Systems and methods for virtually synchronizing unsynchronized or loosely synchronized networks for position location determination

• US 9,629,111 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2014
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NextNav, LLC, Telcom Ventures LLC
• Original Assignee: NextNav, LLC, Telcom Ventures LLC
• Inventors: Singh, Rajendra, Olexa, George Ron, Parsons, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hyun, Soon-Dong D
• Application Number:
  US14/198,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20140254582A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0015 one node acting as a reference for the others
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0055 determining timing error of reception due to propagation delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Methods of operating a position network center, which includes at least one server, may include receiving timing-error data corresponding to a plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters from at least one position network receiver. Moreover, the methods may include transmitting data indicating a plurality of timing errors by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters to a wireless user device that receives signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters. Related position network centers, position network receivers, and wireless user devices are also described.

Claims

1. A method of operating a position network center comprising at least one server, the method comprising:

receiving, at the position network center, timing-error data corresponding to a plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, from at least one position network receiver; and

transmitting, from the position network center, data that indicates a plurality of timing errors by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters and corresponds to a lack of synchronization between different networks, to a wireless user device that receives signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, after receiving the timing-error data from the at least one position network receiver at the position network center.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters are associated with cellular wireless networks operated by different cellular service providers, respectively, and

wherein transmitting the data that indicates the plurality of timing errors comprises:

transmitting data that indicates a plurality of timing errors corresponding to the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters to the wireless user device that receives signals from the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters that are associated with the cellular wireless networks operated by the different cellular service providers, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters are associated with different sites in a cellular wireless network operated by a single service provider, and

wherein transmitting the data that indicates the plurality of timing errors comprises:

transmitting data that indicates a plurality of timing errors corresponding to the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters to the wireless user device that receives signals from the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters that are associated with the different sites in the cellular wireless network operated by the single service provider.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the at least one position network receiver is synchronized with other position network receivers, and

wherein receiving the timing-error data comprises:

receiving the timing-error data corresponding to the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters from the at least one position network receiver that is synchronized with the other position network receivers.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the timing-error data indicates the plurality of timing errors, by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, and

wherein receiving the timing-error data comprises:

receiving the timing-error data that indicates the plurality of timing errors, by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, from the at least one position network receiver.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the timing-error data comprises signals that were transmitted by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, and forwarded from the at least one position network receiver to the position network center, with the plurality of timing errors, and

wherein the method further comprises:

calculating the plurality of timing errors using the signals that were transmitted by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters and forwarded to the position network center from the at least one position network receiver.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein calculating the plurality of timing errors comprises:

calculating the plurality of timing errors at the position network center irrespective of precise locations of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a correction of timing drift of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters by using the data that indicates the plurality of timing errors with respective ones of the signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters.

9. A method of operating a position network center comprising at least one server, the method comprising:

receiving, at the position network center, timing-error data corresponding to a plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters, from at least one position network receiver;

transmitting, from the position network center, data that indicates a plurality of timing errors by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters, to a wireless user device that receives signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters, after receiving the timing-error data from the at least one position network receiver at the position network center; and

performing a frame adjustment in response to determining that the signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters do not belong to a same frame.

10. A method of operating a position network receiver, the method comprising:

receiving signals from a plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters;

calculating timing errors corresponding to the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters; and

transmitting timing-error data that indicates the timing errors and corresponds to a lack of synchronization between different networks, to a position network center comprising at least one server.

11. The method of claim 10,

wherein first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters are associated with cellular wireless networks operated by different cellular service providers, respectively, and

wherein receiving the signals comprises:

receiving signals from the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters that are associated with the cellular wireless networks operated by the different cellular service providers, respectively.

12. The method of claim 10,

wherein first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters are associated with different sites in a cellular wireless network operated by a single service provider, and

wherein receiving the signals comprises:

receiving signals from the first and second ones of the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized transmitters that are associated with the different sites in the cellular wireless network operated by the single service provider.

13. The method of claim 10,

wherein the position network receiver is synchronized with other position network receivers, and

wherein receiving the signals comprises:

receiving the signals from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, at the position network receiver that is synchronized with the other position network receivers.

14. The method of claim 10,

wherein the signals received from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters comprise signals that are transmitted by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters to a wireless user device, and

wherein receiving the signals comprises:

receiving, from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, the signals that are transmitted by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters to the wireless user device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving the signals comprises:

continually or periodically receiving, from the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, signals that are transmitted by the plurality of unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters to the wireless user device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the timing-error data comprises:

transmitting the timing-error data to the position network center for compensation of the timing errors, to assist with position location determination of the wireless user device.

17. A method of operating a wireless user device, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from an unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter;

receiving a signal from at least one terrestrial positioning beacon of a synchronized terrestrial beacon network;

receiving timing-error data corresponding to the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter, from a position network center comprising at least one server; and

determining a position location of the wireless user device, by combining timing-error-corrected data corresponding to the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter with the signal from the at least one terrestrial positioning beacon of the synchronized terrestrial beacon network.

18. The method of claim 17,

wherein receiving the signal from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter comprises receiving a first signal from a first unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter,

wherein the method further comprises receiving second and third signals from second and third unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, respectively,

wherein the timing-error data comprises first timing-error data,

wherein the method further comprises receiving second and third timing-error data corresponding to the second and third unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, respectively, from the position network center, and

wherein determining the position location of the wireless user device comprises determining the position location of the wireless user device, using the first, second, and third timing-error data corresponding to the first, second, and third unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the second and third signals comprises:

receiving the second and third signals from the second and third unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitters, respectively, using different respective;

frequencies, and/or standards, in a same frequency band;

or

frequency bands.

20. The method of claim 17,

wherein the signal received from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter comprises a signal that is received by a position network receiver from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter, and

wherein receiving the signal comprises:

receiving, from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter, the signal that is received by the position network receiver from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the position location of the wireless user device comprises:

combining the timing-error-corrected data with the signal received from the unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter.

22. The, method of claim 17, wherein:

receiving the signal comprises receiving a first signal from a first unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter of a first network;

the method further comprises receiving a second signal from a second unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter of a second network that is different from the first network;

receiving the timing-error data comprises receiving, at the wireless user device, timing-error data corresponding to a lack of synchronization between the first unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter of the first network and the second unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter of the second network that is different from the first network, from the position network center; and

determining the position location comprises determining the position location of the wireless user device, using the timing-error data and using the second signal from the second unsynchronized or loosely synchronized cellular or Wi-Fi transmitter of the second network that is different from the first network.