Method and system for providing enhanced location based information for wireless handsets

• US 9,338,608 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rivada Networks, LLC
• Original Assignee: Rivada Research, Llc (Rivada Networks, LLC)
• Inventors: Smith, Clint, Surampudi, Purnima
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US14/834,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20150365801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 259 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455418-420, 455/422.1, 455/435.1, 455/436, 455/440, 455/441, 4554561-4566, 455/457
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 17/02 Magnetic compasses
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• 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 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0264 at least one of the systems being a non-radio wave positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 : Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods, devices and systems for generating enhanced location information on or about a mobile device may include hybrid lateration and trilateration solutions in which the mobile device performs location determination calculations with the aid of network components or global positioning systems (GPS). Mobile devices may automatically form groups based on proximity and/or may be grouped together via a network server. Mobile devices in a group may share computed location information and/or information collected from internal sensors with other grouped mobile devices. Information shared between grouped mobile devices may be used to enhance the location information computed on each mobile device. For example, each mobile device may supplement and/or augment previously computed location information based on the received location information and/or relative positions of other mobile devices in the same group. Each mobile device may also utilize local sensors to further enhance their location information.

Claims

1. A method of providing an enhanced location based service via a mobile device, including:

determining, by a processor of the mobile device, whether the mobile device is currently connected to a communications network;

establishing connections, via an antenna of the mobile device, to a plurality of mobile devices to form a communication group in response to determining that the mobile device is not currently connected to the communications network;

receiving distance information from the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group;

generating a location estimation set based on the received distance information; and

transmitting the generated location estimate set to one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group for relay to a network resource,

wherein generating the location estimation set comprises calculating a current coordinate position of the mobile device based on a distance of the mobile device from each of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a velocity of the mobile device using at least a previous position of the mobile device and the current coordinate position of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, by the processor, an emergency situation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group, the generated location estimate set to the network resource.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein transmitting, by the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group, the generated location estimate set to the network resource, is performed at predetermined intervals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, by the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group, the generated location estimate set to the network resource, is performed in response to receiving, by the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group, a request for an update to the location estimation set.

7. A mobile device comprising:

an antenna;

one or more processors or processor cores configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

determining whether the mobile device is currently connected to a communications network;

establishing connections, via the antenna of the mobile device, to a plurality of mobile devices to form a communication group in response to determining that the mobile device is not currently connected to the communications network;

receiving distance information from the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group;

generating a location estimation set based on the received distance information; and

transmitting the generated location estimate set to one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group for relay to a network resource, wherein generating the location estimation set comprises calculating a current coordinate position of the mobile device based on a distance of the mobile device from each of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are further configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising calculating a velocity of the mobile device using at least a previous position of the mobile device and the current coordinate position of the mobile device.

9. The mobile device of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are further configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising detecting, by the one or more processors, an emergency situation.

10. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions to cause a processor of a mobile device to perform operations comprising:

determining whether the mobile device is currently connected to a communications network;

establishing connections to a plurality of mobile devices to form a communication group in response to determining that the mobile device is not currently connected to the communications network;

receiving distance information from the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group;

generating a location estimation set based on the received distance information; and

transmitting the generated location estimate set to one or more of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group for relay to a network resource, wherein generating the location estimation set comprises calculating a current coordinate position of the mobile device based on a distance of the mobile device from each of the plurality of mobile devices in the communication group.

11. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, further having processor-executable software instructions to cause the processor of the mobile device to perform operations comprising calculating a velocity of the mobile device using at least a previous position of the mobile device and the current coordinate position of the mobile device.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, further having processor-executable software instructions to cause the processor of the mobile device to perform operations comprising detecting, by the processor, an emergency situation.