Apparatus and method of managing peripheral wireless LAN radio signal for positioning service

• US 9,173,057 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2013
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Cho, Chae Hwan, Kang, Suk Yon, Lee, Song Man, Kim, Ji Min, Kim, Chun Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Huy D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shao, Hong
• Application Number:
  US13/867,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20130235863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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

The present disclosure relates to providing a positioning service by managing a plurality of peripheral wireless LAN signals. The positioning service system collects peripheral wireless LAN radio signals by scanning peripheral access points (APs), stores AP information of each of peripheral wireless LAN radio signals in each lattice cell of a database. When a positioning request signal is received from a terminal, a positioning server of the positioning service extracts AP identification information from included in the peripheral wireless LAN radio signal received from the terminal. By using the extracted AP identification information, the positioning server selects from the database the corresponding lattice cell matching to the stored AP identification information of each of the peripheral wireless LAN radio signals pre-stored. And the positioning server estimates location information of the selected corresponding lattice cell as location information for the terminal.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing one or more access points (APs), the apparatus comprising:

an information receiver configured to receive one or more peripheral wireless local area network (LAN) radio signals from a service provider AP, wherein the service provider AP is located at a preset location in lattice cells, and the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals are scanned by the service provider AP; and

an additional storage unit configured to

match individual cell IDs of the lattice cells with AP identification information of each of the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals for each of lattice cells, and

store (i) information of the matched lattice cell and (ii) the AP identification information of each of the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals in a database,

wherein the lattice cells are identified by corresponding individual cell IDs and the AP identification information is stored by using location information of the service provider AP as reference location information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an information request unit configured to;

transmit a scanning request signal to the service provider AP, and

receive the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals through the information receiver in response to the scanning request signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the information request unit is configured to transmit the scanning request signal to the service provider AP on a preset regular cycle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the additional storage unit is configured to store the AP identification information upon receiving the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals in the database or stores the AP identification information in the database according to a preset regular cycle.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the AP identification information includes one or more of a basic service set identifier (BBSID) corresponding to a MAC address of a corresponding AP, a service set identifier (SSID), and AP channel information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an information extractor configured to extract AP identification information from a wireless LAN radio signal received from a terminal, when a positioning request signal is received from the terminal; and

a selector configured to select from database a corresponding lattice cell matching to the stored AP identification information of each of the peripheral wireless LAN radio signals stored as the reference location information by using the extracted AP identification information.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a location estimator configured to estimate location information of the selected lattice cell as location information of the terminal.

8. A method of providing a position service by a positioning service system, the method comprising:

receiving one or more peripheral wireless local area network (LAN) radio signals from a specific access point (AP), wherein the specific AP is located at a preset location in lattice cells, and the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals are scanned by the specific AP;

matching individual cell IDs of the lattice cells with AP identification information of each of the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals for each of lattice cells;

storing (i) information of the matched lattice cell and (ii) the AP identification information of each of the received peripheral wireless LAN radio signals in a database by using the location of the specific AP as reference location information;

identifying whether a positioning request signal is received from a terminal;

extracting AP identification information included in a peripheral wireless LAN radio signal received from the terminal when the positioning request signal is received from the terminal; and

selecting from the database, using the extracted AP identification information, a corresponding lattice cell matching to the stored AP identification information of each of the peripheral wireless LAN radio signals.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising

estimating location information of the selected corresponding lattice cell as location information for the location on which the terminal is currently camping.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving further comprising

transmitting to the specific AP a scanning request signal for one or more peripheral APs;

and

receiving from the specific AP the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals of the scanned one or more peripheral APs in response to the scanning request signal.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the storing comprises

storing in the database the AP identification information of each of the received peripheral wireless LAN radio signals with the location of the specific AP.

12. A positioning service system for providing a position service, the system comprising:

an access point (AP) managing device configured to

receive one or more peripheral radio signals from a specific AP, wherein the specific AP is located at a preset location in lattice cells, the one or more peripheral radio signals are scanned by the specific AP,

matching individual cell IDs of the lattice cells with AP identification information of each of the one or more peripheral wireless LAN radio signals for each of lattice cells, and

store in a database (i) information of the matched lattice cell and (ii) the AP identification information of each of the received peripheral radio signals by using the location of the specific AP as reference location information; and

a positioning server configured to

receive a positioning request signal including at least one radio signal from a terminal,

extract AP identification information from the at least one radio signal from the terminal,

select from the database a corresponding lattice cell matching to the extracted AP identification information by using (i) the stored information of the matched lattice cell and (ii) the stored AP identification information, and

estimate location information of the selected lattice cell as the location information for the location on which the terminal camps.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

the specific AP configured to;

scan the one or more peripheral APs in response to a scan request signal or according to a preset cycle, and

transmit the one or more peripheral radio signals of the scanned one or more peripheral APs to the AP managing device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the AP managing device is configured to:

transmit the scan request signal to the specific AP, and

receive from the specific AP the one or more peripheral radio signals of the peripheral APs in response to the scan request signal.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the database is configured to store one or more lattice cells each identified by a cell ID, wherein each of the one or more lattice cells stores AP identification information of each of the received peripheral radio signals.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the AP identification information of each of the received peripheral radio signals is included in a parameter of each of the received peripheral radio signals.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the AP identification information includes a latitude and longitude coordinate value.