Autonomous Transmit Chain Delay Measurements

• US 9,423,508 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2013
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: HANNAN, Ariful, Al-Mufti, Khalid W, Islam, Tariqul
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao
• Application Number:
  US13/740,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20130181865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.21, 342/357.25, 342/357.29, 342/357.4, 701/468, 701/469
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• 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

A system and method for determining transmission delay in a communications system. In some embodiments, satellite positioning information may be received for a mobile device and enhanced cell identification (E-CID) positioning information received for the mobile device. A location of the mobile device may be determined as a function of the received satellite positioning information, and transmission delay between a node serving the mobile device and an antenna serving the mobile device determined as a function of the received E-CID positioning information and the determined location of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of determining transmission delay in a communications system comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving satellite positioning information for a mobile device;

(b) receiving enhanced cell identification (E-CID) positioning information for the mobile device;

(c) determining a location of the mobile device as a function of the received satellite positioning information; and

(d) determining transmission delay between a node serving the mobile device and an antenna serving the mobile device as a function of the received E-CID positioning information and the determined location of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the serving node is an eNodeB.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the received E-CID positioning information includes timing advance information of an uplink signal transmitted from the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the received E-CID positioning information includes timing advance information of a downlink signal received by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining propagation delay between the serving antenna and the mobile device as a function of the determined mobile device location and location of the serving antenna, wherein the determined transmission delay is a function of the determined propagation delay.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the determined propagation delay is a function of a transmission path from the mobile device to the serving antenna or from the serving antenna to the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the E-CID positioning measurements include timing advance type 1 or timing advance type 2.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining transmission delay further comprises determining cable delay and/or radio frequency component delay.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving E-CID positioning information further comprises invoking an E-CID positioning procedure from a user plane (UP) or from a control plane (CoP).

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of iteratively repeating step (c) and averaging the determined locations over the iteration.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining a location of one or more other mobile devices using respective received satellite information, wherein the step of determining transmission delay comprises determining transmission delay as a function of the determined locations of the one or more other mobile devices to minimize bias.