Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data

• US 9,521,647 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2016
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Fix, Larry, Fix, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): MANOHARAN, MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY
• Application Number:
  US15/074,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20160202345A1
• Time in Patent Office: 270 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.3, 455/456.2, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data is provided. A propagation delay component receives a set of propagation delay measurements for communications between a mobile device and an access point. A user equipment location component receives a location of the mobile device, and a combination component combines the set of propagation delay measurements and the location into a set of location data. An access point location component determines a set of intersecting locations between the set of location data and additional sets of location data, and determines a location of the access point based on the set of intersecting locations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving, from a network device of a wireless network, propagation delay measurements based on signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point device;

receiving, from the network device, first location data related to a first location of the mobile device;

generating second location data based on the propagation delay measurements and the first location data;

in response to the generating the second location data, determining an estimated location of the access point device resulting in third location data related to the estimated location;

generating first flag data associated with a first flagging of the estimated location as not corresponding to an actual location of the access point device, resulting in a first flagged location;

comparing the third location data to geographical data related to a topology of the estimated location;

in response to the comparing, determining that the estimated location of the access point device is an improbable location of the access point device according to an improbability criterion, and generating second flag data associated with a second flagging of the estimated location as an undesirable location, wherein the second flag data corresponds to the first flagged location;

in response to the first flag data and the second flag data being generated, instructing a cell site device to increase a sample size associated with the estimated location;

determining that the propagation delay measurements do not comprise a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base station equipment for the access point device; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements being determined not to comprise the compensation factor, correcting the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna of the access point device and the base station equipment for the access point device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location according to the improbability criterion is based on a result of a comparison of the first location data and the third location data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location according to the improbability criterion comprises determining intersecting locations related to mobile devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location results in fourth location data representing the improbable location.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending, to the network device, the fourth location data to facilitate modeling of network devices of the wireless network comprising the access point device.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the network device is a first network device, and wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating sending of the fourth location data to a second network device of the wireless network for use in a network service.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location according to the improbability criterion comprises determining that the estimated location satisfies an error threshold.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay of the propagation delay measurements.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location according to the improbability criterion comprises determining that the estimated location does not satisfy an error threshold.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining that the propagation delay measurements do not comprise the compensation factor comprises determining a vendor data associated with a part number related to the compensation factor.

11. A method, comprising:

determining, by a system comprising a processor, propagation delay measurements by receiving signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point device;

receiving, by the system, first location data representing a location of the mobile device;

generating, by the system, second location data based on the propagation delay measurements and the location data representing the location of the mobile device;

comparing, by the system, the second location data and first additional location data corresponding to mobile devices, wherein the comparing comprises comparing intersecting locations of the mobile devices resulting in quantity data;

based on the comparing the second location data and the first additional location data, determining, by the system, an estimated location of the access point device resulting in estimated location data;

flagging the estimated location as not corresponding to an actual location of the access point device, wherein the flagging comprises generating flag data associated with the flagging the estimated location as an undesirable location;

in response to the flagging, instructing a cell site device to increase a sample size associated with the estimated location;

comparing, by the system, the estimated location data to topographical data related to a topography of the location of the mobile device;

in response to the comparing, determining, by the system, that the estimated location is not a probable location of the access point device based on satisfaction of a probability criterion;

determining that the propagation delay measurements do not comprise a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base station equipment for the access point device; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements being determined not to comprise the compensation factor, correcting the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna of the access point device and the base station equipment for the access point device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the quantity data is based on a condition related to an error threshold being determined to have been satisfied.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the intersecting locations of the mobile devices are first intersecting locations of the mobile devices, and further comprising:

comparing, by the system at a defined time interval, the second location data and second additional location data corresponding to the mobile devices, wherein the comparing the second location data and the second additional location data comprises comparing second intersecting locations of the mobile devices.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

in response to the determining that the estimated location is not the probable location, adding, by the system, flag data to the second location data, wherein the flag data indicates that the estimated location is not the probable location.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving a first location of a first mobile device and first propagation delay measurements for first signals exchanged by the first mobile device and an access point device;

generating first location data using the first propagation delay measurements and the first location of the first mobile device;

receiving a second location of a second mobile device and second propagation delay measurements for second signals exchanged by the second mobile device and the access point device;

generating second location data using the second propagation delay measurements and the second location of the second mobile device;

determining an intersecting location between the first location data and the second location data;

based on the intersecting location, identifying an estimated location of the access point device resulting in estimated location data; and

in response to comparing the estimated location data to geographical data related to a geography associated with the estimated location, flagging the estimated location as not corresponding to an actual location of the access point device, wherein the flagging comprises generating flag data associated with the flagging the estimated location as an undesirable location;

in response to the flagging, instructing a cell site device to increase a sample size associated with the estimated location;

determining that the propagation delay measurements do not comprise a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base station equipment for the access point device; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements being determined not to comprise the compensation factor, correcting the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna of the access point device and the base station equipment for the access point device.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the second propagation delay measurements do not comprise the compensation factor for the cable length of the connection between the antenna of the access point device and the station equipment for the access point device, wherein the determining comprises a vendor identifier associated with the compensation factor.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the compensation factor for the cable length, biasing the second propagation delay measurements by modifying the second propagation delay measurements by amounts determined to account for the cable length.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device satisfies an error threshold, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay of the first signals or the second signals, and wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device satisfies the error threshold comprises determining the estimated location satisfies a defined size of the location.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device does not satisfy an error threshold.