Position validation

• US 8,779,980 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2011
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: U-Blox AG (u-blox Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: U-Blox AG (u-blox Holding AG)
• Inventors: Yule, Andrew Thomas, Marshall, Christopher Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao
• Application Number:
  US13/267,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20130082872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.2, 342/357.25, 342/357.4, 342/450, 342/451, 702/179, 702/181
• US Class Current: 342/451
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map

Abstract

A method of determining an indication of the position of an electronic device. The method includes: obtaining (100) information relating to a radio signal received by the device. The received radio signal are transmissions from one or more satellites of a satellite-positioning system from which information an inference can be made about the true position of the device at the time the signal was received. The method also involves obtaining (110) a plurality of hypotheses about the true position of the device; and evaluating (120, 130, 140) the plurality of hypotheses by assessing a degree of consistency between the information relating to the radio signal and the hypotheses. Using the outcome of the evaluations, the method also includes selecting (150) one or more of the hypotheses; and outputting (160) an indication of the selected one or more hypotheses.

Claims

1. A method of determining an indication of the position of an electronic device, the method comprising:

obtaining (100) information relating to a radio signal received by the device, the radio signal comprising transmissions from one or more satellites of a satellite-positioning system, from which information an inference can be made about the true position of the device at the time the signal was received;

obtaining (110) a plurality of different hypotheses about the true position of the device, wherein each hypothesis comprises at least one of;

a position in two or more spatial dimensions;

a set of positions; and

a range of positions;

evaluating (120, 130, 140) the plurality of hypotheses, comprising assessing a degree of consistency between the information relating to the radio signal and the hypotheses;

based on the outcome of the evaluations, selecting (150) one or more of the hypotheses; and

outputting (160) an indication of the selected one or more hypotheses.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more hypotheses that are selected are those that are determined to be:

most likely to be true;

least likely to be false;

most likely to be false;

or

least likely to be true.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein evaluating the plurality of hypotheses comprises searching (130) the signal to detect transmissions from at least one satellite, wherein at least one parameter of the search is dependent on at least one of the hypotheses.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein, during the search (130), priority is given to detecting a transmission from a satellite which is predicted to be detectable at a position according to a first one of the plurality of hypotheses.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein, during the search (130), priority is given to detecting a transmission from a satellite which is predicted not to be detectable at a position according to a second one of the plurality of hypotheses.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one parameter of the search (130) comprises at least one of:

a predicted frequency of a transmission from the at least one satellite;

a predicted Doppler shift of such a predicted frequency;

a known spreading code used by the at least one satellite;

a predicted timing with which a signal transmitted by the at least one satellite is received;

a predicted signal strength with which such a signal is received; and

a predicted pattern of bits in the data-message of the at least one satellite.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein evaluating the plurality of hypotheses comprises:

predicting (120) the value of at least one parameter of the received radio signal, based on at least one of the hypotheses; and

comparing (140) the predicted value with a corresponding measured value of the parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of evaluating the plurality of hypotheses further comprises, before predicting the value of the at least one parameter:

comparing the hypotheses in order to determine which one or more of a plurality of parameters is or are most likely to discriminate among the hypotheses; and

choosing the at least one parameter to be predicted according to the result of the determination.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each hypothesis has associated with it a prior probability that it is true; and

the step of evaluating the plurality of hypotheses comprises evaluating the hypothesis with the highest probability first.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more hypotheses most likely to be true are selected and output before a complete position fix has been calculated from the radio signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting an indication of the selected one or more hypotheses further comprises outputting at least one of:

a first value indicating the likelihood that the hypothesis is true;

a second value indicating the likelihood that the hypothesis is false; and

a third value indicating the relative magnitudes of the first and second values.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing a computer program for determining an indication of the position of an electronic device, wherein the program is adapted to perform the following steps when said program is run on a computer:

obtaining (100) information relating to a radio signal received by the device, the radio signal comprising transmissions from one or more satellites of a satellite-positioning system, from which information an inference can be made about the true position of the device at the time the signal was received;

obtaining (110) a plurality of different hypotheses about the true position of the device, wherein each hypothesis comprises at least one of;

a position in two or more spatial dimensions;

a set of positions; and

a range of positions;

evaluating (120, 130, 140) the plurality of hypotheses, comprising assessing a degree of consistency between the information relating to the radio signal and the hypotheses;

based on the outcome of the evaluations, selecting (150) one or more of the hypotheses; and

outputting (160) an indication of the selected one or more hypotheses.

13. Apparatus for determining an indication of the position of an electronic device, the apparatus comprising:

a satellite positioning receiver (10, 12, 18), operable to receive a radio signal, the radio signal comprising transmissions from one or more satellites of a satellite positioning system;

an input (26), for obtaining a plurality of different hypotheses about the true position of the device, each hypothesis comprising at least one of;

a position in two or more spatial dimensions;

a set of positions; and

a range of positions; and

a processor (20), adapted to;

evaluate the plurality of hypotheses, comprising assessing a degree of consistency between the received radio signal and the hypotheses;

based on the outcome of the evaluations, select one or more of the hypotheses; and

output an indication of the selected one or more hypotheses.