Obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device

• US 9,429,640 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Rudow, Richard, Kasirajan, Venkateswaran, Wold, Robert, Janky, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Dung
• Application Number:
  US13/842,447
• Publication Number:
  US 20140187193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 4554561-4566, 455/457, 342/357.22, 342/357.24, 342/357.44
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/25 involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/41 Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The cellular device accesses a GPS/GNSS chipset embedded within the cellular device. The GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset. The cellular device extracts the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device, the method comprising;

sending, performed by the cellular device, a message to a Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) chipset embedded within the cellular device to initiate an E911 activity, wherein the GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset;

receiving, performed by the cellular device, the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset, the pseudorange information provided by the E911 activity; and

sending, performed by the cellular device, a message to the GPS/GNSS chipset to cancel the E911 activity before transmission of the pseudorange information external to the cellular device.

2. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein

the E911 activity is initiated using an improved accuracy SUPL client of the cellular device.

3. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein

the pseudorange information is provided from the GPS/GNSS chipset to a location manager portion of an operating system of the cellular device, wherein the location manager is external to the GPS/GNSS chipset.

4. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the cellular device is selected from a group consisting of a cell phone and a non-voice enabled cellular device.

5. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a location of the cellular device based on the pseudorange information.

6. The method as recited by claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the location of the cellular device on a display of the cellular device.

7. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

performing at a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset, GPS measurements to derive raw measurement data for a position of the cellular device.

8. The method as recited by claim 7, wherein the raw measurement data provides an instant location of the cellular device.

9. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining carrier phase and pseudorange signals from one or more satellites that are in view of a GPS/GNSS embedded receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset.

10. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the E911 activity is initiated using a command via a high precision Secure User Platform Location (SUPL).

11. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the pseudorange information continuously.

12. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange corrector that the pseudorange information is being stored.

13. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch to test to see if pseudorange corrections are in memory already.

14. The method as recited by claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the pseudorange corrections directly from an improvement source that is located outside of the cellular device.

15. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch that pseudorange corrections need to be fetched from an improvement source.

16. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information in a portion of the cellular device that is outside of a GPS/GNSS receiver that is part of the GPS/GNSS chipset to determine a position fix of the cellular device.

17. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information using one or more Application Programming Interface (API) function applications that reside in memory of the cellular device and are executed by a processor of the cellular device.

18. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the pseudorange information is observed pseudorange information and wherein method further comprises:

matching calculated pseudorange correction information from reference stations with the observed pseudorange information based on time tags.

19. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining additional information from one or more of a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and a source accessed via a WiFi or via a short range wireless communication protocol operating in the range of frequencies between 2402-2480 MHZ;

creating corrected data based on the obtained additional information; and

generating a location of the cellular device based on the corrected data.

20. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

communicating a location of the cellular device to another electronic device that is remotely located with respect to the cellular device.

21. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the pseudorange information is selected from a group consisting of uncorrected pseudorange information, differential GNSS corrections, high precision GNSS satellite orbital data, GNSS satellite broadcast ephemeris data, and ionospheric projections.

22. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein initiating the E911 activity comprises:

using an operation that is a session started with a message selected from a group consisting of a improved accuracy Secure User Platform Location (SUPL) start message and a high precision SUPL INIT message.

23. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of position (QOP) metric from data obtained from a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset;

determining if the QOP position metric is less than a pre-determined QOP metric; and

in response to the QOP position metric being less than the pre-determined QOP metric, requesting pseudorange corrections from an improvement source.

24. The method as recited by claim 23, wherein the requested pseudorange corrections are selected from a group consisting of satellite orbital data, high precision ephemeris data, and DGPS/DGNSS corrections.

25. The method as recited by claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the pseudorange information in a memory of the cellular device.

26. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed causes a processor of a cellular device, which is not a part of an embedded Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) receiver of the cellular device, to perform a method for obtaining pseudorange information using a cellular device, the method comprising:

sending, performed by the cellular device, a message to a Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS/GNSS) chipset embedded within the cellular device to initiate an E911 activity, wherein the GPS/GNSS chipset calculates pseudorange information for use by the GPS/GNSS chipset;

receiving, performed by the cellular device, the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset for use elsewhere in the cellular device outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset, the pseudorange information provided by the E911 activity; and

sending, performed by the cellular device, a message to the GPS/GNSS chipset to cancel the E911 activity before transmission of the pseudorange information external to the cellular device.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a location of the cellular device based on the pseudorange information.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying a pseudorange correction fetch to test to see if pseudorange corrections are in memory already.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 28, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the pseudorange corrections directly from an improvement source that is located outside of the cellular device.

30. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 29, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information in a portion of the cellular device that is outside of the GPS/GNSS chipset to determine a position fix of the cellular device.

31. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 29, wherein the method further comprises:

processing the pseudorange information using one or more Application Programming Interface (API) function applications that reside in memory of the cellular device and are executed by the processor of the cellular device.

32. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining additional information from one or more of a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, and a source accessed via a WiFi or via a short range wireless communication protocol operating in the range of frequencies between 2402-2480 MHZ;

creating corrected data based on the obtained additional information; and

generating a location of the cellular device based on the corrected data.

33. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein receiving the pseudorange information from the GPS/GNSS chipset further comprises:

receiving at least four pseudorange measurements.

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a quality of position (QOP) metric from data obtained from a GPS/GNSS receiver associated with the GPS/GNSS chipset;

determining if the QOP position metric is less than a pre-determined QOP metric; and

in response to the QOP position metric being less than the pre-determined QOP metric, requesting pseudorange corrections from an improvement source.

35. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited by claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the pseudorange information in a memory of the cellular device.