Method and apparatus for WLAN location services

• US 9,554,243 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2011
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomson, Allan, Stephenson, David Sheldon, Polk, James Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): MEHRA, INDER P
• Application Number:
  US13/324,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20120083291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/403, 455/450, 455/455, 455/414.1, 455/466, 455/509, 455/511, 455/518, 455/550.1, 455/564, 455/456.6, 370/254, 370/338, 370/349, 370/352, 370/419, 370328-329, 370/401
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to providing location services in a wireless network. According to one implementation of the present invention, the wireless network infrastructure provides high-accuracy location information via location services to wireless clients. In one embodiment, during an advertisement phase, a location server provides a list of available location services to wireless clients via a central controller. In another embodiment, during a presentation phase, a driver of the wireless client presents the available location services to one or more applications of the wireless client. In another embodiment, during a request phase, the driver transmits a location service request to the central controller, which passes the location service request to the location server.

Claims

1. Logic for providing one or more location services provided by a network infrastructure, the logic encoded in one or more non-transitory computer readable media for execution and when executed operable to:

transmit, using a wireless network interface, one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames that an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

receive, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces;

forward the location service request to a location server; and

generate path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.

2. The logic of claim 1 wherein the logic is operable to collect location data for a wireless client if a received location service request is an on-demand request.

3. The logic of claim 1 wherein the WLAN management frames comprise one or more of the following WLAN management frames:

Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

4. Logic for requesting one or more location services provided by a network infrastructure, the logic encoded in one or more non-transitory computer readable media for execution and when executed operable to:

transmit, using a wireless network interface, one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames which an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

receive, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces.

5. The logic of claim 4 wherein at least one location service comprises an on-demand location service.

6. The logic of claim 4 wherein at least one location service comprises an update location service.

7. The logic of claim 4 wherein the one or more wireless advertisements further comprise one or more location service options comprising one or more of a format option, resolution option, and an encoding option.

8. The logic of claim 4 wherein the WLAN management frames comprise one or more of the following WLAN management frames:

Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

9. A method comprising,

transmitting, using a wireless network interface, one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames that an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

receiving, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein at least one location service comprises an on-demand location service.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein at least one location service comprises an update location service.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the one or more wireless advertisements further comprise one or more location service options comprising one or more of a format option, resolution option, and an encoding option.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the WLAN management frames comprise one or more of the following WLAN management frames:

Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless network interface capable of establishing wireless links with one or more wireless local area network (WLAN) client stations;

a wired network interface capable of receiving packets for delivery to the one or more WLAN client stations;

a processor; and

a data storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions operable, when executed to cause the processor and the wireless network interface to;

transmit one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are WLAN management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames that an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

receive, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces.

15. A method comprising:

transmitting, using a wireless network interface, one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames that an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

receiving, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces;

forwarding the location service request to a location server; and

generating path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

collecting location data for a wireless client if a received location service request is an on-demand request.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the WLAN management frames comprise one or more of the following WLAN management frames:

Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, using a wireless network interface, one or more wireless advertisements to a wireless client station, wherein the one or more wireless advertisements are wireless local area network (WLAN) management frames and identify one or more location services contained in information elements appended to the WLAN management frames that an application hosted on the wireless client station can access to receive geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the wireless client station, the wireless advertisements operable to provide information relating to the one or more location services accessible to one or more applications hosted on the wireless client station;

means for receiving, responsive to a selection of one or more location services by a first application of the one or more applications, a location service request identifying one or more of the selected location services, the selection of the one or more location services facilitated by one or more application programming interfaces;

means for forwarding the location service request to a location server; and

means for generating path loss measurement parameters (PLM) including a radio transmission schedule including one or more of an interval between bursts, a number of bursts, and one or more radio channels on which to transmit.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising:

means for collecting location data for a wireless client if a received location service request is an on-demand request.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the WLAN management frames comprise one or more of the following WLAN management frames:

Beacon Frames, Probe Response Frames, Authentication Response Frames, and Association Response Frames.