Method and apparatus for tracking, in real-time, a position of a mobile wireless communication device

• US 9,641,973 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2014
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Venkataramani, Thandapani, Zhao, Xing, Zhang, Xin, Jia, Zhike
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US14/565,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20160353241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554563, 4554566, 455457, 4554141, 4554562, 3405731, 34053913, 34253732, 345633
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/109 Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip
• 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 40/005 Routing actions in the presence of nodes in sleep or doze mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating to determining a real-time position of a mobile device. According to an aspect of the described systems and techniques, a data processing apparatus includes: one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices including a location processor configured to acquire and track measurements of location for a mobile wireless communication device; and a host processor programmed with a host software manager configured to obtain various positioning input signals from different device positioning technologies and assemble a selected set of the various positioning input signals into a unified format; wherein the data processing apparatus includes a hybrid fusion engine configured to receive data from the host software manager in the unified format and calculate a position of the mobile wireless communication device using the received data in accordance with input type information for the received data.

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus comprising:

one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices including a location processor configured to acquire and track measurements of location for a mobile wireless communication device; and

a host processor programmed with a host software manager configured to obtain various positioning input signals from different device positioning technologies and assemble a selected set of the various positioning input signals into a unified format;

wherein the data processing apparatus includes a hybrid fusion engine configured to receive data from the host software manager in the unified format and calculate a position of the mobile wireless communication device using the received data in accordance with input type information for the received data;

wherein the host software manager is further configured to manage a location database for wireless positioning and map aiding information used with the position calculation;

wherein the location database comprises a virtual database distributed between a first database local to the mobile wireless communication device and one or more second databases accessible over a network, wherein the host software manager maintains data relevant to the calculated position in the first database; and

wherein the host software manager controls selection and indexing of map data based on global coordinates from a satellite navigation receiver, including caching map data in the first database.

2. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, comprising the different device positioning technologies, which comprise:

a satellite navigation receiver;

a first range wireless transceiver;

a second range wireless transceiver; and

one or more sensors.

3. The data processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors comprise:

a motion sensor;

an environment sensor; and

an optical sensor.

4. The data processing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the host processor is an application processor programmed to run the hybrid fusion engine.

5. The data processing apparatus of claim 2, comprising a measurement aggregator between the different device positioning technologies and the host software manager.

6. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the host software manager is further configured to trigger the different device positioning technologies based on location context information.

7. The data processing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the location context information comes from multi-context detection based on user activity, dynamics and environment, and the host software manager is configured to trigger the different device positioning technologies to reduce power consumption while meeting a desired quality of positioning.

8. A data processing apparatus comprising:

one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices including a location processor configured to acquire and track measurements of location for a mobile wireless communication device; and

a host processor programmed with a host software manager configured to obtain various positioning input signals from different device positioning technologies and assemble a selected set of the various positioning input signals into a unified format;

wherein the data processing apparatus includes a hybrid fusion engine configured to receive data from the host software manager in the unified format and calculate a position of the mobile wireless communication device using the received data in accordance with input type information for the received data;

wherein the host software manager is further configured to manage a location database for wireless positioning and map aiding information used with the position calculation; and

wherein the host software manager comprises;

a middleware interface configured to communicate with a selected host middleware;

an assistance interface configured to trigger AGNSS (Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System), predicted ephemeris, sensors, and wireless assistance procedures;

a data interface through which the location database is managed;

a power management module configured to provide context aware device management; and

core logic configured to operate the middleware interface, the assistance interface, the data interface, and the power management module.

9. The data processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the location database comprises a virtual database distributed between a first database local to the mobile wireless communication device and one or more second databases accessible over a network, wherein the host software manager maintains data relevant to the calculated position in the first database.

10. The data processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the host software manager controls selection and indexing of map data based on global coordinates from a satellite navigation receiver, including caching map data in the first database.

11. A method comprising:

obtaining various positioning input signals from different device positioning technologies and an IC-based location processor configured to acquire and track measurements of location for a mobile wireless communication device;

triggering the different device positioning technologies based on location context information;

assembling a selected set of the various positioning input signals into a unified format;

sending assembled data in the unified format to a fusion engine configured to calculate a position of the mobile wireless communication device using the assembled data in accordance with input type information for the assembled data;

receiving calculated position information from the fusion engine; and

outputting the calculated position information for use by the mobile wireless communication device;

wherein the location context information comes from multi-context detection based on user activity, dynamics and environment, and the triggering comprises triggering the different device positioning technologies to reduce power consumption while meeting a desired quality of positioning.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtaining comprises:

receiving a position input signal from a satellite navigation receiver;

receiving a position input signal from a first range wireless transceiver;

receiving a position input signal from a second range wireless transceiver; and

receiving a position input signal from one or more sensors, including a motion sensor.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising providing location measurement aiding feedback to the IC-based location processor based on the calculated position information.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising managing a location database for wireless positioning and map aiding information used with the position calculation.

15. The method claim 14, wherein the location database comprises a virtual database distributed between a first database local to the mobile wireless communication device and one or more second databases accessible over a network, the method comprising maintaining data relevant to the calculated position in the first database.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising caching map data in the first database based on global coordinates from a satellite navigation receiver of the mobile wireless communication device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the triggering comprises sending wakeup and sleep signals to different ones of the different device positioning technologies based on the location context information.