Demand positioning

• US 9,274,231 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2014
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ische, Marc Anthony, Hatami, Ahmad, Heshmati, Ardalan, Biacs, Zoltan, Rowitch, Douglas, Farmer, Dominic, Kamarsu, Srigouri, Wu, Jie
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao
• Application Number:
  US14/227,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20140210662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.2, 342/357.25, 342/357.28, 342/357.29, 342/450, 701/469, 701/495
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• 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

Abstract

Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, for determining background position information for the mobile station using one or more positioning techniques, such as signal metrics.

Claims

1. A method for determining a location of a mobile station, comprising:

quasi-periodically determining that received signal strength of a signal received from at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device is below a predetermined threshold;

scanning for one or more wide area devices, local area devices, or personal area network devices or a combination or sub-combination thereof;

determining background position information for the mobile station based at least in part on signal metrics corresponding to the one or more scanned wide area devices, local area devices, personal area network devices or the combination or sub-combination thereof; and

storing the background position information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies further comprises reducing search uncertainty for an SPS search based, at least in part, upon the background position information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device comprises a CDMA, UMTS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, broadcast TV, broadcast FM, and/or Bluetooth device.

5. A mobile station for determining location, comprising:

means for quasi-periodically determining that received signal strength of a signal received from at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device is below a predetermined threshold;

means for scanning for one or more wide area devices, local area devices, or personal area network devices or a combination or sub-combination thereof;

means for determining background position information for the mobile station based at least in part on signal metrics corresponding to the one or more scanned wide area devices, local area devices, personal area network devices or the combination or sub-combination thereof; and

means for storing the background position information.

6. The mobile station of claim 5, further comprising means for determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies.

7. The mobile station of claim 6, wherein said means for determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies further comprises means for reducing search uncertainty based, at least in part, upon the background position information.

8. The mobile station of claim 5, wherein the at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device comprises a CDMA, UMTS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, broadcast TV, broadcast FM, and/or Bluetooth device.

9. An mobile station for determining location, comprising:

a processing unit configured to quasi-periodically determine that received signal strength of a signal received from at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device is below a predetermined threshold;

a transceiver to scan for one or more wide area devices, local area devices, or personal area network devices or a combination or sub-combination thereof;

the processing unit further configured to determine background position information for the mobile station based at least in part on signal metrics corresponding to the one or more scanned wide area devices, local area devices, personal area network devices or the combination or sub-combination thereof; and

memory to store the background position information.

10. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is further configured to determine the location based upon SPS positioning technologies.

11. The mobile station of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to reduce SPS search uncertainty based, at least in part, upon the background position information.

12. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein the at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device comprises a CDMA, UMTS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, broadcast TV, broadcast FM, and/or Bluetooth device.

13. A non-transitory storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions, for determining a location of a mobile station, stored thereon which, if executed by a processing unit, perform positioning, the instructions comprising:

code for quasi-periodically determining that received signal strength of a signal received from at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device is below a predetermined threshold;

code for scanning for one or more wide area devices, local area devices, or personal area network devices or a combination or sub-combination thereof;

code for determining background position information for the mobile station based at least in part on signal metrics corresponding to the one or more scanned wide area devices, local area devices, personal area network devices or the combination or sub-combination thereof; and

code for storing the background position information.

14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13, further comprising code for determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies.

15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein said code for determining the location based upon SPS positioning technologies further comprises code for reducing search uncertainty based, at least in part, upon the background position information.

16. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one wide area device, local area device, or personal area network device comprises a CDMA, UMTS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, broadcast TV, broadcast FM, and/or Bluetooth device.