Methods and systems for determining a position of a user equipment device in a multi-band wireless communication system

• US 9,392,533 B1
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Vivanco, Daniel, Sitaram, Krishna D., Liu, Chunmei
• Primary Examiner(s): Agosta, Steve D
• Application Number:
  US14/095,318
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 455/434, 455/550.1, 455/552.3, 370/310.2, 370/328
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/011 Identifying the radio environment
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• 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

Methods and systems for determining how much time a user equipment (UE) device should spend scanning for base station signals and how often the UE device should provide reports to a position determining equipment (PDE) device regarding the scanned base station signals so as to determine an accurate position of the UE device, especially while the UE device is in motion or within areas of low base station density, are described. Selecting the rate to scan base station signals for a given frequency band can be based, at least in part, on the availability of the given frequency band in proximity to the UE device and to a throughput value associated with an application executing on the UE device. Selecting the rate to provide scanning reports can be based, at least in part, on a speed of the UE device and a network topology, such as base station density.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a request regarding a location of a user equipment (UE) device, wherein receiving the request triggers the one or more processors to select for use by the UE device a signal scanning rate and a signal scan reporting rate;

storing, by a data storage device accessible to the one or more processors, a data structure containing a plurality of signal scan reporting rates, wherein each of the signal scan reporting rates is associated with a UE device speed value and a base station density value;

receiving, by the one or more processors, frequency band data pertaining to a location of the UE device, wherein the frequency band data indicates two or more frequency bands available for use by the UE device while the UE device is at or in proximity to the location, and for each frequency band of the two or more frequency bands a respective radio access technology used at that frequency band of the two or more frequency bands, and wherein one of the two or more frequency bands is the frequency band a base station is using to serve the UE device;

selecting, by the one or more processors and from among the plurality of signal scan reporting rates, a signal scan reporting rate for use by the UE device based on a UE device speed value determined based on a speed of the UE device and a base station density value determined for an area in proximity to the location of the UE device;

selecting, by the one or more processors and from among the plurality of signal scanning rates, a signal scanning rate for use by the UE device to scan for signals on at least one frequency band other than a frequency band the base station is using to serve the UE device, wherein selecting the signal scanning rate is based on the selected signal scan reporting rate, the determined UE device speed value, and the determined base station density value; and

providing, using a communication network, the selected signal scanning rate and the selected signal scan reporting rate to a transmitting device for wireless transmission of the selected signal scanning rate and the selected signal scan reporting rate to the UE device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the incoming location request comprises receiving a location request from the UE device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the incoming location request comprises receiving a location request from a location-based application executed off-board the UE device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, a first set of signal measurements performed by the UE device from one or more base stations using a first frequency band and a second set of signal measurements performed by the UE device from one or more base stations using a second frequency band,

determining, by the one or more processors using the first set of signal measurements and the second set of signal measurements, a location of the UE device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, an application requirement of an application executing on the UE device,

wherein selecting the signal scanning rate is conditioned on the application requirement of the application executing on the UE device.

6. The method of claim 5,

wherein applications executable on the UE device are classified by data throughput levels required to execute the applications on the UE device,

wherein a first throughput level and a second throughput level are defined for applications executable by the one or more processors,

wherein the first throughput level is less than the second throughput level, and

wherein a signal scanning rate selected by the one or more processors while executing an application with the first throughput level is less than a signal scanning rate selected by the one or more processors while executing an application with the second throughput level.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein selecting the signal scanning rate is conditioned upon availability of the at least one frequency band other than the frequency band the base station is using to serve the UE device and a throughput value associated with an application executing on the UE device, and

wherein selecting the signal scan reporting rate is conditioned upon a determined speed of the UE device and a base station density value for an area proximate the UE device or the base station serving the UE device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal scanning rate is set to infinity for a particular frequency band to prevent the UE device from scanning the particular frequency band.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory data storage device storing a plurality of signal scanning rates, a plurality of signal scan reporting rates, and computer-readable program instructions, wherein each of the signal scan reporting rates is associated with a user equipment (UE) device speed value and a base station density value, wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to;

(i) receive a request regarding a location of a UE device, wherein receiving the request triggers the one or more processors to select for use by the UE device a signal scanning rate and a signal scan reporting rate,

(ii) receive frequency band data pertaining to a location of the UE device, wherein the frequency band data indicates two or more frequency bands available for use by the UE device while the UE device is at or in proximity to the location, and for each frequency band of the two or more frequency bands a respective radio access technology used at that frequency band of the two or more frequency bands, and wherein one of the two or more frequency bands is the frequency band a base station is using to serve the UE device,

(iii) select, from among the plurality of signal scan reporting rates, a signal scan reporting rate for use by the UE device based on a UE device speed value determined based on a speed of the UE device and a base station density value determined for an area in proximity to the location of the UE device; and

(iv) select from among the plurality of signal scanning rates, a signal scanning rate for use by the UE device to scan for signals on at least one frequency band other than a frequency band the base station is using to serve the UE device, wherein selecting the signal scanning rate is based on the selected signal scan reporting rate, the determined UE device speed value, and the determined base station density value; and

a communication network interface configured to provide the selected signal scanning rate and the selected single scan reporting rate to a transmitting device for wireless transmission of the selected signal scanning rate and the selected signal scan reporting rate to the UE device.

10. The system of claim 9,

wherein the communication network interface is configured to receive signal scan reports transmitted by the UE device at the selected signal scan reporting rate,

wherein the one or more processors is configured to determine a location of the UE device based, at least in part, on the received signal scan reports, and

wherein the communication network interface is configured to transmit the location of the UE device to a device performing a location-based service for the UE device.

11. The system of claim 9,

wherein selecting the signal scanning rate is conditioned upon availability of the at least one frequency band other than the frequency band the base station is using to serve the UE device and a throughput value associated with an application executing on the UE device, and

wherein selecting the signal scan reporting rate is conditioned upon a determined speed of the UE device and a base station density value for an area proximate the UE device or the base station serving the UE device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable program instructions are executable to select the signal scanning rate and the signal scan report rate in response to the one or more processors determining that insufficient signal scan reports are being received to determine an accurate location of the UE device or in response to the communication network interface receiving updated information regarding the UE device or updated network topology information.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein each signal scan reporting rate within the data structure is associated with at least one of a UE device speed value and a base station density value.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein selection of the signal scanning rate is based on the selected signal scan reporting rate, the UE device speed value, and the base station density value.

13. The system of 9, wherein the application executing on the UE device is a location-based service (LBS) application and the throughput value indicates at least one of a data transmission rate for the LBS application and a latency time for the LBS application.

16. A method comprising:

selecting, by one or more processors and from among a plurality of signal scanning rates, a signal scanning rate for use by a user equipment (UE) device to scan for signals on at least one frequency band other than a frequency band a base station is using to serve the UE device;

selecting, by the one or more processors and from among a plurality of signal scan reporting rates, a signal scan reporting rate for use by the UE device based on a UE device speed value and a base station density value; and

providing, using a communication network, the selected signal scanning rate and the selected signal scan reporting rate to a transmitting device for wireless transmission of the selected signal scanning rate and the selected signal scan reporting rate to the UE device;

storing, by a data storage device accessible to the one or more processors, a data structure the one or more processors uses to select the signal scan reporting rate,

wherein the data structure includes each signal scan reporting rate of the plurality of signal scan reporting rates,

wherein each signal scan reporting rate within the data structure is associated with a UE device speed value and a base station density value,

wherein the selected signal scan reporting rate is selected from the group consisting of;

(i) a first signal scan reporting rate associated with a UE device speed value greater than a speed threshold and a base station density less than a density threshold,

(ii) a second signal scan reporting rate associated with a UE device speed greater than the speed threshold and a base station density greater than the density threshold,

(iii) a third signal scan reporting rate associated with a UE device speed less than the speed threshold and a base station density less than the density threshold, and

(iv) a fourth signal scan reporting rate associated with a UE device speed less than the speed threshold and a base station density greater than the density threshold, and

wherein the fourth signal scan reporting rate is slower than the third signal scan reporting rate,

wherein the third signal scan reporting rate is slower than the second signal scan reporting rate, and

wherein the second signal scan reporting rate is slower than the first signal scan reporting rate.