Method and arrangement for determining terminal position

• US 8,914,038 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2011
• Issued: 12/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Zhang, Yang
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US13/305,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20120108263A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/404.2, 455/403, 455/404.1, 455/422.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining the position of mobile terminals in a cell of a mobile communication network where timing-based alignment is employed for terminal transmissions in timeslots to a serving base station. First, the distance to the base station is determined for at least one mobile terminal in the cell. A current timing value used by the at least one mobile terminal for timing adjustment of signal transmissions is also obtained. A relation between the determined timing independent distance and the obtained current timing value for each terminal is then estimated, and a timing bias of the cell or the at least one mobile terminal is determined based on the estimated relation. The position of subsequent terminals can then be determined using a timing based positioning method and the timing bias, such that the current timing value used by the subsequent terminal is adjusted by the timing bias.

Claims

1. A method of determining positions of mobile terminals in a cell of a mobile communication network where time alignment is employed for terminal transmissions in timeslots to a serving base station providing radio coverage in said cell, the method comprising:

determining a timing independent distance (D) to the base station for at least one mobile terminal in the cell;

obtaining a current timing value (T) used by the at least one mobile terminal for timing adjustment of uplink signal transmissions;

estimating a relation between the determined timing independent distance and the obtained current timing value for each mobile terminal;

determining a timing bias of the cell or the at least one mobile terminal based on the estimated relation as a calibration parameter for position determination of any mobile terminals in said cell using a timing based positioning method;

adjusting the current timing value based on the timing bias to determine an adjusted timing value; and

determining a position of a subsequent mobile terminal using the timing based positioning method and said adjusted timing value.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating said relation comprises translating each determined timing independent distance into a translated timing value that is compared with the obtained current timing value used for signal transmissions.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining the timing bias comprises determining the timing bias based on a deviation of the current timing value used for signal transmissions from the translated timing value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating said relation comprises translating each current timing value into a translated timing based distance that is compared with the corresponding determined timing independent distance.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein determining the timing bias comprises determining the timing bias based on a deviation of the translated timing based distance from the determined timing independent distance.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the current timing value comprises obtaining the current timing value from a base station controller in signalling messages of a positioning method according to any of:

a Cell Global Identity (CGI)/Timing Advance (TA), an Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA), a Round-Trip Time (RTT), and any satellite based navigation or positioning system.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising obtaining a sequence of T and D (terminal/base station distance) pairs {T(i),D(i)}, i=1 . . . N for a plurality of mobile terminals in the cell, wherein determining the timing bias comprises performing a search for a Minimum Mean Absolute Error (MMAE), using said {T,D} pairs as input in a formula of Mean Absolute Error “

MAE”

defined as;

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising selecting a range of timing values (t1-t2) within which the MMAE search is executed, and calculating MAE values using different candidate timing bias values and said {T,D} pairs as input to the formula of MAE.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining the timing bias comprises selecting, from among the calculated MAE values, the timing bias that provides the MMAE.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network and the timing value comprises a Timing Advance (TA) value.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network, and wherein obtaining the current timing value comprises obtaining the current timing value based on a Round-Trip Time (RTT) value.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and wherein obtaining the current timing value comprises obtaining the current timing value based on timing information measured by the base station or the at least one mobile station, or both.

13. A positioning unit configured to determine positions of mobile terminals in a cell of a mobile communication network where time alignment is employed for terminal transmissions in timeslots to a serving base station providing radio coverage in said cell, the arrangement comprising:

a distance determining unit configured to determine a distance timing independent D) to the base station for at least one mobile terminal in the cell;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain a current timing value (T) used by the at least one mobile terminal for timing adjustment of uplink signal transmissions;

a logic unit configured to estimate a relation between the determined timing independent distance and the obtained current timing value for each mobile terminal, and to determine a timing bias of the cell or the at least one mobile terminal based on the estimated relation as a calibration parameter for position determination of any mobile terminals in said cell using a timing based positioning method; and

a position determining unit configured to adjust the current timing value based on the timing bias to determine an adjusted timing value, and to determine a position of a subsequent mobile terminal using the timing based positioning method and said adjusted timing value.

14. The positioning unit according to claim 13, wherein the logic unit is configured to estimate said relation by translating each determined timing independent distance into a translated timing value that is compared with the obtained current timing value used for signal transmissions.

15. The positioning unit according to claim 14, wherein the logic unit is configured to determine the timing bias based on a deviation of the current timing value used for signal transmissions from the translated timing value.

16. The positioning unit according to claim 13, wherein the logic unit is configured to estimate said relation by translating each current timing value into a translated timing based distance that is compared with the corresponding determined timing independent distance.

17. The positioning unit according to claim 16, wherein the logic unit is configured to determine the timing bias based on a deviation of the translated timing based distance from the determined timing independent distance.

18. The positioning unit according to claim 13, wherein the obtaining unit is configured to obtain the current timing value from a base station controller in signalling messages of a positioning method according to any of:

a Cell Global Identity (CGI)/Timing Advance (TA), an Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA), a Round-Trip Time (RTT), and any satellite based navigation or positioning system.

19. The positioning unit according to claim 13, wherein the logic unit is further configured to obtain a sequence of T and D (terminal/base station distance) pairs {TA(i),D(i)}, i=1 . . . N for a plurality of mobile terminals in the cell, wherein the logic unit determines the timing bias by performing a search for a Minimum Mean Absolute Error (MMAE), using said {T,D} pairs as input in a formula of Mean Absolute Error “

MAE”

defined as;

20. The positioning unit according to claim 19, wherein the logic unit is further configured to select a range of timing values (t1-t2) within which the MMAE search is executed, and to calculate MAEs value using different candidate timing bias values and said {T,D} pairs as input to the formula of MAE.

21. The positioning unit according to claim 20, wherein the logic unit is configured to determine the timing bias by selecting, from among the calculated MAE values, the timing bias value that provides the MMAE.

22. The positioning unit according to claim 13 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network and the timing value comprises a Timing Advance (TA) value.

23. The positioning unit according to claim 13 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network, and wherein the obtaining unit obtains the current timing value by obtaining the current timing value based on a Round-Trip Time (RTT) value.

24. The positioning unit according to claim 13 wherein the mobile communication network comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and wherein the obtaining unit obtains the current timing value by obtaining the current timing value based on timing information measured by the base station or the at least one mobile station or both.