it is determined that the satellite tracking data is invalid and that the connection between the remote device and the server is available;

receiving updated satellite tracking data from the server; and

calculating the position based on the updated satellite tracking data.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising calculating acquisition assistance data,

wherein the ephemeris data is received from the SPS satellite using the acquisition assistance data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein it is determined that the satellite tracking data is expired, and

the acquisition assistance data is calculated using the expired satellite tracking data.