Auxiliary positioning method and auxiliary positioning device using the method

• US 8,970,430 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MStar Semiconductor Incorporated (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Shih Hao
• Primary Examiner(s): Issing, Gregory C
• Application Number:
  US12/633,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20100156708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,911 Days
• Field of Search: 342/451, 342/457, 342/357, 342/31
• US Class Current: 342/357.31
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/12 by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial

Abstract

An auxiliary positioning method, applied to a portable electronic device operative in a wireless communication network system and a satellite positioning system, for determining current position information of the potable electronic device, includes steps of receiving a plurality of current signals from at least one base station in the wireless communication network system to generate current signal information; accessing at least one track record related to the current signal information from a track record database, wherein the track record database includes a plurality of track records which record respective position information and signal information of base stations corresponding to the position information; and calculating the current position information according to the at least one track record.

Claims

1. An auxiliary positioning method, applied to a portable electronic device operative in a wireless communication network system and a satellite positioning system, for determining a current position information of the portable electronic device when the portable device can no longer determine position information from the satellite positioning system, the auxiliary positioning method comprising steps of:

generating current signal information from at least two base stations with the strongest two signal strengths as received at the portable electronic device, wherein the current signal information includes base station numbers and respective signal strength of the at least two base stations;

obtaining a plurality of track records including the at least two base stations by searching a track record database according to the current signal information, wherein the track record database includes a plurality of track records, and each of the track records includes previous signal information and reference position information determined from the satellite positioning system; and

calculating the current position information according to the track records,

wherein calculating the current position information comprises;

establishing a first reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a first circle having a first radius and a first line segment passing through a first known position and a second known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a first one of the at least two base stations;

establishing a second reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a second circle having a second radius and a second line segment passing through the second known position and a third known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a second one of the at least two base stations; and

determining the current position based on an intersection between (1) a first tangent line tangent to the first circle and passing through the first reference position and (2) a second tangent line tangent to the second circle and passing through the second reference position.

2. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the satellite positioning system is one of Global Positioning System (GPS), GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and Galileo satellite positioning system (GALILEO).

3. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position information at least comprises one of a longitude data, a latitude data, an altitude data, a speed data and a direction data.

4. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network system is one of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), wireless fidelity (WiFi) communication network, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication network and a digital television (DTV) system.

5. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is one of a personal navigation device (PND), a mobile phone and a portable computer.

6. An auxiliary positioning method, applied to a portable electronic device operative in a wireless communication network system and a satellite positioning system, for determining current position information of the portable electronic device, the auxiliary positioning method comprising steps of:

receiving signals from the satellite positioning system and calculating position information;

receiving signals from a wireless communication network system and generating signal information;

storing the position information and the signal information into a track record in a track record database; and

calculating the current position information according to a plurality of track records and current signal information when the portable device can no longer determine position information from the satellite positioning system, wherein the current signals are transmitted by the wireless communication network system,

wherein calculating the current position information comprises;

establishing a first reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a first circle having a first radius and a first line segment passing through a first known position and a second known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a first one of the at least two base stations;

establishing a second reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a second circle having a second radius and a second line segment passing through the second known position and a third known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a second one of the at least two base stations; and

determining the current position based on an intersection between (1) a first tangent line tangent to the first circle and passing through the first reference position and (2) a second tangent line tangent to the second circle and passing through the second reference position.

7. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of the track records includes previous signal information and reference position information.

8. The auxiliary positioning method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the step of calculating the current position information according to the track records and the current signal information further comprises:

generating the current signal information from at least two base stations with the strongest two signal strengths as received at the portable electronic device, wherein the current signal information includes base station numbers and respective signal strength of the at least two base stations;

obtaining the plurality of track records including the at least two base stations by searching the track record database according to the current signal information, wherein the track record database includes a plurality of track records, and each of the track records includes previous signal information and reference position information determined from a satellite positioning system; and

calculating the current position information according to the track records and the current signal information.

9. An auxiliary positioning method, applied to a portable electronic device operative in a wireless communication network system and a satellite positioning system, for determining current position information of the portable electronic device, the auxiliary positioning method comprising steps of:

generating current signal information from at least two base stations with the strongest two signal strengths as received at the portable electronic device, wherein the current signal information includes base station numbers and respective signal strength of the at least two base stations;

receiving signals of the satellite positioning system and calculating a position information;

storing the position information and the current signal information into a track record in a track record database; and

when it is no longer possible to receive signals of the satellite positioning system and determine a position information from the satellite positioning system,

calculating the current position information according to the track records and the current signal information,

wherein calculating the current position information comprises;

establishing a first reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a first circle having a first radius and a first line segment passing through a first known position and a second known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a first one of the at least two base stations;

establishing a second reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a second circle having a second radius and a second line segment passing through the second known position and a third known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a second one of the at least two base stations; and

determining the current position based on an intersection between (1) a first tangent line tangent to the first circle and passing through the first reference position and (2) a second tangent line tangent to the second circle and passing through the second reference position.

10. An auxiliary positioning device, applied to a portable electronic device operative in a wireless communication network system and a satellite positioning system, for determining current position information of the portable electronic device, the auxiliary positioning device comprising:

a satellite positioning system module, for calculating position information according to the satellite signals from the satellite positioning system, and a signal processing module for generating signal information from at least two base stations with the strongest two signal strengths as received at the portable electronic device, wherein the signal information includes base station numbers and respective signal strength of the at least two base stations;

a track recording module, for storing the position information and the signal information into track records in a track record database when the portable device determines the position information from the satellite positioning system; and

an auxiliary positioning module, coupled to the track recording module and the signal processing module, for calculating the current position information according to the track records and current signal information when the portable device can no longer determine the position information from the satellite positioning system,

wherein the auxiliary positioning module is configured to calculate the current position information by;

establishing a first reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a first circle having a first radius and a first line segment passing through a first known position and a second known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a first one of the at least two base stations;

establishing a second reference position defined by an intersection point of an arc of a second circle having a second radius and a second line segment passing through the second known position and a third known position of the portable electronic device with respect to a second one of the at least two base stations; and

determining the current position based on an intersection between (1) a first tangent line tangent to the first circle and passing through the first reference position and (2) a second tangent line tangent to the second circle and passing through the second reference position.

11. The auxiliary positioning device as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

a wireless communication network system module, for receiving the signals from at least two base stations in the wireless communication network system; and

a satellite positioning system module, for detecting whether there is a signal from the satellite positioning system to calculate position information, and receiving signals from the satellite positioning system and calculating position information when the signals from the satellite positioning system are received.

12. The auxiliary positioning device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the satellite positioning system is one of Global Positioning System (GPS), GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) and Galileo satellite positioning system (GALILEO).

13. The auxiliary positioning device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the position information at least comprises one of a longitude data, a latitude data, an altitude data, a speed data and a direction data.

14. The auxiliary positioning device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the wireless communication network system is one of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), wireless fidelity (WiFi) communication network, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication network and a digital television (DTV) system.

15. The auxiliary positioning device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the portable electronic device is one of a portable navigation device (PND), a mobile phone and a portable computer.