Base station identification based location quality data determination

• US 9,949,230 B1
• Filed: 12/07/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Cottrill, William, Tipton, Rick
• Primary Examiner(s): Casca, Fred
• Application Number:
  US15/372,316
• Time in Patent Office: 496 Days
• Field of Search: 455423, 4554561, 455296, 455418, 455 412, 455425, 4554261, 4554321, 455434, 455515, 340 81
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02529 not involving signal parameters, i.e. only involving identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0417 Feedback systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/061 using feedback from receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/24 Cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/30 Special cell shapes, e.g. doughnuts or ring cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Determining a location quality based on base station identification is disclosed. The location quality can be based on an error attributed to a location determined based on historical data related to an identified base station. Application of supplemental data to the historical base station data can improve location quality by reducing the error. Supplemental data can comprise Voronoi data, geographic data, historical UE density data, historical UE timing advance data, or combinations thereof. Voronoi data can be associated with an area less than a service area of the base station. Geographic data can indicate areas where UEs are not likely to be located. UE density data can indicate probably UE locations. Timing advance data can indicate annular regions where a UE should be located. As such, the supplemental data can constrain a location determined for a UE and correspondingly can reduce error associated with the location.

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;

based on cell data associated with a service area of a base station device of a wireless network, determining a location error value for a first location, wherein;

the location error value is based on an average distance between the first location and a second location associated with the cell data,

the cell data comprises Voronoi data and geographical data comprising an exclusion area,

the first location is a geographic centroid location based on a shape defined by a combination of a Voronoi cell represented in the Voronoi data and the exclusion area and corresponds to a known location of the base station device, and

the second location is a location of a point on an edge of the Voronoi cell; and

in response to a location inquiry related to the user equipment, enabling access to the location error value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cell data comprises data from a group of data comprising historical user equipment density data, and historical user equipment timing advance data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first location is a base station location that is substituted for a user equipment location of the user equipment in response to the location inquiry related to the user equipment.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first location is a weighted centroid location that is substituted for a user equipment location of the user equipment in response to the location inquiry related to the user equipment.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the weighted centroid location is determined based on a historical density of user equipments in a portion of the service area of the base station device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a root mean square distance between the first location and the second location.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the average distance is an average of root mean square distances for distances between the first and the second location respectively, and wherein the second location is incremented by a determined angular value.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the average distance is an average of root mean square distances averaged over each distance between the first location and each point on the edge of the Voronoi cell, respectively.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the second location is a location of a point on the shape, and

the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a root mean square distance between the first location and the second location.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the cell data comprises historical user equipment density data,

the first location is a weighted centroid location based on the shape,

the second location is a location corresponding to a user equipment of the historical user equipment density data, and

the average distance is an average of distances between the first location and a group of historical user equipment locations comprising the second location.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the cell data comprises historical user equipment timing advance data,

the first location is located within an annular region associated with a distance determined from a timing advance value of the timing advance data,

the second location is a location corresponding to a point of an edge of the annular region, and

the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a distance between the first location and the second location.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, cell data associated with a service area of a base station device of a wireless network,

wherein the receiving the cell data comprises receiving Voronoi data related to a Voronoi cell boundary;

determining, by the system, a location error value for a first location, wherein the location error value is based on an average distance between the first location and a second location associated with the cell data,

wherein the first location is a geographic centroid location based on historical user equipment densities of historical user equipment density data for user equipments historically within the Voronoi cell boundary and corresponds to a known location of the base station device, and wherein the second location is a location of a point on the Voronoi cell boundary; and

enabling, by the system, access to the location error value.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a root mean square distance between the first location and the second location.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the cell data further comprises receiving geographical data comprising an exclusion area boundary,

wherein the first location is a weighted centroid location based on a shape defined by a combination of the Voronoi cell boundary and the exclusion area boundary,

wherein the second location is a location of a point on an edge of the shape, and

wherein the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a root mean square distance between the first location and the second location.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the cell data further comprises receiving historical user equipment density data,

wherein the second location is a location corresponding to a user equipment of the user equipment density data, and

wherein the average distance is an average of distances between the first location and a group of historical user equipment locations comprising the second location.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the user equipments are first user equipments, wherein the receiving the cell data further comprises receiving historical user equipment timing advance data, wherein the first location is a weighted centroid location based on historical user equipment densities of the historical user equipment density data for second user equipments historically located within a portion of an annular region associated with a distance determined from a timing advance value of the timing advance data, and wherein the portion of the annular region is also within the Voronoi cell boundary.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the receiving the cell data further comprises receiving historical user equipment timing advance data,

the first location is located within a portion of an annular region associated with a distance determined from a timing advance value of the timing advance data,

the portion of the annular region is also within the Voronoi cell boundary,

the second location is a location corresponding to a point of an edge of the annular region, and

the average distance is based on a group of distances comprising a distance between the first location and the second location.

18. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

querying for a location of a user equipment associated with an identifier value of a base station device; and

in response to the querying, receiving a location error value corresponding to a location of the user equipment in a service area of the base station device corresponding to the identifier value, wherein;

the location error value is determined for a first location within the service area,

the first location is a weighted centroid location based on a shape determined from historical user equipment density data and corresponds to a location of the base station device,

the location error value is determined based on cell data associated with the service area,

the cell data comprises Voronoi data related to a Voronoi cell boundary,

the location error value corresponds to an average distance between the first location and a second location associated with the cell data, and

the second location is a location of a point on the Voronoi cell boundary that corresponds to a historical location of a user equipment from the historical user equipment density data.

19. The device of claim 18,

wherein the average distance is an average of a group of distances comprising a root mean square distance between the first location and the second location.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein:

the cell data comprises the historical user equipment density data,

and the average distance is an average of distances between the first location and a group of historical user equipment locations comprising the second location.