Location estimation of a mobile device in a UMTS network

• US 8,996,031 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2013
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Austin, Mark, Fix, Jeremy, Meredith, Sheldon, Puthenpura, Sarat, Meempat, Gopalakrishnan
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US13/866,909
• Publication Number:
  US 20130310065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.2, 455/456.1, 455/436, 455/456.6, 455/434, 455/424, 370/321, 370/342, 370/346
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0063 of measured values, i.e. measurement on base station and position calculation on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0249 Determining position using measurements made by a non-stationary device other than the device whose position is being determined
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/10 Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements , e.g. omega or decca systemsG01S5/12 takes precedence ; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308

Abstract

The present disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods to utilize relative timing offset information reported by one or more mobile devices. When coupled with AGPS information reported by one or more mobile devices, the offset information is be used to calibrate calculations and subsequently to locate all 3G mobiles with GPS-like accuracy, whether or not a GPS receiver is available on said mobile device being located. A determination of a propagation delay between one or more cell sites and a mobile device is reported to a network and used to calibrate unknown information such as a timing offset, to improve the accuracy of a detected location. The relative timing offset can be applied to determine a location for all other mobile devices within the area served by the known base station. The present disclosure utilizes this method in conjunction with information crowd-sourced from a plurality of mobile devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first mobile device comprising a processor, timing offset information for a base station device pair of devices comprising a first base station device and a second base station device, wherein the timing offset information is relative to a second mobile device based on a difference between first measured timing difference information and computed timing difference information, the first measured timing difference information is based on a measured propagation time between the devices of the base station device pair and the second mobile device, and the computed timing difference information is based on a geometrically determined time between a determined location of the second mobile device, a determined location of the first base station device, and determined location of the second base station device;

receiving, by the first mobile device, second measured timing difference information based on a measured propagation time between the devices of the base station device pair and the first mobile device; and

determining, by the first mobile device, a location of the first mobile device based on the timing offset information for the base station device pair and the second measured timing difference information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the timing offset information comprises receiving a set of timing offset information for a set of base station device pairs relative to a set of mobile devices, the set of base station device pairs comprising base station device pairs that are associated with respective coverage areas serving the location of the first mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing, at the first mobile device, at least a portion of the set of timing offset information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of mobile devices comprises the second mobile device and at least one other mobile device and does not include the first mobile device.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of base station device pairs comprises the first base station device, the second base station device, and at least one other base station device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the set of base station device pairs comprise a plurality of base station pairs each comprising the first base station device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the second measured timing difference comprises receiving via a receiver other than a cellular radio receiver of the first device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the second measured timing difference comprises receiving via a receiver other than a wireless local area network radio receiver of the first device.

9. A system comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving global positioning system information for a first mobile device;

receiving first measured timing difference information associated with a measured propagation delay of a signal between a base station device pair, comprising a first base station device and a second base station device associated with a network, and the first mobile device;

determining timing offset information for the base station device pair based on the first measured timing difference information, the global positioning system information for the first mobile device, and defined locations of the first base station device and the second base station device; and

facilitating access to the timing offset information by a second mobile device to facilitate a determination of a location for the second mobile device based in part on the timing offset information for the base station device pair and a second measured timing difference information associated with another measured propagation delay of another signal between the base station device pair and the second mobile device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving the timing offset information comprises receiving a set of timing offset information, the set of timing offset information comprising the timing offset information, for a set of base station device pairs relative to a set of mobile devices, the set of base station device pairs comprising base station device pairs each associated with coverage areas serving the location of the first mobile device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the facilitating the access to the timing offset information further facilitates storage of at least a portion of the set of timing offset information by the second mobile device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of mobile devices comprises the first mobile device and at least one other mobile device, and does not include the second mobile device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the set of base station device pairs comprises a first base station device, a second base station device, and at least one other base station device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of base station device pairs comprise a plurality of base station pairs each comprising the first base station device.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving second measured timing difference comprises receiving a modality other than a cellular radio of the first device.

16. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving first measured timing difference information between a base station device pair, comprising first and second base station devices, and another mobile device, the first timing difference information comprising a measured propagation delay for a signal transmitted between the other mobile device and the first and second base station devices comprising the base station device pair;

receiving base station device pair location information for known locations of the first and second base station devices comprising the base station device pair;

receiving location information for the other mobile device;

determining predicted timing difference information between the base station device pair and the other mobile device based on the base station device pair location information and the location information for the other mobile device;

determining timing offset information of the base station device pair based on the first measured timing difference information and the predicted timing difference information; and

determining a location for the mobile device based on the timing offset information and second measured timing difference information measured between the mobile device and the base station device pair.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, the operations further comprising receiving a set of timing offset information for a set of base station device pairs relative to a set of mobile devices, the set of base station device pairs comprising base station device pairs each associated with coverage areas serving the location of the other mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the receiving first measured timing difference information employs receiving via a receiver other than a cellular radio receiver of the mobile device.

19. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the receiving first measured timing difference information employs receiving via a receiver other than a wireless local area network radio receiver of the mobile device.

20. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the receiving first measured timing difference information employs receiving via a receiver other than a near field communication radio receiver of the mobile device.