GEO tagging using location estimation

• US 8,737,991 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2011
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rao, Bharath Narasimha, Chaudhary, Madhusudan, Anantharaman, Karthik
• Primary Examiner(s): Hua, Quan M
• Application Number:
  US13/110,840
• Publication Number:
  US 20120129520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 455/455, 455/450, 455/422.1, 455/404.2, 4554321-433, 4554351-4353, 455436-444, 455/448, 4554561-457, 370328-338
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A current location of a mobile system in a wireless network can be determined by using information provided by a base station in communication with the mobile system. The location information can be used to index a GEO Locate Table to determine a list of SIDs to populate an optimized scan list. The optimized scan list being used for system selection.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a mobile station, a first message from a base station, the first message including a first system identifier (SID) and other information;

identifying a first geographic coordinate based on the other information;

updating, by the mobile station, a database by associating the first SID with the first geographic coordinate, the database being stored within the mobile station and including a set of SIDs, each SID of the set of SIDs being associated via the database with a respective geographic coordinate;

querying the updated database to identify a subset of the set of SIDs based on a detected location of the mobile station, each SID in the subset of SIDs being associated with a respective geographic coordinate corresponding to the first geographic coordinate;

identifying a first scan list based on a GEO Locate Table of the mobile station, the first scan list being associated with one or more networks; and

using, by the mobile station, the identified subset of the set of SIDS and the first scan list to create a second scan list that is associated with the one or more networks and that is based on the first geographic coordinate, wherein the second list is smaller than the first list.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein, for each SID of the set of SIDs, the database further associates the SID with a corresponding GEO identifier, a channel number, and a PRL indicator indicating whether the SID is provisioned in the PRL.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on the PRL an indicator associated with the first SID, if the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising:

adding the first SID to the database when the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, further comprising, when the first SID is not provisioned in the PRL:

adding the first SID to the database; and

adding a channel number corresponding to the first SID not provisioned in the PRL to the database.

23. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

scanning for a second message using the second frequency scan list.

24. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein querying the database comprises identifying a GEO including the first geographic coordinate, wherein the subset of SIDs is defined as those SIDs within the set of SIDs also associated with the GEO.

25. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the database further associates each SID of the set of SIDs with a mobile country code (MCC),

the method further comprises identifying an MCC associated with the first SID, and

each of the subset of SIDs is also associated with the MCC in the database.

26. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other information comprises a time offset.

27. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other information comprises the first geographic coordinate.

28. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining a range of geographic coordinates, the range being at least partly defined by the first geographic coordinate, wherein the updating the database comprises updating the database to associate the first SID with the range of geographic coordinates.

29. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein updating the database by associating the first SID with the first geographic coordinate comprises changing a past association between the first SID and another geographic coordinate.

30. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at a mobile station, a second message, the second message including a second SID;

identifying a second geographic coordinate associated with the second SID;

querying the database to identify another SID associated with the second geographic coordinate; and

receiving a result for the query, wherein the result identifies the first SID.

31. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each SID in the set of SIDs is associated with a frequency band and a variable indicative of which network provider controls the SID, and wherein the first scan list includes frequency bands for SIDs controlled by one or more network providers.

6. A wireless mobile station, comprising:

a wireless interface, the wireless interface configured for wirelessly communication with wireless base stations;

a memory device, the memory device arranged to store data, the data including at least a database, the database including a set of SIDs, each SID of the set of SIDs being associated via the database with a respective geographic coordinate; and

a processor, the processor coupled to the wireless interface and the memory device, the processor configured to acquire access to a preferred system by;

analyzing and other information of a first message received at the wireless mobile station from a wireless base station, the content including a first SID and other information;

identifying, based on the analysis, a first geographic coordinate;

updating the database by associating the first SID with the first geographic coordinate;

querying the updated database to identify a subset of the set of SIDs based on a detected location of the mobile station, each SID in the subset of SIDs being associated with a respective geographic coordinate corresponding to the first geographic coordinate;

identifying a first scan list based on a GEO Locate Table of the mobile station, the first scan list being associated with one or more networks; and

using the identified subset of the set of SIDS and the first scan list to create a second scan list that is associated with the one or more networks and that is based on the first geographic coordinate, wherein the second list is smaller than the first list.

7. The wireless mobile station as recited in claim 6, wherein, for each SID of the set of SIDs, the database further associates the SID with a corresponding GEO identifier, a channel number, and a PRL indicator indicating whether the SID is provisioned in the PRL.

8. The wireless mobile station as recited in claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire access to the preferred system by determining, based on a PRL indicator associated with the first SID, if the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

9. The wireless mobile station as recited in claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire access to the preferred system by adding the tagged SID to the database when the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

10. The wireless mobile station as recited in claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire access to the preferred system by:

adding the tagged SID to the database when the first SID is not provisioned in the PRL.

11. The wireless mobile station as recited in claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire access to the preferred system by adding a channel number corresponding to the first SID not provisioned in the PRL to the GEO Locate Table.

12. The wireless mobile station, as recited in claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire access to the preferred system by indexing the database based on the first geographic coordinate.

13. Non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer code executable by a processor in a mobile station, the medium comprising code that, when executed:

analyzes content of a first message received at the wireless mobile station from a wireless base station, the content including a first SID and other information;

identifies, based on the analysis, a first geographic coordinate;

updates a database by associating the first SID with the first geographic coordinate, the database being stored within the mobile station and including a set of SIDs, each SID of the set of SIDs being associated via the database with a respective geographic coordinate;

queries the updated database to identify a subset of the set of SIDs based on a detected location of the mobile station, each SID in the subset of SIDs being associated with a respective geographic coordinate corresponding to the first geographic coordinate;

identifies a first scan list based on a GEO Locate Table of the mobile station, the first scan list being associated with one or more networks; and

uses the identified subset of the set of SIDS and the first scan list to create a second scan list that is associated with the one or more networks and that is based on the first geographic coordinate, wherein the second list is smaller than the first list.

14. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein, for each SID of the set of SIDs, the database further associates the SID with a corresponding GEO identifier, a channel number, and a PRL indicator indicating whether the SID is provisioned in the PRL, wherein the PRL includes the first scan list.

15. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the code, when executed, further determines, based on a PRL indicator associated with the first SID, if the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the code, when executed, further adds the first SID to the database when the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

17. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the code, when executed, further, when the first SID is not provisioned in the PRL:

adds SID to the database; and

adds a channel number corresponding to the first SID not provisioned in the PRL to the database.

18. A wireless network, comprising:

a base station; and

a mobile system, wherein the mobile system having a processor configured to;

analyze content of a first message received at the wireless mobile station from the base station, the content including a first SID and other information;

identify, based on the analysis, a first geographic coordinate;

update a database by associating the first SID with the first geographic coordinate, the database being stored within the mobile station and including a set of SIDs, each SID of the set of SIDs being associated via the database with a respective geographic coordinate;

query the updated database to identify a subset of the set of SIDs based on a detected location of the mobile station, each SID in the subset of SIDs being associated with a respective geographic coordinate corresponding to the first geographic coordinate;

identify a first scan list based on a GEO Locate Table of the mobile station, the first scan list being associated with one or more networks; and

use the identified subset of the set of SIDS and the first scan list to create a second scan list that is associated with the one or more networks and that is based on the first geographic coordinate, wherein the second list is smaller than the first list.

19. The wireless network as recited in claim 18, wherein, for each SID of the set of SIDs, the database further associates the SID with a corresponding GEO identifier, a channel number, and a PRL indicator indicating whether the SID is provisioned in the PRL, wherein the PRL includes the first scan list.

20. The wireless network as recited in claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to determine, based on a PRL indicator associated with the first SID, determine if the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

21. The wireless network as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to add the first SID to the database when the first SID is provisioned in the PRL.

22. The wireless network as recited in claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to, when the first SID is not provisioned in the PRL:

add the first SID to the database; and

add a channel number corresponding to the first SID not provisioned in the PRL to the database.