Positioning devices

• US 9,674,652 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2012
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Belloni, Fabio, Kalliola, Kimmo Heikki Juhana, Kainulainen, Antti Paavo Tapani, RANKI, Ville Valtteri
• Primary Examiner(s): Louis, Vinncelas
• Application Number:
  US14/421,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20150215732A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/08 Systems for determining direction or position line
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/00 Antenna arrays or systems arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern of the waves radiated from an antenna or antenna system H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An apparatus configured at least to perform: receiving a signal constituting a positioning packet at a positioning device; processing the signal by: demodulating a header of the positioning packet from the signal; extracting an identifier from the header of the positioning packet; part processing samples of the signals; and forming a message from the part-processed samples; in response to receiving the signal, deactivating a receiver circuit of the positioning device for a period of time, the period of time constituting a sum of a time taken by the positioning device to process the signal and a preconfigured or random delay time; and activating the receiver circuit of the positioning device immediately subsequent the period of time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a signal comprising a positioning packet at a base station;

processing the signal by;

demodulating a header of the positioning packet from the signal;

extracting an identifier from the header of the positioning packet;

part processing samples of the signal; and

forming a message from the part-processed samples;

in response to receiving the signal, deactivating a receiver circuit of the base station for a period of time, the period of time comprising a time taken by the base station to process the signal and a delay time; and

activating the receiver circuit of the base station subsequent the period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay time is a preconfigured delay time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay time of a receiver circuit in a positioning device is different to that of the base station.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay time is a random delay time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the delay time is less than 10 milliseconds.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the delay time is less than 5 milliseconds.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay time comprises a preconfigured delay time part and a random delay time part.

8. A base station comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the base station at least to perform:

receive a signal comprising a positioning packet at the base station;

process the signal to;

demodulate a header of the positioning packet from the signal;

extract an identifier from the header of the positioning packet;

part process samples of the signal; and

form a message from the part-processed samples;

in response to receiving the signal, deactivate a receiver circuit of the base station for a period of time, the period of time comprised of a time taken by the base station to process the signal and delay time; and

activate the receiver circuit of the base station subsequent the period of time.

9. The base station of claim 8 wherein the delay time comprises a preconfigured delay time.

10. The base station of claim 8 wherein the delay time comprises a random delay time.

11. A base station, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a signal comprising a positioning packet at the base station;

a processing arrangement configured to process the signal to;

demodulate a header of the positioning packet from the signal;

extract an identifier from the header of the positioning packet;

part process samples of the signal; and

form a message from the part-processed samples;

a deactivate arrangement configured, in response to the signal, to deactivate a receiver circuit of the base station for a period of time, the period of time comprised of a time taken by the base station to process the signal and a delay time; and

an activate arrangement configured to activate the receiver circuit of the base station subsequent the period of time.

12. The base station of claim 11, wherein the delay time is a preconfigured delay time.

13. The base station of claim 11, wherein the delay time of a receiver circuit in a positioning device is different to that of the base station.

14. The base station of claim 11, wherein the delay time comprises at least in part a random delay time.

15. The base station of claim 11, wherein the delay time comprises a random delay time that is less than 10 milliseconds.

16. The base station of claim 11, wherein the delay time comprises a random delay time that is less than 5 milliseconds.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium in which computer program code is stored, the computer program code causing a base station to perform the following when executed by a processor:

demodulating a header of a positioning packet from a received signal;

extracting an identifier from the header of the positioning packet;

part processing samples of the signal; and

forming a message from the part-processed samples;

a deactivating arrangement configured, in response to receiving the signal, to deactivate a receiver circuit of the base station for a period of time, the period of time comprising a time taken by the base station to process the signal and a delay time; and

an activating arrangement configured to activate the receiver circuit of the base station subsequent the period of time.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the delay time comprises at least in part a preconfigured delay time.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein the delay time comprises at least in part a random delay time.