Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data

• US 9,723,446 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2016
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fix, Larry, Fix, Jeremy, Meredith, Sheldon Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): MANOHARAN, MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY
• Application Number:
  US15/337,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20170048674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 277 Days
• 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;

based on 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;

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

based on the comparing, determining that the estimated location is an improbable location of the access point device; and

generating second flag data associated with a second flagging of the estimated location as an undesirable location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the estimated location of the access point device is the improbable location according to an improbability criterion.

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 is based on a result of a comparison of the first location data and the third location data.

4. The system of claim 3, 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.

5. The system of claim 3, 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.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay of the signals between the mobile device and the access point device.

7. The system of claim 3, 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.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

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.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

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

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a propagation delay measurement does 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.

11. A method, comprising:

determining, by a system comprising a processor, propagation delay measurements by receiving signals exchanged by a mobile device, of mobile devices, 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 first location data;

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

based on the quantity data, determining, by the system, an estimated location of the access point device, resulting in estimated location data;

marking, by the system, the estimated location as not corresponding to an actual location of the access point device;

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 the estimated location data to topographical data, marking, by the system, the estimated location as an undesirable location; and

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.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the intersecting locations comprise overlapping locations of the mobile devices, resulting in overlapping data representative of the overlapping locations.

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

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

15. The method of claim 14, 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.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the comparing the second location data and the second additional location data comprises comparing second intersecting locations of the mobile devices.

17. 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 that were 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, generating metadata indicating the estimated location does not correspond to an actual location of the access point device, wherein the metadata comprises data associated with the estimated location being an undesirable location.

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

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

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

in response to determining that the estimated location of the access point device does not satisfy an error threshold, generating instruction data representative of instructions to increase a sample size of the first location data.

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

in response to determining that the estimated location of the access point device satisfies an error threshold, suspending acquisition of the first location data.