Determining quality metrics utilized in building a reference database
First Claim
1. A method of building a reference database used to estimate a position of a wireless local area network (WLAN) enabled device, the method comprising:
- obtaining samples for WLAN access points, the samples for each WLAN access point based on WLAN signals transmitted by the WLAN access point and received by one or more scanning devices;
estimating, by software of a WLAN positioning system executing on one or more computing devices, a position of each WLAN access point based on the samples of the WLAN access point;
estimating, by the software of a WLAN positioning system, a geographical area covered by the samples of each WLAN access point;
determining, by the software of the WLAN positioning system, a quality metric of each WLAN access point based on the estimated geographical area covered by the samples of the WLAN access point; and
building, by the software of the WLAN positioning system, a reference database based on the estimated position and quality metric of each WLAN access point, the reference database used to estimate the position of the WLAN enabled device.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment, a technique is provided for building a reference database used to estimate a position of a wireless local area network (WLAN) enabled device. Samples are obtained for WLAN access points, the samples for each WLAN access point being based on WLAN signals transmitted by the WLAN access point and received by one or more scanning devices. Software of a WLAN positioning system executing on one or more computing devices estimates a position of each WLAN access point based on the samples of the WLAN access point. The software also estimates a geographical area covered by the samples of each WLAN access point and determines a quality metric of each WLAN access point based on the estimated geographical area covered by the samples of the WLAN access point. The software then builds the reference database based on the estimated position and quality metric of each WLAN access point.
158 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of building a reference database used to estimate a position of a wireless local area network (WLAN) enabled device, the method comprising:
-
obtaining samples for WLAN access points, the samples for each WLAN access point based on WLAN signals transmitted by the WLAN access point and received by one or more scanning devices; estimating, by software of a WLAN positioning system executing on one or more computing devices, a position of each WLAN access point based on the samples of the WLAN access point; estimating, by the software of a WLAN positioning system, a geographical area covered by the samples of each WLAN access point; determining, by the software of the WLAN positioning system, a quality metric of each WLAN access point based on the estimated geographical area covered by the samples of the WLAN access point; and building, by the software of the WLAN positioning system, a reference database based on the estimated position and quality metric of each WLAN access point, the reference database used to estimate the position of the WLAN enabled device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having software stored thereon, the software when executed operable to:
-
obtain samples for wireless local area network (WLAN) access points, the samples for each WLAN access point based on WLAN signals transmitted by the WLAN access point; estimate a position of each WLAN access point based on the samples of the WLAN access point; estimate a geographical area covered by the samples of each WLAN access point; determine a quality metric of each WLAN access point based on the estimated geographical area covered by the samples of the WLAN access point; and build a reference database based on the estimated position and quality metric of each WLAN access point, the reference database used to estimate the position of a WLAN enabled device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A system for estimating positions of a wireless local area network (WLAN) enabled device, comprising:
-
a reference database maintained by one or more computing devices that includes an estimated position and quality metric of each a plurality WLAN access points, the estimated position of each WLAN access point based on WLAN signals transmitted by the WLAN access point, the quality metric of each WLAN access point based, at least in part, upon an estimated geographical area covered by the samples of the WLAN access point; and the WLAN enabled device configured to executed a client-side portion of software of a WLAN positioning system, the client-side portion when executed to; determine a plurality of WLAN access points within range of the WLAN enabled device based on signals received by the WLAN enabled device, retrieve from the reference database the estimated position and quality metric of the WLAN access points within range of the WLAN enabled device, and estimate the position of the WLAN enabled device based on the estimated position and quality metric of at least one of the WLAN access points within range of the WLAN enabled device, wherein a WLAN access point'"'"'s effect on the estimated position of the WLAN enabled device is weighted according to the WLAN access point'"'"'s quality metric or a WLAN access point is excluded from use in estimating the estimated position of the WLAN enabled device in response to the WLAN access point'"'"'s quality metric. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification